How to distribute my own music?
Free Music Distribution and best Aggregators comparison:After you’ve produced your songs and the mixing and mastering process is complete, it’s time to publish your music on streaming services and download shops like Spotify, Itunes, Apple Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, Youtube Music or Beatport. Some of the best Free Music Aggregators I review in this Blogpost are:
- Routenote
- Soundrop
- CD Baby
- DistroKid
- Amuse
- Awal
- Indiefy
- Fresh Tunes
- Bandcamp
- United Masters
- Songtradr
Here you can learn more about digital distribution platforms and possibilities you have!
The income for artists is finally rising again after a long time of struggle. More and more artists are releasing their own music and no longer sharing their income with a label. Find how you can publish your music yourself without any problems.
What can you learn here?
- How to get on spotify your music, (Itunes and Youtube)
- Best Free Music Aggregators – Comparison
- Other Music Distributors worth mentioning
- Label Aggregators including Traxsource, Beatport and Juno
- How to release Native Instruments STEMS?
- How much Music Streaming services pay?
- Smart Links for Music Streaming Services – Share Music Links
If you don’t wanna spend money before releasing and sell your own Music. Here I show you how to put music on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Itunes, Shazam or Pandora. There are some free of cost solutions to distribute your Tracks with spread income. As an example, the Distributor gets 15%, and you keep 85% of the revenue. Often it makes more sense for independent Artists!
Read more about the cheapest music distributors you can find online:
In the following Blog post, I compare these details:
- Who has the best free music distribution service
- Which distributor can supply the most download and streaming services?
- How high is the margin the distributors charge you per stream or download?
- How much do you have to earn till the music distributor is paying you out?
Good luck in finding the best monetization options for your music!
My comparison for the best music Aggregator: Itunes, Apple Music, and Spotify Distribution. Soundrop vs. Routenote vs. Awal vs Level Distribution vs. Distrokid vs. Bandcamp vs. Amuse vs. Cd Babyvs.Fresh tunes vs. Horus Music vs. Songtradr vs. United Masters
ROUTENOTE REVIEW:
Routenote is a digital music distribution platform and was founded in 2007. They operate from Great Britain to help artist release their music.
Routenotes digital music distribution offers a free and a premium plan. With free music distribution, Routenote takes a 15 percent commission from your earnings.
With the Premium Plan, you get 100% of your earnings, but you pay per music release to the aggregator routenote.
The good news is you can switch between the free and premium plan at any time.
According to Routenote, your music can be distributed up to 200 different shops and streaming services. Also interesting that many Asian and Chinese stores are included.
Routenote distributes your music to the following stores:
- Apple Music,
- Itunes,
- Spotify,
- Amazon Music,
- Google Play,
- Deezer,
- Youtube,
- Shazam,
- Pandora,
- Melon,
- Soundcloud,
- Juke mymusic,
- Groove Music,
- Claro Musica,
- Tidal / WiMp,
- eMusic,
- Napster,
- Omnifone,
- Anghami,
- Gracenote,
- Kanjian
- , + 30 Chinese Stores
Routenote Pricing:
- Routenote distribute your Music with no upfront cost but keeps 15% of your download and streaming revenue.
When do you receive payment from Routenote?
- Once the balance on your Earnings page has reached the USD$50 minimum threshold amount.
Extras:
- Non Exclusive release agreement
- RouteNote Premium – For a small upfront cost, you keep 100% of the royalties. You pay $9.99 annually ongoing and one time per release (Singles $10, EP $20, Album $30, Extended Album $45)
- Youtube Content ID included
- Custom Web Store with – Routenote Direct
- Payment Splitting for Collaborations
SOUNDROP REVIEW:
Soundrop Music Distribution is the replacement for Loudr.fm, whose service has closed in 2016. They offer an almost free Youtube Music, Apple Music, and Spotify Distribution. They charge 15% of your download and streaming revenue if you use their service.
Soundrop also includes RevSplitter, an elegant, efficient way to add revenue splits for music collaborators during the upload process. So every producer or songwriter gets paid for their work.
Soundrop distributes your music to the following stores:
- iTunes / Apple Music
- Spotify
- Google Play / YouTube Music
- Deezer
- Amazon
- Pandora
- Facebook / Instagram
- Yandex
- Netease
- UMA
- Alibaba
- Tencent
- TikTok
Spread Income with Soundrop:
- Soundrop keeps 15% of your download and streaming revenue.
When do you receive payment from Soundrop?
- Once the balance on your Earnings page has reached the USD$20 minimum threshold amount.
Extras:
- Automatic Revenue Splits
- Facebook / Instagram Story Fingerprint
- Use Show.co marketing tools for free
- Set up payee splits to distribute revenue automatically among multiple rights holders.
- Sell Cover Songs – Pay a one-time fee of $9.99 per composition. They will take care of calculating and paying all the appropriate publishing royalties on your behalf.
AMUSE REVIEW: 100% FREE MUSIC DISTRIBUTION
Amuse was founded in 2016. It is a App based and 100% free music distribution service. Upload your music and get your songs distributed to Spotify, Apple music and Itunes in just a few days. You can upload your tracks in .wav format via IOS or Android APP. But you also need a Google Drive, Dropbox or Icloud account. Only with one of these cloud services you can send your songs directly to Amuse. Otherwise, this service works entirely trouble-free and is worth a try.
With the free Plan it takes up to 4 weeks to release your music.
Amuse distributes your music to following stores for free:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Deezer
- Google Play
- Youtube / Youtube Music
- Tidal
- Amazon Music
- Napster
- Shazam
- Pandora
Spread Income:
- Amuse keeps 0% of your download and streaming revenue. Everything is free, and 100% of the royalties go to the artist.
When do you receive payment?
- If you’ve earned $10 or more you can withdraw your royalties using PayPal
Extras:
- If you pay for Amuse Pro, your Music get’s released faster, you receive a Youtube Content ID and your music is distributet to Instagram and TikTok
- They discover artists they believe in and offer them a record deal that includes marketing, financing, promotion and playlist pitching. If you are one of them, they split the profits 50/50 with the artists.
- First app-only Music Distributor with no desktop site, you have to upload your music to Icloud, Dropbox or Google Drive to release your music
AWAL REVIEW:
Founded in 2003, Awal Distribution is owned by the Kobalt Music group and represents more than 4000 Artists and Labels. It’s Music Aggregator service is App based and invite-only. You can submit your own music, but Awal will review your sound quality, social media reach, press releases and Spotify plays from the past.
Awal distributes your music to 200 territories and many download shops and streaming services:
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Spotify
- Amazon Music
- Google Play
- Deezer
- Pandora
- Napster
- Tidal
- Beatport
- Boomkat
- Soundtrack your Brand
- Svooq
- Juno Records
- Traxsource
- Beatport
- Vevo and many more
Spread Income with Awal:
- No upfront fees but awal takes a 15% share of the revenue
Extras:
- They don’t accept everyone
- you keep 100% ownership of your Music
- Awal App to track play stats etc.
- Marketing
- Funding
- Playlisting and Radio Submissions
- Data Analytics
INDIEFY REVIEW:
With the aggregator service of Indiefy, you can publish your Music on streaming portals without upfront costs. This provider is still relatively new and has only been offering its services since 2018
If you choose to publish your songs for free, you will receive 85% of the payouts. Indiefy also offers you to receive 100% of your earnings for a monthly fee.
Currently, you can publish your tracks worldwide in over 35 online shops. Indiefy has an excellent offer when it comes to the number of stores and supplies almost all relevant streaming services from America, Asia, Europe, and South America.
What Stores does Indiefy distribute to?
- Akazoo
- Amazon
- Anghami
- AWA
- Beatport
- Deezer
- Facebook Audio Library
- Google Music
- Gracenote
- iHeartRadio
- iMusica
- iTunes
- KkBox
- LINE Music
- Musicload
- NetEase Cloud Music
- Neurotic Media
- Pandora
- Rhapsody
- Saavn
- Shazam
- Simfy Africa
- Sirius XM
- Slacker
- Spotify
- TIDAL
- Rhapsody
- Yandex
- TIM Music
- Ultimate China
- United Media Agency (UMA)
- Xiami
- Yonder Music
- YouTube Music
Indiefy Pricing:
- Indiefy delivers your Music with no upfront cost but keeps 15% of your download and streaming revenue.
When do you get paid by Indiefy?
- Once the balance on your Earnings page has reached the USD$100 minimum threshold amount, you get paid via Paypal.
Extras:
- YouTube Content ID
- SoundCloud Content ID
- Facebook Fingerprinting
FRESH TUNES REVIEW: MUSIC DISTRIBUTION FREE
Freshtunes is another free music aggregator. They have zero fees and you keep 100% of your royalties and rights.
Just upload your music, after 24 hours your album or EP is checked and will immediately be sent to Spotify, Itunes, Deezer and other shops (a total of 14 streaming and download services). Another advantage is that you will be offered a pre-order function for your upcoming release.
They also provide promotional campaigns via Facebook or Youtube, to promote your next Music release.
Fresh Tunes distributes your music to the following stores:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Deezer
- Google Play
- Youtube
- Tidal
- Amazon Music
- Shazam
- Yandex Music
- Saavn
- Kanjian.com
- Claro-Musica
- Zvooq
- Beatport
- Soundcloud
Spread Income with Fresh tunes:
- Fresh Tunes keeps 0% of your download and streaming revenue. Everything is free and, 100% of the royalties go to the artist.
When do you receive payment by Fresh tunes?
- If you’ve earned $25 or more you can withdraw your royalties to your bank card, Payoneer or WebMoney account
Extras:
- You can pay Fresh tunes to get Promotion, Album Art Video production, Artwork production or to find a producer
BANDCAMP REVIEW:
Bandcamp Distribution Service is perfect for making your songs available to your fans. At Bandcamp, you have your shop as a label or artist. You can offer your songs as a free download and ask for an e-mail address, or set the price by yourself to distribute your latest EP or album. Another nice feature is the integrated store to distribute merch, vinyl, CDs, and tapes. You also have many useful statistics at your disposal, and you can create download codes to give some of your music for free. Distribution via Bandcamp is not exclusive, so you can still distribute your music via streaming providers like Spotify.
Which Shops for Download and Streaming are Included?
- Bandcamp Store
Spread Income:
- Bandcamp keeps 15% of your download revenue.
Extras:
- Physical Records & Selling Merch(vinyl, posters, tickets, t-shirts)
- Optional High-quality download formats like FLAC, Wav and Apple Lossless
- Pre-Orders
- Discount Codes
When do you receive payments?
- Your share of each digital transaction is transferred into your PayPal account 24 to 48 hours after the sale.
UNITED MASTERS REVIEW:
Which Shops for Download and Streaming are Included?
- Apple Music / iTunes
- Spotify
- YouTube
- SoundCloud.
*If you are a United Masters Select Member, they distribute your Music to many other stores
Spread Income:
- Wit the United Masters free plan they keep 10% of your streaming revenue.
- If you are a SELECT member, it will cost $59.99 for a yearly subscription.
When do you receive payments?
- The minimum payment treshold is $ 50,00, you get payd viay Paypal on a monthly basis
Extras:
- No Payment Splitting
- Artist Websites
- Music Licensing Deals
SONGTRADR REVIEW:
Which Shops for Download and Streaming are Included?
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Deezer
- YouTube Music
- Tidal
- Amazon
- and many more (Beatport, Boomplay, Juno Dance, Traxsource)
Spread Income:
- Wit the Songtradr starter plan they keep 10% of your streaming revenue.
- If you are a Lite member, it will cost $19.00 for a yearly subscription, to keep 100% of your earnings
When do you receive payments?
- The minimum payment threshold is $ 10,00 via Paypal
Extras:
- Payment Splitting
- Music Licensing
DISTROKID REVIEW:
Distrokid distributes your Songs to more than 150 stores like:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Google Play
- Youtube
- Tidal
- Amazon Music
- Shazam
- Beatport
- Soundcloud
How Much does it Cost?
- The cheapest distribution plan starts at $ 19,99 per year, to upload unlimited songs & albums
Spread Income with Distrokid?:
- You keep 100% of your royalties when releasing music with Distrokid
When do you receive payment from Distrokid?
- Your money will be sent within the 1-14 days of a withdrawal request.
HORUS MUSIC REVIEW:
Horus Music distributes your Songs to over 200 stores like:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Google Play
- Youtube
- Tidal
- Amazon Music
- Shazam
- Saavn
- Beatport
- Vevo
- Soundcloud
Spread Income with Horus Music?:
- [update September 2018] They changed the pricing, now you pay an upfront fee (starts from £10) for 100% of the revenue back to the artists.
When do you receive payment from Horus Music?
- The payment threshold depends on where you are based. If you’re not in the UK Horus Music has a £10.00 minimum threshold. For UK based clients, Horus Music has no minimum payouts. They will pay your royalties through Western Union each month.
Extras:
- Paid option to receive 100% of your royalties
- Paid opportunities to Create your own VEVO channel, Sell your music video on iTunes, Tidal & FunonGo
- Physical Distribution
- Urgent iTunes music delivery
- Mastered for iTunes
- MIDEM Representation
- Music Distribution to Asian markets (including China)
- Playlisting Campaigns
- Telephone Support
- Radio and Social Media Support.
CD BABY REVIEW:
CD Baby aims to deliver you music to everywhere that is important to get your career off the ground. They will distribute your songs to the most popular digital music platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Pandora Radio, and 150+ other streaming services. The benefit of using this distributor is that you don’t have to pay an annual fee in order to keep your music online. Distribution to download and various streaming services comes included in all Standard and Pro packages.
The platform offers a range of services including:
- Digital music distribution
- Worldwide publishing rights administration
- Music use on social video platforms
- Sync licensing
- Music marketing and online advertising
- Cover song licensing
- Manufacturing and duplication for physical distribution
- Order fulfilment for CDs and vinyl records
CD Baby distributes your Songs to over 200 stores like:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Google Play
- Youtube
- Tidal
- Amazon Music
- Shazam
- Saavn
- Beatport
- Vevo
- Soundcloud
Spread Income with Cd Baby?:
- You keep 91% of your royalties when releasing music with Cd Baby
TUNECORE REVIEW:
- Spotify
- Apple Music
- Itunes
- Google Play
- Youtube
- Tidal
- Amazon Music
- Shazam
- Saavn
- Beatport
- Vevo
- Soundcloud
Spread Income with Tunecore?:
- You keep 100% of your royalties when releasing music with Tunecore.
MUSIC DISTRIBUTION PRICING:
Here you find a price comparison for music distribution alternatives.
| Distributor | Pricing |
| CD Baby | starts from $ 9.95 for a Single, $49.00 for a Album – one-off fee per release |
| Ditto | Unlimited Distribution for € 19.00 per year |
| Emu Bands | starts from $ 42.50 for a Single, releasing 3-5 Tracks cost $ 59.95, Album (6-20 Tracks) cost $ 84.95 one-off fee per release |
| Record Union | between $ 7 – $ 15.00 for a Single, $ 10.00 – $ 20.00 for a EP, $ 13.00 – $ 25.00 for a Album – annual cost |
| Catapult Distribution | starts from $ 9.99 for a Single – $ 25.00 for a Album release. One-off fee per release and takes a 9% share of revenue |
| Tune Core | $ 9,99 per year for a Single, Album: $29,99 + 49,99 each following year |
| Spinnup | Single € 9.99, 3-6 Tracks EP € 19.99, 7-25 Tracks Album costs € 39.99 |
| Reverbnation | $ 9.95 per year for a Single, 1st year $ 19.95 for a Album + $ 49.95 each additional Year |
| One RPM | |
| The Orchard |
ASIAN MUSIC DISTRIBUTORS
There are some Distributors with a focus on the Asian market. To sell your tunes in India on stores like Saavn, Gaana, or Wink. Some big streaming companies in China are QQ Music by Tencent, Qianqian Music (Baidu Music), Kugou Music, and Kuwo Music. Visit their websites for more information.
- digitunes.in (Indian Distribution)
- musicinfo.io (Chinese Music Distribution
- musicdiffusion.com (China, Thailand, Japan, etc.)
- routenote.com (China, India)
- Horus Music (Asia)
- OkListen (India)
SMART LINKS FOR MUSIC STREAMING SERVICES
After your music is released and uploaded on Spotify and Itunes, you have to spread your music to your followers. To share your distributed Album on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, it’s beneficial to use one of these smart link services for music marketing.
With these platforms, you get a SmartLink for your fans to promote your music to all primary streaming services like Apple Music, Tidal, Youtube Music, Amazon Music Unlimited, and many more.
- Linkfire
- Soundplate
- Amplify
- Feature.fm
- Toneden
- GNS.io
- Listen.it
- band.link
