Suggestions for a free-share platform

JeffF

New member
If I were to pursue creating a free-share platform for other musicians, what would be some inexpensive options of platforms to consider? (I am not well familiarized on a technical level with distribution, commercial or not.)

Your insights are appreciated, JeffF.
 
You mean like SoundCloud or ReverbNation, or you want to actually create your own website for a similar purpose?
 
I initially thought to explore something of a music upload/download template for setting up and maintaining of platform from home, as hosted from a large data-storage device tied to a dedicated computer.

I've only visited YouTube for instructional videos. Would YouTube would be an option for setting up a free-share channel? I do not know what channel actually means though it appears to be a means of organizing various videos under a common umbrella (owner of the channel).

Hosting domains, like those you mentioned, so long as not requiring sales would seemingly be practical in streamlining the process for a non-technically experienced person like me. It would not be a nonprofit in the legal since of the word, but to cover hosting costs and time spent in maintaining the site donations might be welcomed. Would those mentioned allow simply purchasing hosting space (per growth in need of size) without any other fees involved?

Thanks, JeffF.
 
[MENTION=195285]JeffF[/MENTION], it's still not clear to me why you want to do something that seems to already exist in various forms; with most, save YouTube, still searching for a business model that even breaks even.

If you want to post videos, there's YouTube, or you can create a musician/band page in FaceBook, or do both, and there are others in that area, too.

If you just want to post audio tracks, there's SoundClick, SoundCloud, BandCamp & ReverbNation, to name a few.

You can also just post any kind of file in "cloud" storage like DropBox, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, et al, though it's not designed for music and doesn't support the kind of searching the media-specific sites do.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your intent, or the resources you're bringing to this, but besides the obvious capital costs of public cloud hosting, there are a slew of legal issues that the mentioned sites continuously face and resolve that, for me, would just make it an unfathomable minefield.
 
Youtube is probably your best option at the moment in terms of paying nothing. However, like Keith has said, it's best to create a wide-reaching presence on the Internet if you want to become more successful.

As far as paid options go, the distributor I use for my music is Distrokid. They have a very cheap yearly plan that will get your music onto sites such as Spotify, Itunes, Apple Music, iHeartRadio, and many more. Find them here: Upload & sell your music on iTunes, Spotify, Amazon and Google Play | DistroKid
 
[MENTION=196982]keith.rogers[/MENTION]/forum community:

Yes, posting would be only audio tracks for Christian music (any genre in form but probably mostly Pop orientated) . . . the free-share aspect relates to distribution of songs with musicianship that are listenable but less than commercial in quality . . . the lyrics are central as being of benefit to others in their faith. (These would likely be songs by "any town" corner churches' worship bands who'd like to simply be of wider encouragement to others--not musicians looking for wide distribution commercially.)

Importantly, I was thinking of pipelining to on-line Christian radio station(s) that would need material, linking back to a central download platform I'd operate--the lack of paying royalties (by online radio formats) might be attractive over paying for commercial Christian songs--of course, with copyrighted permission of the originators of the music I'd organize.

With this information, what would you consider avenues of distribution, if you do not mind further supportive comments? (If there are templates I could easily use for setup, I could store the songs on a several TB hard drive that can be daisy chained per expansion needs.)

Is there a easy (predesigned template) means of creating a homepage of some sort that could be set up on a home computer with the songs listed and selectable for download as well as uploading directly by users? I'd have to leave the computer operating 24 hours I suppose.

I've seen on YouTube songs that do not have videos but rather use picture slides . . . I could encourage musicians to post pictures of church activities. However, the few channels I've looked are not very organized though this might be a lack of those owners not being technically knowledgeable in fully using YouTube capacities, of which I am also uninformed.)

Are any of the formats you originally mentioned practical toward this goal? (Having a hosting site would allow for using templates, since I am not technically up-to-date of hands on creation of a site from scratch.) YouTube, to my limited knowledge thus far, does look practical.

I wouldn't be looking at monetizing my efforts, perhaps a donation platform to cover any hosting costs if using such a domain.

I'd respect your choice not to further comment in supporting a Christian format for any reason; after further thought, I found it only fair to give you or others that option to help such a goal--Regardfully, JeffF.
 
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There may be others, but Distrokid is a very good bet. It can allow you to tie back to iTunes or Spotify for purchase of your songs. Most music sites really don't focus on a genre, you just label it what you would like to target. Even if you do decide to have your own website, you can always point back to one of the sites.

Most sell your music for $.99 and give $.89 for each sale. About as good as you are going to get. Spotify pays you for listens, not much, but they pay. Your job would be to promote and get your music listened too.

Setup would be simple, get your songs ready for distribution, pat Distrokid $25, upload to Distrokid, they push it out. If there are issues with it, they will let you know. Pretty easy and you can remove and add unlimited.
 
[MENTION=195285]JeffF[/MENTION], I'm still not getting a feeling that we're quite on the same page as to the scope of what you're describing, and what "hosting" of any of these capabilities would require. It's not something you'd do on a couple of servers and hard drives in a closet, but, these days, a website and "virtual" storage created in the cloud, like AWS or similar, or with the help of a website hosting service like GoDaddy that has lots of templates and plans to support all kinds of businesses. And these are just ones that popped into my head - I know there are myriad ways to get there.

We're talking LOTS of money and technical expertise - something well beyond my world and most "home recording" folks, if that's really what you want to do. (And I retired from a career in hi-tech doing back-end server stuff for public and private websites!) Now, if you have $millions to invest, then I'd really suggest you go start talking to some companies that do this sort of thing. (And hire a lawyer while you are at it, because you're going to need one.)

And, maybe you just want to create a portal, i.e., to aggregate different music sources from YouTube, et al, but that's pretty easy today with just a Facebook business page or simple website at GoDaddy. Again, still a little fuzzy.

If you just want to use existing platforms, I'd suggest scouring the internet and joining some CC music forums, and perhaps a large Facebook community and start asking questions there. They may direct you to exactly what you're looking for.

P.S. I found an interesting site/blog at �� Streaming Christian Music - TheOverflow.com just from googling around - I have no doubt a lot of what you are posting about is already out there if you poke around, and maybe just a portal is all that's really needed. ([MENTION=136361]DM60[/MENTION] - that site references DistroKid on the /submitmusic page.)
 
[MENTION=196982]keith.rogers[/MENTION]:

I deeply appreciate your helping me to see where I am in learning curve. For example, may I ask what is a "CC music forum" that you suggested joining--I'm not sure of what "CC" means?

Thanks, by the way, for taking the time to search the topic for me.

Per your suggestion, I'll look for a specific forum(s) that discusses usage such as YouTube and portals with templates among other options not yet familiar to me (in finding a simplistic, inexpensive investment ($50-75 per month), low-maintenance format I can establish for musicians to free-share).

I can see that the first step includes learning common language with terms such as portal, platform, domain, distribution and so forth. Do you--or the community--know of a resource I can obtain that might help me begin learning such definitions/concepts rather than pick them up second hand?

Along the way, I'll look to support others on this forum as I grow from others help in technical knowledge in recording/mixing.

Thanks for sharing your experience--JeffF.
 
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...what is a "CC music forum" ....
CC = Contemporary Christian [music].

Seriously, except for distribution of our own music, your questions are not really "home recording" oriented. It seems that what you are describing is, in my opinion (IMO), better addressed in an online forum more specific to your area of interest, starting with a focus on the kind of music, because people active in that area will know of other sites that may be already providing exactly what you are looking for. In my search there's a Facebook community with over 300k members, so you might get more relevant feedback there, for instance.
 
[MENTION=196982]keith.rogers[/MENTION]:

Your suggestion of finding a forum relative to my stated goal is appreciated.

In closing this topic, thanks for your and others' replies toward elevating my understanding how music is made available to end users.

While building up that knowledge base elsewhere, I look forward to gaining and contributing further on our forum on topics relative to home recording/mixing.

Best of health--JeffF.
 
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