AirTrax FAQ — Platform Features, Pricing & How It Works

Question 1

Is AirTrax better than a traditional record label?

Accepted Answer

AirTrax is not a label — it's the infrastructure that replaces what you used to need a label for. Traditional record labels provide funding, distribution, marketing, and industry relationships in exchange for ownership of your master recordings and typically 80-85% of your streaming revenue. AirTrax provides the operational and organizational systems — CRM, campaign management, digital asset storage, release playbooks, monetization strategy tools — that allow you to run a professional music operation without surrendering any of your rights or revenue to a third party. The question isn't really AirTrax versus a label; it's whether the specific things a label offers — a significant upfront advance, genuine radio and playlist promotional power, and proven A-list relationships — are worth the long-term cost of their deal terms. For the vast majority of independent artists, the answer in 2026 is no. The combination of independent distribution, direct-to-fan marketing platforms, and operational software like AirTrax gives artists more control, higher per-stream rates, and complete ownership of their catalog. The artists who choose labels are typically those seeking the specific leverage and capital only a major can provide at scale.

Question 2

How much does music management software cost?

Accepted Answer

The cost of music management software varies significantly depending on the depth of features and whether the platform is purpose-built for music or a generic business tool being adapted. Generic project management tools like Notion or Trello start free but require significant customization to serve music workflow needs and still lack music-specific features like royalty tracking, EPK generation, and industry contact management. General CRM platforms like HubSpot or Monday.com charge $25-100+ per user per month for their business tiers and are built for sales pipelines, not release campaigns. AirTrax is purpose-built for independent artists and is priced as a fraction of what a traditional label, business manager, or full-service management company would charge — services that typically cost 15-20% of your entire income annually. Investing in professional artist infrastructure software is one of the highest-ROI decisions an independent artist can make: the time saved from having organized systems, the deals not missed from a well-maintained contact list, and the royalties properly collected from good metadata management can each individually pay back the cost of the software many times over.