INDEPENDENT
Music Distribution &
Publishing Admin
Texas-built. In the independent music business since 1998.
Distribution through Smith Entertainment. Publishing administration through Rick Smith Publishing. Direct relationships with major platforms, worldwide collection, and a real person to talk to about your releases.
Have a record or catalog for us? Send an inquiry.
Distribution
Digital and physical distribution through Smith Entertainment. We deliver to the major streaming and download platforms, many of them through direct relationships. Spotify and international services are covered through our Merlin membership, and we also deliver to digital jukeboxes and physical retail.
Publishing Administration
Rick Smith Publishing handles copyright registration, licensing, sync placements, and metadata, and makes sure your songs are registered to collect worldwide. Songwriters keep control of their songs and get paid properly for them.
For Songwriters
You don’t need to distribute with us to work with us on publishing. Rick Smith Publishing handles copyright registration, song and catalog registration, metadata cleanup, licensing and sync administration, and worldwide royalty registration — while you keep control of your songs.
Since 1998 · Direct relationships with major platforms · Distribution + publishing admin
Distribution pays you for your recordings. Publishing pays you for your songs. A release can earn on both sides — and each side has to be registered and collected separately. We handle both, through affiliated companies, so neither side is left unclaimed.
Everything You Need to Release. Nothing You Don't.
You keep everything. You own your masters and your copyrights. We don’t take ownership or any intellectual property rights. Your music stays 100% yours.
You get paid from everywhere. Streaming, downloads, YouTube and social Content ID, digital performance, and international collection through Merlin. We work to collect what is owed from territories where royalties often go uncollected.
What we help with…
Digital & Physical Distribution · Publishing Administration · Royalty Collection & Accounting · Sync Licensing · Catalog Management & Migration · Content ID & UGC Monetization · Release Planning · Jukebox & Retail Delivery
We're Not Reselling Somebody Else's Pipeline.
A lot of music gets to the platforms by passing from one aggregator to the next. Every layer between you and the platform is another place for money to slip, and another place where a metadata error takes weeks to trace instead of hours.
We deliver to major platforms through direct relationships wherever we have them, and we’re a Merlin member, which covers Spotify and international services. We also reach digital jukeboxes and physical retail.
Fewer hands in the chain. Fewer places for money to disappear between the stream and your statement.
Faster fixes. A wrong date or a bad credit is a call we make, not a ticket we file with a middleman.
Jukeboxes and physical retail, too Most open subscription upload services don’t offer digital jukeboxes or physical retail. We do — so if your fans hear you in a bar or buy vinyl at the merch table, that revenue is within reach.
An Independent You Can Check, Not Just a List You Can Read
Since 1998. A Texas independent, started by Rick Smith Sr. in Fort Worth and still family-run in spirit: treat the music, and the people who make it, like they matter.
Tools You Can Log Into. Delivery and catalog management through AudioSalad. Royalty accounting through Curve. One place for your catalog, statements and streaming analytics.
Places Open Upload Services Don’t Go. Digital jukeboxes and physical retail alongside streaming, download and social — so revenue from a bar or a merch table is within reach.
Selective, on Purpose. Many of our artists, labels and writers come to us through someone we already work with. Inquiries are welcome; we reply when there’s a fit.
Where It Started: Live at Billy Bob's Texas®
In 1998, Rick Smith Sr. and Billy Minick put professional recording gear into Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth and started the Live at Billy Bob’s Texas® series. That’s where Smith Music Group began.
Send Us the Record
We’re selective about who we work with. Many of our artists, labels, and writers come to us through someone we already work with — a manager, a producer, or another artist. If someone referred you, tell us who.
Inquiries are welcome, and we review what comes in. We can’t reply to every one. If it’s a fit, you’ll hear from us.
