The Ultimate Guide To DistroKid: Everything You Need To Know

This guide provides a detailed look at DistroKid’s plans, pricing, and features so artists and producers like you can get the most out of DistroKid.

I’ve used DistroKid for 5 years to help 10+ different artists distribute over 100 songs to Spotify and other streaming services like Apple Music.

I have personally invested time and money in each of DistroKid plans, which supported my growth from a bedroom producer to an artist with over 6.5 million streams. If I can do it, you can too. 🙂

What Is DistroKid?

Launched in 2013, DistroKid is a music distribution service for artists to upload music to platforms like Spotify and collect streaming royalties.

How To Get Started With DistroKid

To get started with DistroKid, the first thing you need to do is create an account and choose a plan:

For help choosing the right plan, check out my complete DistroKid Pricing Guide for a breakdown of the costs and features of each plan so you can pick the right plan for you.

How To Upload Music With DistroKid

Once you are signed up, all you need to do is click “Upload” in the navigation bar and complete the simple form:

The rest of the form is very straightforward with DistroKid including lots of tips and additional info as you input your song name, release date, and other track information as well as upload your audio file and artwork.

The Pros & Cons To Using DistroKid As Your Music Distributor

Artists prefer DistroKid for its fast and straightforward service to release music and collect royalties -although the core price is affordable there are several hidden costs that new users should know about.

Here are DistroKid‘s pros and cons for artists, managers, and labels in 2023:

For detailed information, please see my comprehensive DistroKid Review. 🙂

DistroKid Plans & Pricing Explained

As mentioned in my full article on DistroKid pricing, I’ve used DistroKid to release music since 2019 and have tested all their plans myself.

The best value is DistroKid’s Musician Plus plan priced at $39.99 USD per year. Distrokid has plans priced from $22.99 USD up to $1,349.99 USD per year with a variety of optional paid services available as add-ons.

I recommend that most artists choose DistroKid’s Musician Plus plan because, for a slightly higher price, you gain the ability to set custom release dates (which is invaluable for promoting your music properly).

With that said, DistroKid offers a range of core pricing plans suitable for different artists, labels, and music managers in need of a fast and reliable service for distributing music:

You should also know that DistroKid has several hidden fees that are optional but they will push them on you very hard.

To learn more about these and how to avoid them, check out my full DistroKid pricing article.

The DistroKid Discount

To get DistroKid for the lowest possible price, you will want to know about the DistroKid discount.

Click that link above to learn more (including a complete walkthrough). 🙂

Does DistroKid Take A Percentage?

When comparing music distributors, you want to make sure you are getting the best deal, so naturally, you will want to know if DistroKid takes a percentage of your hard-earned Spotify dollars or not.

…the answer?

No, DistroKid does not take a percentage of your earnings. You keep 100% of your earnings minus any standard banking fees, taxes, or PayPal transfer fees that may incur when you withdraw your money.

If you’d like to learn the ins and outs of where DistroKid stands on taking percentages, check out my full article called Does DistroKid Take A Percentage?. 🙂

DistroKid Ultimate Plans For Labels

While the Musician Plus plan will satisfy most artists, DistroKid also offers large “Ultimate” plans worth considering as well.

DistroKid Ultimate (previously called ‘Label’) plans allow you to release unlimited song and album uploads for 5 to 100 artists to over 100 stores and streaming services while keeping 100% of your earnings and letting you easily split royalty payments.

To learn more about these plans and to find if they are right for you, be sure to read my full DistroKid Ultimate Plans article. 🙂

DistroKid Features Explained

Let’s take a look at all the most useful features you have available to you as a DistroKid user:

• Wide Distribution Range (over 150 streaming services and stores)
• Short Wait Times for Music Uploads
• Royalty Statements Reporting
• Spotify Verification
• Cover Song Licensing
• Royalty Splits
• HyperFollow Pages
• Video Generators

Where Does DistroKid Distribute To?

DistroKid can distribute music to over 150 streaming services and stores.

DistroKid can distribute music to all major streaming services and digital stores (including Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Tidal, and Amazon Music) with new services being added regularly.

For a complete list and more information, please refer to my article called Where Does DistroKid Distribute To?. 🙂

DistroKid Wait Times Explained

Let’s take a look at how long it takes DistroKid to get your music on streaming services and how long it takes them to send your royalty statements.

How long does DistroKid take to get music on streaming services?

DistroKid takes 2-5 days to get music uploaded to streaming services like Spotify & Apple Music. Tracks flagged for manual review can take 1-2 weeks when they don’t meet DistroKid’s metadata, artwork, and audio requirements.

P.S. In my experience uploading over 50 songs with DistroKid, I usually see my music show up on Spotify in 1 to 3 days (even over weekends) and have not yet seen it take 5 days to get my music uploaded.

For more information on this, see my full article called DistroKid Wait Times. 🙂

How long does DistroKid take to send royalty statements so I can get paid?

DistroKid reports royalty statements 2-3 months from the month your music was streamed with new royalty reports appearing on a monthly basis (near the end of each month). Once you make a withdrawal request you can expect to get paid within 7-14 days.

P.S. Although I’ve found DistroKid to be extremely fast at getting music uploaded, I’ve found royalty payments to show up much less consistently (even more so near the end and beginning of the year).

For more information on this, see my full article called DistroKid Wait Times. 🙂

How To Create A Spotify Account & Get Spotify For Artists Access With DistroKid

DistroKid allows artists to get verified on Spotify but will not create a listener account. Verification takes 1 minute and gives you an artist profile with a blue checkmark and access to Spotify For Artists.

For a look at the exact steps of how to get your artist profile verified on Spotify with DistroKid, please read my article called Does DistroKid Make A Spotify Account For You?. 🙂

Legal Cover Song Licensing with DistroKid

DistroKid cover song licensing allows you to easily distribute cover songs by simply checking off a box when uploading your song instead of having to track down, obtain, and manage the appropriate cover licenses all by yourself.

DistroKid allows you to legally distribute and release cover songs with its Cover Licensing feature that automatically obtains the licenses needed and makes sure the original songwriters are paid every month for just $12 annually per song.

If you want to learn more about how you can release cover songs with DistroKid, please read my article called Legal Cover Songs with DistroKid (Licensing Guide). 🙂

How DistroKid Royalty Splits Work

DistroKid allows artists to automatically split earnings from their releases to other DistroKid users with a feature they call Splits.

Royalty splits can be a flat fee and/or a percentage and are sent out by entering your collaborator’s email address.

To learn more about how you can use DistroKid splits to effortlessly share your earnings, read my full article on DistroKid splits. 🙂

DistroKid HyperFollow (Smart Links)

DistroKid HyperFollow pages are automatically created landing pages for each release with links to various streaming services.

HyperFollow pages are a great way to get started with smart links for marketing your music because they are free and have a decent amount of customization options (if you are a DistroKid user that is).

Refer to my detailed guide, How To Use DistroKid HyperFollow (Guide + Alternatives), for more information on smart links. 🙂

DistroKid Video Generators Explained

DistroKid offers artists the ability to easily generate different videos using their music, distribute ‘Art Tracks’ to YouTube, as well as upload Spotify Canvas videos via the Spotify For Artists dashboard.

To learn more about the different video generators that you can use to automatically creates videos for your music, check out my article called DistroKid Vizy, Marcel & Video Generators. 🙂

How To Contact DistroKid For Support

The main way to contact DistroKid is by submitting a support ticket through their contact form at distrokid.com/contact or emailing support@distrokid.com.

DistroKid also have a FAQ/knowledge base with commonly asked questions and answers that can be useful as well.

To learn more about the best way to get in touch with DistroKid, check out my article on DistroKid Contact.

How To Submit Songs Using DistroKid

DistroKid FAQ

Let’s take a look at some of the most commonly asked questions about using DistroKid with much more in-depth answers than you would find on their official FAQ.

Does DistroKid Copyright Your Music?

DistroKid does not copyright your music for you or register your songs for copyright, DistroKid simply distributes your music. DistroKid also does not register your music with any publishers or performance rights organizations.

To learn more, read my full article called Solved: Does DistroKid Copyright Your Music? ..Do I Need To?. 🙂

Can I Upload To YouTube With DistroKid?

DistroKid can upload to YouTube by selecting ‘YouTube Music’ when submitting your music. This will create an “Official Artist Channel” for your music that can either be linked to your YouTube channel or to a generic “Topic Channel”.

For more info and complete steps, please refer to my full article called How To Upload To YouTube With DistroKid (Official Artist Channels Explained). 🙂

Can Distrokid Distribute To SoundCloud?

DistroKid does not distribute music to Soundcloud. Although DistroKid does distribute the vast majority of stores and streaming platforms, Soundcloud is not included in their offering.

To learn more about this, please refer to my full article called Can Distrokid Distribute To SoundCloud?. 🙂

Can DistroKid Distribute To Bandcamp?

DistroKid does not distribute music to Bandcamp. If you would like to get your music on Bandcamp you need to create a Bandcamp account and upload your music manually.

To learn more about this, please check out my full article called Can DistroKid Distribute To Bandcamp?. 🙂

Can DistroKid distribute to Beatport?

DistroKid can distribute music to Beatport as long as you are releasing a genre or sub-genre of electronic music. It costs an additional $9.99 USD per month to get unlimited song uploads to Beatport.

P.S. There are a few tips you should know of first (especially if you would like claim an Beatport artist profile after your music goes live).

To learn more about this, check out my full article called DistroKid to Beatport (Easy How To Guide). 🙂

Is DistroKid Free?

DistroKid is not free and does not have a free trial available. The most common DistroKid plan is priced at $22.99 USD per year with a variety of different plans available.

To get the cheapest possible price, you can click here to save 7% on your first annual plan with DistroKid.

If you’d like to learn more about this, definitely check out my full article called Is DistroKid Free? Is There A Free Trial?. 🙂

Troubleshooting Issues With DistroKid

Having used DistroKid for over 5 years, I’ve encountered challenges big & small. In this section of the guide, I’ll share some common solutions to problems you might encounter. 🙂

How To Change Your Artist Name On DistroKid

The easiest way to change your artist name on DistroKid is to simply log in, click “Edit Release” and then adjust your artist name from that page.

However, you should know that change your artist name can result in losing followers and play counts.

To learn more about this in detail, refer to my article called Solved: How To Change Artist Name On DistroKid. 🙂

DistroKid HyperFollow Is Not Working

If DistroKid HyperFollow is not working for you, the best thing to do contact their support, re-think the pre-save marketing strategy entirely or start looking for an alternative to HyperFollow pages.

For more info on simple solutions to problems with HyperFollow links, check out my full article called DistroKid HyperFollow Not Working? Do This. 🙂

DistroKid HyperFollow Isn’t Working With The iOS14 Update

DistroKid is not able to verify custom website domains with HyperFollow which is why it is not currently possible to properly run Spotify conversion ads with DistroKid HyperFollow links.

To learn more about this, check out my full article titled DistroKid HyperFollow Facebook Pixel + iOS14 Guide. 🙂