Why Join RetroSynth Records?
RetroSynth Records is a fast growing record label specializing in electronic music, and covering genres such Synthwave and all its sub genres, as well as EDM, Trance, Ambient, Dance, Tribal, Industrial, Vintage, Pop and eclectic electronic music. In short, we support all forms of electronic music. RetroSynth is committed to supporting its artists, who are not only musicians, they are like family. We always take care of our family. RetroSynth Records currently encompasses three distinct sub labels, including RetroSynth, Diskonekt, and Synthetix.
Our Partners and Contacts
We are always striving to partner and work with the best companies, channels, blogs, websites and communities. Here is a current list of who we closely work with:
The 80’s Guy, NIGHTRIDE FM, TWI Records, Aztec Records, SynthValley Productions, Goremall Instruments, Forged in Neon, Danman Tunes, Outworld Sounds, Synth Heaven, Pop Art Ave, Kal-Elle Jagger Show, KSWV Radio Shockwave
We are also connected and friends with some of the best names in the genres we support. Sometimes it is in fact all about who you know, and we know the right people from getting your music heard, to getting you interviews with some of the best interviewers on the net.
Our Website
RetroSynthRecords.com is a website built by our President, Dan Eachus using a proprietary technology built with not only SEO in mind (Dan is Google Certified and makes websites as his “day job”), but also showcases music videos from YouTube. Our technology can pull videos from our YouTube channel and others, captures all the descriptions, META Data and SEO value, and imports it and posts to our website. Then, that video is shared across all our social media accounts, carrying all that data with it. That is huge for the social media algorithms. All videos uploaded to the website are showcased for 10 days across our main image slider, and also always available for viewing in our video galleries. In addition to the video showcases, the website also serves as a hub for all our artists, and each artist gets their own page on the website showcasing all their work complete with links to Bandcamp, social media, YouTube channels, and any special articles, news, etc. No other label has a website like RetroSynth Records!
Our Bandcamp Page/Account
Our Bandcamp page https://retrosynthrecords.bandcamp.com/ is one of the most popular Bandcamp pages in the electronic music genre of Synthwave. We feature our artists, our sub labels, and the amazing compilations that we have become known for. Bandcamp allows us to sell our artists music with the most revenue being shared and earned with our artists, and is the preferred way to sell music other than direct from our website. Our “split” with artists on Bandcamp is handled on a case by case basis, however the normal baseline for this share is a 60/40 split, with 60% of all sales going to the artist. However, special consideration is given to the current presence of an artist, if they become part of the RetroSynth staff (we are always looking to grow!) or any other marketing opportunities that would consider a different split.
RetroSynth Gear / Physical Merchandise
RetroSynth Records is fully capable of either making or sourcing physical merchandise to cover almost every basic need, from T-Shirts and Posters, to Vinyl Records, CD’s and Cassette Tapes. We have capability to outsource large runs with our business partners, as well as do small runs in-house, including T-Shirt, CD, and Cassette Tape Production. All merchandise made or sourced is fully marketed through our various channels including our website store RetroSynth Gear, part of the RetroSynth Records website.
In-House Services – Mixing/Mastering/Graphic Design/Website Design
RetroSynth Records offers In-House Mixing and Mastering services, as well as Graphic Design and Website Design all in house. We have several mixing and mastering engineers on hand, as well as Graphic and Website Designers, all with incredible pricing only for RetroSynth artists and clients. Our engineers have years of experience in their related crafts and have been trained by the best in the business, and look forward to putting their skills to the test to work on your project.
RetroSynth Records Symphonic Distribution
Getting your music “out there” is the primary goal of a record label, and RetroSynth Records is no different. While there are tons of self service options out there, such as Distrokid and CDBaby, RetroSynth handles it all for you, and uses the best distribution platform out there, Symphonic. RetroSynth Records artists are free to keep using their current distributor, however, if you need distribution or want to switch, RetroSynth Records has you covered.
Here we breakdown RetroSynth Records Symphonic Distribution Benefits:
Symphonic is a company that is continually evolving and making huge strides to help artists further their music careers outside of just distribution.
Symphonic Distribution Review – What You’ll Learn
- Why RetroSynth / Symphonic might help you earn more money than CD Baby or TuneCore
- How you can use RetroSynth’s / Symphonic’s features to market and promote your next release
- How RetroSynth / Symphonic can help you make money from your music in places you wouldn’t expect
- How RetroSynth / Symphonic can help protect your music from online piracy
RetroSynth / Symphonic Distribution Summary
- Distributes to 200+ outlets, including Beatport and other less-common outlets
- Automatically adds new outlets for free
- Preorders are available for multiple stores, including iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play
- Offer exclusive pre-releases
- YouTube & SoundCloud monetization available
- Able to distribute ringtones and STEMS
- Free ISRC & UPC codes
- Topple Track anti-piracy service
- $10 to release a compilation album
- Music video distribution available
With that said RetroSynth / Symphonic also offers many noteworthy features not commonly available with other distribution companies. These include preorders for a variety of stores, SoundCloud monetization, and music video distribution. With the new hands on approach it could be said that our willingness to exhaust resources and help artists even more than before will have increased as well.
Once you’re accepted onto RetroSynth’s / Symphonic’s platform, your partnership will see them providing you with more than just distribution. You will be working closely with our team with options for a comprehensive suite of label services including digital marketing, publishing administration, sync licensing, neighboring rights collections, advertising campaigns, physical distribution, graphic and video design, and much more.
Furthermore, RetroSynth’s / Symphonic’s marketing and client team pitches your music to playlist curators and influencers across all of the major digital service providers, crafting a strategy to develop your brand and the music you are releasing.
Therefore, at the end of the day, it really just comes down to what YOU need. Our plan of Distro Plus is very comprehensive:
Commissions & Distribution Fees
The simple and straightforward approach to pricing makes RetroSynth’s / Symphonic’s plan quite competitive compared to other distribution companies on the market.
The only pricing structure is a 15% commission on your music revenue from Symphonic distribution sales.
We don’t think this should be a deal-breaker for you, but this is certainly something to keep in mind.
This is similar to competitor CD Baby, for example. However the difference is that not only will CD Baby make you pay to initially release your music, they’ll also take a 9% commission off what you make on that music. This is, of course, in addition to the cuts taken by iTunes, Spotify, and any other platforms your fans are using to get your music. By the time everyone has taken their share of the pie there will be little left for you indeed.
Additional Stores & Takedown Costs
The digital music industry is changing all the time and you never know when and where the next iTunes or Spotify will pop up. Consequently, it makes sense for you as an artist to keep up to date with new platforms as they appear and make your music available there.
At the same time, keeping up with this task yourself and manually adding new platforms can be quite the chore. For this reason, Symphonic offers to automatically add the new stores for you. What’s more, this service is free of charge!
You’d think this would be a default feature of all distribution companies, but unfortunately that is not the case. For example, competitor DistroKid makes you pay $7.95 per release for them to automatically add new stores. If you don’t want to pay you have to stay up to date with the newly added stores yourself and add them manually. A real drag if you ask us!
If for some reason you decide you no longer want your music available online, RetroSynth / Symphonic will do this for you free of charge. That’s right – there are no takedown costs.
Outlets & Release Options
One of RetroSynth’s / Symphonic’s strongest qualities is the wide reach of online stores and platforms that they distribute to: over 200! This includes typical platforms like iTunes and Spotify, but also some other, more-specialized platforms. Let’s look at an example:
What if you’re an electronic or hip-hop producer? With RetroSynth / Symphonic you can distribute your music to Beatport, Juno, and Traxsource, all specialized stores targeting your particular genre of music.
If you need help knowing which platforms to send your music to and which ones to leave out, RetroSynth / Symphonic offers a special feature to assist you. In the uploading process you have several pre-made lists of different sets of stores you can send your music to. All you have to do is simply select whichever set works best for you!
You can, of course, also just send your music to all stores or manually select each store you want one-by-one.
Speed To Stores
In general, RetroSynth / Symphonic sends your music to the platforms within 3 business days. Here’s how they explain it:
“We generally approve all releases within 24-48 business hours, not including holidays or weekends, and then it can take up to 24 hours to batch and deliver. Once delivered it can take up to 10 days for the individual DSP [platform] to process the content, which is out of our control.”
Because of the possibility of delays, they recommend at least a 2-week lead time, if not 3-4 weeks.
When compared to competing companies, RetroSynth / Symphonic does not have the quickest distribution time. Therefore, if you’re trying to release a last-minute project, RetroSynth / Symphonic is probably not the best choice for you. At the same time though, you ideally should be giving yourself a lead-time of several weeks anyway, so it’s kind of a moot point in our opinion. More on that next…
Release Dates
We think that everyone should agree that setting a release date for your music is a massively important step that can’t be skipped over. Without picking out a release date in the future – a date with plenty of time to promote your release – you won’t be able to build up any anticipation at all.
For this reason, RetroSynth / Symphonic offers the ability for you to set the release date for your music free of charge! This stands in contrast to competitor DistroKid, where you have to upgrade to a more expensive plan for this feature.
RetroSynth / Symphonic recommends allowing at least a 2-week lead time for your release date (though as mentioned above, more time than that is better!).
RetroSynth / Symphonic also offers the ability for an “exclusive release” which will help you to hype up your music even more. Let’s look at this more closely:
What if you could make your release available on just one platform only before it then becomes available on all platforms? That would certainly build up some interest, right? The Exclusive Release feature from RetroSynth / Symphonic allows you to do just that!
Pre-Order
Another way you can build excitement for your release is through a preorder. Fans can pay for the release in advance and then be the very first ones to receive it when it goes live.
RetroSynth / Symphonic includes this preorder feature for free, unlike some competitors. It is available for several different stores including iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play.
If you decide to make a preorder available on Amazon, you’re given the option to enable audio previews too. What this means is that fans can listen to samples of each track before they pay for the preorder.
Also, if you use the preorder on iTunes, you can opt-in to their “instant gratification” feature. This allows fans that pay for the preorder to immediately download a couple tracks (determined by you) even though the full album is not released yet. A really great incentive, that’s for sure!
General Features
YouTube Monetization
While not a standard distribution platform, YouTube offers extensive opportunities for artists to make extra money on their music. If someone uses your music in their video, wouldn’t you like the ad revenue that’s being generated from that video? Well that is possible with YouTube monetization!
YouTube monetization is free to sign-up for at RetroSynth / Symphonic, we just take a 30% commission off the revenue that is earned. Once you sign up, RetroSynth / Symphonic will work to locate any videos using your music and make sure you get the ad revenue from them. This ad revenue is paid out quarterly.
They also help to protect your music by ensuring that no one else can monetize it but you.
Soundcloud Monetization
In a similar way to YouTube, there are now opportunities for artists to make money from SoundCloud! SoundCloud monetization works from audio ads associated with your songs posted on SoundCloud. There are no sign-up fees and you earn 70% of the royalties which are paid out quarterly.
This is a standout feature from RetroSynth / Symphonic as it is not available from many other distribution companies!
Publishing Admin
We think that it goes without saying that everyone is interested in earning extra money from their music. So what about collecting extra royalties then? Royalties from when your music is performed or when your music is played on radio or TV?
To bring you this service, RetroSynth / Symphonic has actually partnered with their competitor TuneCore. The sign-up cost is a one-time fee of $75. After that they take a 10% commission of the publisher’s share. The rest of the publisher’s share and the full writer’s share gets paid to you!
SoundExchange Collection
Not only does RetroSynth / Symphonic offer publishing admin for collecting royalties, they also offer SoundExchange Collection! This service works to help collect royalties paid for the playback of sound recordings on Internet radio, in physical venues, and other places. A 30% commission is taken by RetroSynth / Symphonic and the rest is paid to you.
Keep in mind though that this service is a little specialized and is not marketed to the average client. Rather, RetroSynth / Symphonic typically only offers SoundExchange Collection to big labels and other, similar clients. However, if that describes you, this is yet one more tool at your disposal in making sure you get every penny you’re owed!
SoundScan Registration
Do you think you have the next big radio hit? Want to make sure those plays are counted on Billboard’s music charts? If so, SoundScan registration is a necessity for you!
SoundScan is a special system that helps keep track of sales across the USA and Canada. It is available from RetroSynth / Symphonic for a fee of $10 per album or $2.99 per song.
This is a feature that is rather unique to RetroSynth / Symphonic as it is not offered by any of its main competitors (CD Baby, Tunecore, and DistroKid).
Marketing & Promo
RetroSynth / Symphonic’s list of features continue to add up. They provide their own marketing and promotional services to help you further market your releases and increase engagement around you and your brand.
They provide Branding and Design Services consisting of:
Symphonic also offers a list of Marketing services which include the following:
Lastly they are able to provide promotional services related to radio:
Barcodes
An important part of distributing music to sell is obtaining the appropriate UPC and ISRC codes. Fortunately for you, RetroSynth / Symphonic includes this service for free! You can get the codes you need through a simple generator online when you upload your music to release.
Cover Song Licensing
Do you want to record a cover song but need help with getting the correct licenses and paying out the appropriate royalties? No worries! It is a simple process with RetroSynth / Symphonic due to their partnership with Easy Song Licensing.
Licensing a cover song will cost you just $14.99, plus the royalties that will be deducted as your song is downloaded and streamed. The process for this licensing takes 1-2 business days. An easy solution for what would otherwise be a real headache of a job!
Piracy Protection
There’s nothing worse than working hard and putting countless hours into your music only to discover that it’s been uploaded to a piracy website. Not only does it affect the sales of your music, it makes it possible for others to then steal the music and use it as their own!
RetroSynth / Symphonic works to stop this with an anti-piracy service they call Topple Track. It costs $7.99 per release per month and you can sign up as soon as you’ve submitted your release to RetroSynth / Symphonic.
Once you’ve signed up RetroSynth / Symphonic will work to locate any instances of your music being uploaded illegally and make sure it is removed. According to their website they have a 99% removal rate, with 90% of those removals happening within 24 hours.
Analytics & Reporting
Keeping track of the success of your music online is essential as you build your music career. The data you gather from sales and streaming statistics can be invaluable in learning about who is listening to your music.
To that end, RetroSynth / Symphonic offers sales reports and analytics.
Compilation Album
Let’s say you’ve already put out several releases with RetroSynth / Symphonic… What do you do if you want to follow up those releases with a compilation album? Normally you would have to start from scratch reassembling those tracks to put together a new album. However, RetroSynth / Symphonic offers a streamlined service to help you with this task!
Not only does this tool simplify the process, it’s also more cost-effective because the compilation album only costs $10! More than likely this is a much better deal than paying for a traditional release.
Ringtones & Other Formats
If you’re looking to distribute your music as ringtones, RetroSynth / Symphonic has you covered! They also give you the ability to release your music using the STEM audio format from Native Instruments, a feature useful for producers and electronic musicians.
Music Video Distribution
Why limit yourself to just distributing music when you can also distribute your music videos?!
This service from RetroSynth / Symphonic helps your music video get far beyond YouTube, including such platforms as Vevo and iTunes. It even gives you your own artist channel on Vevo!
This distribution costs a flat, one-time fee of $95.
Artist Payout
The time has come and you’re finally making money off your music online – hallelujah! How does RetroSynth / Symphonic take care of paying you that hard-earned money? Well let’s take a look now!
RetroSynth / Symphonic pays their artists on a monthly basis, assuming you meet the minimum threshold (see below). While not a terrible paycheck schedule, this is much less frequent than competitors such as CD Baby and TuneCore, who pay weekly.
In consequence, if you are depending on a frequent paycheck of your music revenue, RetroSynth / Symphonic may not be your best choice.
Social Media Integration
RetroSynth Records has full social media presence used to promote your music and videos, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Our pages, groups also include Synthwave Philly, Danman Tunes, Synth Heaven, and Indie Synthwave Artists.
Customer Support
Need help with a release? For customer service, we can be reached by email, text or telephone. If you email us, you can expect an answer in 1 business day or less.
Final Verdict
Though not as well-known as some other companies, RetroSynth and Symphonic are one of the best options out there for distributing your music online. We offer competitive prices that help you, as the artist, maximize the earnings from your music. We also have an extensive feature-set that rivals, if not surpasses, our competitors.
