You've spent weeks finishing the track. The mix is done, the master sounds right, and your collaborators are excited. Now what? You need to get the music onto Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and everywhere else — and you need to do it without signing away your rights or getting confused by a dozen moving parts.
This guide breaks down everything an independent artist needs to know about digital distribution: what it is, how to pick a distributor, what to prepare before you upload, and what happens to your money after the streams roll in.
What Is Digital Distribution?
Digital distribution is how your music gets to streaming platforms and download stores. Back in the day, physical distribution was about getting CDs into record stores. Digital distribution does the same thing, just for Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Deezer, and hundreds of smaller platforms.
You can't upload directly to Spotify as an independent artist — you have to go through a distributor. The distributor acts as a middleman: they take your audio file and metadata, deliver it to each platform, collect your royalties, and pass them back to you.
Distributors earn money in one of two ways: a flat annual fee per release, or a percentage of your royalties. Neither model is inherently better — it depends on how much you release and how much you expect to earn.
How to Choose the Right Distributor
The distributor space is crowded. Here are the main players and what they're actually like to work with:
DistroKid is the speed choice. Unlimited releases for a flat annual fee (around $19.99/year), fast delivery, and it keeps 100% of your royalties after the fee. The downside: customer support is thin, and some artists find the auto-renewal tricky to manage. DistroKid's Splits feature also lets you automatically share revenue with collaborators, which pairs well with having a signed music split sheet in place before you upload.
TuneCore charges per release (around $9.99 for a single, $29.99 for an album per year) but keeps 100% of your royalties. It's been around longer and has more robust reporting. Better for artists who release less frequently.
CD Baby takes a one-time fee per release plus a 9% cut of royalties. It's slower to set up but offers more services — physical distribution, sync licensing registration, and publishing administration. For a complete package, CD Baby is hard to beat.
Amuse and RouteNote both offer free distribution tiers, which is tempting when you're starting out. The free tier at RouteNote takes 15% of royalties; Amuse's free tier is slower and has more restrictions. Worth it if cash is tight, but upgrade once you're generating real income.
Symphonic Distribution is geared toward labels and artists with more catalog — better for hip-hop and electronic artists with large release schedules and more complex royalty setups.
The honest answer: DistroKid is fine for most independent artists starting out. When you're releasing consistently and generating income, evaluate whether switching to TuneCore or CD Baby makes financial sense.
What to Prepare Before You Upload
The metadata you submit with your track is as important as the audio itself. Bad metadata causes payment delays, wrong credits, and songs that don't show up in searches.
Here's what you need ready:
ISRC code. Every song needs an International Standard Recording Code. Most distributors generate one for you automatically, but if you're registering with SoundExchange or your own publishing company, you may want to request your own. Here's how ISRC codes work.
UPC code. The barcode for your release as a whole. Again, most distributors assign this automatically.
Songwriter credits. Every co-writer's legal name needs to be on the release. If you wrote it with someone else, their name goes in the metadata — not just yours. This connects to how royalties get routed to each songwriter's PRO (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC).
Producer credits. If a producer contributed to the track, credit them. "Produced by" is now a standard metadata field on most platforms.
Split agreements. Before you hit upload, make sure every collaborator has signed a split sheet. This is the document that records who owns what percentage of the song. If a dispute comes up later — and they do — the split sheet is your evidence. Get it done at musicsplitsheets.com/pages/create in about two minutes.
Letter of Direction (LOD). If you're releasing to digital radio platforms (Pandora, SiriusXM), a Letter of Direction tells SoundExchange exactly how to split digital performance royalties between featured artists and sound recording rights holders. Without it, royalties sit unclaimed.
Album art. 3000 x 3000 pixels, RGB, JPEG or PNG. No URLs, no social handles, no third-party logos. Most distributors reject art that doesn't meet these specs.
Understanding the Royalties You'll Earn
One of the most confusing parts of digital distribution is understanding which royalties you're actually collecting — and which ones fall through the cracks.
When your track streams on Spotify or Apple Music, the platform pays royalties in two buckets:
Master recording royalties go to whoever owns the recording. As an independent artist who recorded and owns your own music, that's you. Your distributor collects these and pays them directly to you.
Mechanical royalties go to the songwriter(s) for the reproduction of the composition. On streaming platforms in the US, these are handled through the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC). If you're both the songwriter and the recording artist, you're owed both sets of royalties — but you have to be registered with the MLC separately to collect them.
Performance royalties are collected by your Performing Rights Organization (ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC) when your music plays on radio, streaming platforms (in some cases), live venues, and TV. Register every song you release with your PRO.
Digital performance royalties for non-interactive streaming (Pandora, SiriusXM, internet radio) are collected by SoundExchange. These are often overlooked but can add up over time.
Most independent artists leave mechanical royalties and digital performance royalties unclaimed. Setting up collection for both takes a few hours, and it's worth doing before you release.
After You Distribute: What to Track
Distribution is not a one-time task. Once your music is live, here's what to monitor:
Royalty statements. Most distributors pay quarterly, though DistroKid pays monthly. Download your statements and reconcile them against your split agreements. If a collaborator is owed a share, make sure it matches what you agreed on.
Streaming data. DistroKid, TuneCore, and CD Baby all have dashboards with per-platform streaming data. Use this to understand where your audience is concentrated and which platforms to prioritize in promotion.
Takedowns. If you ever need to remove a release — wrong version, sample clearance issue, bad metadata — most distributors let you take down tracks. Know how to do this before you need it. A sample that wasn't cleared is a legal issue that doesn't wait for your next quarterly check.
Copyright infringement. If someone uses your music without permission, a DMCA takedown is how you get it removed from YouTube and other platforms. Keep documentation of your ownership — your split sheet, your LOD, and your registration receipts.
The Bottom Line
Digital distribution has never been more accessible, and the barriers for independent artists are lower than they've ever been. But accessible doesn't mean automatic. You still have to understand the metadata, register for every royalty stream you're owed, and document your ownership clearly before you upload.
The artists who build real careers independently treat the business side as seriously as the creative side. That means signed agreements before the session ends, registered with your PRO before you release, and the paperwork in place before anything goes live.
If you haven't done it yet, start with the basics: get your music split sheet and Letter of Direction at musicsplitsheets.com. It takes two minutes and costs $3. You can sort out the distributor after.