On April 3rd I received this email from the Google Play Music Team.
Google Play Artist Hub Artist,
Thank you for using the Google Play Artist Hub. We hope that the Artist Hub, Google Play Store, and Google Play Music have substantially contributed to your music career.
With the launch of YouTube Music last year, we eventually plan to replace Google Play Music with YouTube Music. In anticipation of this change, we are shutting down the Artist Hub. The Artist Hub shutdown will commence on April 30, 2019. Please note these key dates:
• As of April 30, 2019
Your content (e.g., tracks, albums, images, bios) will no longer appear in the Google Play Store or Google Play Music service (including the paid streaming and free radio service).
You cannot upload or add new content.
You cannot edit or remove existing content. See instructions below if you’d like a copy of your artist image and/or bio before then.
• By May 31, 2019
You will receive your final reports and payments (for all sales and streaming activities, if any) through April 30, 2019.
• As of July 31, 2019
Your reports will be deleted from the Artist Hub. Please download any reports you want before then.
We encourage you to become a YouTube Artist if you aren’t already -- please visit YouTube for Artists for great resources to get you started.
If you would like to make your music available for purchase/download, we recommend one of these YouTube partners:
• AWAL
• Believe
• CD Baby
• Stem
• TuneCore
Thank you for helping to make the Google Play Artist Hub, Google Play Store, and Google Play Music a success. If you have any questions about this shutdown, please email artist-support@google.com.
Sincerely,
The Google Play Music Team
As an independent artist, I was not very happy about this update. The Google Play Artist Hub allowed me to price my albums to whatever I wanted, and more importantly it allowed me to distribute my self titled album for free.
Luckily I have already been distributing my music to the Google Play Store through DistroKid. Overtone's albums will still be available, but they are sold at DistroKid's slightly higher fixed pricing.
I did a bit of research and decided to use bandcamp to distribute Overtone's self titled album. Now listeners can name their price, it can be available with a donation or for free. In addition, songs can be added as new albums are released without the need of Google Play Artist Support approval. Using the Google Play Artist Hub, I was only able to add songs to the album by first deleting the entire album and then recreating it. Any changes to my account or my albums were reviewed and typically took a few days to complete. Bandcamps site is so much easier to update and customize. I'm loving it so far.
You can check the new page for Overtone's self titled album at overtone.afteraudio.com (https://afteraudio.bandcamp.com)