r/MusicDistribution

I am really struggling to decide on a distributor for my music. I am looking into GYRO, and while word of mouth seems good they have some recent negative reviews and I don't like the idea of an 8% commission. I was hoping someone could shed some light on their experiences with them. I like the idea of a localised distributor, but at the same time, I think Symphonic might be a safer bet. Thanks in advance.

So I submitted a release to TuneCore. They rejected the album art due to there being extra text besides the artist names and release title. I had the extra text removed and they rejected it again providing a screenshot of my band name (the main artist) saying that it didn’t match the main artist submitted. So they’re basically saying my band name doesn’t match my band name. For context, the ending letters of each word in my band name are partially cut off, you can only see a portion of the ending letters. However, when they rejected it, they didn’t say “We’re rejected this because the letters aren’t fully visible” they said that it didn’t match my band name. Any advice? I already responded saying that the artist name on the album art is the same as my band name. Waiting for a response. I’m heavily considering just using another distributor. I’ve released via CD Baby in the past with the identical format (Some letters in band name partially cut off + extra text outside of band name and release title) and the only issue they had was asking me to remove a barcode that was there for aesthetics. They had no issue with the rest of the additional text and the band name having some letters cut off.

I know there's a lot to consider when it comes to choosing a distro. Ease of use is a big one (which is why I'm somewhat leaning towards Toolost). Are there any other ones that take care copyright paperwork, like TL?

Chat do you know some free distributors? I’m currently using RouteNote free, but they take a lot of time sometimes 1 and a half month to just approve or disapprove a song, please help!

I have an EP ready for release nd looking for a reliable music distributor in India

Currently considering

Distrokid
TuneCore
CD Baby
Ditto
PlayGeet
Songdew

I’d love to hear your experience

I know a lot of distributors are really resistant to artist name changes now, but I've seen a few artists successfully do it, even on Apple Music. A friend said Amuse is able, but I reached out to support and they said they can't. I'm not sure if it's just something to say to prevent too many people from trying; but does anybody know how of a distributor that can help me with this?

Before explaining the idea itself, I would like to clarify a few points:

Firstly, I believe that musicianship and acting are two trees with the same root.

I've been thinking about what differentiates them, and so far I've come to this: an actor plays anyone on stage except themselves, while a musician, on the contrary, only plays themselves.

And even if a musician literally reveals their life through music, they still remain a character in the eyes of the public.

It also seems to me that some aspects of acting could be transferred into music, but I haven't yet figured out which ones or how.

So, having explained all that, let's move on to the main idea.

The idea is that there are 3 main creative forces in music, and I call them the Actor, the Poet, and the Mathematician.

How do these 3 main forces manifest?

Actor – creation of aesthetics, the universe of the musical world, the philosophy of the musical world, visuals, info topics (hype/storytelling), etc.

Poet – skilled at writing lyrics (whether meaningful lyrics, good punchlines, etc.), and also has a good vocal ability, but not necessarily both together. They can be good only at lyrics, only at vocals, or both.

Mathematician – their strength lies in writing the instrumental, mixing, mastering. They also understand what kind of instrumental an artist needs. But they don't write music dryly, purely mathematically. They also pour their feelings into their instrumentals. Why are they called the Mathematician? Because music is mathematical. To write it (melodies, compression, equalization, etc. are mathematics at a basic level), you need to understand the fundamentals, which are mathematical.

So, how do we get an artist?

Previously, I thought that each type is mixed in percentages to create an artist (e.g., 70% Actor, 30% Poet). But over time, I realized that was too dry. I came to the conclusion that each type has a palette of colors. The palette of colors is the same for each type, but different colors may belong to each type.

An artist is created by mixing 3, 2, or 1 archetype and their colors.

Yes, mixing archetypes is not mandatory, because there could be a 100% Mathematician with their colors, or a 100% Poet.

But many musicians mix these archetypes within themselves.

Interestingly, there could be a 100% Mathematician (responsible for the instrumental) and also a Poet (lyrics, performance), but I've never seen a 100% Actor.

I think the idea of colors is underdeveloped and the weak point of the idea, because this explanation is abstract and works more by association, differently for each person, but so far I haven't come up with anything better.

So, let's analyze a musical collective based on this idea. This will be Sad Boys before Warlord.

Yung Lean – 60% Actor – his colors are pink, cloudy, bright colors. 40% Poet – also cloudy, melancholic (gray), and pink colors.

Yung Gud – similar colors, but pink predominates, along with something acid-green (psychedelic).

Yung Sherman – similar colors to Yung Lean, with melancholic tones standing out (because of the track "Lightsaber" (personally for me).

Do you think this model is comprehensive enough, or are there important archetypes or aspects of musical creativity that it doesn't account for?

Has anyone else dealt with this?

I keep getting targeted by someone posing as a fake management company. They created a fake identity and keep filing fraudulent DMCA takedowns against my music, which results in my releases being taken down.

All of my songs are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, but dealing with these repeated false claims has been a nightmare.

Is there a distributor that offers strong copyright protection or legal support to help counter fraudulent DMCA claims and get music reinstated quickly? I'd really appreciate recommendations from anyone who's been through something similar.

i know there is a LOT of posts like this here (it's basically all that people do) but i've been trying to find the best one for me but most have either outrageously expensive pricing, shitty ui, or has a lot of criticism. so i'm gonna see if anyone can actually help me out with what i'm looking for.

first of all, i'ma list services i've used or seen and why i dislike them.

- distrokid: i've used distrokid for years and haven't really had a negative experience with them, besides their ui being the worst to use and so many missing features. i don't like them due to how you have to do multiple primary artist releases, which i find just stupid.

- too lost: i've used too lost multiple times, but for me trying to start a label they'd just decline a release and then not tell me what documentation to provide which is just the worst way to handle it. also lost access to my account once and took months to get back after talking over email.

- roc nation distribution: actually a pretty decent service, it's free but they take 80% cut of your royalties. only problem I have is that their website is very buggy and slow, and also i'd like more of my royalties.

- amuse: amuse wouldn't accept any of my releases and overall wasn't a great time for me to use, even though they were $60 a year and you couldn't get a refund.

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- ditto music: i don't want to pay extra for priority distribution

- symphonic distribution: they seem lacking as a distribution service, and also you can't release under multiple primary artists on one release (from what i've seen) unless your in their partner tier.

now that's out of the way, here is some things i'm looking for in a service :D

1. cheap pricing - i don't mind if it's like $50~, but i'm not gonna pay $120 a year just to distribute my music, that is stupid.
2. easy/clean/fast ui.
3. clear writing in contract
4. fast release times
5. (optional) (C) & (P) / label customization
6. in depth credits
7. (optional) being able to release under multiple artist names
8. NO extra/hidden fees

thanks for reading i hope to hear something that'll fit my needs!

A little over a year ago, Top Music Attorney released a few videos detailing that she was dealing with literally hundreds of artists who reported that DistroKid was falsely accusing them of getting fake streams. This can in part obviously be explained by some artists being unaware of their songs being added to botted playlists. But the volume of artists reporting the issue specifically with DistroKid tells me that it goes beyond artists simply having their songs added to sketchy playlists without their consent, it seems as though DistroKid was indeed making false accusations as well. Does anyone know if this issue has been rectified? And can you point me to evidence that it’s been rectified?

Everything I read about all the more mainstream distributors just seems like a horror story waiting to happen. I’ve been with ditto for a number of years but my last few releases I’ve had awful experiences with them - taking months and months to approve my music and zero response from customer service. Upgraded my account after being assured these issues wouldn’t happen if i paid more (classic). Now that i’m wanting to release a larger project on a stricter timeline I can’t risk waiting around months for tracks to be approved nor can i risk my sanity with the stress of it all.

I’ve tried applying to AWAL for a couple years now and had no luck or feedback which although is disheartening, I need to keep looking.

My focuses for a distributor are
- reliable customer service if issues arise
- fast approval for tracks
- preferably no take of % but willing to be lenient on that if the distributor is right

also UK based if that makes a difference

thanks for any advice in advance!

Hi everyone! I accidentally let my Epidemic Sound subscription renew, and the charge just went through. I'm currently trying to get a refund from support, but in case that doesn't work, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in taking over the account for a discounted price (if that's allowed).

If anyone has experience with this or knows the best thing to do, I'd really appreciate the advice. Thanks!

I was looking for a distributor to release my music, looked up for distro kid and other ones, saw many recommendation for ditto music and subscribed to starter pack. So far i have not much problem, except one of my single approval took ages (delayed with cover art issue), and due to starter pack it takes 10 days to release music. But on the other hand i come across to many complains about Ditto music, what has been your experience with them?

i run an archive page for artists and i’m trying to find the best music distributor for uploading older/unreleased archive songs to streaming platforms fast.

i’m not a label, so i’m wondering what distributors are easiest to work with if you’re uploading on behalf of an artist or archive page. i want something with fast delivery, not too many delays, and a review process that doesn’t automatically block everything if the music is already floating around online or has old snippets/samples.

for people who run archive pages or help artists upload older music, what distro do you use?

i’ve looked at too lost, distrokid, tunecore, soundon, amuse, etc. i mainly care about:

• fast approval / fast delivery
• not overcomplicated
• good for archived or older tracks
• doesn’t require me to be a full label
• doesn’t give constant copyright issues if i have permission from the artist

any real experiences?

Like the title says, I’m looking for a good music distributor, just like most posts in this sub. Why avoid Routenote and Distrokid? Well, I tried routenote when I was 15 last year.. and it sucks. I thought people were exaggerating about their brutal wait times but i was WRONG. Very, very WRONG. I sent one sample to them and I kid you not I GRADUATED senior high before they even saw it. And when it had been a month since I sent the sample, they DENIED it…maybe its because that sample actually kinda sucked, but.. you know.

So, now you may wonder. Why not Distrokid? Everyone uses distrokid..!! Well… the thing is about me, i'm kiiiiinda under a talent company rn and they use distributors like Distrokid but I'm avoiding Distrokid cuz I'm scared *THEY* will find out about me two timing them. they kinda force me to sing songs they want me to sing but I want maybe another identity where I can make music I, myself, want to make sooo...yeah! My parents bootlick them so hard and they’re lowk kinda exploiting me because i am a minor…. And plus inside that project, my FACE is plastered ALL OVER so it just gives me NO CHANCE AT ALL to succeed in this industry after that humiliation ritual…if I continue one with the identity I have now.

So I just want to go under another identity under another label/company anonymously so I can at least have an outlet where I can make the songs I wanna make. :’))

This is my 3rd time posting about this, which is kinda annoying and I’m sorry :’)) I’m just a little frustrated that I can’t find a distribution company. Preferably, I would want to find a small, a bit cheapish company. My parents don’t know about this so I have to pay out of pocket….. I’m not expecting to find a really cheap service though. Not everything is sunshines and rainbows and is good in life. Sometimes, you gotta just deal with it…

Thanks for reading. And I’d really appreciate people who suggest to be services. Someone already told me CD baby and I’m looking into it, but I wanna look for more options too 🥲🥲

I am an indie game developer, and I'm looking into registering Content ID for all of my OST.

I'm expecting people to upload clips and playthroughs of my game on YouTube, and maybe on TikTok. I don't want them getting any strikes, and I don't want to take any cuts from their ad revenue. The CID will be there to protect my music, not to monetize on it.

Thus, I'm looking for a distributor that will give me full control over the Content ID settings. Ideally, something unexpensive. I'm open to small distributors, if they offer good customer support.

Any recommendations?

I'm disappointed with TooLost support. My account was limited and my balance frozen due to a clear third-party artificial streaming attack (sabotage), which targeted two of my songs ("30 Seconds of Preparation" and "Micro Uno") with massive and unnatural bot traffic originating exclusively from Oslo, Norway, and the United States.

I have absolutely nothing to do with this traffic. I am the victim. To demonstrate my complete good faith and full cooperation, five days ago I filed a complaint on behalf of my label "Andrius Music" (Andrea Corsini), attaching irrefutable screenshots from Spotify for Artists showing that this traffic wasn't even coming from playlists. I even took the drastic measure of requesting the immediate removal of both affected albums from distribution in the United States, Norway, and Singapore, to eliminate the source of the bot at its root.

Despite providing unequivocal evidence and actively sacrificing my distribution territories to resolve the issue, TooLost continues to ignore me or respond with automated copy-and-paste messages.

A human supervisor must finally review my five-day pending appeal, verify my cooperative behavior, and release my legitimate balance. This treatment is unacceptable for independent artists and labels.

Here are the screenshots:

https://preview.redd.it/uhhmibbe03ah1.jpg?width=1000&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bb8767b7e98f9cdf66c87adadc999fd595163f70