Prologue: How it Started
Years ago, I remember writing to Apple asking how to get my music on iTunes. Apple Music wasn’t even born yet. They replied-professionally, helpfully introducing me to music distributors that I didn’t know existed.
Apple literally started me on this journey. The irony of what follows has not been lost on me.
Day 1: The Optimistic Beginning
I wrote my debut book on artist rights history in Tamil, starting from before the printing press. Apparently, I’m drawn to obsolete battles, because next I decided to become a classical composer in the streaming age.
I was inspired by the sheet music era and stories of Handel and Bach (who never had to argue with an algorithm about genre classifications), I moved from my DAW to a notation software. When I finished my first Piano work, I felt accomplished. After years of writing sync music in isolation, I was ready to share something that was truly mine.
Day 13: The First Encounter
RouteNote used to be free and took WAV files. Now they’re still free but only accept MP3s for the free plan. Look, I get the economics. Storage costs money, and I’m not exactly generating Spotify millions. Algorithms don’t chase me and I don’t chase them; we have a mutual non-aggression pact.
But twenty days for customer support? Twenty days! Wagner could have written another Ring Cycle. That’s when I realized the distribution landscape had transformed while I was peacefully writing sync music.
Day 45: CDBaby and the Discovery
I recalled having a decade old release with CDBaby. Decided to move to CDBaby. It is not free, but they responded before I forgot I’d written to them. Days later, I found my music on Apple Music Classical. I didn’t even know this existed. It’s like discovering a secret room in your house with your furniture already there.
Encouraged, I released a Sonatina and started a Theme and Variations that took sleepless nights.
Day 73: The Hunt for HD Audio
CDBaby doesn’t accept HD audio. Yes, most people listen on phone speakers that make everything sound underwater. But what if want to preserve the rosin of the first chairs for the twelve audiophiles who care. They’re my people. I was writing my new Passacaglia for them.
I decided to try a distributor marketing special platform relationship. I subscribed, submitted, and then...
Day 89: The Genre Wars
They insisted my classical work should be labeled “Instrumental.”
“But it’s a Theme and Variations. In C Major. With….”
“Instrumental.”
“It follows classical form…”
“INSTRUMENTAL.“
I let them distribute it their way. Then it appeared in Qobuz’s Pop section.
POP.
“Echoes in My Chamber: Theme and Variations in C Major, Op.3, No.1” sitting next to contemporary hits. That was the day I dropped opus numbers from titles. If you can’t beat them, stop giving them ammunition.
Don’t ask me why I use opus numbers. I know I am not Beethoven. Because he started losing hearing at my age, but I am just developing tinnitus.
Day 112: The Landscape Survey
Back to CDBaby, who distributed it properly. No drama, just basic competence. Revolutionary.
But still no HD audio. The search continued:
Ditto Music: No HD audio
LANDr: No Classical to Apple Music
iMusician: Want classical AND high-definition audio? That’s their top tier. Though credit where due, they keep your music up even if you stop paying.
Soundrop: The interface seemed to be having an existential crisis. Each edit created a new release. But wait—they accept high-definition audio, and at $0.99 per track? Their system must be flooded with everyone writing a passacaglia for strings to leave a legacy.
Day 124: Understanding the Game
I get it now. Serious distributors are expensive or invite-only because they’re filtering for people who actually make money. Classical metadata requires extra work that isn’t worth it for bedroom producers generating three streams annually.
Then Soundrop raised prices to $4.99. I actually felt relieved. Even their interface seems to be relieved from creating new releases on its own.(pay-per-release is better than subscriptions in my opinion, even if they are expensive.)
Day 126: The TuneCore Tragedy
Desperate, I paid TuneCore’s annual subscription. Then discovered:
They only have “Classical Crossover” (Bach feat. Billie Eilish?)
They can’t deliver classical to Apple Music
Refund policy: “All sales are final” (That is not a refund policy!)
My only real complaint? Tell me upfront. Don’t let me pay THEN mention you can’t deliver to a platform I want to.
Day 156: The Horus Compromise
TuneCore refunded me on request.
Then came Horus Music. They accept classical. They handle HD audio. They seem competent. Responsive customer care. The catch? I can’t choose individual stores.
So, the Passacaglia lives on Boomplay but not Qobuz. It’s like carefully plating a meal, then watching someone serve it wherever they feel like.
But at least it’s reaching somewhere, properly labeled, in the quality I intended.
Day 168: Bandcamp Discovers Curation
Meanwhile, Bandcamp, the one place where my music sits exactly where I put it, introduced “expert curated” playlist subscriptions for fans.
Even the direct pipe wants to become a platform. Even the place that let you just be now wants intermediaries between artist and listener. The experts will curate. The fans will subscribe. The algorithm creeps in through the back door, wearing a turtleneck and calling itself “human curation.”
I understood the economics before it happened. I still felt the weight when it did.
Day 171: The Collective Gambit
Which brings me to Subvert, a collectively owned music platform. Musicians owning the infrastructure. No algorithmic intermediaries. No genre wars with distant support teams.
The irony isn’t lost on me: I spent 170 days navigating distribution chaos, only to help build another platform. But this time, the inmates run the asylum. We’re the ones deciding where the Passacaglia lives.
Will it work? Ask me in another 170 days.
For now, I’m a founding member of a cooperative while simultaneously being distributed by Horus to platforms I don’t control, maintaining my Bandcamp where I have complete control, but curators are arriving, and figuring out what Subvert is going to be.
Epilogue
I’ve picked Soundrop for my next release. Unsubscribed from Horus Music today. They’re taking down the Passacaglia from Boomplay.
The question that persists: Is distributing to streaming platforms worth all this trouble?
This isn’t just my story. Many artists live this. They just don’t write about it.
That’s the difference.
PS: This post I published elsewhere. This is a revised edition with updates
The genre classification nightmare is such a real problem. What's wild is that Spotify and Apple built entirely separate classical apps with proper metadata structures, but distributors still route everything through pop-oriented systems. The HD audio gap makes sense though, most distributors assume their clients are chasing playlists, not audiophiles. Your collective platform angle is interesting but the unit economics are tough if you're not optimizing for scale.