Music distribution
DistroKid is the best-known distributor, but it isn’t the cheapest for most artists, and it charges for YouTube Content ID on every release, every year. Below, we rank every distributor we track against DistroKid for two typical artists, using each one’s own prices, and list the alternatives that do things DistroKid doesn’t.
Releasing regularly: 6 singles and an EP a year, earning about $600 a year.
| Distributor | Cost over three years | Compared with DistroKid |
|---|---|---|
| Ditto Music Starter plan | $57 | $18 less |
| Too Lost Artist plan | $60 | $15 less |
| UnitedMasters DEBUT+ plan | $60 | $15 less |
| Amuse Artist plan | $72 | $3 less |
| LANDR Distribution Basic plan | $72 | $3 less |
| DistroKid Musician plan | $75 | — |
| TuneCore Rising Artist plan | $75 | Same price |
| iMusician AMPLIFY plan | $116 | $41 more |
| SoundCloud Artist plan | $117 | $42 more |
| RouteNote Free plan | $270 | $195 more |
| CD Baby Standard plan | $387 | $312 more |
| Soundrop Pay per track plan | $435 | $360 more |
Band or small label: 8 singles and 2 albums a year across 3 artist names, earning about $4,000 a year, with royalty splits and YouTube Content ID.
| Distributor | Cost over three years | Compared with DistroKid |
|---|---|---|
| Too Lost Label plan | $108 | $819 less |
| Amuse Artist Pro plan | $180 | $747 less |
| SoundCloud Artist Pro plan | $297 | $630 less |
| Ditto Music Labels plan | $327 | $600 less |
| LANDR Distribution Pro plan | $375 | $552 less |
| TuneCore Professional plan | $495 | $432 less |
| iMusician AMPLIFY+ plan | $512 | $415 less |
| RouteNote Premium plan | $720 | $207 less |
| DistroKid Ultimate plan | $927 | — |
| Soundrop Pay per track plan | $2,399 | $1,472 more |
For an artist releasing six singles and an EP a year, it’s currently Ditto Music’s Starter plan, at $57 over three years. For a band or small label it’s Too Lost’s Label plan, at $108 over three years.
Yes: RouteNote’s free plan gets your music onto Spotify and Apple Music with nothing to pay upfront, but it keeps 15% of your royalties. See free music distribution for when that works out cheaper.
Not if you upload your releases to the new distributor with the same ISRC codes, which lets streaming services keep your play counts. Remove them from DistroKid once the new versions are live.
If YouTube Content ID matters to you, look at plans that include it with no fee per release, such as TuneCore or Too Lost. Tick YouTube Content ID in the calculator to compare them for your releases.