3 MUSIC DISTRIBUTION SERVICES FOR INDEPENDENT ARTISTS

1. DISTROKID

Distrokid is one of the most highly used music distribution companies available to public to release on all DSP platforms including Spotify, Apple mUsic, Tidal, Amazon Music, Deezer and many more. DistroKid was launched in 2013 by entrepreneur Philip Kaplan. Initially, the company was an extension of the musicians’ social media network, Fandalism. The platform allows musicians to upload their tracks easily. Once you’re ready to get your music out into the world, you set up an account, send a digital file, and that’s all. All earnings sent directly to DistroKid are credited to your DistroKid account in full except for YouTube. DistroKid Charges 20% of YouTube money.

Pros

100% of your royalties
Amazing for independent artists and labels
Distributes to over 100+ DSP’s
Distributes to TikTok with and the ability to set timestamps.
Cloud backup
Distributes to multiple countries, including China.
A Legacy feature that allows your music to be distributed passed your lifetime.
Lyrics and credits distribution.
The DistroKid login and sign-up process is easy and takes a few minutes.
Various modes of payment.
DistroKid is accessible to creators, labels,
performers, producers, bands, Dj’s, artists, solo
musicians, and cover musicians – i.e., everyone.

Cons

Add-ons count as hidden fees—making the advertised price a tad bit misleading.
Expect the occasional upsell attempts.
The analytics features balance precariously between decent and poor, depending on your needs.
Hard to locate Distrokid contact page

2. TUNECORE

Tunecore was designed to shine the light on independent artists whether they’re just getting started or established by providing tools needed to enable them to put there music out on a mass scale and reach fans worldwide. One of the best parts about Tunecore is that you don’t need a music label to sell your music, you only need an account which is very simple to open. You will then be in command of every single process leaving you more in control. Tunecore’s music distribution platform was introduced in 2006. Since then there have been thousands of independent artists who have benefited greatly from this platform.

Tunecore Features

Publishing Administration

In todays current cliamte, most artists don’t have any idea how music publishing works. With public administration, the artists will be able to not only collect their master royalties, but also their mechanical royalties which is difficult to administrate worldwide without leaving even a penny behind. This means once you upload your music, you’ll be able to collect full royalties for anyone playing your music regardless of where your fans are in the world. This way, you get to earn for your art without fear. With this feature, you will be grateful to have known and used TuneCore to distribute your music online.

Sync & Mastering Licensing

Most artists dream to hear their music on TV commercials, films, and video games. Tunecore has designed an infrastructure to make sure that they submit for you not only to get your music playing to some of the biggest companies but also to ensure that you get paid for that. This requires that you spend some money for you to get this additional service to your package. Any artist who has ever been involved with syncs will tell you it is worth every penny. This is because sync licensing usually pays well and you get a chance to reach a whole different kind of audience who can take your music to a whole new level.

This is possible because TuneCore works with some of the most top performance rights organizations who will ensure that you get royalties in case you land such a deal. Some of these people associated with Tunecore have multiple years of experience in collecting royalties and so they have a perfect idea where to start from and how to make sure that you get everything you are owed. This would otherwise be one of the rigorous situations that sometimes usually leaves artists unpaid for their hard work.

Social Media Tools

Some of the additional advantages from Tunecore social and social pro include posting infinitely on both Twitter and Facebook. You get to have two media posts on SoundCloud and MixClouds per month. These are some of the most known sites for streaming music worldwide. You get social analytics for up to a year, and you also get access to Tunecore social pro app without limits. If you want the benefits that come with Tunecore social pro, you have to pay a subscription fee, and you will end up getting more of the unlimited options. This feature is designed to maintain your social media and gives you the ability to manage social media posts with easily.

3. CD BABY

Pros

Opt-in to sync licensing for free with Standard and Pro releases
Publishing administration services
Different physical music distribution options
Payouts made weekly with $10 threshold
Artists keep 91% of earnings from sales on CD Baby’s music store
Learning resources

Cons

Pricey submission fees
Cover song licensing is only available for singles
Barcodes are not free
No payment splitting
30% YouTube commission
40% sync licensing commission
Territory opt-out has to be requested manually

As you can tell their feature-set is nearly unrivaled by any other music distribution company. They’ve been working hard to fill every need that independent musicians may have. They’re still missing specialized features (like payment splitting), but overall, they have you covered on all bases.

All these features come at a cost. When compared to the competition, CD Baby is one of the more pricey music distribution companies out there. Their submission fees are expensive, and they take a commission off of your sales. Not to mention the stiff commissions they take on sync licensing, publishing royalties, and YouTube monetization.

At the end of the day, it really depends on your needs whether or not CD Baby is the best option. If you need an all-inclusive distributor who will also take care of all your publishing and licensing needs, then CD Baby makes a lot of sense.

If you want to save money and are okay with more simple and streamlined services, then another distributer may be better for you.

Fees & Commissions

One of the reasons artists are attracted to releasing their music independently is the higher profit margin overall. When you cut out the middle-man, more of the earnings from your music go directly to you. When CD Baby first started in 1998 this idea was revolutionary. Even to this day they consistently continue to focus on helping independent artists maximize their profits. It’s 100% free of cost to set up an account with CD Baby

Free

This first tier is free with no submission fees. They take just a 15% cut of your earnings.

The Free tier is limited, however: it only makes your music available for purchase and download on CD Baby’s online music store. If you want to distribute your music to iTunes, Spotify, or any of the other usual platforms, you’ll have to upgrade to Standard or Pro.

Standard

The standard tier costs a one-time submission fee of $9.95 for a single or $49 for an album. Once your music starts making money online, they’ll take a 9% commission.

The Standard tier distributes to all of CD Baby’s partner platforms, including iTunes, Spotify, and all the others you’d expect.

This tier gives you the ability to distribute physical hard copies of your music. The submission fee is the same, but the difference is that CD Baby takes a $4 cut of each physical sale.

Pro

The Pro Tier costs $34.95 for a single or $89 for an album. (If you have a Standard single or album that you want to upgrade, it costs $29 or $49, respectively). Just like the Standard tier, CD Baby takes a 9% commission on your earnings.

The Pro tier is much like the Standard tier with the exception that it includes CD Baby’s publishing administration royalties services. These services help you to earn money when others record, perform, or otherwise use a song that you have written.

The commission for these publishing royalties services are 15%.