Essential Software for Musicians in 2021
Upgrade your toolkit this year with some of our favorite software on the market.
Making music or managing those who do? Take a look at these super-handy tools. Since Good Folk and Coalesce created our own music tool last year, we know a thing or two about what makes software for musicians both useful and reliable — and all of these hit the mark.
For easily calculating royalties you owe: Good Splits
Good Splits is our free music royalty calculator that lets creators quickly calculate royalties they owe their collaborators. (You didn’t think we’d make a list of software and not include our own, right?).
All you need is your sales data from your aggregator and a list of your splits (percentages owed on each song), and Good Splits does the rest. You’ll even be able to send and receive payments through Good Splits soon, too!
Sign up and get started here.
For running your own Shopify store: Single Music
Selling straight to the fan is your best commerce move this year. It helps minimize (or eliminate) third-party fees and allows more access to analytics that you can use to further your impact.
No matter what you sell, (Digital Goods, Physical Goods or even Livestream experiences — Single can power all that to make sure your fans get the best experience possible). They are built on the Shopify network so chances are you are only a few clicks away from having all their digital wizardry working for you. One thing we love is that they do report to Soundscan for you so that takes another thing off your plate.
For adding visual polish to your music videos: Ezra Cohen
Whether you are creating documentaries, short films, or just need great visual tools for your latest Facebook ad, Ezra Cohen has the coolest digital assets on the web. His creative fonts, textures, audio effects, and graphics run the gamut from grungy to grainy to glam. Buy a pack of something specific or a full bundle (textures, motion elements, LUTs, templates, grains, graphic overlays, etc.) and in no time your project will look like a trillion bucks.
To collect publishing earnings without a publisher: Songtrust
Not everyone wants a publishing deal. That doesn’t mean you should have to go without collecting your publishing royalties, though. Songtrust is a global royalty collection service created primarily for independent, unpublished songwriters that allows musicians and creators to collect their publishing earnings between deals (or on specific songs).
A one-time fee of $100 gets you an account where you keep 100 percent of the rights to your songs and pay a 15 percent commission on royalties. The best part? You can pick and choose which songs you want Songtrust to represent. Learn more about Songtrust.
For music samples that will blow your mind: Thick Audio
Comes for the drums, stay for a whole lot more. Renowed drummer and producer Darren King’s new marketplace offers up thoughtful sample packs creators will love. His first release his a collection of 350 loops and 675 unique one shots of his signature sound. Check out Thick Audio.
To find that new sound you’ve been looking for: Teletone Audio
We love the new virtual instruments from Teletone Audio because they combine modern tech with really nostalgic interfaces and sounds. Designed to work with Native Instruments Kontakt 5.8+, their packs are created for and by artists trying to capture the unique sounds they felt were missing in the marketplace. What they ended up with are some of the most gorgeous, inspiring and well-crafted VI we’ve ever heard. Your search for inspiration ends here (at least for now). Give Teletone Audio a listen here.
To seamlessly video chat during virtual sessions: Landr Sessions
We’ve opened up the portal for working remotely and we don’t think it’s closing any time soon. Landr is a platform that does everything from mastering to mixing but it’s their Sessions tool that stands out.
It makes it syncing and streaming video and audio directly from your DAW easy so you can collab with your team from anywhere. Now you can get real-time feedback via video without sacrificing sound quality. (Zoom and Google Meet have a long way to go in this department). Plus, you can try it for free before committing to a subscription. Learn more about Landr Sessions.
Need tech help outside of music? Coalesce is eager to answer your most pressing (or embarrassing) questions > hello@coalesce.nyc.
