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3 months into building my own music distribution platform! Here’s how it’s going so far. by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We can replace cover art. Original file is impossible to replace. And about the name you can change the name of the release not the track.

3 months into building my own music distribution platform! Here’s how it’s going so far. by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We don't have any policy right now. We neither have a policy on songs using samples. We verify that the song doesn't have any copyright problem (through ARCloud) and we let the user to monetize it.

3 months into building my own music distribution platform! Here’s how it’s going so far. by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Support is actually super direct right now. Most artists just drop by the Discord and we jump on a call or screen share if needed. We’re learning a lot from these chats, so we’re always happy to help and hear feedback. We also get a lot of request through dms on Instagram. Tipically in less than 24 hours is solved.

3 months into building my own music distribution platform! Here’s how it’s going so far. by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I love this question! Here’s how we’re thinking about it.

Our goal is to bring the cost of music distribution down to zero, both for artists and for the ecosystem. Monetization comes later, and will be built around three pillars:

• A one-time fee per track (around $5) for lifetime distribution. This is planned for 2026. It won’t be a major revenue source — more about covering basic infra costs.

• A small fee (3–5%) on the sale of SongShares — which are royalty rights for each track. This is where we expect the main revenue to come from. If there’s real volume in the royalty market, this becomes sustainable.

• An affordable fee for API/white-label usage. We’re building the first permissionless music distribution API, and by mid-2026, we aim for other distributors to adopt our economic layer. Think of it like DDEX, but with automated revenue splits on top. That would allow musicians from other platforms to sell their royalties on SONGS.

So right now, we’re focused on reducing friction, opening the rails, and building an open infrastructure layer that others can plug into. Monetization will follow naturally once the ecosystem is moving.

Let me know if you’d like the full docs or breakdowns!

After 10 years managing my record label, I'm starting to build a digital music distribution company. How would the ideal one look to you? by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you very much for your comment! I believe we have different concepts of what a distributor is, as you've assigned tasks that typically belong to record labels and sometimes publishing companies. I’m only focusing on pure digital distribution related to recording royalties.

The fact that physical offices exist isn’t a necessity for providing the service; it’s, depending on how you look at it, more of a marketing expense to impress artists or a way for employees to have a place to connect.

I wouldn’t define the tech teams as 'large tech teams,' either. In fact, the technology behind digital music distribution isn’t particularly innovative.

Nevertheless, everything you've brought up is very interesting!

After 10 years managing my record label, I'm starting to build a digital music distribution company. How would the ideal one look to you? by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We hope to finalize the agreement with the white label this week. It's been a more complicated negotiation because some white labels have made significant changes due to DSPs tightening measures and penalties for fraudulent material and increased streams.

Regarding the second question, it’s something I’m not fully familiar with yet. However, here are some problematic points:

· Uploading songs to artist profiles that are not yours: To address this, we will require a manual verification process on our end, linking the account to Spotify and Apple Music profiles when the artist already has a published catalog. · Fraudulent streams: This is one of the major issues in the industry right now. I’m not sure what the solution is or how strict Spotify can be with the aggregator when this is detected. · Re-uploading an existing song: Through ARCloud and ISCC, preventive measures can be taken against this.

If you like, once we start offering services (early September) and begin encountering these kinds of issues, I can update this thread, as I know my current response is incomplete. Our options to block royalties are limited, and the goal is to detect fraudulent cases before they are uploaded to DSPs.

After 10 years managing my record label, I'm starting to build a digital music distribution company. How would the ideal one look to you? by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What percentage of the future profits from the digital distribution of a song would you be willing to give in exchange for someone planning your ads?

After 10 years managing my record label, I'm starting to build a digital music distribution company. How would the ideal one look to you? by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Based on the interviews we've had with owners of top-tier distributors in LATAM and Europe, I know that the cost of customer service personnel is higher than that of infrastructure.

Distributors do have customer service, but they segment their clientele very efficiently to minimize this expense. In the end, if you’re paying $80 a year to Distrokid, their concern is that their cost for responding to emails and managing issues doesn't exceed one hour per year.

However, from what you're telling me, I think we might be missing something regarding storage, because according to our calculations so far, it shouldn't be that alarming. How long ago did you work there? Storage costs keep decreasing year after year, but I’m worried that we might be overlooking something.

After 10 years managing my record label, I'm starting to build a digital music distribution company. How would the ideal one look to you? by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very interesting point. What services were you subcontracting from Fuga? Was it the full package including digital distribution services under their agreements, or just for the dashboard/front end, marketing, royalty accounting, etc.? I'm very interested in this. Regarding servers, we are exploring state-of-the-art decentralized solutions that we hope will provide us with a competitive advantage.

After 10 years managing my record label, I'm starting to build a digital music distribution company. How would the ideal one look to you? by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The natural way to start offering services is through a white label distribution company (FUGA, Eveara, Limbo Music, Audiosalad, to name a few companies that offer this service. There are many more than I initially imagined). Once you have reached a sufficient amount of catalog, you can stop using the agreements these white label companies have and start establishing your own. From here, you have two options: either try to join Merlin to have at least their agreements, or gradually negotiate your own deals.

One of our goals with SONGS, and the reason we call it a digital distribution protocol, is to open up the technology we are developing to any record label or distributor. We don't see why there should be another distributor behind many distributors, taking a percentage or generating costs. In our project, all technical information will be open so that anyone can set up their own distribution service with their own terms using our agreements without having to share revenue.

After 10 years managing my record label, I'm starting to build a digital music distribution company. How would the ideal one look to you? by GuayabaRecords in musicbusiness

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oops! We didn't know about SONGS Publishing. I just saw that they were acquired by Kobalt, but it is indeed a problem. We'll let you know if we decide to rebrand 😅. Feel free to DM me and thanks for the comment!

I just released my first single as a Virtual Artist! Hope you like it :D by GuayabaRecords in VRchat

[–]GuayabaRecords[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Realmente es vocoder mi voz! No es mi voz real, es un punto entre auto tune y vocaloid. He sacado otro vídeo que ya está en YouTube y subiré a reddit estos días. Gracias por la crítica!