How to sell music & MP3s from your website in 4 easy steps
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Every musician knows the thrill and effort behind recording a track. Just like finding the perfect sound, choosing the right platform to sell music online is vital.
In this blog post, we’ll explore why having your own website matters, how to set it up quickly, and tips to boost your music sales.
Plus, we’ll dive into Sellfy’s features tailored for music producers, like seamless Soundcloud integration, upselling, built-in email marketing, PWYW options, limited downloads, and selling merchandise with print-on-demand.
Let’s get started!
Why should you sell music from your own website?
Today, when streaming rules the music industry, it would seem pretty obvious to move in that direction—I’ll admit that there’s some truth to that.
The vast majority of people these days prefer to listen to their favorite tunes on the most popular streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, and Amazon MP3 Music, shaping the future of music streaming.
Making your music available for streaming is essential to reach your current fans, as well as expand your audience and bring you some recognition.
But the real question is:
How much money can you really earn on music streaming?
To answer this question we must look into the full breakdown of how many streams it takes to actually earn a dollar on various platforms:
As you can see, the chances of getting big payouts from a streaming service is quite low. Even though the situation might change in the future, we still have a long way to go before streaming revenue replaces the money that artists used to make selling physical albums.
While music streaming platforms can put you on the map as an independent artist, it’s more important than ever to have your own space for selling music online directly to the fans who are willing to truly support you.
So, let me be blunt with you—if you want to sell music online, you need your own website. Here’s why:
- You have total control over selling music online;
- You can keep the profit without having to share with a streaming platform, music distributor, or any other middleman;
- You get a space to showcase your brand’s unique personality;
- You can sell music online and merch (both physical and digital) directly to your fans;
- You can sell all kinds of digital downloads from your website, like beats, samples, music lessons, etc.;
- You own your data. With every purchase, you collect your customer’s details, like email addresses. It allows you to build your email list, and keep in touch with them when you release new digital music.
But don’t get me wrong:
Even though having a music website is crucial, it doesn’t mean that you should neglect an opportunity to bring more attention or earn extra cash, whether it’s through music distribution, major streaming platforms, or making your digital music available elsewhere. All’s fair in love and war.
How to sell music or MP3s from your website using Sellfy?
Building a website from scratch seems like a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be.
There’s a solution that can help you navigate the bigger chunk of the work in no time. Sellfy is a great solution for everyone who wants to sell music online but doesn’t like complicated setups.
Anyone who has internet access and a few minutes of time can build a store on Sellfy.
Here’s how:
Step 1: Set up an account.
When you start using Sellfy, all you need is a valid email address. There are three Sellfy subscription plans available. You can start with a 14-day free trial to give Sellfy a test run before you can choose the plan that fits you best.
Step 2: Upload your music.
Once you have your account and your email address verified, you can start adding your digital music (or any other type of product). Just go to the Products section on your Dashboard, then to Digital products, and click on Add new product.
Upload your song, album, beat, sample, music video lesson, or whatever you want to sell. Add product images and some info in the Product description section, so that your fans know what exactly they’re buying. Once you’re finished, hit Save product, and it’s done!
Step 3: Customize your store.
Naturally, since you’re creating your own store you’ll also want to make it look unique. You can easily do that by browsing through the visual editor. Make the appearance of your store match your brand so that it looks exactly the way YOU want it to.
You can customize everything—from text color to the shape of Buy now buttons. You can also choose the layout style of your store page, the number of products per page, and oh-so-much more.
That’s it! Your product is now available for sale.
Step 4: Add payment options.
Now, before you start promoting your listing, you must first make sure that you can actually get paid for your products.
With Sellfy, you’ll be able to easily accept payments from all over the world in a variety of currencies. There are two options available: PayPal and Stripe (for card payments.)
- To accept payments through PayPal, just go to Payment options and type in the email address you use for PayPal.
- To accept card payments, you’ll need to have a Stripe account first, and then connect it to your Sellfy store. You can find out more about how to create a Stripe account and get API keys for your Sellfy shop here.
Bonus: how to skyrocket your music sales
1. Add links to your SoundCloud profile
Without a doubt, SoundCloud is a world champion in free music streaming. Especially if you like the idea of fans and fellow musicians sharing their opinion about your music online.
SoundCloud is one of the biggest music hosting platforms and has become an industry standard. With its huge user base (70+ million users) and over 175 million monthly unique visitors, it’s a great place to host your digital music and build a community.
The service has a subtle design and you’ll find it very user-friendly. You’ll not only be able to share and monetize your music online, but you’ll also be able to get access to statistics on your plays, likes, comments, downloads, and other useful features.
Here are some tips on how to sell music on SoundCloud.
It all comes down to persuading your fans to actually buy from you. There are three different ways to do that:
- Placing the link in your bio
- Placing a buy link
- Linking separate tracks in the track description
Coal Harrison aka The Kount is a successful instrumentalist and a beatmaker with 25k+ followers on SoundCloud.
Sellfy creator The Kount’s stream on SoundcloudHe does an amazing job of promoting his Sellfy store by heavily linking it to his SoundCloud page, thus boosting his digital music sales.
You can get more useful tips on how to make money on SoundCloud in this article.
2. Add links to YouTube
YouTube gives you another incredible opportunity to promote your music online and drive more sales.
Well, you can’t exactly sell music directly from your YouTube music channel. But, what you can do is get people interested in your product by creating quality content and driving traffic to your site.
Today, we won’t talk about creating compelling videos (there are a ton of resources out there on creating great video content). We’ll stick to the technical implementation of driving traffic to your online store, which is an art form all on its own.
Just take a look at the way faraitheproducer takes advantage of his YouTube channel. On an example of his YouTube channel we can actually see how he drives traffic to his store by placing:
- Links in description
- Custom links on profile banners
- YouTube end screen
Learn more about different ways to promote your digital music on YouTube here.
3. Pay-what-you-want pricing
Offering some of your freshest arrivals with the pay-what-you-want pricing model is another way to promote your music online. Of course, there will always be people that will take advantage of that model without giving you anything back. But, you’ll also get some hardcore fans who are ready to pay more—so let them!
By the way, there’s a pay-what-you-want pricing feature available in every Sellfy store. You can easily let your fans buy your music on their own terms and even set a minimum price.
4. Upselling
Everyone wants to make as much money as possible.
However, trying to persuade your fans to choose a more expensive option so you can make more money is simply unethical. It’s, of course, not the same thing as making your fans choose the more expensive option because YOU personally believe they’ll be happy about it.
That’s what upselling is for.
It’s up to you to offer an upgrade to an existing product, but it’s up to your customers to decide if they actually want to buy it.
So what is upselling and how can it help you boost your sales?
Upselling is a sales tactic where the customer is persuaded to buy an additional item to the one already in their cart. For example, if a customer buys one single from your album, you can offer to buy another one from the same album (or the whole album).
The most basic and effective upsell involves offering an additional product as soon as they add one to the cart.
Studies show that upselling (selling additional products to existing customers) works in 60-70% of cases.
It’s definitely worth a try.
If you’re looking for some more info on how you can use the built-in upselling feature in your Sellfy store, you should check out this article.
5. Email marketing
Yes, it might sound a bit old school, but driving sales through your email list can be very powerful. You can use it as an effective way to promote your brand, announce new releases, tour dates, merch, music band videos, and other important news.
Emails give you direct access to your audience, which isn’t always possible to reach through social media. There you’re always fighting for the attention of your follower against hundreds of other accounts they’re following.
At the same time, most people check and read their emails every day. If they’ve opted in to your list, whether it’s to receive news or to download your music online, there’s a pretty good chance they would also welcome an opportunity to support you again.
So I strongly suggest that you start building your email list as soon as possible.
One of the easiest ways to do it is to ask for an email address in exchange for an exclusive incentive, such as a free music download, discount on merch, access to early releases, or anything else you feel your audience might find attractive.
And, of course, you absolutely should announce your newest release through a dedicated email blast sent to your music fan base.
With Sellfy, you won’t have to look for any external services—there’s a great email marketing tool available right in your store’s dashboard.
You can take full advantage of it and send custom emails with links, product announcements, and updates to your selected audience. You can also target specific product buyers or send emails to all buyers and subscribers.
Final thoughts
It’s great to have so many opportunities at hand to help you promote and sell music online. But the key here is to find a careful balance so you don’t overwhelm your audience with the relentless promotion of your music career.
Keep on working to find interesting angles to present your work and improve your marketing strategy. If you stick to a plan and stay consistent, it’ll strengthen your relationship with your fans, drive more sales, and earn you enough money to keep on creating music.
FAQ: how to sell music and MP3s
How do musicians sell music?
There are several ways for musicians to sell music online. You can build a website with an online store on a platform like Sellfy, utilize streaming services, and promote your music on social media. Creating and selling your merch on Sellfy is another way to make money from your music. You could create hoodies, t-shirts, posters, and other products with your artwork or band logo.
How much can you sell music for?
The pricing of your music is ultimately up to you as the music artist. When selling music online, you have the flexibility to set your own prices based on factors like the type of music you produce, market demand, and how you sell music (e.g. streaming, easy digital download, physical album). Experimenting with different price points (anywhere between $0.99 and $9.99 per track) and monitoring customer response can help you find the sweet spot for maximizing sales while appropriately valuing your music.
How can I sell my own music?
Selling music online is made simple with Sellfy. Start by signing up for an account, then create a digital music store where you can upload your music files in MP3 format. Customize your store’s appearance, set prices for your music, and create attractive product listings. Promote your music through social media, your website, and other marketing channels. Sellfy handles the payment processing, and audio file delivery, and provides analytics to track your sales and customer engagement.
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