Record Label Marketing

11	Distribution

Amy Macy

Music distribution

Music distributors are a vital conduit in getting physical music product from record labels’ creative hands into the brick-and-mortar retail environment. Recognize that as the marketplace shifts to a digital environment, distribution companies are re-evaluating their value in the food chain and continually developing sales models that reflect direct sales opportunities to music consumers. Whatever the sales channel, distribution companies think of themselves as extensions of the record labels that they represent.

Prior to the current business model, most individual records labels hired their own sales and distribution teams, with sales representatives calling on individual stores to sell music. It ...