It's reasonable for basic uploading music to DSP and I like that it's simple and cost effective for the most part. However, my biggest issue is the way they have it set up to pay for extra artist slots just to have a collaborative project uploaded correctly. You have to pay annually for each artist on each collab so if you work with several artist it adds up on an annual basis. If it were a one time thing I'd be less frustrated with it. You can of course do it for free if you have the other artist simply be a featured artist, which means the song isn't on their main artist page and streams don't count towards their monthly streaming numbers, so it's just a little annoying that to have it done proper they run you through the ringer. I've also heard that other distributors don't charge on an annual basis for releasing a cover, and it's a one time fee. Distrokid however does charge a 12 dollar annual fee to release a cover. So, if true, they really get you there too. Plus, I have heard of them being pretty bad with just taking down people's music if they even suspect possible botted streams, no questions asked, no way to recoup the music or the playlists it may have been on, streams, etc, so that can really screw people. Luckily I have not experienced this, but be wary. Save your ISRCs for each song so you can reupload them with a different distributor in case of this.
4 months ago | 1
I feel like distrokid is great for starting out. But once you actually start getting some real revenue there are many better options which gives you actual support and the possibility to directly communicate regarding issues/questions or anything really. I don’t feel like distrokid would ever hold my back, they’re to big of s company with too little support. I’d rather work with a smaller distributor that actually wants to support their customers
4 months ago | 0
It has has the best cover song licensing program, which is essential for my type of music
4 months ago | 3
I haven’t had any problems with it other then the price. Would recommend over other distributors for sure.
4 months ago | 1
It's not bad, can't complain, but besides being cheaper than competition can't compliment much either.
4 months ago | 0
Its cool, somethings are dumb -- limited to 7 spots for "primary artists" (non-featured artist) limits what you can do collaboration wise (if youre wanting both artists to accumulate the stats and algorithmic traction). I also dont like that collaborations on singles is effectively a hidden feature -- instead of getting the "additional primary artist" button, you have to put "and" or & in the artist name and then choose. Hiding something as major as that is strange and annoying from as UX perspective. The Fixer Tool also just doesnt work and again has a confusing UI. Otherwise, as far as the distributing, banking, stats, etc go -- its good.
4 months ago | 3
I'll be leaving soon, I think. They have applied fees to some of my releases, and claim the only way to stop these fees is for me to delete the releases and re release them. I won't be rereleasing them on Distrokid.
4 months ago | 0
Knowing your bank balance is the only thing i'm really not a fan of. Because you have no idea how much you really made accurately.
4 months ago | 0
My understanding is there isn't a good one out there. So it's a case of picking the best of a bad bunch. Distrokid may be one of those better ones, but still garbage.
4 months ago | 0
Is one of the worst distribution services. Expensive, bad curation, you can’t pitch your song properly to all DSP. Too expensive for such a poor service.
4 months ago | 0
They got my music up within 8 hours, AND let you change metadata, which is MUCH better than CDBaby… but they also have a ton of hidden fees and predatory business practices, so as soon as I find a better distributor, I’ll be switching.
4 months ago | 4
I wouldn’t recommend! My song blew up then got taken down by Spotify and they left me high and dry & no I didn’t pay for streams.
4 months ago | 0
A no thrills experience which has been better than using ditto. Consistently reliable at uploading the songs on time and correctly - if all you’re doing is that, it’s fine.
4 months ago (edited) | 1
Andrew Southworth
For those of you that use DistroKid to distribute your music... how do you feel about it?
4 months ago | [YT] | 15