15 Important Resources I use as an Artist

1. Routenote

Routenote is a free distribution service where you can sell and upload you music to major streaming services such as Spotify, iTunes, Amazon Music, Google Play Music, and many more. If you upload for free, once you reach at least $50 in sales you get 80% of the royalties from your music. Make sure you follow all the rules that routenote gives you or yout distribution will not go through.

2. SoundCloud

Most of you have probably heard of SoundCloud. You can upload upload up to 180 minutes (3 hours) of audio for free. If you upgrade to pro you can upload 360 minutes of audio (6 hours). You can set your name, your link, your header and avatar, and you can put whatever picture you want as the cover for your songs or albums.

3. Soundtrap

Soundtrap is a website where you can create music and collaborate with people all over the world. As a premium user you have access to over 100 different drums, guitars, synths, pianos, keyboards, and many more tools for your music. When you first sign up you get a free trial of premium (I have made 6 accounts so far to get free trials). You can record vocals and add effects, upload files and samples directly to the studio, and play directly from your computer's keyboard to the song. When you are finished with your song Soundtrap takes a couple minutes to "mix" it (basically just rendering) and then you can download the song as a file and upload it directly to whatever service you use.

4. Online Audio Converter

This audio converter makes it easy for you to convert audio files into many different audio formats. This allows you to upload to websites that may require a certain file type (Such as Routenote, Bandcamp, etc.) pretty self explanatory and there are a lot of sites like this, but this one is the most simple one I've seen with little to no ads, or confusing downloads.

5. Bandcamp

Bandcamp is a website where artists can upload their music, set a certain price, and not have to worry about copyright, or the other hassles of music distribution. All audio files must be in FLAC format. Many artists use this including Teeks, a band with Austin Feinstein. (you may know him from collabs with Tyler the Creator).

6. Looperman

Looperman is a website with over 100 royalty free loops, that you can download and use in your music. The search tool allows you to search specifically by keywords, BPM, Key, Instrument type, etc. Once you verify your email address you can download loops and use them.

7. Genius Lyrics

Genius is a database of lyrics with at least a million songs, from country to heavy metal to hip-hop. You can add your own songs and add the meanings behind the lyrics and all the information about your music. You can become a verified artist by filling out the Verified Artist Form at the bottom of the front page.

8. YouTube

pretty self explanatory, you upload your music videos here, but they just started rolling out a new feature called Official Artist Channels. It's brand new so for now only really big artists have this feature, and you can't apply for it, but if you look at Tyler, The Creator's YouTube page, you will see that all his songs are listed, along with his official music videos and other things that he, himself uploaded.

9. Spotify for Artists

once you're music is on Spotify and you show up as a page, you can go to Spotify for Artists and claim your artist page. After a week or so you will most likely have access to your Spotify page as an artist. This includes a blue checkmark next to your name, complete control over your banner and profile photo, being able to write a bio for your artist page, being able to upload photos to your photo album,  Being able to put links to your social media accounts in the about tab, Ability to update your artist pick, adding official artist playlists and seeing statistics for your listeners. (take a look at my Spotify page for an example).

10. Google Drive

if i'm completely honest, I have plenty of trouble keeping track of files and accidentally deleting files. If you create different folders on google drive to store different things they'll be there on all of your devices and you can make sure you don't accidentally delete something.

11. Big Cartel

Big Cartel is a quick and easy site, where you can set up an online shop for merch, cds, or whatever you have in mind. I've never actually used it so I can't say much but check it out for sure.

12. MuseScore

MuseScore is a site that has very many midi files for popular songs (and some not popular ones) that you can download and put right into your music software to have more control over a sample, and gives you the ability to change what instrument it is.

13. Instagram

In this day and age, online advertising and communication are crucial. Instagram is one of the most popular social medias out there and you can post your videos, photos, and whatever you need to let people know about your music.

14. Videoblocks

Videoblocks has over 1,000 royalty free videos that you can use to make videos for your songs, or whatever you need.

15. Official Artist Blog, and Email.

Both of these things are crucial to keep in contact with your fans, fellow artists, and maybe labels that might be interested in taking you on. You can make a post for when you want to make new music or people can email you about collabs or any information they may need.

if you want to know more important resources or need help with any of the above ones email me at goodfriendmusic@gmail.com