It’s a busy time for independent artists, with leading voices in the DIY distribution space suggesting that frequency of uploads during COVID-19 lockdown has been off the scale.
It’s been a similar story at Spinnup. But, more generally speaking, compared to its competitors in the DIY distribution space, Spinnup is not a similar story.
Unlike Amuse, CD Baby, Ditto, United Masters, Vydia et al, Spinnup is owned by a major music company, Universal Music Group.
Spinnup, which was originally launched out of Sweden in 2013, has now worked with 80 artists who have gone on to sign to Universal labels. (Universal’s label family includes Capitol Music Group, Def Jam, Interscope Geffen A&M, Island, Republic, Virgin EMI and more.)
Today (May 5), Spinnup has told MBW that it has launched a new initiative that enables artists to release a one or two track single free via its platform throughout the month of May.
The promotion will see this music distributed globally to platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, and Deezer. In accordance with Spinnup’s usual model, all artists who upload via the service get to keep 100% of their copyrights and royalties.
In March, Spinnup launched Creators United, an initiative designed to inspire artists to keep up momentum with their music by providing advice, support and a sense of community.
“From day one, we wanted to create a collaborative platform, fully supporting our artists as they channel their energy into creativity, into music. We are pleased that right now, we are able to help them do that free.”
Nina Usher, Spinnup (pictured)
Creators United has seen the arrival all-new content designed to help artists in lockdown, plus a Spinnup Community Facebook Group and a series of livestream programs. And now, fee-free music uploads.
In usual circumstances, a 1-2 track single upload via Spinnup would cost artists $9.99 / £7.99 a year.
Spinnup’s General Manager, Nina Usher, said: “It is more important than ever for us to support our artists. We know how isolating it can be as an independent artist, and that’s true without the added pressure of lockdown.
“From day one, we wanted to create a collaborative platform, fully supporting our artists as they channel their energy into creativity, into music.
“We are pleased that right now, we are able to help them do that free.”
Artists who opt into Spinnup’s newsletter also received a website link to share with their music-making friends, containing a code allowing them to release a single of their own, free.
As part of the Creators United campaign, Spinnup UK has created Lockdown with Spinnup, a daily livestream series in collaboration with music and fashion magazine, Notion, that provides UK Spinnup artists a platform to perform live and reach new audiences.
Spinnup France has been running the Quarantine Challenge for the past five weeks, inviting artists to create music around a theme, post a video on Instagram tagging @spinnup_fr, and ‘challenge’ their music-making friends to do the same, all for the chance to win prizes.Music Business Worldwide
