If you’re looking for a great digital music distribution service for your band or record label, DistroKid is a great option, but how much does it really cost? There are a lot of pricing factors beyond the base advertised subscription cost worth bearing in mind before deciding if DistroKid is the best music distribution service for you. The DistroKid pricing model is based around an annual subscription, as well as extras for certain add ons for your releases, such as cover song licences and more.
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DistroKid Pricing Model
Here’s a big plus – DistroKid does NOT take a cut of your royalties, which is marvellous. They make their money from subscription revenue and by charging fees for extras.
Their base subscription costs vary depending on the number of artists you want to upload music to:
| Number of Artists | Annual Cost (USD) | Perks |
| 1 Artist (Musician) | $19.99 | Upload unlimited songs Upload unlimited lyrics Spotify verified checkmark Collect earnings from royalty splits |
| 2 Artists (Musician Plus) | $35.99 | Everything above, plus: Synced Instagram Lyrics Daily Streaming Stats Customizable label name, release date, preorder date, iTunes pricing and ISRC codes 2 artists or bands |
| 5 Artists (Label) | $79.99 | Same as above, but more artists |
| 10 Artists (Label) | $139.99 | Same as above, but more artists |
| 20 Artists (Label) | $239.99 | Same as above, but more artists |
| 50 Artists (Label) | $599.99 | Same as above, but more artists |
| 100 Artists (Label) | $1199.99 | Same as above, but more artists |
DistroKid Pricing – Extras
On top of the base annual subscription cost, DistroKid does charge for a few extras, should you want them:
| Extra | Cost |
| Cover Song Licence | $1 per month per song |
| Discovery Pack Add this single to major global databases that catalog & acknowledge music information. Includes:Song recognition in millions of cars & electronics (via Gracenote) Registration with SoundScan (used for Billboard charts) Artist, track & album credits officially listed and linked in Jaxsta Audio fingerprinting for rights protection with ACRCloud | $0.99 per year per release |
| YouTube Content ID Get notified & paid if your music is ever used in any YouTube videos. We’ll add this single to YouTube’s Content ID database, and continually scan for matches. When your music is detected in any YouTube video, you’ll be notified—and ad revenue will automatically go to you, instead of to the person who uploaded the video. | ($4.95/yr + 20% of YouTube ad revenue from matches we detect) |
| Store Maximizer DistroKid will automatically deliver this single to new online stores and streaming services as we add them. Which is often. We’ll give you notice each time we add the single to a new service. | ($7.95/yr) |
| Social Phone Number Get a real U.S. phone number you can post publicly, text with fans or anyone, and collect their phone numbers. Texts have a 98% open-rate, which is far superior to IG & Twitter where only 2% of followers see your posts | ($12.99/mo) |
| Loudness Normalization Increases audio level per Spotify’s recommendation (-14dB integrated LUFS & -1dB true peak maximum). This sets the volume of your track to a competitive level, without adding distortion or clipping that can occur during streaming services’ transcoding process, and without changing the sound or dynamic range of your music. If your single is already loud enough (> -14dB LUFS), this optimization will be skipped and you won’t be charged. | ($2.99 one-time fee, nonrecurring) |
Tidal Master/MQA Encodes your audio using MQA, which displays the “MASTER” badge on Tidal, and delivers audiophile quality on other streaming services & devices including Tidal, FiiO, Astell & Kern, iFi, AudioQuest, and many more. | ($8.99 one-time fee, nonrecurring) |
| Leave a Legacy DistroKid will never delete this single, even if you cancel your account or your credit card is declined. You can always choose to delete it any time—or not. You will continue to accrue all royalties, as normal. Protect your music and leave a legacy for future generations. | ($29.00 one-time fee, nonrecurring) |
As you can see from the table above, if you have a few more specific needs, then there may be other music distribution services which can offer more bang for your buck. If you’re like me and don’t really care about the extras, then DistroKid is still one of the better and cheaper options available in 2022.
DistroKid Music Video Upload Pricing
DistroKid has a newer service offering, called DistroVid:
DistroVid allows you to upload music videos onto platforms otherwise inaccessible to independent musicians, such as Amazon music and Apple Music. Pretty cool. DistroVid costs $99.99 per year, so you have to really want people to see your music videos for it to be worth it in my opinion.
Conclusion – DistroKid Pricing is Still Competitive in 2022
If you’re like me and don’t need to use all the extra bells and whistles that DistroKid Pricing costs extra for, then I think they are a no-brainer to sign up for. 1 artist and unlimited uploads for $19.99 per year is a pretty good deal. Hey, if you fancy paying 7% less why not use my referral code by clicking here?
If you still aren’t sold, check out my in depth review on DistroKid here.
