How to Choose the Best Music Distribution Site

There are so many sites that upload your music to Spotify, Apple and others and the number keeps growing.

So how do you choose?

Well, the music distribution company you choose should make the process as simple as possible. They should be on your side and they want you to put your music out there. If they are already difficult to handle, remove them.

So for you this could mean that you want them to charge less fees. Or it could mean you want free delivery. Or maybe you want a one-stop shop for distribution, administrative publishing, and other services.

Whatever you are looking for, there is a dealer for you on this list.

Recommended distribution sites

I would like to start with the 4 music distribution sites that I have submitted my music to Spotify et al.

CD child

Overview: CD Baby, the most established distributor on the market, offers various services beyond distribution, such as collecting royalties and creating customized products.

Best for: Small to medium sized indie musicians who don’t want to deal with multiple companies to collect royalties.

Benefits:

No annual fees – one payment per album, EP or shared song

Administrative publication service that collects the royalties of songwriters

They will collect the copyrights of the main recording for you via SoundExchange

You can subscribe to their sync license program

Disadvantages:

9% commission on all streaming payments

They don’t split the payments between other songwriters – you have to do it manually

Additional cost for UPC (you need to distribute your music)

Tune core

Overview: Tune core has been around for nearly as long as CD Baby and has served many great artists.

Best for: Musicians who plan to get a lot of streaming rates, at least enough to cover their annual costs.

Benefits:

Keep 100% of your payments streaming

Administrative publication service that collects the royalties of songwriters

Daily trend reports and clear income information

You can get prepayments on your royalties if you’ve had substantial streaming revenue in the past

Disadvantages:

High annual costs per publication

They don’t split the payments between other songwriters – you have to do it manually

If you work with their administrative publishing service, they will not allow you to work with any other sync licensing company.

Sound drop

Overview: Formerly Louder, a mechanical licensing company that helped you get the right licenses for your cover.

Best for: Inexpensive musicians who want an easy way to distribute their original songs or artists who want to publish covers easily.

Benefits:

There is no distribution fee for the original music

They split the payments between you and the writers / employees

Easy to use platform / site

It is cheaper to get a mechanical license to distribute a cover

Disadvantages:

15% commission on all streaming payments

Distribution on a limited number of platforms: currently only Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Google Play and Deeper

They do not have an administrative publishing service that collects songwriters’ copyrights

Amuse

Overview: Technically, a label that has a distribution service for all artists, including those who are not part of the label. A new company in Sweden.

Best for: Players with little or no budget who would be interested in a 50/50 chord with a label.

Benefits:

No delivery costs

Keep 100% of your payments streaming

You have a chance to be discovered and signed for their 50/50 label

Disadvantages:

No publishing service for administrators

The album name and artist name must be on the cover and can be choosy about how dark the cover is, even if it’s an artistic choice (I covered these things in my post)

Statistics and information are only available in the app, not on their desktop site

Honorable Mentions

Here are two dispensers that I have not personally used, but have heard positive things about.

DistroKid

Even if you like 100% streaming payments, you have to pay an annual fee even if the fee covers unlimited versions. In addition, DistroKid stores all your songs in the cloud, so that in addition to a backup service and distribution services, you also get a storage service for your music.

LANDR

LANDR’s main service is automated mastering (which is quite good to be honest), but they also offer distribution services. If you have a LANDR subscription (monthly or yearly), you get free distribution and keep 100% of payments for streaming.

New and important

Here are two newer distribution services that can break the game for the better.

United Masters

United Masters is similar to Amuse in that it is a label that also provides distribution services to artists outside of their label. It’s free to share and they take a 10% commission. But right now, it’s by invitation only, so you can enter your email address on their site to request an invite.

Merge records

Record Union is another new company that continues to grow in the number of artists who have released music through them. They have annual plans from $7 (1-2 songs, one streaming platform) to $25 (6-12 songs, all streaming platforms) and get a 15% commission.

Avoid distributors

Finally, here are two dispensers that I have never used, but have heard very negative things about. I’m not saying that you absolutely should not use these platforms, just be careful and do your research on them before signing up.

Ditto

Music industry songwriter and blogger Ari Her stand has given a comprehensive rundown of numerous music distributors (which you should read for a LOT more on this subject). One of the distributors he put in the no-no column was Ditto. It listed downsides like hidden fees, terrible customer service, and (very convincingly) tons of customer complaints. They also threatened to press charges.

Fresh songs

Fresh Tunes is another distributor that doesn’t seem to be one of the best options. Again, I’m not saying you absolutely shouldn’t use them, but there are many other more reputable companies you can work with. While they offer free delivery and don’t charge commissions, Her stand mentions late payments and a lot of custom