After having been out of the on-line stores for a little over a month---3 of my albums (The Secret Life of Boys, Rush Push, and Remixes Demos & Bootlegs) are back in a big way. Thanks to the fine people at Mondo Tunes.
Mondo was…maybe still is…one of the biggest digital distributors in the world and at one time handled a couple of other artists you might have heard of: Lady Gaga, Rihanna, and Black Eyed Peas, to name a few. In addition, they handle all of Universal Music Group's artists. And now they handle me as well.
For a number of years, I was signed to INgrooves, and they handled my distribution. This was back before everybody and their little sister had a “deal” with Distrokid. At this point, DK didn't exist yet.
Eventually, I ended that deal and ReverbNation, for a time, took over. But the trouble with RN and CD Baby and most of the other well-known "content aggregators" is that every year, they want you to pay them more money to keep you in the stores.
Now, mind you, we're talking about digital files. Once they are sent to the various online stores, no further work is required...so why do I have to pay over and over again to keep my albums available? This was always a pain in my backside as no shipping or shrink wrapping or...anything else...was needed just to stay in a digital store. They didn't have to do anything more. But they always wanted more cash to keep me where I was at iTunes and Amazon and so on.
Anyway, Mondo Tunes takes a one-time fee for each release, and after that they leave you alone. They also return 100% of royalties returned by the stores to the artist.
Theoretically I could drop dead this afternoon and my tracks would go on selling for eons to come.
In addition, Mondo puts me in far more stores than I ever was with any of my earlier deals. INgrooves, ReverbNation, CD Baby and those guys get you into maybe 40 to 50 stores. Mondo now has me in 750 stores in 100 different countries. That's a nearly 20 times increase.
So, if you have some time check me out at iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, Rhapsody and hundreds of other stores. Wherever you buy tracks chances are I'm finally there.