how to release a track

[Morbido]

i can remember someone bringing up that topic, but i couldn't find it via the search...

i know this is not a production forum, but there are a lot of smart and talented guys around here, so i thought i'd ask anyways:

how can i release a track?

let's say i've got my mastered track lying around on some harddrive and i want to get it out there, meaning i want to be able to buy this track via sites like beatport, etc., how can i do that? obviously i'm not on some kind of label - is this the first thing to do? send the track to a label?
is it even possible to release a track if you're not with a label?
and how to make my track available on vinyl?
is there a way to have the track pressed on vinyl (or dubplate) just for me - and how much does it cost me?


i'm sorry, i'm really feeling kind of dumb here, but i'm a real n00b at these things... but i want to learn and i'm sure there are tons of guys here knowing these things much better than me!

[Nicky H]

There's a really cool company that distributes your songs to hundreds of download stores now - http://www.rebeat.com/ - they're in Austria too!

Basically you buy their software for 99 euros and then upload the song to them...

They then distribute it to all the sites and send you your money when the song sells.

I'm thinking of doing it myself, starting my own label and using them to send the tracks out.

Getting a dubplate pressed is easy, but can be quite expensive, try www.drdub.com

[djhipnotikk]

also try cdbaby.com, they do pretty much the same thing as rebeat, maybe for cheaper? weigh your options.

edit: the technical side of it is: in order to get your song sold, you need a product code attached to your song that will be referenced when it sells on one of these stores. that's pretty much what these companies do, is get a product id number assigned to your track. (i forget what the number is technically called)

[mateo]

It's important to keep in mind that, while it's relatively easy to release a track on your own, it's quite difficult to get people to actually buy your music unless you already have a following. It depends on what your goal is, but in many cases getting onto a label is better than releasing on your own.

[Foreverhex]

I'm in this same dilemma. Lately I have been just giving out burnt CDs to DJs in my area. I losing money but the idea is that it will come back later.

[josh@firestorm]

*how to get your music onto beatport*

not really informative tho

[tekki]

Thanks josh! Was about to search for that one.

[josh@firestorm]

no worries tekki, i had the link handy as i sent it to a mate earlier that day

[tekki]

Coolness bro'! Awesome!

[Morbido]

thanks for the suggestions guys!

i'm having a few follower, but not very much, so i'd probably be better off with a label...
actually i'm not trying to get fully into the producer game, just want to release a few tracks
but of course i wouldn't mind selling a copy or two of them...

the idea with the cds also seems very nice, i'll try that one too! i'm pretty confident it'll work out some time...

any ideas for mastering? i already found a few online mastering sources, but i don't want to use one i don't know (these online mastering things could be really anything)...
did anyone of you already have some tracks mastered? where did you do it?