Single Music: a New Platform for Bands Selling Music Online

Independent bands looking for a sales platform to handle all their needs in one place can now turn to Single Music, a new app that can be added to the marketplace standard Shopify webstore platform that checks a number of important boxes for musicians.

For those unfamiliar, Shopify is a white label webstore solution, meaning a store’s owner can customize it to look however they like and install it on their own domain rather than being locked into the rigid format of certain platforms like iTunes, Bandcamp, etc. Through the Single Music add-on, which can be installed through the Shopify app store, artists and labels can directly sell their music both physically and digitally, with instant reporting to Nielsen for official Billboard chart tallying and without the multi-week waiting periods typically required by other platforms. Single music is also Nielsen-compliant with official rules for popular “Bundled” package sales (i.e. physical product accompanied by a digital download).

“But doesn’t Bandcamp do all of that?” I hear you saying. In addition to the short answer being “no” — the Bandcamp format isn’t customizable, as you all know, and buying music there feels like you’re buying from Bandcamp instead of directly from the artist  — I asked Single Music CEO Tommy Stalknecht that same question, since it seemed likely there was more to it than just that.  Stalknecht told me that in most cases Single Music’s pricing structure beats Bandcamp, with a fixed rate of 15¢ per track (as opposed to 15%) and no cut whatsoever on physical merch and album sales (Bandcamp takes 10%). There are some additional costs — Soundscan reporting costs $10/month, and Shopify itself starts at $29/month — but the pricing could certainly shake out in your favor depending on your needs and the customizable nature of the store is quite alluring.

More information on Single Music is available here.