Music Distribution Platforms (Paid): A Guide
By: Shereef Ragab
Hi I’m Shereef Ragab and in this blog we’ll look in more detail at how four of the biggest paid distribution platforms operate and what to expect from each one. I’ve also included some tips on how to make best use of them.
Top tips for making your music sound great when uploading:
When uploading to distribution services, make sure you upload in 44.1 kHz 16 bit WAV.
Most Digital Audio Workstations will have options that allow you to render in a number of formats and bitrates. For radio, 48 kHz 24 bit is preferred. Remember, the higher the quality, the better it will be for Spotify and iTunes etc. to encode the files onto their platforms. But make sure not to render higher for the sake of it as this will give you a larger file but with non-distinguishable artifacts. Also be sure to leave enough headroom so that it will playback at a suitable volume without any distortion. If your track is louder than their allowed Loudness Units Full Scale limit, the streaming platform will lower your track for you! This does not mean that you should be aiming for your song to be louder. If anything, you want a balanced end result that does not go into the red.
So here are my top four paid distribution services which will enable you to get your songs on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, and many more platforms!
Distrokid
Distrokid is one of the easiest and fastest distribution services on offer. They get your music on
streaming services such as Spotify and iTunes within 5 - 7 days (often 5 days) - which is one of
the quickest distribution services to do so.
Quick tip:
- Sign up with an email address on the front page
- Click on your preferred package
- Get to the payment window
- Close tab
A few days later, you should receive an email with a discount (35%)
Click on your discount and close that tab
You should get an email with a further discount!
Then sign up!!
DittoMusic
DittoMusic is one of the most popular independent distribution services available. Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith, Chance The Rapper, Izzy Bizu, and Dave are featured on their website as all making their starts with Ditto.
DittoMusic offers a free 30 day trial with a starter price of £19 per year and will get your songs
distributed and available within 10 days. This includes unlimited music distribution into all major
digital stores and streaming platforms including Spotify and Apple Music.
Not only do Ditto offer music distribution, they also offer a publishing service which will place your songs in TV & Films. A yearly subscription for this service would be £39 but you will also need to register with the PRS in order to collect any royalties.
Amuse
We’ve taken a look at the free version of Amuse and now it’s time to unpack what’s available for
£19 a year if you sign up with this service.
For the price, you get:
- Releases in 2 weeks
- Unlimited releases
- Acces to more stores than are available in the free model
- YouTube Content ID (15% fee)
- Royalty Splits (no fee)
- 72 hr Support
For the same price at Ditto, you have to be willing to sacrifice an additional 4 days release time and weigh up the other things on offer here. You get unlimited releases and your content available on almost every streaming platform available if you pay for a yearly subscription with any streaming distributor. But with Amuse, you get more bang for your buck with the YouTube Content ID sign up, enabling you to copyright your work and identify YouTube videos that include content you own.
More on how YouTube Content IDs works:
https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2797370?hl=en-GB&ref_topic=9282364
LANDR
LANDR provides something entirely different. It is a creative platform that helps you improve your music through plug-ins, access to a creative community, and help with mastering. And finally it provides distribution in the way other platforms do.
For £108 a year, you get:
- Unlimited MP3 Masters
- 36 WAV Masters/yr
- Unlimited Distribution
- 1200 Samples credits /yr
- Online collab tools
- Plugins & VSTs
- LANDR FX Suite
- High quality DAW streaming
Shereef’s Top Platform:
If you just want to get unlimited releases on all major streaming platforms, DistroKid is your best
bet. But remember to follow the tip above to get your discount!