I didn't know where else to ask this question but here goes...

When you buy a song from Amazon Mp3 or iTunes, or listen to Pandora or Rhapsody etc., do you ever wonder exactly where the music comes from & the process involved to get it there?
Does a record company group own a data center then rent the catalog to services like Rhapsody & Pandora, or does each service own its own data center & is thus responsible for creating the music files by ripping cds, or do they purchase digital files in bulk from the record companies?
 
Does anyone know the entire process for getting a song to a digital distribution service after it is recorded & mastered?
 
I found an article on Apple's data center in North Carolina:
[link=http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2011/06/06/steve-jobs-provides-a-look-inside-the-idatacenter/]http://www.datacenterknow...nside-the-idatacenter/[/link]
but this data center seems to be for user content & not the original source for iTunes' store.
 
It would be cool to create a flow-chart for the entire process.

I've done it quite a few times.  It really isn't that complicated.  iTunes, rhapsody etc partner with distribution companies (like CDBaby) or major lables to receive content.  Each has their own prefered format and it is up to the distributor to convert the content to the appropriate file type.   iTunes is the easiest and most profitable in my experience.  Not much different than selling a physical disk.  They keep their fee and give you the rest.  Not to mention they are usually abe to get the music up within a few days of submission.  Others like rhapsody and Amazon can take months. 

We have been doing ours through Reverbnation. Check out our page there at http://www.reverbnation.com/wallowsound You can purchase the digital distribution packages (a few to choose from), upload your content to them once & they get it out to however many vendors are included in the package you chose. In our case it took about a month for our album to go live on the big ones like iTunes & Amazon.

The bigger problem is getting the buzz started to attract people to your music. Getting the music on the distribution sites is the easy part.....once it's there it is competing against tens of thousands of artists and their songs for the listener's attention and money.

Yep we are playing out constantly, Promoting, Social networks, our website, RN page, always trying to drive new people to our music, We get some radio play on the local show on Sunday nights (they played 1 of our songs in regular rotation this morning!), and we are on about 15 different internet radio stations so far getting regular airtime on those. 
  It is hard to keep the ball rolling that is for sure.

Hi Chuck, Why would you pay some $250 per YEAR. VS. Like $70 "forever" with CD baby?
I think they do the same thing.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding someone's pricing. Also, an addendum, That I guess the $250 would be for 2 titles I think.

Thanks

I think the package costs us about $35/year. Good to know though.... I may check into it for future releases. Because we have so much done through ReverbNation I suppose we did it that way because it was easy...? haha We also changed our website, I own the domain and had a site I designed their, but ended up changing to one hosted by them because their site is more interactive, visitors have access to our store, music (at the bottom of all pages while viewing the site), videos,more photos & they load way faster than I could get it to, guestbook etc. That runs us about $17/month but it's sooo damn cool! http://www.wallowsound.com