After releasing your music with DistroKid, you may be wondering if they are also a music publisher that can manage your publishing and royalties…
DistroKid is not a publisher – it is a service that lets artists distribute music online. They do not offer any music publishing services or allow artists to collect publishing, mechanical or performance royalties.
DistroKid currently recommends SongTrust for artists that want to collect all of the music publishing royalties owed to them.
Is DistroKid A Music Publisher?
DistroKid is not a music publisher. It is a music distribution service that gets your music on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. They do not offer the ability to collect publishing royalties for your music.
Here is DistroKid’s direct statement on being a music publisher:
“We don’t yet offer admin publishing services. …We’re working on a publishing admin system for artists.”
DistroKid
Which Royalties Does Distrokid Collect?
DistroKid only collects the money owed from your music’s sales on stores and streams from streaming services (called “master recording” royalties).
Aside from this, DistroKid does not automatically collect additional royalties such as songwriting, performance or mechanical royalties.
Here is a table breaking down what royalties DistroKid can and can’t collect for you as an artist:
| Type Of Music Royalty | Does DistroKid Collect This Royalty? |
|---|---|
| Master Recording | Yes |
| Songwriting | No |
| Performance | No |
| Mechanical | No |
Does DistroKid Collect Publishing Royalties?
DistroKid does not collect and payout publishing royalties for any streams or sales that your music makes.
Publishing royalties are made to songwriters for the actual song’s composition and are paid out anytime the songs are reproduced (ie: streamed, performed, broadcasted, or sold).
Does DistroKid Collect Publishing Royalties?
DistroKid does not collect and payout publishing royalties for any streams or sales that your music makes.
Publishing royalties are made to songwriters for the actual song’s composition and are paid out anytime the songs are reproduced (ie: streamed, performed, broadcasted, or sold).
Does DistroKid Collect Mechanical Royalties?
DistroKid does not handle the mechanical royalty collection for your music. They will not collect and payout mechanical royalties for digital streams and sales that your music makes.
Mechanical royalties are paid out any time a physical or digital copy of one of your songs is made. You earn these from the right to “mechanically” reproduce your music in any format.
Does Distrokid Collect Performance Royalties?
DistroKid does not collect and payout performance royalties for the public broadcasting of your music.
Performance royalties are meant to be paid out any time that a business broadcasts your music in public.
How Can I Collect Publishing Royalties Without DistroKid?
To collect publishing royalties without DistroKid, you must either sign up for a music publishing administration company or your local performance rights organisation (PRO).
Performance rights organisations are specific to each country and often have no joining fee. However, they only collect royalties generated within that country.
Music publishing administration companies may charge a fee but can collect both publishing and mechanical royalties for your music globally.
Personally, I use SongTrust so that I can register each song once and have it automatically collect global publishing and mechanical royalties for me.
DistroKid also currently recommends SongTrust for collecting royalties:
“…many DistroKid artists use SongTrust for publishing admin, and we love it! We’re working on a publishing admin system for artists. But in the meanwhile, check out SongTrust.”
DistroKid
Songtrust vs DistroKid
Songtrust handles the collection of your publishing rights, as they are a publishing administrator. A publishing administrator like Songtrust pays you royalties from your ownership of the ‘composition’, also known as songwriting royalties.
Songtrust also registers your work with global Performing Rights Organizations to collect your performance royalties from each of the areas in the world in which the performance royalties were actually generated.
DistroKid handles the digital distribution of your music by putting it into stores and streaming services like Spotify, iTunes, and Apple Music. A music distributor like DistroKid pays you royalties from your ownership of the recording.
To sum things up:
- DistroKid is a music distributor.
- Songtrust is a publishing administrator.
To learn more about how the two compare, check out my full article on Songtrust vs DistroKid. 🙂
