Don't get me wrong here; I think Audius is great in theory, but not in implementation (I can't claim any Audius I earn on the site) and Band Camp is almost everything for which I'm looking (except the high percentage it and PayPal take from anything I sell — 25% — and only two people have actually bought anything I've released there). One thing Band Camp could do is offer the option of selecting a one minute sample for potential buyers to hear (like iTunes does), instead of an entire song. As it is, it's possible for someone to rip a track from the site without paying for it. SoundCloud is out of the question, since I quit using it when the ToU changed to include terms which I didn't like.

Since OpenSea and SolSea have given me technical issues (I'm unable to do anything with NFTs there, including mint and distribute them), they're also out. Even if I was to find an NFT marketplace that works for me, I remain dubious that I'd actually sell any albums or tracks that way. I'm probably one of the few people that still buys music as FLAC, M4A or OGG files (through Band Camp and iTunes), instead of streaming it. That whole deal with having an always-on fast Internet connection and downloading vast amounts of data more than once just isn't going to happen any time soon. I'll download stuff once, put it on external storage and play it as much as I like, whenever, wherever (because that's the way I feel about it).

... and that's the deal, my dear ...

Clearly, I need to find another platform if I'm going to get my music out to a wider audience than my YouTube followers and CVn. I'm sure as hell not going to join Amazon Music, Spotify or Youtube Music, but I do think it's definitely time to change my approach. Reluctant as I am, putting a few promo tracks, if not whole albums, on a few streaming service hosts (preferably ones that pays me for plays) is probably the way to go. So, with that in mind, I went in search of them. Here's some of what I found and which jingles my bells on initial impression (from reading descriptions alone; actually looking at policy/ToU documents and trying them will come later), in no particular order:

Funkwhale

"... music streaming service that helps you upload, share and enjoy music. Music can be browsed by artist, album, genre, playlist, or record label, as well as by direct searches."

• Decentralised: Yes
• Supports Self-Hosting: Yes
• Open-Source: Yes
• Runs on *Nix: Yes
• Website: https://funkwhale.audio/ | https://dev.funkwhale.audio/funkwhale

Navidrome

"Web-based music collection server and streamer. It gives you freedom to listen to your music collection from any browser or mobile device."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: Yes
• Open-Source: Yes
• Runs on *Nix: Yes
• Website: https://navidrome.org/ | https://github.com/deluan/navidrome
• Key Features:
  • Light enough to run on a Raspberry Pi
  • Handles very large music collections
  • Streams virtually any audio format (including Opus)
  • Reads and uses files' metadata
  • Themeable and responsive Web-based interface

MixCloud

"Explore 50+ million radio shows, DJ mixes and podcasts made by passionate creators around the world, for free. The Mixcloud app gives you a free listening experience to enjoy anytime, anywhere."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://www.mixcloud.com/
• Key Features:
  • Wide range of genres from which to choose
  • Gives artists/creators their own channels

Logamp

"Whether it be music, art or even literature, Logamp specializes in sharing your creation with the world with tons of users worldwide. Meet new musicians and artist and even future authors. Connect, love, and be creative with Logamp — The New Indie Forefront."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://www.logamp.com/
• Key Features:
  • Ad free
  • Seems to support both audio and eBooks (audiobooks?)

Audiomack

"Free, unlimited music hosting and discovery on Desktop, Web, iOS, and Android. Used by over 5 million users every month and major artists ... Unlike other platforms, Audiomack is completely free for artists, no matter how much storage they need. Beautiful embed players, private tracks, advanced stats, and much more are included in all artist accounts - no premium membership needed. For fans, Audiomack is ad-supported, and is completely free with unlimited listening and downloads."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://www.audiomack.com/
• Key Features:
  • Used by major artists
  • Don't need a premium account to access all features
  • Available in the Google Play Store and Apple App Store
  • Supports multiple languages

SoundClick

"The best independent music community on the net. Listen to music, buy and sell beats and albums.

... [Since 1997,] our mission has been to work on the artists' behalf, to make their music easily available online.

We're a small team, but we're passionate. Our staff is highly dedicated to get you sorted out in case you run into any problems. We never allow any kind of harrasment or bullying on our site.

As a company, we always strive to be ethical, without cutting any corners. We allow our artists to sell or license their music through us, and believe that there will always be plenty of people willing to support artists by purchasing their music. We take copyrights very serious [sic]. Because we believe that artists deserve to be properly credited and imbursed for their art."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://www.soundclick.com/
• Key Features:
  • Supports artists whom want to sell their music
  • Good alternative to SoundCloud
  • Seems to take copyright and ethical issues seriously.

Octave

"Octave is an audio hosting service for professionals, with the tools you need to store, embed, play, and share your sound. Just upload your files, and they’re ready to play. Everywhere. Instantly."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://octave.is/
• Caveat: Requires payment for accounts (which is fair, considering hosting and streaming audio is expensive, but you might pay more than you make)

ReverbNation

"ReverbNation provides over 2.67 million music industry professionals — artists, managers, labels, venues, festivals/events — with powerful, easy-to-use technology to promote and prosper online. A wide array of distribution and promotional solutions provide the hands-on tools and actionable insights that allow musicians and industry professionals to reach their goals in an increasingly complex music world. ReverbNation operates worldwide with customers on every continent."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://www.reverbnation.com/
• Key Features:
  • Used by professionals.
  • Available for Android and iOS.
  • I've encountered it before. It seems quite heavily used by rockers, not the main genre of my music.
• Caveat: It seems to be more a tool for promoting music than hosting/streaming it. Still, that could be useful for directing people to where music is hosted.

TuneSelf

"Music streaming for the next generation of independent artists and their fans. Free, no ads, no subscription. Music you will love but would have never discovered. Independent record labels and artists from all over the world. Stream and enjoy the best music for free."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://www.tuneself.com/
• Caveat: Not sure if the music is streamed for free. I'll have to check, possibly providing only sample content.

Mozaart

"Mozaart.com is a new way to listen to music. A place where you can find every information you want on you favorite artists and discover new independent musician based on our AI algorithm promoting small, unknown rising stars. We aim at putting everything together from lyrics to instrument and track facts."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://www.mozaart.com/
• Caveats: Music is streamed for free; the English in the description could use some work, which makes me dubious of the site's quality.
• Top Feature: It supposedly promotes small indie artists.

Blip.FM

"A blip is a combination of 1) a song and 2) a short message that accompanies it. The way you create a blip is to first search for a song that you want to hear (or a song that you want your listeners to hear), then add a short message (under 150 characters), finally you submit it."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://www.blip.fm/

Blip might be useful for promo content, particularly a message to the effect of, "If you enjoyed this sample, please head to Band Camp for full-length tracks".

Vowave

"VOWAVE is a social network for music listeners and artists. Stream or download unlimited music daily and let your favorite artists get paid!"

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://www.vowave.com/
• Key Features:
  • Dark mode
  • Artists can set up and customise profiles.
  • Artists get paid for their content.
  • Analytics/Statistics on user activity, for artists
  • Artists can report pirated/copyrighted content.
  • Users can stream as much content as they want.
  • Users can comment on what they listen to, which provides feedback for artists.

MiXoLiCiouS

"MiXoLiCiouS is an audio hosting service where you can upload and share your tracks, remixes, and DJ mixes as an alternative to SoundCloud."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://mixolicious.com/
• Key Features:
  • Dark Mode
  • Pay for storage space once, keep it until you delete your content.
  • Supportls lossless audio formats.
  • Custom-sortable public and private tracks.
• Caveat: Requires once-off payment (perpetual license) when creating an account and uploading tracks

Music Gateway

"Music Gateway, a worldwide music industry marketplace where you find music industry jobs, music cloud storage, music news, and further your career in the music business.

We help accelerate your music career and generate opportunities. So to receive daily job postings worldwide, start a collaboration, co-write and find music jobs online, simply get started today."

• Decentralised: No
• Supports Self-Hosting: No
• Open-Source: No
• Runs on *Nix: Don't Know
• Website: https://musicgateway.com.com/
• Key Features:
  • Gain access to music industry jobs and creative work around the globe
  • Represents independent music and artists for TV, film, advertising & games
  • Helps artists and bands monetise their content
  • Demo submissions: Helps funnel talent and introduce artists, bands and songwriters to a wealth of professional brands, companies and individual A&R
  • Provides a wide range of music promotion and PR services to help you achieve your career goals. Every campaign is carefully planned and designed specifically for each artist.
• Caveat: Requires payment(s)

Deezer

"Deezer is an Internet-based music streaming service. It allows users to listen to music content from record labels including EMI, Sony, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group on various devices online or offline."

Deezer is one of the main heavy-hitters, like iTunes and Apple Music. If I can get my music playing (and selling) on those (using a paid service like CD Baby or DistroKid), I'm pretty much sorted (assuming they don't take a huge cut — which they probably will — and will refund me if none of my stuff sells within a year — which they probably won't).

I found many more (across ten pages of listings), but I'm not going to make this post overly long and leave you embarrassed for choice by listing all of them. If you're intersted, please have a look at the two AlternativeTo.net links in "Resources". Since this post mainly deals with Web2 options, comments suggesting NFT/Web3 platforms are welcome.

My Own Website

While I have no intention of setting up an eCommerce side to my site any time soon or host much (if any) audio/videoa content, I am probably going to have to set up a payment portal (most likely using Now Payments) at minimum at some point, since I am tired of using PayPal and it taking a cut. What I can do as a first step is have a music page with links to the various places on which my music can be found (both NFTs/Web3 and not), sort of like LinkTree in concept but without using it. For those sites which offer streaming for free, I'll just upload promo/clip/sample content and link to them using Nanowall, so that anyone whom wants to listen will have to pay me a small amount of Nano (XNO). I do want to make crypto/money for my creative efforts, after all.

What's Next/Outstanding?

I still need to find (id est, investigate/try) an NFT marketplace or two that I like and launch the BBYC collection, as well as the BDSM & Fetish dolls. Then there's a new album to release (but probably not on Band Camp, for a change). Ah, so much to do, such little time management ...

Of course, I could (and probably should) learn Node, C/C++, Rust and Web3 development and add all this to my own site in an eCommerce/NFT marketplace section after I finish learning PHP, Laravel and Symfony. However, hosting multimedia content has its downsides (bandwidth-heavy, etc), as covered in a previous post. Frankly, I can't be bothered right now; my focus needs to be elsewhere.

Right, I'd best get back to setting up my GNU/Linux machine with the software I require to be productive, then find some actual paying work (including additional sites to Fiverr and Upwork, for freelancers/independent contractors); gotta spread my net wide if I'm to catch any fish and live off that (and, hopefully, be able to afford a new rig and acquiring more crypto).

Thumbnail image: Poster's own artwork, Buy My New Record