FAQ's

My release

Can we release what we want?
How much can we release?
How long do you need to get my music on sale?
What genres do you deal with?
Which sites will my music be on?
How does 'pre-release' work?
Why choose digital distribution?

Money and finances

How much money will I make?
What do you get out of this?
If we’re not selling well will you drop us?
How much will we get paid?
How can we pay?
Is the charge per track or per release?

Copyright contracts etc

Will Ditto Music own our songs?

Other

What if a major label wants to sign us?
Won’t people know we’ve paid to release the record?
Can't we just do this oursleves?
How do we know you're not ripping us off?

My release

Can we release what we want?
YOU have complete artistic control. We will release whatever you want – if you like it other people will too.
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How much can we release?
As much as you want – there’s literally no limit. You can upload unlimited tracks for free in your own Ditto Shop and then upgrade each track for £10. With our £55 backend package you can release up to 20 tracks. Any more than this and you will have to submit a new order.
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How long do you need to get my music on sale?
We ask that all releases, including artwork, credit sheet and audio/video are submitted to us at least five weeks before release date.
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What genres do you deal with?
We deal with artists of all kinds. There is a market for all types of music.
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Which sites will my music be on?
This depends on which distribution package you choose. Check out the digital distribution page.
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How does 'pre-release' work?
Your fans will be able to purchase your release on some of our sites up well before the release date. They will actually be able to download it on the release date - any downloads prior to that would count for a different week according to UK chart rules.
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Why choose digital distribution?
There are no overheads like you get with cd manufacture etc. and the tracks stay up forever. It is very easy (and free) to promote via the net and myspace, especially by having links on your websites to where people can buy the track. Most of the population have an IPod these days. With your tracks on ITunes fans can access your material easily - and you get paid for it. We also supply a lot of independent sites that promote themselves heavily.
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Money and finances

How much money will I make?
That all depends on how much you sell. That bit is up to you. On the average, a label will take nearly 90% of YOUR earnings to line their pockets. Ditto receive 0% of your earnings.
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What do you get out of this?
We get a small one-off fee to cover expenses and admin. That is the ONLY cost. You keep 100% of profits and copyright.
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If we’re not selling well will you drop us?
No. You can keep releasing through us for as long as you want regardless of how many or few you sell. However to recieve money owed to you through sales you will need to reach our threshold of £25. If this is not reached it will roll on to the next quater.
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How much will we get paid?
Individual tracks are normally priced between 79p to download. The download site will take cuts for MCPS, VAT and themselves, leaving around 40-50% (ALL of which goes to you). You can also have them available as 'bundles' where fans can buy all the tracks together for a discounted price.
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How can we pay?
All our systems are automated and you will pay online using papypal. If you have a paypal account you can use this otherwise you can use a credit or debit card.
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Is the charge per track or per release?
Distribution packages are set in bands depending on how many tracks you have in your release, obviously it takes more work to distribute more tracks. With our Free Ditto Shop service you can upgrade induvidual tracks to be chart registered.
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Copyright contracts etc

Will Ditto Music own our songs?
No. All copyright is held by you.
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Other

What if a major label wants to sign us?
You are free to sign with another label at any time. We will terminate the Agreement with no cost to you or the other label.
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Won’t people know we’ve paid to release the record?
This is up to you. It is your choice if you want to tell people. Ditto own lots of labels, the names of artists releasing on our labels are strictly private. As far as your friends and everyone else is concerned an independent label is putting out your band’s material. There are hundreds of independent labels out there, we do not allow anyone but the artists to know which are ours.
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Can't we just do this oursleves?
You can't officially release a track without a record label. Otherwise it's just a white label or a demo. You can't get in the charts unless you release through a label as only they can get an ISRC code and catalogue number to identify the track and submit to Catco/PPL and the Chart Company. The one-off fee covers the admin costs and backoffice duties of preparing your track for release and all the help/ contacts we provide to help you with your release.
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How do we know you're not ripping us off?
You will agree to our terms and conditions which are legally binding- outlining our services, clarifiying that you keep 100% of profits and copyright, what we promise to do and how the arrangement will work. (This can be renegotiated upon request.) Only AFTER you have agreed to this will you pay us for any agreed services. Ditto is a registered Limited Company, the business address and contact details are in the terms and conditions.
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