What does it cost?
GlobalTraxOnline.com charges an Initial Setup Fee of $75. We also charge a monthly maintenance fee of $20, which you will pay regardless of how many tracks you sell.

How long does it take for an album to go live once I pay the Initial Setup Fee?
On average it takes about 4-6 weeks to go live on all online stores. Some stores update faster than others, with Amazon generally taking under a week, Napster and Emusic about a week or two, Rhapsody about 2-3 weeks, and iTunes about 4 weeks. Some of the others can take up to 6 weeks. Remember that GlobalTraxOnline.com does not have control over when your album goes live, but these are averages that are based on our experience with each DSP (digital service provider).

Is there a way to expedite my release?
No, unfortunately there is no way for us to expedite your release.

How do I get paid and when do I get my money?
You will receive 82% (eighty two percent of net wholesale sales) from all digital stores for each and every title you submit to GlobalTraxOnline.com. Most stores (like iTunes) send your sales information and money within 45 days after the end of the month in which the sale took place. As an example, if you had sales in the month of February, the stores send your sales information and money to us by April 15 (45 days after the end of February). Some stores, like eMusic and Napster (for streams only) send your sales information and money within 45 days after the end of each QUARTER. So if your music sold in those stores any time during January, February or March, you’ll know about all three months by May 15. On the rare occasion that your sales information is posted later than that, it is due to delays in reporting from the stores. We do not pay you until we have received the money from the online store that sold your album/track.

Can I make changes to an album once I have paid for it?
There is no way to make changes to an album once you have paid for the delivery. We distribute your album immediately to the stores and therefore cannot make changes to the delivered album.

How do I take down an album or track that is being distributed via GlobalTraxOnline.com?
The Initial Service Term (per our Terms and Conditions) shall commence on the Effective Date (the date that you paid your initial set-up fee to GLOBALTRAXONLINE.com) and shall continue for a duration of (12) twelve months and can be terminated with notice to customerservice@globaltraxonline.com anytime after the initial twelve month period. After the initial twelve month period, you must provide us with 30 days notice and we will initiate the removal of your album.

How do I submit my album and cover artwork for distribution?
Please note that we do not accept uploads of your music to our website or via e-mail. To protect your music from online theft, we ask that you mail two physical copies of your completed album or track(s) to our mailing address.

GLOBALTRAXONLINE.COM
413 Rt. 940 Suite #305
Mount Pocono, PA 18344

MAIL CDS TO OUR HOME OFFICE ADDRESS ABOVE. WE WILL SCAN YOUR COVER ARTWORK FOR DELIVERY TO ONLINE STORES. ALTERNATIVELY, IN CERTAIN CASES YOU MAY EMAIL YOUR CD COVER ARTWORK IN THE FOLLOWING FORMATS TO OUR CUSTOMER CARE EMAIL ADDRESS AS LISTED BELOW:

customerservice@globaltraxonline.com

Artwork can be in one of the following file formats: JPG, GIF or PNG. The image must be a perfect square and at least 600×600 pixels in size (1600×1600 is suggested). All artwork must be in best-quality RGB Color mode (including black and white images) and must have a resolution of at least 72 dpi.

Do I have to be at least 18 years old to sign up?
No! But you do have to be at least 18 years old to do a financial transaction. If you have music you’d like to put into our service and you are under 18 years old, ask for help from a parent or guardian.

What should I know about UPC Codes?
A UPC (”Universal Product Code”) number is nothing more than a group of numbers that are exclusively associated with your album, EP or single. That’s it. A BARCODE is a way for a machine to read the UPC numbers. The UPC numbers appear in graphic form as vertical lines: the lines represent the numbers of your UPC in a way that can be scanned and understand by a computer. A UPC/Bar Code allows physical stores to order your CDs easily. It also allows easy tracking of what has sold in both physical and digital form.

For CDs, UPC/Barcodes tend to be between 12 and 15 numbers long. There is a mathematical formula involved in calculating some of the numbers. That is, some numbers are assigned, others appear due to a math formula based on all the other numbers.

Your album, EP or single should have its very own, one-of-a-kind UPC/Barcode. If not, two albums, EPs or singles with the same UPC/Barcode will confuse computers and people: they will not know which album, EP or single they are ordering or tracking.

Your album, EP or single needs a unique UPC. With Globaltraxonline.com, there are two options:

You already have a UPC/Barcode and want to use it. No problem, just enter it and it will be used.
You do not yet have a UPC/Barcode. We will make one for you. We are offering this service free of charge.

What About ISRC Numbers?
For tracking and accounting purposes, each of your songs needs its own unique ISRC number. An ISRC (”International Standard Recording Code”) is assigned to each song. This allows easy tracking of each song, such as keeping track of how many copies of it sold. Each ISRC is associated with only one song.

Each ISRC number is a total of twelve characters in a combination of letters and numbers. For example: US SB5 0501001.

Your songs need unique ISRC numbers. With GlobalTraxOnline.com, there are two options:

You already have your own ISRC codes for each song and want to use them. No problem, just enter each song’s ISRC and they will be used.
You do not yet have ISRC codes. We will make them for you free of charge.

If we assign your songs ISRC numbers, you are free to use them any way you like for anything else you like at no extra charge. You can continue using them even if you are no longer a globaltraxonline.com customer. Globaltraxonline.com will never re-use your ISRC numbers. If you want them, they’re yours to keep.

IMPORTANT: A single requires both an ISRC (for the song) and a UPC (for the “album”): as far as stores are concerned, a single is merely an album with one song.

What can I name an album, EP, single or a song, or even my band?
Although you can choose almost any title you want for your album, EP or single and almost any song name for your songs, there are important restrictions:

You cannot include in any name such reserved characters as a slash, an asterisk and others.
Neither your band name, your album/EP/single name nor your song titles can be URLs or email addresses.
Abnormal or unusual capitalization may be ignored or undone by the stores. Consider your listing in the stores as a catalog entry, not a place to establish your identity with unusual capitalization.

What makes up a song?
We call a “song” (some people call them “tracks”) any piece of music or sound that appears on an album, even if it’s the only item on the album. No matter how short it is, it’s still a song: every audio file you send us is considered a song, even if it’s called “Part One” of a larger work. Songs are separate from one another, even if artistically they belong together as sections of a larger work.

How long can a song be?
A song can be as long as standard audio CD can hold: about 74 minutes. If your song is very long, it may not leave much room for other songs. Don’t forget the golden rule: an album/EP/single can only have 74 minutes of music on it, no matter how many songs it’s divided into. If you have one song longer than 74 minutes, you can break it up into multiple albums/EPs/singles.

What makes up an album, EP and single?
We call an “album” anything from two songs to as many as you want. Even if it’s an EP, we still call it an “album.” If your album has dozens and dozens of songs, you can still upload them, but remember, an album can hold no more than 74 minutes’ worth of songs, no matter how many songs it’s divided into. For example, you can have an album with ten songs, each song about 7 1/2 minutes long. You might have an album with only one s ong that’s 74 minutes. You might have lots of songs and they add up to less than 74 minutes. The only rule is, an album can’t be longer than 74 minutes.

What about audio books?
We can accept spoken word albums (AUDIOBOOKS), EPs and singles. After you have signed up we will encode them for electronic distribution.

How do Explicit Lyrics work?
Albums, EPs or singles with explicit lyrics are permitted on iTunes and other stores (except GroupieTunes), but they must be marked explicit. This is voluntary, but if it is later discovered your album, EP or single has explicit lyrics and you failed to indicate it, both GlobalTraxOnline.com and the stores/services reserve the right to remove it at any time, or it may be rejected right from the beginning.

What if my album, EP or single needs an album cover?
Our graphic department can create one for you for a low price, assuming that:

You fully own the rights to the image.
You have the rights to use the face or image of anyone in your artwork, especially if it’s a photograph.
If someone else provided you the image, you have permission from them to use it.
No logos, trademarks or any other text or images can appear unless you own them or have permission from the owner(s) to use them. For example, you can not have a logo from a soda company, restaurant, gas station, store, etc., in the background. If things like that show up in your artwork, Globaltraxonline.com might ask you to prove you have ownership or permission.
No obscenity or pornography can appear in the image.
Words that appear in the image are spelled correctly and are legible
The image is not blurry or distorted.
The image is square.
The image does not include any “stickers” or indications of limited sale. For example, if your artwork has a blaze on it reading “iTunes U.S. Exclusive!” we will deliver it only to iTunes U.S.
Remember: Globaltraxonline.com and its partners reserve the right to reject any artwork at any time for any reason.

How do sales and payments work?
There are three ways your music can earn you money in the stores and services you choose:

PERMANENT DOWNLOADS
A Permanent Download means someone bought your music from a store and downloaded it to their computer, cell phone or some other media device. Each time your music is bought, you get paid. There are currently two ways that you get paid by Permanent download:

You get a Fixed Pay Rate every time someone purchases your music for download, where you receive an unchanging, predetermined amount of money each time your music is bought. The Fixed Pay Rate remains the same no matter what the store sells it for. Even if the store sells your music for a hundred dollars or a penny, you still get the Fixed Pay Rate.
You get a Subscription Pay Rate every time someone purchases your music for download, where you receive a variable amount of money each time your music is b ought. The Subscription Pay Rate is different every pay period, and is typically based on four things:
- How many songs were downloaded in a set period of time (monthly or every three months),
- How much money was made by the store or wholesaler in the same time frame,
- What “expenses” are deducted by the store or wholesaler, and
- What percentage of the remainder is contractually owed to you.

The following stores all offer a Fixed Permanent Download model

iTunes (all stores)
iTunes Video
Napster (also offers Streams, see below)
Rhapsody (also offers Streams, see below)
MusicNet (all stores; also offers Streams, see below)
Groupie Tunes
Amazon MP3
Lala.com
ShockHound

STREAMS
A Stream is when someone listens to your song (not music video) but does not own it and has not downloaded it. People usually listen to streams as part of a subscription model similar to the Subscription Permanent Downloads (see above), paying a monthly subscription fee for the access. In many ways, it’s like your fans joined a service that lets them rent your music. As soon as they stop paying their monthly rental fee, they will not have access to listen to your music. Each time more than thirty seconds of your music is listened to, you get paid a fee called a Streaming Pay Rate

There are typically two ways to listen to a music as a stream: “Tethered” and “Non-Tethered” streams:

A Tethered Stream means the media player (usually a computer) must be connected (or “tethered”) to the Internet at all times in order to listen to the music.
A Non-Tethered Stream means the media player (either a comput er or, more often, a portable iPod or iPod-like device, like a Creative Zen Vision, Toshiba Gigabeat, and so on) only needs to be connected to the Internet once a month for the service to confirm that the user has paid their monthly subscription fee. After one month, if the person either stops paying their fee OR if the person does not connect their device to the Internet to verify that they have paid, the songs will stop playing on their computer or portable player.

Each time your music streams, you get paid the Streaming Pay Rate for that store.

EXCEPTION: Some stores let potential customers stream for promotion or as a “free trial.” In those cases, even though your music may stream, you will not get paid.

The following stores/services offer Streaming Pay Rate:

Napster
Rhapsody
MusicNet (all stores)

PROMOTION AND MARKETING DEPARTMENT AND ADVERTISING (AS DETERMINED ON A INDIVIDUAL BASIS)

There are some new services that allow people to listen to your music (not music videos) for free. In return, the services sell advertising space on the Website where people must go and stay in order to listen to the music. The amount of money you receive each time your music is listened to is predicated on how much money the service made in advertising revenue.

Does GlobalTraxOnline.com promote my music online?
We do not promote your music. Promotion of your music is up to the individual artist, band, or label. GlobalTraxOnline.com does provide certain promotional opportunities for an additional cost. Please inquire at customerservice@globaltraxonline.com.