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Distribution Deal Prices Are Soaring as Competition for Artists Heats Up

With distribution deal prices soaring, it's increasingly challenging for some distributors to win seven-figure bidding wars for artists.

As these have become more desirable, competition for high-performing artists seeking distribution deals has gotten fierce, according to a pitch deck Stem has sent to potential investors, which was obtained by Billboard. Historically, digital distributors didn’t help artists much with marketing or radio promotion; they were basically tech companies that made music widely available on places like iTunes and Spotify in exchange for a small percentage of sales. This change raised eyebrows in some corners of the music industry, because the ability for artists to disentangle relatively quickly is a big part of why they choose to work with companies like Stem.

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