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Choosing a Music Distributor

All major distributors get you onto Spotify and Apple Music. The differences come down to pricing structure, royalty percentages, and long-term ownership.

The main options compared

DistroKid
Pricing model
Annual subscription (~$22.99/yr)
Royalties
100% — keep all royalties
Delivery speed
2–5 business days
ISRC codes
Auto-assigned (their code)
Pros
  • Cheapest for high-volume releases
  • Unlimited releases per year
  • Fast delivery
  • Automatic revenue splits for collabs
Cons
  • Annual fee required to keep releases live
  • ISRCs under their registrant code
  • Support can be slow
  • Extra fee for some features (HyperFollow, etc.)
TuneCore
Pricing model
Per-release annual fee
Royalties
100% — keep all royalties
Delivery speed
1–5 business days
ISRC codes
Auto-assigned (their code)
Pros
  • Established reputation
  • Good publishing admin add-on
  • Keep 100% of royalties
  • Detailed reporting
Cons
  • Annual fee per release adds up fast
  • More expensive than DistroKid for prolific artists
  • ISRCs under their registrant code
CD Baby
Pricing model
One-time fee per release
Royalties
91% — 9% fee taken
Delivery speed
3–7 business days
ISRC codes
Free ISRC included
Pros
  • One-time payment (no annual fee)
  • Good for catalogue that earns over time
  • Publishing and sync licensing services
  • Own ISRC option available
Cons
  • 9% royalty cut is a long-term cost
  • Higher upfront cost than DistroKid
  • Slightly slower delivery
Amuse
Pricing model
Free tier + Pro plan (~$24.99/yr)
Royalties
100% on paid plan; splits on free
Delivery speed
3–7 business days
ISRC codes
Auto-assigned
Pros
  • Free tier available
  • Mobile-first workflow
  • A&R scouting for breakout artists
Cons
  • Free tier takes a cut of royalties
  • Fewer DSP options on free
  • Limited customer support

How to choose

The right distributor depends on your situation:

  • Releasing frequently (3+ tracks/year)? DistroKid's annual subscription pays for itself fast.
  • Releasing one or two things and then sitting on them? CD Baby's one-time fee avoids annual renewal costs.
  • Building a long-term catalogue? Register your own ISRC registrant code and use any distributor that accepts your codes.
  • Need publishing admin? TuneCore and CD Baby both offer this as an add-on.

Avoid locking yourself into a distributor if you can help it — keep your masters, register your own ISRCs, and treat distribution as a commodity service.

Using BeatCheck's export for distributors

BeatCheck can export your release metadata in distributor-ready formats from the release page Downloads section (Active or Pro plan required):

  • CSV — Universal spreadsheet format
  • DistroKid — Formatted HTML prep sheet matching their intake fields
  • TuneCore — Formatted HTML prep sheet
  • CD Baby — Formatted HTML prep sheet

These exports give you a pre-filled reference to copy metadata into your distributor's submission form — reducing transcription errors and speeding up submission.

Questions? support@beatcheck.app