DistroKid: The best music distributor for independent Artists

With streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music dominating the industry and being the go-to place for people to go and listen to their favorite artists, it’s no surprise that lot of companies started doing digital distribution for independent artists, producers and startup record labels.

Essentially what every music distributor does is:

Get your music on to streaming and license it to services such as Spotify, YouTube Music and Apple Music.
Collect the revenue from your recordings and pay it out to you.

With that being said, all these companies have something different from one another such as extra features, pricing, playlist pitches and more.

Choosing the right distributor can be a daunting task for independents. Learn why DistroKid is the best distributor for independent artists.

Pricing & Plans

DistroKid works on a subscription plan basis, for each and every plan you’re guaranteed things such as:

The option to distribute as many songs as you want
Upload your lyrics to music stores
Create royalty splits when collaborating with other artists and producers
Access to customize your Apple Music, Spotify profiles, as well as the option to get an official Artist channel on YouTube
Mobile app access

If you’re like me, then you probably don’t like subscriptions… But in my opinion, for the option to drop as many tracks as possible it is definitely justified. Compared to distributors who let you pay once for a release, if you plan on releasing more than 4 songs, then you can see how everything adds up per release.

Musician plan

If you’re just starting out, then this is a great opportunity for to get started for just $23.99 a year. But still, since this is the cheapest plan, you get to miss out on things like a custom (ISRC) code, which helps you identify your music across all of the internet and a custom release date, meaning you can plan out your releases and have them come out on the dates you want.

Another disadvantage is that the label source for your songs is a random generated name with numbers such as “DK Records 12345”, which doesn’t look good.

Musician Plus plan

In my opinion, the best plan for the pricing, for $39.99 you get access to pretty much everything to get a successful single or album going:

Custom Release Date
ISRC code to track your song online
Streaming analytics (see how many plays you’re getting)
Customizable label name

Ultimate plan

The Ultimate plan is for independent record labels who need more artist profiles, it starts from $89.99 a year for 5 Artist profiles.

Here’s what extra features it offers:

Spotify Playlist Contacts: DistroKid scans Spotify for playlisters who have put their contact information in Spotify, which lets you reach out to them and pitch your music, so that they can potentially add it to your playlist and you can get discovered by their listeners.
1 TB instant file sharing: Extra storage for your releases, albums, Acapellas and song versions, this is a nice bonus to the plan
RIAA gold & platinum monitoring: If you’re starting to get a lot (and that means A LOT) of traction online, this would be a great way to see if you qualify for RIAA gold and platinum award

Although the Ultimate plan is great for indie labels and artists who do a lot of collaborations, I do not recommend it for someone who is just starting out.

Here’s a an easy to digest overview between the different plans:

$ 23

Yearly

Unlimited Distribution
Royalty Splits
Upload lyrics to stores
Mobile App Access

$ 39

Yearly

Everything in Musician as well as:
Custom Release Date
ISRC Codes
Custom Amazon & iTunes pricing
Custom label name
2 Artist profiles

$ 89

99 and up

Yearly

Everything in Musician Plus as well as:
More Artist Slots
Playlisters contact information
RIAA gold & platinum monitoring
1 TB instant file sharing

How long does it take for DistroKid to deliver my song to music stores?

DistroKid can deliver your music to Apple Music and Spotify in 2-5 days. Although sometimes it can take longer than that, it is best to schedule your music at least a week before your planned release date.

All streaming services have different processes when it comes to accepting music. Still, DistroKid does in fact, do everything to get your music in there fast.

Keep 100%

One of the things that I love about this distributor is the fact that they collect and give 100% of the royalties earned.

Other distributors usually take anywhere between 9% and 20% from your royalties. Leaving you with less earnings, even though you still have to pay them the distribution fees. Imagine having to give away $200 for every $1000 you’ve earned from stores? No thanks.

DistroKid Extras: Are they worth it?

Since these extras require an additional yearly subscription, per year, per song, I do not think they are always necessary.

You can always activate extras later on if your tracks start getting traction.

When uploading your music to DistroKid, they offer a variety of different features such as:

YouTube Content ID, which allows you to collect revenue from videos where users upload videos to your music, as well as the option for YouTubers and creators to purchase a license for your music to use it in their videos.
Discovery Pack: This gets your track registered in a wide array of discovery platforms, such as GraceNote, Jaxsta and ACRCloud
Store Maximizer: Everytime DistroKid has the option to add your music to a new store, they will automatically do it for you.
Leave a legacy: DistroKid will never delete this single, even if you cancel your account or your credit card is declined. You can always choose to delete it any time—or not. You will continue to accrue all royalties, as normal.

Here are some examples on when it would benefit you to activate DistroKid Extras:

Your song has started getting a lot of traction on YouTube and people are using it for their videos, then it might be a good idea to get the Content ID.
Your song has started getting a lot of shazams, then it might be good to activate the discovery pack to get discovered through other devices.
If you plan on switching Distributors or you want to quit making music, then you can activate the Leave a legacy feature, which saves you the hassle of paying for a subscription after you’re finished, or moving your music to another provider.

Recoupments

The thing I love the most about their automatic royalty splits, is that they also let you do recoupments.

Essentially what this means, is that if an artist or producer has an expense related to the album or single, one of them can get paid first until they make back their investment. Only after the cost is made back by the person paying, then the other people can start getting paid.

Here’s an example from their website:

Let’s say one of the collaborators, Hayden, paid $2000 for the beat, or music video, etc. Hayden can now be paid back first — before the normal splits kick in for everyone else. Once the initial funds have been Recouped, the Splits will automatically go into effect for all other collaborators on the Split.

Conclusion: Is DistroKid the best option for independent Artists?

DistroKid has a straight forward and seamless upload process. With just a few clicks, you can upload music and have it distributed in a matter of minutes. I’ve been using it for years now and I haven’t had any issues with their customer support, they’ve always handled matters in a timely matter.

Another benefit they have is that they don’t have any crazy withdrawal thresholds, and you can decide to pull out your earnings through PayPal or bank account.

To me, what’s most important is that it gets the job done.

With that being said, there are some new Distributors coming out every month, some being possibly better and some objectively worse. I’m always open to learning about new companies that are doing Distribution, a new one I’m keeping an open eye out for is Venice, the only downside there is that it costs 5-10 times more.

I’m curious to find out which Distributor you use, leave a comment below with your thoughts…