# Digital distributors - recommendations ?



## Fredeke (May 27, 2021)

Hi. I'm looking for a digital distributor that would take care of everything, answer possible queries, and not rip me off when I'm not watching them closely.
I'm currently hesitating between CD Baby and Distrokid. Do you recommend any of these? Do you have other recommendations? Thanks.


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## CGR (May 27, 2021)

I've had a good experience with Soundrop. Clear and intuitive account setup and upload/distribution process, and I get a monthly itemized report of all tracks streamed with a breakdown track name, play quantity, streaming platform & country.


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## Fredeke (May 27, 2021)

CGR said:


> I've had a good experience with Soundrop. Clear and intuitive account setup and upload/distribution process, and I get a monthly itemized report of all tracks streamed with a breakdown track name, play quantity, streaming platform & country.


They advertise cover-song distribution, seemingly exclusively. That's nice and could come in handy, but I suppose they distribute original works just as well?


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## CGR (May 27, 2021)

Fredeke said:


> They advertise cover-song distribution, seemingly exclusively. That's nice and could come in handy, but I suppose they distribute original works just as well?


Yeah, the emphasis on cover songs is a little misleading. I've released 5 albums of original material through them and all went smoothly. I also register each track with APRA-AMCOS (Australian Performing Rights Association)


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## Fredeke (May 27, 2021)

CGR said:


> Yeah, the emphasis on cover songs is a little misleading. I've released 5 albums of original material through them and all went smoothly. I also register each track with APRA-AMCOS (Australian Performing Rights Association)


Does Soundrop do publishing as well?


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## CGR (May 27, 2021)

Fredeke said:


> Does Soundrop do publishing as well?


Not that I'm aware of, although I've not fully investigated that with them. They have a comprehensive Support/Q&A section so I'd suggest having a look there.


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## FlyingAndi (Jun 17, 2021)

I have also released two albums with Soundrop.
I'd like to add that their support is awesome as well. Always got a response within less than a day (sometimes within minutes).


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## CGR (Jun 17, 2021)

FlyingAndi said:


> I have also released two albums with Soundrop.
> I'd like to add that their support is awesome as well. Always got a response within less than a day (sometimes within minutes).


Just having a listen now to your 'Andient Music' album. Nice work! Really liking the piano tone and the interesting percussive elements & ambient guitar washes


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## FlyingAndi (Jun 17, 2021)

CGR said:


> Just having a listen now to your 'Andient Music' album. Nice work! Really liking the piano tone and the interesting percussive elements & ambient guitar washes


Thanks for the kind words. Did you spot the real piano between the VIs?
Most of the ambient guitars heavily rely on Valhalla Supermassive.
Incidentally, I listened to your latest album last sunday morning (although it was probably made for bedtime) and noticed that you also have some guitars on this one. My wife liked it too (she always needs some calm music when I put on too much metal  )


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## Fredeke (Jun 18, 2021)

I finally went with Amuse.io
They're by far the least expensive: even their full featured package (which I went for) is still cheaper than anything else.
Their upload form is clear and straightforward. Their genre menu is a bit short and rigid. Their support is responsive enough.
I think they're Spanish. I'm not sure, but the way they handle cover rights looks more European than American to me.
I'll report my experiences here.


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## CGR (Jun 18, 2021)

FlyingAndi said:


> Thanks for the kind words. Did you spot the real piano between the VIs?
> Most of the ambient guitars heavily rely on Valhalla Supermassive.
> Incidentally, I listened to your latest album last sunday morning (although it was probably made for bedtime) and noticed that you also have some guitars on this one. My wife liked it too (she always needs some calm music when I put on too much metal  )


Credit where it's due I say. Will listen in detail over the weekend and try to spot the acoustic. Valhalla Supermassive is great - it can add a huge ambience without muddying up the sound. Happy to hear you checked out 'Sleep Now'. Hope it works as a contrast to the Metal


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## FlyingAndi (Jun 18, 2021)

Fredeke said:


> I'll report my experiences here.


Looking forward to your report.
Did you find any info how amuse handles cover songs?
It seems that amuse free package ist hard to beat. 100% royalties at no costs. Soundrop takes 15%. But I made about $2 so far this year, so I don't really care


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## Fredeke (Jun 18, 2021)

FlyingAndi said:


> Looking forward to your report.
> Did you find any info how amuse handles cover songs?
> It seems that amuse free package ist hard to beat. 100% royalties at no costs. Soundrop takes 15%. But I made about $2 so far this year, so I don't really care


I'm not releasing a cover now, so I only glanced at it, and I may be wrong. But it seems you need permission from the IP holder, which 9 times out of 10 is just a formality, but still. It's the European way, while the American way has been more streamlined for the last 15 years, I think: just make a declaration, pay a fee, and that's all.


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## ltmusic (Jun 18, 2021)

Has anyone tried Distrokid ? Is there an advantage over others ?


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## Rachel (Jun 20, 2021)

I am with CDBaby. I hesitated a lot when I had to choose but I like their no annual fee option. You just pay once for your single of album, and it remains as long as you want. On Distrokid there is annual fee. CDBaby is good but if you release a lot of tracks they become quite expensive


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## AudioLoco (Jun 20, 2021)

Distrokid is da shit
Have been using them for a long time. Very reliable.


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## SupremeFist (Jun 30, 2021)

Have had a very positive experience with my first release with @Modern Classical X , which also gives me warm and fuzzy feelings since I discovered them via this forum.


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## tabulius (Jun 30, 2021)

Amuse.io looks pretty good. Someone also recommended a https://www.songtradr.com/

Songtradr has some licensing opportunities as well, altough I would personally opt out those most of the time.

It’s hard to choose because within few years all these new services have been rising to surface. I am also trying to choose a relatively cheap option for my next single release.


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## Rachel (Jun 30, 2021)

I am looking at https://www.songtradr.com/, seems good. If someone has experience with them, I would be happy to hear it


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## Daryl (Jul 1, 2021)

AudioLoco said:


> Distrokid is da shit
> Have been using them for a long time. Very reliable.


We got thrown off for uploading too many albums...! They were also most unhelpful about it.


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## AudioLoco (Jul 1, 2021)

Daryl said:


> We got thrown off for uploading too many albums...! They were also most unhelpful about it.


Too many albums? That's weird... What was their reasoning?


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## Daryl (Jul 1, 2021)

AudioLoco said:


> Too many albums? That's weird... What was their reasoning?


Too many albums. That was it. No discussion.


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## Chamberfield (Jul 4, 2021)

Daryl said:


> Too many albums. That was it. No discussion.


I've heard other stories about people getting kicked off DistroKid for petty reasons or no reasons at all. Knowing that, I'm staying away.


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## ltmusic (Jul 4, 2021)

Distrokid...
Is it real that they take down your tracks if you decide to leave them and go with another distributor ?


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## AudioLoco (Jul 4, 2021)

Daryl said:


> Too many albums. That was it. No discussion.


If I may ask... How many albums did you put out with them?


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## Daryl (Jul 5, 2021)

AudioLoco said:


> If I may ask... How many albums did you put out with them?


I think they cut us off at around 25


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## AudioLoco (Jul 5, 2021)

Daryl said:


> I think they cut us off at around 25


25 in total? 25 a year? Are you a label or an individual?
Sorry about the questions, you don't have to answer, I'm just curious


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## Chamberfield (Jul 5, 2021)

I'm not sure why DistroKid would frown on albums vs singles. This is a blurb from their website:

"DistroKid is the best deal if you want to upload a lot of singles (1-song albums). As a DistroKid member ($19.99/yr), you can upload unlimited songs, whenever you want, without thinking about money."

So if you're allowed to upload unlimited songs, why not unlimited albums?


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## MeloKeyz (Jul 5, 2021)

Rachel said:


> CDBaby is good but if you release a lot of tracks they become quite expensive


I think paying for albums is more economic then!


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## MeloKeyz (Jul 5, 2021)

Fredeke said:


> I finally went with Amuse.io
> They're by far the least expensive: even their full featured package (which I went for) is still cheaper than anything else.
> Their upload form is clear and straightforward. Their genre menu is a bit short and rigid. Their support is responsive enough.
> I think they're Spanish. I'm not sure, but the way they handle cover rights looks more European than American to me.
> I'll report my experiences here.


Do they accept cinemtic/trailer/promo genre? I couldn't find their genre menu.


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## Daryl (Jul 6, 2021)

AudioLoco said:


> 25 in total? 25 a year? Are you a label or an individual?
> Sorry about the questions, you don't have to answer, I'm just curious


Yes, a run a couple of labels. However, when we originally spoke to them, there seemed to be no problem. It's just that they changed their minds...


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## Yellow Studio (Jul 6, 2021)

Chamberfield said:


> I'm not sure why DistroKid would frown on albums vs singles. This is a blurb from their website:
> 
> "DistroKid is the best deal if you want to upload a lot of singles (1-song albums). As a DistroKid member ($19.99/yr), you can upload unlimited songs, whenever you want, without thinking about money."
> 
> So if you're allowed to upload unlimited songs, why not unlimited albums?


No problem with unlimited albums. You can upload/release as much as you want!


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## Daryl (Jul 6, 2021)

Yellow Studio said:


> No problem with unlimited albums. You can upload/release as much as you want!


Yet I found the opposite and got banned for "flooding the market"


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## PeterN (Sep 3, 2021)

I have issue with Distrokid, bcs it communicates, like you are some high school moron learning AC DC riiffs, and Smoke on the water stuff. A mastering engineer recommended it, so ended up with it.

Yesterday registered a piano track, couldnt even register "classical mustic", most was "K pop", "hip hop", even "French pop", yea, theres maybe 25 options, and not one fits in. For "soundtrack" the soundtrack must be reeady for movie. I used this Discokid just to register some stuff, but its very reluctantly. *Cant they make an adult version of it? *"CD baby" sounds like s.hit too, need to dig into this maybe, but feel like a loser.


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## SupremeFist (Sep 3, 2021)

PeterN said:


> I have issue with Distrokid, bcs it communicates, like you are some high school moron learning AC DC riiffs, and Smoke on the water stuff. A mastering engineer recommended it, so ended up with it.
> 
> Yesterday registered a piano track, couldnt even register "classical mustic", most was "K pop", "hip hop", even "French pop", yea, theres maybe 25 options, and not one fits in. For "soundtrack" the soundtrack must be reeady for movie. I used this Discokid just to register some stuff, but its very reluctantly. *Cant they make an adult version of it? *"CD baby" sounds like s.hit too, need to dig into this maybe, but feel like a loser.


Modern Classical X was created because of this exact problem. They will get you into the "classical" genre.


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## PeterN (Sep 3, 2021)

SupremeFist said:


> Modern Classical X was created because of this exact problem. They will get you into the "classical" genre.


Thanks for info!


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## angeruroth (Sep 4, 2021)

Hmm, both Amuse and Songtradr look interesting.

I've never tried to publish using this kind of services, so I have a maybe silly question:
If you register the tracks (or albums) with a local rights management association, don't they (the distribution company and the rights association) fight over the management, royalties or something?


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