Digital Music Distribution Websites for New Heavy Users
What digital music distribution websites can you as a new artist use if you have tons of music to publish on Spotify? Online streaming music services dominate the music industry. Distributing your music to as many online streaming music platforms as possible is crucial, but the total upfront cost can be exorbitant, especially if you want to publish many music tracks. Today, we want to share with you what digital music distribution websites you can use to distribute a lot of music cost-effectively.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
How Digital Music Distribution Works
Digital music distribution websites aim to get your music on streaming music platforms like Spotify, digital music stores like iTunes, and social platforms like Music on Instagram Stories. People can then stream or download and buy your music while in exchange you receive royalties.
Many digital music distribution websites do not require exclusivity. You can distribute your music to as many websites as you want without giving up the rights to your music. Besides, many offer recommendation algorithms which suggest your tracks to the right listeners.
Each of these digital music distribution websites has their own pricing policies. They may charge a fee per album and single, an annual fee, a cut of your royalties, or a combination of these fees. So, if you upload hundreds of music tracks in a year, it makes more sense to use those that don’t charge per album and single and allow you to upload unlimited music.
DistroKid
DistroKid is a service for musicians that puts your music into online stores and streaming services. Then when people listen to your music, they send you money.
They offer multiple annual plans, ranging from a single artist/band plan ($19.99 per year) to Label plans for 100 artists with unlimited releases of singles, EPs and albums with 0% commission except YouTube Content ID with 20% commission.
They release your music to 32+ digital stores.
Repost by SoundCloud
Acquired by SoundCloud in July 2019, Repost by SoundCloud enables artists and labels to distribute their music, grow their audiences, and make money from their music on SoundCloud and beyond.
Its annual subscription costs $30 a year with unlimited releases of singles, EPs and albums with 20% commission. However, if you want to monetize more than 3 hours of music on SoundCloud, you may subscribe to an annual Pro Unlimited plan (£90 per year).
Besides SoundCloud, they release your music to 25+ digital stores namely Alibaba, Amazon, Anghami, Apple Music, iTunes, Audiomack, Beatport (only Repost Select members), Deezer, Facebook, Instagram, Google Play, iHeartRadio, KKBox, Melon Plus, Mixcloud, Napster, NetEase, Pandora Plus, Play Network, Saavn, Shazam, Sound Exchange, Spotify, Tencent, Tesla, Tidal, TikTok, VK, Yandex, and YouTube Music.
Ditto Music
Based in England, Ditto Music is one of the world’s leading music distribution, record label services and artist management companies, supporting over 200,000 independent artists and labels across the globe.
They offer an annual artist plan (£19 per year) for one artist with unlimited releases of singles, EPs and albums with 0% commission.
They release your music to 52 digital stores.
Amuse
Founded in 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden, Amuse aims to distribute digital music. Grammy award winning artist and creative entrepreneur Will.i.am joined as co-founder. Amuse raises US$15.5 million from leading investors in the music and tech industries.
They offer an annual pro plan ($59.99 per year) for three artists with unlimited releases of singles, EPs and albums with 0% fee.
They release your music only to 16 digital stores namely Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Soundcloud Go, TIDAL, Amazon Music, Deezer, Napster, Shazam, YouTube Music, Nuuday, Claro Música, Anghami, Facebook Stories, Instagram Stories, and Tiktok.
Record Union
Started out in 2008 and based in Stockholm, Sweden, Record Union strives to make the independent music community stronger and the music industry more democratic, accessible, and transparent.
They offer a monthly Artist Unlimited plan ($4.99 per month) for three artists with unlimited releases of singles, EPs and albums with 15% commission which will be reduced to 7.5% if you pay $4.99/month more. Record Union can release your music to TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook if you pay $1.99/month more.
They release your music to 14 digital stores.
UnitedMasters
In 2017, Steve Stoute raised $70 million from investors like Alphabet, Andreessen Horowitz and 21st Century Fox to launch UnitedMasters.
They offer an annual SELECT membership ($59.99 per year) for one artist with unlimited releases of singles, EPs and albums with 0% commission. As of today, UnitedMasters delivers data and personalized recommendations to individual artists only. If you are a manager, record label or producer, you cannot access multiple artist accounts.
They release your music to 34 digital stores including Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify, YouTube, 24/7 Entertainment, 7Digital, Akazoo, Amazon, Anghami, Audible Magic, AWA, Deezer, Facebook, Instagram, Gracenote, iHeartRadio, iMusica, KKBox, LINE Music, Nmusic Triple Play, Qobuz, Napster, Saavn, Shazam, Simfy Africa, SiriusXM, Slacker, SoundCloud, SoundExchange, Tencent, Tesla, TIDAL, TikTok, Ultimate China, and Yandex.
ONErpm
ONErpm aims to provide solutions to artists. It includes a self-service digital distribution platform offering a comprehensive suite of automated delivery, accounting, business intelligence, and promotional solutions. Besides, they provide marketing and career development solutions to qualified artists. Thirdly, ONErpm creates and executes marketing plans for more established artists in need of additional resources.
They charge you a percentage of the revenue generated by streams, views and downloads of your content. ONErpm will pay 85% of your royalties for download stores, 70% for YouTube and 50% for other videos.
They offer free delivery for your full audio tracks to 45 digital stores.
LANDR
Launched in 2014, LANDR is a platform for musicians: AI-powered music mastering, distribution, plugins, collaboration, promotion and sample packs.
They offer an annual unlimited plan (£89 per year) with unlimited releases of singles, EPs and albums with 0% commission. They release your music to 150+ digital stores.
iMusician
Based in Switzerland and founded in 1999 with their own record label, iMusician strives to give independent artists and labels access to the marketplace. It has evolved into a thriving community of more than 200,000 DIY artists and independent record labels in 2020.
They offer an annual Pro Unlimited plan (£440 per year) for unlimited artists with unlimited releases of singles, EPs and albums with 0% commission. They release your music to 200+ digital stores.
Conclusion
If you are starting out as an artist or label with hundreds of music tracks to distribute online, you will want to keep the upfront costs as low as possible by finding the right digital music distribution website. It depends on your budget and what additional services you may require. Below are our picks in summary.
| Distributor | Stores | Cost/year, US$ | Commission | Releases | Artists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ONErpm | 45 | $0.00 | 15% | unlimited | 1 |
| DistroKid | 32 | $19.99 | 0% | unlimited | 1 |
| Ditto Music | 52 | $26.60 | 0% | unlimited | 1 |
| Repost | 25 | $30.00 | 20% | unlimited | 1 |
| Record Union | 14 | $59.88 | 15% | unlimited | 3 |
| Amuse | 16 | $59.99 | 0% | unlimited | 3 |
| United Masters | 34 | $59.99 | 0% | unlimited | 1 |
| LANDR | 150 | $124.60 | 0% | unlimited | 7 |
| iMusician | 200 | $616.00 | 0% | unlimited | unlimited |
