Gone are the days when a handful of record company executives controlled the means of mass distribution to the general public. Recording tools are now offered at entry-level prices, and there is more than enough information (some excellent, and some terrible!) available on the internet to get you going on your path to making the next big record! It used to be that if you were an independent artist recording on your 4-track cassette deck, you would either do a short run of cassettes or maybe even CDs to sell at your shows – give out to friends and family and try to build it up from there. But now, there are services that, for a low monthly or yearly fee, will upload your tunes to all or most of the digital service providers (Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Amazon Music, Deezer, Boomplay, TikTok, YouTube Music, and others).
For my money, DistroKid is at the top of the heap, and I have used the service for both my personal projects and record label. Simple plans start as low as $1.92 per month, and go up to $7.50 a month for a more feature-heavy offering of services such as unlimited uploads, collaborator money splits, analytics, video uploads, playlist pitching to Spotify, and more. All plans are billed annually. Also important is the ability to add a ton of metadata to each track, and they also provide free ISRC codes (which are required for distribution) if you do not have them.
The interface is simple to use and logical, which makes sense to my artist brain. DistroKid takes no commission on your sales and you maintain 100% of the rights to your music. Whenever I had any questions, customer service was quick to respond. I have been using it now for about nine months and have been totally satisfied with their service and offerings. Whether you are an independent artist or label, and looking to streamline the global digital distribution process, DistroKid is an excellent choice.
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