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How to Make Money as a CD Distributor With No Investment

Becoming a CD distributor is tough enough as is, with digital distributors like Amazon and iTunes dominating the CD distribution industry, and becoming a successful CD distributor without any initial investment is even harder. In general, becoming a CD distributor without initial investment requires making yourself inherently valuable as a distributor (e.g., compiling a market analysis of a local area and amassing a network of contacts), contacting talented artists, and persuading those artists to pay for the cost of the CDs and the distribution upfront.

Instructions

    • 1

      Increase the value of your services to a prospective artist or band. Complete a market analysis of your local area by taking surveys (either by phone, focus group or email) of the music preferences in your area. Also visit the local bars and other areas bands frequent, and find out the music preferences of those audiences and event managers. Contact stores that sell CDs for information about what sells best in that area. In the process, develop a list of potential contacts (store owners, music lovers, event managers) that will help you create a market for your future artist.

    • 2

      Find a talented artist, and make an offer. Either scour the local bars and other musical events for talent, or search online for music talent in your area. Websites like MySpace Music and PureVolume allow you to search for artists by location. Contact the artist directly by in-person conversation (e.g., at a music event), phone or email (depending on the contact information available to you), and offer your services. Use your market analysis and contact network of store owners, prospective fans, and event managers to leverage your offer.

    • 3

      Persuade the artist to pay the upfront cost for creating the music CDs (e.g., buying a CD burner, paying for the blank CDs, etc.). Use your earlier market analysis to estimate how many CDs should be burned. This will ensure you do not have too much excess inventory.

    • 4

      Distribute those CDs at a price agreed upon by you and your artist to store owners, fans, and event managers.

    • 5

      Use the fees and royalties collected by the sales of those CDs to attain a legal license as a CD distributor. To attain a license, contact Broadcast Media Inc. (BMI), and complete the needed paperwork as stated on the website. BMI "is recognized in U.S. copyright law as a licensor of music, [and] currently represents more than 400,000 copyright owners and their more than 6.5 million musical works." Once you have attained a legal license and a basic revenue stream to build on, you should be able to expand your network of CD distribution after completing market analyses and developing contact networks in other areas.

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