DistroKid is a digital music distribution service that musicians use to put music into online stores and streaming services. As a music aggregator, DistroKid takes an artist's digital music files and metadata to distribute globally on digital music services. These services include iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal, and many more.

We don't take commission, and offer unlimited uploads for a yearly subscription fee. DistroKid collects earnings for sales and streams in the services you choose to distribute to, and passes 100% of those earnings along to you, minus banking fees and applicable taxes.

We also have a bunch of tools for artists to use that include distribution of music videos, instant mastering, pre-save marketing pages, and much more.

You can specify for your music to appear in any or all of the following services:

• Spotify
• Apple Music
• iTunes
• Instagram & Facebook
• TikTok
  - Luna
  - Capcut
• YouTube Music
• Amazon.com
• Pandora - For more info, click HERE
• Deezer 
• TIDAL
• iHeartRadio
• Claro Música
• Saavn
• Anghami
• Boomplay
• Snapchat - More info HERE
• NetEase
• Tencent, which includes the following services:
  - QQ Music
  - Kugou Music
  - Kuwo Music
  - WeSing
• Pretzel - Beta, More info HERE
• TouchTunes - More info HERE
• Audiomack - More info HERE
• Qobuz
• Joox - More info HERE
• Kuack Media Group - Beta, More info HERE
• Plus many smaller outlets through MediaNet, such as Dubset.

If there's another streaming service you really want your music to be in, let us know and we'll look into adding it!

 

Your DistroKid dashboard is at distrokid.com/mymusic. Log in to your account and you're there.

What's on your dashboard

Your dashboard shows every release you've uploaded to DistroKid, along with each one's current processing status, so you can see where your music is on its way to stores at a glance.

Curious what those statuses mean? Check out How to Check the Status of Your Uploads from Your DistroKid Dashboard.

Welcome! You won't be disappointed.

It's easy to switch to DistroKid. Here's how:

1. Upload your releases to DistroKid
2. The next day, go to your old distributor and remove those releases

DistroKid is fast, so there's a chance that your albums will appear twice in streaming services before your old distributor takes them down. This brief overlap is okay.

Here's more info on how long it takes for releases to go live via DistroKid.

Maintaining Play Counts and Playlists

To ensure that services (especially Spotify) try to maintain play counts or playlists that your music is on, make sure to use the exact same metadata (song titles, album title, ISRCs, etc.) and audio files you used with your old distributor when uploading to DistroKid. We can't guarantee that these play counts and playlist placements are maintained because the process is out of our hands, but that's generally how it works. Note that you may lose reviews in iTunes and Amazon.

Here's more info on using your own ISRC codes.

What Else is in DistroKid? 

Here are some of the many other benefits you'll find at DistroKid:

• Automatic revenue splits - just tell us who to pay, and how much to pay them. We'll do the rest.
• HyperFollow - you'll have a pre-save marketing page within minutes of uploading your music. Once your release goes live on all services, we'll add links to the same page automatically.
• Lyrics support - add lyrics to your songs, and we'll send them to services for you.
• Global timed release dates - your release will go live at the exact same time everywhere on Spotify
• And more - Click the DistroKid Features Menu in the upper right to see all of the Goodies DistroKid has to offer!

DistroKid offers a variety of subscription plans and extra features to make sure each artist has access to exactly what they need. Your total cost will be the sum of your DistroKid subscription and any of the optional Album Extras and tools that you sign up for.

DistroKid offers multiple subscription plans, ranging from a single artist/band Musician plan, to Ultimate plans for up to 100 artists. Additionally, DistroKid offers optional paid album extras that can be opted into during or after the upload process for a release, and other paid tools for artists like Mixea and Vizy.

To see pricing for the subscriptions DistroKid offers, visit https://distrokid.com/pricing.

To see information on available album extras, check out this article: https://support.distrokid.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013534274.

It can take several days for albums to be reviewed, approved, and sent to streaming services. 

After that point, your release should go live once ingested by streaming services according to the rough estimates below:

• iTunes/Apple Music: 1-7 days. A very small percentage of albums go through manual review at Apple, which takes an additional 1-2 weeks or so.
• Spotify: 2-5 days
• Amazon: 1-2 days
• YouTube Music: 1-3 days
• Deezer: 1-2 days
• TIDAL: 2 days
• Facebook/Instagram: 1-2 weeks
• TikTok: 1-2 days

• Anghami: 1-5 days (some require manual review by Anghami's team which can take an additional 2-3 days).

   

For many streaming services (iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, and more), we'll detect the moment your album goes live, and send you an email with the link!

Delays are rare, but they do happen, and are typically outside of DistroKid's direct control. If it's important that your album go live in all services on a specific date, we recommend uploading your release in advance using a custom future release date. Please see this article for more information on custom release dates.
 

Cover Songs

If you are uploading a cover song, securing cover song licenses can take up to 14 business days. Releases with cover songs will be submitted as soon as the license is approved by Harry Fox Agency (who handles our cover licenses).
 

Curated Services

Some services curate the music they receive from DistroKid, and have their own processes for accepting that music into their catalog once it is delivered.

For example, Pandora has their own in-house review process to curate content, so we are not able to provide information on how long it takes for releases to be added to Pandora stations (if they are).

Additionally, music sent to Roblox is curated by their team, and sending your music to Roblox does not guarantee that it will go live on their platform. For more information on delivery to Roblox, check out this article.

Amazon also curates music for Prime and Amazon Music Unlimited in Canada. We submit your music, and it may be added if it's deemed suitable. We have no control over their selection process.

DistroKid makes it easy to distribute your cover songs! We'll handle everything on your behalf, including sending payments to songwriters and taking care of all the extra legal requirements.

With this cover licensing solution, DistroKid will secure a license on your behalf via third-party vendor. DistroKid compulsory mechanical licenses are secured by the Harry Fox Agency ("HFA"). Per U.S. copyright law, cover song licenses only provide legal coverage if the original song has already been released in the US, and the main elements of the original song (original lyrics, melody and title) remain fundamentally unaltered within the new sound recording.

We are not lawyers and can't help with legal advice. Please note that U.S. copyright law does not permit derivative works such as original-language translations of copyrighted lyrics. Under U.S. copyright law, cover (aka "compulsory") licenses only provide coverage if the main elements of the song (the original lyrics and melody) remain fundamentally unaltered within the new sound recording. This is a copyright thing and affects all distributors, not just DistroKid.

It is your responsibility to ensure that your song would be covered under the compulsory mechanical license.

Securing cover song licenses can take up to 14 business days. Releases with cover songs will be submitted as soon as the license is approved by our third-party licensing service.

For more information about purchasing cover song licenses through DistroKid, please see this article.

What is a Cover Song?

A cover song is any song that you perform and record yourself using music originally released by someone else. You can easily (and legally) release your cover songs through DistroKid.

Cover Song Requirements

The song you're covering must meet these copyright requirements (this is a legal thing, not a DistroKid thing):

• The song you're covering has already been released in the United States.
• Your song does not contain samples and is not a remix.
• Your song can’t contain audio you don’t own (from TV, movies, social media, video games, other songs, etc).  
• Your song does not fundamentally alter the original lyrics or title.
• Your song does not change the basic melody or fundamental character.

Genre changes and embellishments for cover songs are totally okay and encouraged. Language changes are probably not okay. If you're not sure if your cover is allowed or not, please see the Harry Fox Agency's FAQ (here) and make sure to only upload covers that can be covered by compulsory mechanical licenses. These rules are a copyright thing, not a DistroKid thing (or HFA thing) and affect all distributors and licensors.

What Can be Licensed

• A song that was released at one point on iTunes and/or Amazon MP3.
• A song that appeared on a limited pressing of vinyl, which you can purchase at a record store in the United States.
• A song that was made available as a promotional music download on the artist's website.

What Cannot be Licensed

Songs that use samples should not have a cover license requested. Sampling is when you use the actual recording of another artist's performance. For example, if you use the 1971 recording of Led Zeppelin's "When The Levee Breaks" as your drum track. That's generally not allowed, unless you have permission from the original artist.

Cover licenses should not be requested for remixes of an original song. A remix of another artist's music is not the same thing as a cover. A cover is if you played the song yourself. A remix requires the permission of the original artist, and that is a different process than cover song licensing.

In addition, songs in the public domain do not require a cover license. For information about uploading arrangements of works in the public domain, please check out the FAQ article here.

Here are other examples of songs that can't be licensed:

• A song that was used in a film score, but itself was never released separately from the soundtrack.
• A song that appeared in a video game, but itself was never released separately from the game soundtrack.
• A song that was released as part of a CD compilation, but only in some country that was not the United States.
• An old traditional song that is now in the public domain.
• Medleys, mashups, etc.

Cover License Charges

DistroKid charges a fee of $1 per month ($12 billed to your credit card on file) to manage this cover song for you. Once charged, DistroKid will:

• Obtain license(s).
• Pay the original songwriter(s) every month.
• Do the things described here and here.

Automated Payments to Songwriters

DistroKid will automatically deduct the legally-mandated fee of 12.7¢ per song sold in the U.S. from your earnings and send it to HFA, who sends it to the original songwriter. You'll get 100% of the rest.

Any song or musical work published in 1929 or earlier is in the public domain in the United States. You're most likely okay to upload your arrangement of a public domain song as long as there's no current copyright on the original work or the arrangement that you're covering, but public domain can be tricky.

Public domain songs are not inherently free of all copyright protections. Although the original written music is no longer protected by copyright when a song is in the public domain, there are still copyrights that apply to recordings and other issues. No sound recordings are in the United States public domain due to complexity of Federal and State Law. Sampling public domain recordings is not allowed.

Determining if a Work is in the Public Domain

If you're recording your own original arrangement of an old, traditional song (originally published in/before 1929), you may be permitted to distribute it. You can search the database here if you're unsure.

If it's NOT an old, traditional song, and you're just not sure about the original songwriter, you need to do some research. Covers of copyrighted songs require a DistroKid Cover License. For more information about DistroKid cover licenses, please see the article here.

It's important to know when a song or musical work is in the public domain and when you will need a cover license to distribute your version of a song. Not opting cover songs into DistroKid's cover song licensing solution can lead to streaming services taking down your content, or worse: songwriters taking legal action.

Uploading a Public Domain Song

If you're distributing a public domain song, make sure to select "I wrote this song, or manage the songwriter (it's an original song)" on DistroKid's upload form when prompted.

As long as you're certain there are no other known songwriters, you can list yourself as the songwriter for your own arrangement of a public domain work, or list "Traditional Music" as the songwriter.

DistroKid does not distribute to Coda Music yet, but we’re working on it! Stay tuned here for an update on how to get your tracks on Coda Music.

Yes—DistroKid accepts music created with AI tools, but there are some rules.

All music uploaded to DistroKid must follow streaming services' content guidelines, whether created with an AI tool or not.

That means:

• You must own the rights. You must own 100% of the rights, including the legal right to distribute music created with any AI tools, samples, lyrics, etc.
• No impersonation. Your music cannot mimic or copy someone else's voice, likeness, or identity without permission.
• No mass-generated spam. Music created solely to game streaming algorithms or flood platforms with generic content violates streaming services' policies.
• No infringement. Your release cannot infringe on anyone else's rights.

Please note that streaming services may reject or remove releases that don't meet their guidelines.

Most DistroKid uploads appear worldwide in every country that the streaming services we distribute to support. Note that some services only allow users from the platform's local region to view their full music catalogue, and show a limited catalogue if accessed from outside that region.

Some releases may not be distributed to all countries based on language, explicit content, licensing, and other various issues that are outside of DistroKid's control. For more information, see this article: https://support.distrokid.com/hc/en-us/articles/40475055020307.

If you'd like to exclude your release from specific countries, please see this article: https://support.distrokid.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013648013.

DistroVid is a music video distribution service provided by DistroKid! Visit https://distrovid.com to check it out.

As a DistroVid artist, you can upload an unlimited amount of music videos and keep 100% of your earnings from those videos.

Artists who upload music videos via DistroVid will have videos distributed to Apple Music, Vevo, Spotify, Amazon Music, Boomplay, and Tidal.

In addition to those services, artists also have the option to distribute to the DistroVid Gallery, a collection of all music videos submitted to DistroVid.

A DistroVid subscription allows for unlimited video uploads for one artist. If you need to upload videos for more than one artist, your subscription can be expanded to include additional DistroVid artist slots.

You can deliver your music videos to services by signing up for DistroVid, DistroKid's music video distribution service.

Head to https://distrovid.com to get started!

All videos uploaded to DistroVid must meet specific requirements before they can be delivered to streaming services. The requirements include file specifications, as well as content standards.

File Specification Requirements

Here are the file specification requirements for DistroVid videos:

• File Type: .mov or .mp4 only
• Compression Type/Codec: ProRes 422 or 422 HQ, MPEG-2 or H.264
• File Size: Up to 30GB
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 or higher (up to 3840x2160)
• Duration: 30 seconds or longer
• Video Encoding: Variable Bit Rate (VBR) only
• Frame Rate is one of 23.976, 24, 25, or 30 (so we can distribute your video everywhere!)
• Video Scan Type: Progressive only
• Audio Format: 44.1 kHz or higher, Stereo only

If you are experiencing uploading issues with any 4K video files, please try the upload again using the H.264 codec. Note that services do not accept HEVC/H.265 codec at this time.

Video Content Requirements

Streaming services require high-quality music videos that "look like music videos." Generally, this means short-form videos aren't allowed. Also, services reject videos with unintentional quality problems including glitches, audio problems, and out-of-sync audio.

Video content uploaded to DistroVid must be 100% original and not trademarked, available online, or stock video (even if altered). This includes content from a known television show or film.

Medley videos or music videos that include more than one song will be rejected. Music videos (including live videos) must only contain one song. Also, videos that have been shortened or edited into a promotional teaser, trailer, or partial version will not be accepted.

Streaming services will not accept videos that include the following:

• Watermarks: Streaming services will not accept videos with watermarks, logos, static text/images, subtitles, or other graphic overlays.
• Social media references: Streaming services will not accept videos with URLs, contact information, QR codes, or social media handles/logos.
• Ads: Streaming services don't accept release dates, logos, or advertisements in videos. This includes messages like "Streaming everywhere" or "Coming soon."
• Still images or promos: Streaming services will not accept videos that display a still frame of the album artwork, or other photo slideshows. The file must be a music video.

Typically, it can take anywhere from 1-5 days for DistroVid videos to go live in services once they are processed and approved.

If your music video needs to launch on a specific date across all platforms, make sure to upload your video at least four weeks ahead of the planned release date. If you choose a release date less than four weeks in advance, there's a small chance your video could still be stuck in a service's review queue (or some other unforeseen delay) when your release date comes around.

A paid DistroKid subscription is not necessary in order to use DistroVid. If you already have your music sent to services through a different distributor and would like to use DistroVid for your music videos, you won't need to purchase a DistroKid subscription first – you can just sign up for DistroVid and start getting those videos in services.

Please note that you will still need to create a free DistroKid account in order to sign in and use DistroVid.

While DistroVid doesn't have an "Edit Release" feature at this time, we are more than happy to help with certain video edit requests.

If you need to edit a video description, track title, genre, label name, release date, or preview/thumbnail image, please contact our support team.

There are certain things we cannot edit at this time, including replacing video files or editing artist names. In order to replace a video file or change an artist name, you'll need to delete and re-upload the video with correct file and/or artist name.

For more information on how to delete your video, check out this article.

Thumbnail Edit Requirements

We can edit thumbnails, but stores require that the thumbnail must be an image directly from the video. When reaching out to our team regarding thumbnail edits, please include a screenshot of the thumbnail you prefer to use, as well as the timestamp of where that image appears within your video.

Mixea is DistroKid's online mastering service. You can use Mixea to add the final, polishing touch to your music before distributing it to stores and services.

Mixea combines modern mastering techniques to offer a variety of smart, finely tuned options. You can easily choose the best sounding mastered result for your tracks.

Mixea is a subscription-based service. For one annual fee, you can master an unlimited amount of tracks, for an unlimited amount of artists.

Head to www.mixea.com to try it out and receive your first mastered track for free!

To use Mixea, first open the Features Menu in the top right and click "Mixea," or head directly to https://distrokid.com/mixea.

At this point, depending on the file you use, it may take several minutes for the mastering engine to complete the process – it is generating 15 different mastering options for your track.

Once you're on the main Mixea page, follow these steps to get your file mastered:

1. Select the file you want to put into the mastering engine by clicking "Choose File" or dragging the file in.
2. Once your file is selected, click "Master My Song" to start up the mastering engine.
3. After the engine generates mastering options, you'll see a dashboard with waveforms for both your mastered preview track and the original track for comparison.
4. Use the Intensity and EQ Options sliding scales to compare all mastering options for your track.
5. After choosing your favorite, click "Download Mastered Track" to access your Mastered Tracks dashboard. From there, select one of three output files for your mastered track and click "Download."

The Mixea Sliding Scales

When using Mixea, you'll have access to sliding scales you can use to dynamically change the Intensity and EQ Options for the track. You can use these sliding scales to preview the final mastered file and tailor these options to your liking.

Intensity

Intensity controls the dynamics of your track. The higher the intensity, the louder and more compressed your song will sound, at the expense of some dynamic range. The available options for Intensity are Low, Medium, and High.

EQ Options

A warmer EQ brings out the low and mid range frequencies in your mix, while a brighter EQ setting amplifies higher frequencies making your mix more exciting. The available options are Brighter, Bright, Neutral, Warm, Warmer.

Output File Options

When you've finalized the Intesity and EQ Options for your track, you can then complete the processing and download your file. You have three resolution options for your file download: Ultra HD, High Quality, and Medium Quality.

These are the specifications for each option:

• Ultra HD: HD WAV, 24 bit depth, 48k sample rate
• High Quality: WAV, 16 bit depth, 44.1k sample rate
• Medium Quality: MP3, 256kbps bitrate

To get the most out of your track mastering using Mixea, we recommend that you do the following prior to uploading your files:

• Remove any mastering plugins from your mastering bus (including compressors, equalizers, limiters, and stereo enhancers).
• Try to ensure that your audio file is not clipping. A little bit of clipping is okay if you can't change it and can't hear it, but it's preferable to upload something that is free of any clipping.
• Try to provide the best quality recordings you can with low noise (like the background noise picked up by your microphones). A little bit of noise is okay, but the cleaner the recording, the better. We recommend that you set your sample rate to 44.1 or 48 kHz. Anything higher than 48 kHz will be downsampled to 48 kHz prior to mastering.
• Export your track using an uncompressed or lossless format (i.e. WAV, AIFF, or FLAC). A high quality compressed format like MP3 encoded at 256 kbps or more is okay too, but an uncompressed or lossless format is preferable.

If you aren't getting the results you're looking for from Mixea, experiment! Try making changes to your mix or break our recommendations by adding a plugin or two to your master bus before uploading your track to Mixea.

If you don't have a full Mixea subscription and still want to apply some mastering to your upload, you'll still get an opportunity to do so when you upload! After filling out the upload form for your release and selecting "Continue," you'll get an opportunity to listen to a preview of a Mixea-mastered version of your release in case you want to add an additional finished sound.

In the preview of the Mixea mastered version of your release, you'll get to compare the original version to the Mixea version right in your device. If you like what you hear, you can instantly add the Mixea mastering for all tracks on your release. This type of Mixea pricing is a per-track fee, so make sure you review the full price before selecting "Yes, enhance my sound." If you select "No" here, no worries! You can also add Mixea mastering later on by clicking the "Enhance Audio" button from your release's dashboard page.

Once you select "Yes," your files will be mastered and sent to all services you opted into. Happy listening!

Mixea supports WAV, FLAC, MP3, AIFF and MP4 files, just drag and drop them into the mastering engine, and you'll be good to go!

You can download your finished tracks in Ultra HD (HD WAV, 24-bit, 48k), High Quality (WAV, 16-bit, 44.1k), or Medium Quality - (MP3, 256kpbs).

Mixea costs $99 USD per year, and is billed annually on the original date you opt into and pay for the service.

Bandzoogle is DistroKid's direct-to-fan platform. It's an all-in-one toolkit for artists where you can:

• Build a website with no coding skills required, using tons of fully customizable templates
• Package your bio, music, and photos to create an EPK
• Sell merch using print-on-demand services with no upfront commitment
• Offer direct music downloads
• Register a custom domain
• Grow your fan list using built-in mailing list tools

And more! Just like DistroKid, Bandzoogle never takes a cut of your sales. So you keep 100% of your earnings when you sell music, merch, or tickets to your fans.

Bandzoogle is a subscription based service, with plans starting at just $6.37 per month.

When you sign up for DistroKid Publishing, we act as your publishing administrator.

We collect composition royalties on your behalf, and you keep full ownership of your copyright. As your publishing administrator, we will:

1. Register your works with a Performing Rights Organization (PRO). (Don't have a PRO? No worries, you’re still eligible; learn more here.)
2. Register your works with global collection societies.
3. Collect eligible publishing royalties.
4. Send those royalties to your DistroKid Bank.

Currently, a songwriter can use DistroKid Publishing on their account if the following requirements are met: 

• They have a minimum of 5 songs distributed with DistroKid
• They have a maximum of 50 songs distributed with DistroKid

If you currently do not meet these requirements, stay tuned! Expanded publishing support will be coming soon.

DistroKid can only collect your composition royalties (sometimes referred to as songwriting royalties) if you sign up for DistroKid Publishing.

This is because composition royalties can only be collected by publishers, publishing administrators, or the songwriter. You can learn more about this in this article: https://support.distrokid.com/hc/en-us/articles/46710633476243. 

With DistroKid Publishing, DistroKid collects royalties tied to the composition of a song, including the following: 

• Global digital mechanicals: Composition royalties from streams and downloads of your music. These are different from your usual streaming royalties, which DistroKid already collects for all members.
• U.S. offline mechanicals: Royalties generated through offline reproductions of your music, like physical sales.
• Global digital public performance: Royalties from non-interactive online radio (where listeners can't pick the next track), and satellite radio.
• U.S. offline public performance: Royalties from plays in public spaces, including performances, broadcasts, venues, etc.
• Worldwide sync income (on a non-exclusive basis): Royalties generated when a song is played with visual media, like a movie or TV show.
• Settlements/enforcement monies: Money paid to songwriters as part of class action settlements or fines. 

If you're already affiliated with a Performance Rights Organization (PRO), DistroKid collects both the publisher and songwriter share of the royalties above. lf you are not affiliated with a Performance Rights Organization (PRO), DistroKid will only collect the publisher share of those royalties. Learn more about PROs here.

Here's a simple breakdown of recording royalties and composition royalties: 

• Recording royalties: Money for the recorded version of your song. This is paid to DistroKid members via their DistroKid Bank. 
• Composition royalties: Money for songwriting. This is collected by publishers, Performance Rights Organizations, Mechanical Rights Organizations, and/or Collective Management Organizations. This is paid to your DistroKid Bank if you're eligible and signed up for DistroKid Publishing.

When your music is distributed by DistroKid, and streamed through a service it's delivered to, DistroKid Distribution pays you royalties for the sound recording. These are the royalties owed to performers and labels for the recorded version of your song.

If you wrote the song, you're also owed composition royalties whenever it's streamed. These royalties belong to the songwriter and publisher, and can only be collected by publishers, publishing administrators, and songwriters.

HyperFollow is a completely free (and awesomely powerful) promotional tool that is available for all  DistroKid artists. With HyperFollow, you can have one page with links to your music on all streaming services.

A HyperFollow page is automatically created for every DistroKid upload. The instant you finish uploading your release, you can start promoting and collecting pre-saves on Spotify (including fan email addresses) with HyperFollow. As soon as your release goes live on its release date, your HyperFollow page will automatically update to include links to other streaming services.

Your HyperFollow link never changes, and you'll never have to update your marketing copy or social media posts.

You can find your HyperFollow link on your DistroKid album page, or by clicking the DistroKid Features Menu in the upper right , and then clicking on "Promote yourself."

You can create a HyperFollow page anytime by visiting https://hyperfollow.com, entering a "username," and clicking "CLAIM PAGE." Note that these pages won't have pre-save functionality or automatic release link updates, but they can be used for various purposes, not just music!

Why Use HyperFollow?

Here are some of the additional benefits of using HyperFollow:

More followers! Anyone who clicks the button on your HyperFollow page to pre-save your release will automatically follow you on Spotify.

More listeners! In addition to following your artist page on Spotify, whoever clicks the button will also automatically save your album to their Spotify library.

More research! You will have access to the city-level geographic location and other (anonymized) demographic information about your fans.

More insight! You'll be able to see the other music that your fans are listening to. Even if those other artists don’t use DistroKid.

More stats! You'll know how many people visited your HyperFollow page, and how many followers you added.

More contacts! You will be given each fan’s email address. (Musician Plus and Ultimate Plans only)

Here's how you can add a Meta or Google tracking pixel to your HyperFollow page:

1. Sign into DistroKid.
2. Visit your HyperFollow page (make sure you're signed in).
3. Click "Customize" at the top.
4. Click "Edit this page."
5. Scroll down to the "More settings" section.
6. Click on "+ Ad-tracking pixels."
7. Enter your Meta and/or Google pixel IDs and click "Done."
8. Click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page.

Done! All visits will be now be tracked via your pixel ID.

Meta Pixel Custom Events

With a Meta pixel added to your HyperFollow page, you have access to some custom events using Meta's "trackCustom" function. The events are:

• clickSpotifyPresave - Fires when someone clicks your Spotify pre-save link.
• spotifyPresaveSuccess - When someone successfully pre-saves your release.
• click[store] (ex: "clickSpotify" or "clickAppleMusic") - When someone clicks one of the streaming service links to listen to your music.
• clickOut - When someone clicks any of the main links on your HyperFollow page. This will fire in addition to click[store] (which shows which specific link they clicked).
• clickSocial - When someone clicks any of the social media links on your HyperFollow page.
• audioPlay - When someone clicks the play button to listen to your audio preview.
• audioPause - When someone clicks the pause button to stop your audio preview.
• audioSkipForward - If your release has multiple tracks, someone skipped to the next track.
• audioSkipBack - If your release has multiple tracks, someone skipped to the previous track.
• showFullImage - Someone clicked your album artwork to show the full-sized image.

To edit your HyperFollow page, you can visit your HyperFollow dashboard by heading to www.distrokid.com/hyperfollow, or by clicking on the Features Menu in the upper right of DistroKid, then clicking "Promote Yourself," then "HyperFollow."

From there, click the "Edit" button under the HyperFollow page you'd like to edit.

For any HyperFollow pages that are automatically generated for your uploads, you can also click "Customize" on the upper-right corner of the page to reveal a bunch of options, then click "Edit this page." You can also hide or unhide any of your HyperFollow pages from this "Customize" menu.

The HyperFollow Dashboard

From the HyperFollow dashboard at www.distrokid.com/hyperfollow, you'll see the title and number of views for each page. If your HyperFollow page was auto-generated for a DistroKid release, click the "presaves" link next to the views counter to see more details about your pre-saves. There, you can view the email addresses of those who pre-saved your release (if they chose to share it), along with the favorite artists of the people who pre-saved your release.

What You Can Update in HyperFollow

• Social Media Buttons: add links to common social media websites that appear as buttons on your page
• Embedded Audio Player: Add audio files for playback on your page

• Embedded Video: Add a link to a YouTube video to embed on your page

Vizy is a music video generator that musicians can use to get videos to post their music on social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, X, or Facebook.

Choose from 20 reactive and engaging templates that grab & keep your listeners' attention. 

It's easy! Get started at Vizy.com.

Each video generated by Vizy costs $8.99 USD for the first 5 minutes of any given song, and $0.99 USD for each additional minute.

If the template you select can display lyrics, you can also optionally add synced lyrics to the Vizy video at $5.00 USD per video.

If you buy multiple sizes of your Vizy video at once, you'll get a 10% discount on the total cost for each video. Sales tax will be calculated on the total cost.

To access the music videos you've generated with Vizy, log into your DistroKid account, and visit https://distrokid.com/videos/.

Please note that videos usually take about a day to create. We'll email you when it's done. 🙂

You'll want to check out our Marcel Generator!

Head to https://distrokid.com/marcel to make your own!

These little videos are pretty cool and fun to share with your friends, but for a more professional look, check out Vizy.com for custom audio reactive visualizer videos for your music. ⚡️👽⚡️

More info on Vizy can be found here.

DistroLock is a free service powered by DistroKid that makes it harder for anyone (who's not you) to upload your original music to streaming services. Once you upload and lock your original music in DistroLock, other services can see this lock and prevent unauthorized uploads of the audio on their platform.

When you upload your audio to DistroLock, we extract an "acoustic fingerprint," log it, and then delete your audio from our servers. If you don't want to upload your music to DistroLock, you can generate fingerprints on your own computer using Chromaprint and just send those.

When uploading to DistroLock, you can also register your music with Audible Magic, a leading public fingerprint database. Audio fingerprinting services can detect matches even if the audio has been sped up, pitch-shifted, or otherwise altered. Many music services utilize these services to block unauthorized releases, including YouTube, DistroKid, SoundCloud, Facebook, Vimeo, Twitch, and others.

Here's how to upload your music to DistroLock:

1. Sign in to DistroKid and head to https://distrokid.com/distrolock.
2. Click on "+ Add new track."
3. Select the "Audible Magic" checkbox if you wish to also add your audio to their database.
4. Add your audio file.
5. Add optional "Artist" and "Song title" information.
6. Confirm that you've read the DistroLock and DistroKid Terms of Service by checking the related box.
7. Click "Submit."

DistroLock Audio Restrictions

DistroLock works best for music that has not yet been distributed. Previously released music may already be in public audio databases, which means it can't be locked by anyone. Any audio uploaded to DistroLock that matches with existing audio in databases may not be eligible to be locked in DistroLock. This includes songs with publicly-available audio, like generic loops, sounds, and samples.

If your audio is found to be ineligible for DistroLock and is rejected after you upload it to DistroLock, there's some positive news: if you've previously distributed the audio, you already have some protections without DistroLock. That's because responsible services and distributors may cross-reference their new uploads with public audio databases, and reject unauthorized releases of your music without DistroLock's help.

If you uploaded your music to DistroLock and would like to unlock it to prevent DistroLock from blocking uploads, you can head over to DistroLock at https://distrokid.com/distrolock and unlock audio files by clicking the green lock icon next to the audio entry.

You can unlock files in DistroLock even if your DistroKid account is cancelled – to do so, head to https://distrolock.com and click "Sign in" in the upper-right corner. Then, sign in using the login credentials for your cancelled DistroKid account.

If someone has locked a track via DistroLock, it needs to be unlocked before anyone can upload it successfully through DistroKid. If you made an upload to DistroKid and it was blocked by DistroLock, the audio will need to be unlocked before your upload can be delivered to services.

If you're the one who locked the track, you can head over to DistroLock at https://distrokid.com/distrolock and unlock it by clicking the green lock icon next to the audio that triggered the block.

If someone else locked the track, you'll need to reach out to them so they can unlock it for you. You can contact the artist who locked the track by clicking the "contact artist" button in the red DistroLock notification box on your album page next to the blocked track.

Once the audio is unlocked, you can reattempt the upload by deleting the original upload and re-uploading the release.

Slaps is a music social network for artists and people who love music.

Artists on Slaps usually get quick feedback on their original music. 

Check it out.

https://slaps.com/

Sellouts is a collaboration with 10,000 independent music creators to design & mint 10,000 individualized, collectible, carbon-negative NFTs that commemorate the music of each artist.

From November 17th through December 1st, 2021, artists were able to join the Sellouts waitlist, and create their own NFT here: https://distrokid.com/sellouts

We've partnered with Nifty Gateway, which is an artist friendly platform that has pledged carbon-negative minting (more info here) for the collection.

All 10,000 Sellouts became available for purchase ($60/ea) on Nifty Gateway via random drawing on December 15th, 2021, and all original 10,000 NFT's sold out the following day!

If you participated in the collaboration, and want to check the status of your NFT submission, you can visit https://distrokid.com/sellouts/me to see if your submission was chosen.

While we won't be generating or dropping any additional Sellouts NFT's for the time being, stay tuned for more NFT opportunities in the future!

Please note: Nifty Gateway and DistroKid each take a small processing fee from NFT each sale.

Additionally, no intellectual rights to the music come with Sellouts NFT ownership.

If you believe, in good faith, that your content or material was removed as a result of a misidentification or mistake, you may submit a DMCA-compliant counter-notice via our webform.

If you misrepresent that the content or material is not infringing or make other false representations, you may be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees). Fraudulent or abusive counter-notices or other misuse of DistroKid's services may result in account termination or other legal consequences.

After a valid counter notice is submitted, please be aware that we are obligated to wait 10 business days before reinstating any content or allowing a user to re-upload the affected content. Additionally, please note that services may choose not to reinstate content based on their terms of use, internal policies, or other factors that are outside of DistroKid's control.

DistroKid does not take any ownership or intellectual property rights from artists. You keep 100% ownership of music you upload to DistroKid.

You can review DistroKid's distribution agreement by visiting https://distrokid.com/agreement.
 

You must be 18 years of age or older to sign up for DistroKid, per our Terms of Service at https://distrokid.com/terms and our Distribution Agreement available to view at https://distrokid.com/agreement.

If you're younger than that, please have an adult sign up on your behalf.

This is not legal advice, and we are not lawyers.

Generally, you will not need to actively seek a copyright for your music if you've written it yourself.

Under the present United States copyright law, which became effective January 1, 1978, a work is automatically protected by copyright when it is created. A work is created when it is "fixed" or embodied in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. Neither registration in the Copyright Office nor publication is required for copyright protection under the law.

There are, however, certain advantages to registration, including the establishment of a public record of the copyright claim. Copyright registration must generally be made before an infringement suit can be brought. Timely registration may also provide a broader range of remedies in an infringement suit.

For more information, visit http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ50.pdf.

DistroKid's Terms of Service are available to view at https://distrokid.com/terms.

DistroKid's Distribution Agreement is available to view at https://distrokid.com/agreement.

You can distribute your works with other distributors alongside or instead of DistroKid, as we are a non-exclusive distributor.

Direct is a merch platform built by DistroKid that lets artists generate revenue by transforming their existing releases into on-demand products their audience can buy.

Direct lets you create and sell merch without handling inventory, packing, or shipping. 

You choose the products, design them using your release artwork, set your prices, and keep 100% of the profit after production, tax and shipping costs. Everything is printed and shipped on demand.

Direct costs $70 USD per year, which works out to about $5.89 USD per month. 

To learn more or create your store, visit https://distrokid.com/direct.

Getting your store live takes just a few steps:

1. Choose your artist
   Go to https://distrokid.com/direct and pick the artist you want to create a store for.

2. Join Direct
   Purchase a Direct membership to unlock store creation, it's billed at $70 per year (about $5.89/mo.)

3. Pick your products
   Select the merch items you want to launch with.

4. Connect PayPal
   Link your PayPal account so you can receive payments from fans.

5. Authorize fulfillment
   Approve Gelato to withdraw the production, shipping, and tax costs for each order. You keep 100% of the profit after costs. 

6. Share your store
   Your shop is live. Share the link and start selling.

Direct leans on using your existing artwork as the basis for your products. There are currently four products offered that you can choose to create products with, and the item catalog will expand over the coming months. Purchase fulfillment is handled through our partner, Gelato.

What Items are Available to Sell in Direct?

Below are the current items available through your Direct shop:

Apparel

• Premium Unisex Crewneck T-shirt (Bella + Canvas 3001)
• Premium Womens Crewneck T-shirt (Bella + Canvas 6004)
• Classic Unisex Pullover Hoodie

Accessories

• White 11oz Ceramic Mug with Color Inside
• Premium Tote Bag
• Fine Art Poster - 12x12" (30x30 cm)

Please note, it is not possible to use art that is not from your live releases in DistroKid. Custom art is not yet supported for Direct items.

To get paid for Direct sales, you need to connect your PayPal account so that we can deposit your money when you make a sale, and withdraw money to cover the cost of producing the merch.

To utilize PayPal for deposits and withdrawals:

After setting up your store, you'll want to go to Payment Settings and complete this setup. Customers will only be able to buy from you after you complete this step.

In simple terms, this is how a Direct sale works:

• The customer pays the full order amount to your PayPal account

• Gelato charges you the cost to make and ship the product

• You keep everything that is left over as your earnings

• When a customer buys from your Direct store, they pay you directly. The full payment goes straight into your PayPal account.

After the order is sent to a print partner, Gelato charges your PayPal account for the cost to make and ship the item. You only pay the manufacturing and shipping cost for what your customer ordered.

You are always paid first. Gelato only charges you after the customer’s full payment has already been received. You should never pay for manufacturing before getting paid for the order.

A PayPal account is required to create a Direct merch shop. Direct supports both PayPal Personal and PayPal Business accounts. When you connect PayPal and allow deposits and withdrawals, your store is ready to accept orders.

Having trouble setting up PayPal?

We’re running a limited pilot of an alternative to PayPal: use Stripe to receive customer payments and a credit card to cover merchandise production costs. If you’d like to try it, sign up for the Stripe pilot.

You can customize your Direct store by visiting your Direct dashboard and clicking "Store Profile," or by heading to https://direct.distrokid.com/controlpanel/site_profile/edit. From there, you can edit the following:

• Artist name that shows on the store.
• An artist bio (up to 150 characters).
• Artist location.
• Time zone.
• Preferred language for your store (text generated by Direct in your store will be set in this language).
• Editor language (the language used in your site manager and editing tools).
• Artist image (the image that appears next to your artist name in-store and your profile in Direct).

A Direct merch shop costs $70 USD per year, which works out to about $5.89 per month. This is a flat annual membership fee that gives you access to your merch store, product creation tools, and order management.

How to Sign Up for Direct

To sign up for Direct, visit https://distrokid.com/direct and choose the artist you want to create a store for. During signup, you'll be asked to activate a Direct membership, which will be billed to the payment method already on file in your DistroKid account.

How Renewal Works

Your Direct membership renews automatically every year on the date you first subscribed.

Here's how you can view your renewal date:

1. Click your profile icon in the top right of your DistroKid dashboard.

2. Select Receipts, or go directly to https://www.distrokid.com/receipts.

The first date listed for your Direct subscription is the day your membership began and the date it will renew each year.