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FREE DIGITAL DISTRIBUTIONS WITH iTunes

iTunes is one of the distributors our clients enjoy having their music submitted to by us.See the list of our digital distributors

How does iTunes sell my music and/or music videos?

There are currently seven iTunes stores:

• iTunes United States, selling music and music videos only in the U.S.
• iTunes Canada, selling music and music videos only in Canada
• iTunes U.K., selling music and music videos only in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland
• iTunes Europe, selling music and music videos only in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland (Republic), Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland
• iTunes Japan, selling music and music videos only in Japan
• iTunes Australia, selling music and music videos only in Australia
• iTunes New Zealand, selling music and music videos only in New Zealand

IMPORTANT: The following iTunes stores are bundled together so that when you become our client, you get your music delivered to both:

• iTunes U.K. and iTunes European Union are bundled as a single destination store for your album(s) for all clients, as iTunes U.K./Europe.
• iTunes Australia and iTunes New Zealand are bundled as a single destination store for your album(s) for our clients, as iTunes Australia/New Zealand.

All iTunes stores sell music and music videos only as permanent digital downloads (no streaming is offered) that the customer owns and uses in the Fixed Pay Rate Permanent Digital Download model. Customers can purchase songs or music videos individually for a per-song/per-video price, or customers can buy albums whole (not music videos), getting every song on that album for one set price. However, this isn’t always the case. See below for EXCEPTIONS.

Most often, iTunes sells individual songs at $0.99 each. Most often, albums are sold for either the sum of all the songs on the album (for albums with ten or less songs), or for a single set price of $9.99 for albums over ten songs. See below for EXCEPTIONS.

For example, if your album has five songs, an iTunes U.S. customer can either buy the songs individually for $0.99 or the whole album for 5 x $0.99 = $4.95. If you had another album with 12 songs, an iTunes U.S. customer can either buy the songs individually for $0.99 or the whole album for $9.99.

EXCEPTIONS: iTunes (and all other digital retailers, for that matter) reserves the right to sell music and/or music videos any way they want and at any price they want. When your songs or albums or music videos sell, you will always receive the required amount, but iTunes can sell your music or video for a penny, a million dollars or anything in between. For music, iTunes reserves the right to make a song "purchasable only with the album." That is, no button would be placed next to the song itself, no option to download it on its own would be available to the iTunes customer. iTunes does this solely at their own discretion. Sometimes they do it to long songs (presumably because a 73-minute song would be too much of a bargain for just $0.99, since that’s a whole album’s worth of music on a single song). Sometimes they do it to very short songs (presumably because $0.99 is too much for a 10-second song). Sometimes they simply adjust the price. However iTunes decides, bandgator has no say in the matter, and neither do our patrons. Regardless, once a song or an album or a music video sells, you will be paid the required amount the moment iTunes sends the money. There is no withholding of any sort, not from iTunes, not from bandgator.

Remember, only albums can be set to sell in stores/services, not individual songs. All songs are grouped into albums, and however the album is set to sell, so will all the songs on that album.

For questions about how iTunes sells music videos, please click here.

What do I get paid when my songs or albums sell from the iTunes store(s) I chose?

When an individual song or album or music video sells from an iTunes store, you get a fixed "pay rate," the same pay rate for all independent record labels. (Click for more information about the Fixed Pay Rate for music Permanent Download model). Remember, only iTunes can set the sale price, but no matter what they sell that song or album or music video for, you always get the current pay rate. Even if iTunes wants to have a discount, say, offering its customers your content for a penny each, you still get the full pay rate every time one of your songs or albums sell.

In most stores/services, albums sell differently, so the pay rate is different:

HOW MUCH IS THE PAY RATE FOR MUSIC?

bandgator takes none of the money from the sale of your music. You get it all. For the iTunes U.S. store, you receive $0.70 per song sold individually and $7.00 per album with 11 or more songs sold in its entirety.

You are paid the pay rate in the local currency of the country where the sale occurred. For example, if an album or song sells from the iTunes Japan store, iTunes Japan pays in Japanese yen (¥). The money is converted into U.S. dollars by the bank and forwarded on to you. As always, bandgator takes none of the money from the sale of your music. You get it all, but be aware that bank conversion rates are out of our control and can change from day to day–the bank will convert the currency into U.S. dollars based on what the exchange rate is at the time the bank receives the money.

For songs sold individually through the iTunes stores, you receive the following:

Albums are sold in two possible ways:

• Albums under 11 songs are priced by the song. To calculate how much you would receive from the sale of an album with less than 11 songs, multiply the number of songs by the pay rate of that iTunes store.
• Albums with 11 songs or more sold in their entirety have a set pay rate listed below.

For albums with 11 or more songs sold in their entirety, you receive the following:

HOW MUCH IS THE PAY RATE FOR MUSIC VIDEOS?

For questions about sales work for music videos through iTunes, please click here.

IMPORTANT: All of the amounts for music and/or music video sales outside of the United States are subject to the terms, conditions, taxes and laws of those countries, including:

• International treaties
• Fluctuating exchange rates
• Local city, state or federal taxes
• Tariffs and local restrictions
• Current trade status any countries enjoy with the United States
• Some countries have special rules, so that even before taxes, tariffs, exchange rates or treaties kick in, some money is deducted by the store to pay fees and royalties dictated by local copyright laws. So from the amount you receive for sales of your music in that country, some amount will be deducted to pay the copyright holders under the local copyright laws. Even if the copyright holder is you, some laws require certain royalties to be paid out in that country. However, no matter what, you will get paid the pay rate, after taxes, exchange rate adjustments, etc.

Remember, because of currency exchange, these pay rates can vary from country to country and from day to day. For example, if you sell one of your songs through the iTunes U.K./Europe store, you ultimately may get a little more or less than the pay rate listed in the above tables, depending only on the foreign currency exchange rate the moment the bank received the money. How much more or less? That changes from day to day, but always, we promise that you get 100% of whatever your songs earn for you.

EXCEPTION: Japan has some special rules, so that even before taxes, tariffs, exchange rates or treaties kick in, some money is deducted by the iTunes Japan store to pay fees and royalties dictated by local Japanese copyright laws. So from the sales of your music in Japan, some portion will be deducted to pay the copyright holders under the copyright laws of Japan. Even if the copyright holder is you, Japanese laws require certain royalties to be paid out in Japan. However, no matter what, you will get paid the pay rate less this amount, after taxes, exchange rate, etc.

EXCEPTION: Both Australia’s and New Zealand’s governments withhold 5% as a tax on all sales. This amount is already deducted when you receive your accounting.

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What is iTunes Latino, and how do I get into it?

iTunes Latino is a sub-store within iTunes U.S. specifically for content of interest to the Latino community. It consists of a home page and feature pages, lists, reviews, specials and other promotional material targeting the Latino demographic. Depending on the sales of your music, iTunes may direct the editors of iTunes Latino to place your music on best-seller lists and other promotionals.

All the rules, restrictions, pay rates and territories of the iTunes U.S. store apply: music in the iTunes Latino sub-store is sold as iTunes U.S. music, and is available only in the United States. All sales will be reported as regular iTunes U.S. sales.

Your content does NOT have be in Spanish or Portuguese to be in the iTunes Latino sub-store, but it must be germane and appeal to the Latino community. iTunes reserves the right to determine what is or is not appropriate for the iTunes Latino store, and will remove any items it decides are misplaced there. IMPORTANT: bandgator cannot decide if your content is appropriate for iTunes Latino, and iTunes does not provide specific guidelines. It is up to you to decide if your material belongs in the iTunes Latino store or not. If iTunes rejects or otherwise flags your material as misplaced in the iTunes Latino store, bandgator will abide by iTunes’s decision unilaterally.

To have your album included in the iTunes Latino sub-store, simply CHOOSE LATIN AS ONE OF THE TWO GENRES for your album when selecting genres from the Your Album page. IMPORTANT: All albums with the genre selection "Latin" will be eligible for the iTunes Latino store. All albums with "Latin" as one of its genres WILL BE PLACED in the iTunes Latino sub-store, unless iTunes’s editorial staff determines otherwise. Again, only iTunes decides what should or should not be in iTunes Latino.