Greatest Music Distributor UK: Charges and Small Print

The perfect music distributor for a UK unbiased artist is the one whose pricing suits how usually you launch: CD Child for the occasional single, RouteNote’s free tier if you wish to take a look at the water, and an annual plan from DistroKid, TuneCore, Amuse or Ditto if new music goes out each month or two.

That reply disappoints individuals who needed a single winner. There isn’t one. Each distributor will get your observe onto Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Deezer and the remainder, and the supply itself has grow to be a commodity. What separates them is the fantastic print: whether or not you pay per launch or per yr, what proportion they hold, which extras price extra, and what occurs to your catalogue the day you cease paying. Most “greatest distributor” lists skip that final half, which is a disgrace, as a result of it’s the bit that bites three years later.

Each worth under was checked on the distributor’s personal website in November 2026. Most quote US {dollars}, so a UK card pays regardless of the change price and your financial institution’s charges make of it. TuneCore is the one one of many large names that confirmed sterling costs on its UK pricing web page.

What the principle distributors price proper now

Every determine comes from the corporate’s personal pricing web page. Deal with any phrase like “quickest” or “primary” on these pages as advertising and marketing; none of it’s independently measured.

• DistroKid: annual plans at $24.99 (Musician), $44.99 (Musician Plus) and $89.99 (Final), limitless releases, and you retain 100% of earnings, in line with DistroKid’s pricing web page. No free tier.
• TuneCore: UK pricing of £20.99 a yr (Rising Artist), £35.99 (Breakout Artist) and £43.99 (Skilled), or £20.99 a yr to launch a single by itself. TuneCore takes a 20% payment on earnings from TikTok, Fb, Instagram and YouTube.
• CD Child: a one-off payment per launch, $9.99 for a single and $14.99 for an album, with no annual payment. CD Child retains 9% of digital income, so you retain 91%. YouTube Content material ID is included.
• Amuse: $23.99, $39.99 or $59.99 a yr. You may open a free account, however distributing wants a paid plan.
• Ditto Music: $19 a yr on Starter and $59 on Professional, with 100% of streaming earnings. Content material ID, sync pitching and publishing sit on the Professional plan.
• RouteNote: a free plan the place RouteNote retains 15%, or Premium, the place you retain every little thing and pay $10 upfront for a single, then $9.99 per launch per yr from yr two, per RouteNote’s personal breakdown.
• Too Misplaced: $19.99 a yr (or $2.99 a month) to maintain 100%; with no subscription you retain 85%.

Two names you will note on older lists are more durable to get into now. AWAL says it solely works with artists it thinks it might assist, so you may submit music however acceptance shouldn’t be assured. Spinnup, Common’s DIY service, went invite-only in July 2022, as Music Enterprise Worldwide reported on the time. If a information nonetheless tells you to enroll to both in two clicks, examine when it was written.

Do the maths by yourself launch sample earlier than you take a look at the rest. 4 singles a yr on CD Child prices about $40 as soon as, and people tracks keep up. 4 singles a yr on DistroKid’s entry plan prices $24.99, then the identical once more yearly you need them to remain dwell. Over 5 years the subscription mannequin prices extra for a gradual releaser and far much less for somebody placing out a observe a month.

What occurs to your music should you cease paying

That is the query to ask earlier than you add something, as a result of altering distributor later means taking songs down and placing them again up, and playlist placements and play counts don’t all the time survive the transfer.

DistroKid says in its assist centre that it might take away your releases should you cease paying, except you may have purchased its Depart a Legacy add-on for these releases. You get discover first, and earnings already owed are nonetheless paid. TuneCore takes releases down if you don’t renew, after two reminders and a grace interval. Ditto says releases are susceptible to removing and that you just can not withdraw royalties whereas your account is unpaid.

Others are gentler. Amuse leaves your music dwell should you cancel and pays you 75% of earnings as an alternative of 100%. LANDR says your music stays dwell even should you cancel. Too Misplaced retains releases up except you ask for a takedown, dropping you to 85%. Report Union places lapsed releases into what it calls Sleep Mode, the place they keep dwell however earn you nothing till you renew. CD Child’s one-off payment is the best of all, as a result of there’s nothing to resume.

In case you are the kind of one who lets subscriptions lapse when cash is tight (most musicians, in different phrases), this issues quite a lot of {dollars}’ distinction within the annual payment.

The small print that prices actual cash

Headline costs disguise a lot of the actual variations, and the extras are the place the payments pile up.

YouTube Content material ID. That is the system that claims cash when somebody makes use of your observe in a YouTube video. CD Child and RouteNote embrace it. Amuse expenses a 15% payment for it on its least expensive plan. Ditto retains it for Professional prospects. In case your music fits creators’ movies (lo-fi, instrumentals, something moody sufficient for a journey vlog), this may be price greater than streaming.

Social platform charges. TuneCore’s 20% minimize of TikTok, Instagram, Fb and YouTube earnings is straightforward to overlook on a pricing web page that in any other case reads as “hold 100%”. If a observe goes off on TikTok, that’s the place the cash is.

Payout thresholds. RouteNote’s minimal payout is $50, which might take a brand new artist a very long time to achieve on the free plan.

Splits. Should you write with a producer or play in a band, automated splits save awkward financial institution transfers. DistroKid gives splits on all plans; Amuse expenses 15% for splits with people who find themselves not on Amuse when you find yourself on its entry plan; Too Misplaced offers collaborators a free account.

Synthetic streaming expenses. Spotify now expenses labels and distributors per observe when it detects flagrant synthetic streaming, and it withholds the royalties, because it explains on its synthetic streaming web page. TuneCore’s assist centre says it passes Spotify’s cost, €10 per observe monthly, on to the artist. Different distributors’ insurance policies weren’t acknowledged on the pages we checked, so ask earlier than you join. Both manner, by no means purchase streams, and be cautious of any playlist service that ensures numbers.

Spotify’s royalty threshold modifications the sums too. Since April 2024, a observe wants a minimum of 1,000 streams within the earlier 12 months earlier than it earns recorded royalties in any respect, in line with Spotify for Artists. In case your first releases are unlikely to clear that bar, paying a percentage-based distributor prices you virtually nothing, and paying an annual payment prices you actual cash for no royalty return. So there’s a good case for beginning on a free or one-off plan and shifting up as soon as the numbers justify it. Neon has a fuller breakdown of what artists truly receives a commission per stream if you would like the numbers.

Which distributor fits which artist

You launch a few singles a yr and hate subscriptions. CD Child. You pay as soon as, the tracks keep up, and Content material ID is included. You quit 9% for the privilege, which on a small catalogue is pennies.

You might be simply beginning and don’t have any funds. RouteNote’s free plan, accepting the 15% minimize and the $50 payout flooring. Swap to Premium on a launch that begins incomes.

You launch usually and need every little thing in a single place. An annual plan from DistroKid, TuneCore, Ditto or Amuse. In case you are UK-based and need to pay in kilos, TuneCore’s sterling pricing removes the change price guesswork. Should you fear about lapsing, Amuse’s 75% fallback is kinder than a takedown.

You make music for video. Choose on Content material ID phrases first and every little thing else second.

You’ve got actual traction and a workforce. That is when curated providers comparable to AWAL, or a label providers deal, begin to make sense. They take an even bigger share however supply advertising and marketing and playlist relationships {that a} self-serve dashboard can not. Our information to getting signed to a report label covers what that dialog appears to be like like.

What a distributor is not going to do for you

A distributor collects what the streaming providers and retailers pay on your recordings. Within the UK, cash from radio play and public efficiency is collected individually: PPL for performers and recording house owners, and PRS for Music for songwriters. You be a part of these your self, and loads of artists with a distributor account by no means do. In case you have had a play on BBC Introducing or neighborhood radio, there could also be cash sitting unclaimed.

A distributor additionally doesn’t get anybody to hear. Spotify for Artists allows you to pitch one unreleased track at a time to its editors, and Spotify recommends doing it a minimum of seven days earlier than launch so the observe reaches your followers’ Launch Radar. Which means importing to your distributor nicely earlier than launch day, a step loads of artists miss. Our launch timeline for press and playlists units out when every step ought to occur.

Press and playlist protection is the opposite half. Begin with the UK music publications accepting submissions, a lot of them free, and the routes to Spotify playlists with out paying. If you need a assured reply from an editor, Neon runs Neon Direct (declaring an curiosity, since it’s ours): $4 will get a full hear and a transparent sure or no on protection and playlisting inside three days, or a full refund, and we reply to each submission. You’ll discover all of the choices on our submit music web page.

Choose a distributor in a day and spend the saved time on getting heard. The add is the straightforward bit; no one has ever streamed a track due to which dashboard despatched it.