Getting Paid

Earnings reports and payments are available to you as soon as DistroKid receives and processes earnings from streaming services and stores. Streaming services usually deliver these reports monthly, and they reflect sales from about 3 months ago. So, if someone streamed your song yesterday, royalties for it won't show up in your DistroKid bank until about 3 months from now.

Note 1: Not all streaming services report at the same time, or at the same frequency.

Each store & streaming service delivers reports & payments on their own schedule. So, for example, you likely won't receive updated Apple & Spotify numbers on the same day.

Note 2: The same thing goes for different distributors.
Streaming services don't pay all distributors at the same time. DistroKid is sometimes first. But not always. If you have music online via another distributor, that distributor may reflect your Spotify (and so on) numbers before or after DistroKid does.

To see detailed information about your streams & sales—such as country and currency—visit "Bank", then click "See Excruciating Detail".

When you request a withdrawal from your bank, your money will be sent within 1-14 days of the request. 

For more information about tracking your withdrawal once you've requested payment, click here.

None! 

DistroKid does not take any percentage off the top of what stores send us for your earnings. When stores send us earnings reports, we send 100% of the earnings allocated to you straight to your DistroKid bank. We feel strongly that you shouldn't give a percentage of your earnings for streams / sales to your distributor. You earned the money, not them.

When you withdraw earnings, you may be subject to applicable taxes and/or fees from our payment processor.*

The ONLY time we take a percentage, is if you opt into our optional "YouTube Content ID" service. That's the service where we find videos on YouTube that use your music-- and tell YouTube to monetize them. We keep 20% of the revenue from YouTube videos that we find, and send you the rest (80%). But you still keep the money you earn from streaming services and music stores like iTunes, Spotify etc. You always keep 100% of that, minus banking fees/applicable taxes.

*Note: Our payment processor, Tipalti, may charge a fee depending on the withdrawal method. You can find out which methods charge which fees by checking out this article: Is There a Fee When I Withdraw My Earnings?

Additionally, depending on your country of residency, you may be subject to tax withholding rates. Check out this article on Tipalti for more information: Withholding Rates. DistroKid can't provide any information about taxes, or anything related to taxes, tax forms, tax withholding, etc. We know that this stuff can be confusing, so if you do have any questions about anything tax-related, please contact a tax professional who will be able to provide advice and explanations to help you out.

Yes. Let's say you decide to delete a release from availability for whatever reason. You will still get any earnings you may have earned while your music was live on streaming services, up until the point it disappears. The earnings will flow through to your account, as per the following reporting schedule.

Expect to wait up to 1-2 weeks for your deleted music to disappear from all streaming services, sometimes sooner.

If you're not seeing the latest reports yet, don't worry! Rest assured that we're working to get them to you ASAP.  

To see detailed information about the latest streams & sales, visit "Bank", then click "See Breakdown By Store," then "See Excruciating Detail".

Streaming services usually deliver these reports monthly -- but please note that each store & streaming service delivers reports & payments on their own schedule. So, for example, you likely won't receive updated iTunes & Spotify numbers on the same day each month. Same thing goes for different distributors--if you have other music online via a distributor other than DistroKid, that distributor may reflect your Spotify (and so on) numbers before or after DistroKid does. We're usually first! But not always.

For more information about how and when you get paid, please check out this article.

Yes! 

Thanks for asking.

To spread DistroKid to your friends and make some dough doing it: 

1. Sign into DistroKid
2. Click on your profile picture in the top right 
3. Click "Referral Program" 

You'll get $10 per customer, and your friends will all get 7% off of their first-year's membership. 



 

When you're owed money, DistroKid will ask you for your payout preferences in the "bank" tab. Until you're owed money, you won't be asked for your payout preferences. 

DistroKid supports a large number of payout options through our payment provider, including PayPal, ACH, wire transfer, eCheck, or even a paper check! Keep in mind, different methods may or may not be available to you based on your location. To select your preferred method, click on your profile icon in the upper right, and then select "Payout Method".

From there, you'll need to:

1. Fill out all required contact information.
2. Choose your payout method: Direct Deposit/ACH, Wire Transfer, Check or PayPal.
3. Select and complete the required Tax Forms. If you have questions, click "Need Help? Start the tax form questionnaire"

Note: We're unable to help with any tax questions/issues. Please see the IRS website for more info or consult a tax professional.

Yay! You got earnings! As always, DistroKid collects earnings for sales/streams in the services you choose to distribute to and pass 100% of those earnings along to you, minus banking fees/applicable taxes/cover licenses.

But how do those earnings get into your pocket? 

1. From your account menu, set your payout method at: https://distrokid.com/payoutmethod/
   
   Click "Update your Tipalti settings" to enter your information and choose your preferred payout method.
2. Then, to make a withdrawal, visit your DistroKid bank, https://distrokid.com/bank
   Everything that is shown under “We Owe You” in your DistroKid bank will be sent when you make your request.
3. Within 14 days the funds will be sent to the payout method you set at https://distrokid.com/payouts

"Okay, I did all that and I still don’t have my withdrawal!" 

1. Check to see if the withdrawal is completed. Again, this process can take up to 14 days depending on the payout method you've selected. If it’s still pending, it’ll look like this:
2. If the withdrawal is completed you’ll see it listed under “See All Withdrawals” at https://distrokid.com/bank
3. Our payout processor, Tipalti, also sends an email notification regarding your withdrawal to the contact email you set at https://distrokid.com/payouts
4. Follow up with your bank to confirm that they've received the earnings.

"It says my withdrawal was completed, and I still don’t have it after 14 days!" 

1. If your payment was rejected and returned by your bank, you’ll receive an email letting you know about the rejection. That payment will then be returned to your DistroKid bank (minus fees) in a few weeks. Then you can request a withdrawal again! 
2. Reach out to us with the date and amount of the missing withdrawal and our team will provide as many details as possible regarding the reason for rejection, as well as help you track your withdrawal request.

DistroKid supports a large number of payout options through our payment provider Tipalti, including PayPal, ACH, wire transfer, eCheck, or even paper checks!

To change your preferred payout method, click on your profile icon in the upper right, and then select "Payout Method". From there, you can specify how you want to receive your earnings.

Note: You won't be prompted to enter any payment details until you have money available to withdraw from your DistroKid Bank page.

If you made a recent withdrawal by mistake, you can cancel it right on your DistroKid bank page. Here's how you can cancel your recent withdrawal:

1. Head over to www.distrokid.com/bank
2. You will see an information box that says "You requested payment (via ACH)..."
3. Under this info box, click the link that says "Need to cancel this withdrawal?"
4. You will get a warning to double check you want to cancel your withdrawal. If you are sure you want to cancel, click the button that says "Yes, cancel it."
5. You're done! Your withdrawal has been cancelled, and your earnings will remain in your DistroKid bank.

Note: If you do not see the link that says "Need to cancel this withdrawal?", this means your withdrawal has already processed and is on its way to your specified payment method. You can contact our artist relations team about a missing processed withdrawal by clicking this link.

Yes, our payment provider charges DistroKid a small fee for sending money, which is automatically subtracted from your earnings when you withdraw. 

• ACH (U.S. only) —  $1 per payment
• eCheck (U.S.) —  $1.50 per payment
• eCheck (non-U.S.) —  $5.00 per payment
• Paper Check —  $3 per check
• Wire Transfer (U.S.) — $15 per payment
• Wire Transfer (International in local currency) — $20 per payment
• Wire Transfer (International in USD) — $26 per payment
• PayPal (Non-US resident): USD 1.00 + 2% Up to USD 21.00
• PayPal (US resident): USD 1.00 + 2% Up to USD 2.00

The minimum payout amount is $2 USD. On your bank page, under "What we owe you", if the total amount is under $2, or the transaction fee for your preferred payout method is not met (whichever is higher), your request will not be processed until you have sufficient funds to pay the associated fees with your withdrawal request.

Depending on your country of residence, there may also be a maximum payout threshold. If you have hit the payout maximum threshold, your withdrawal request will be separated into multiple payouts.

Please be sure to triple check that you’ve selected your preferred withdrawal method, and are aware of the fees associated with your preferred method. A rejected withdrawal request may accrue a rejection fee from our payment processor, Tipalti.

Additionally, an FX fee of up to 3% may apply if payment currency is different than the country you select. Visit DistroKid.com/payouts > Step 2 for details.

Our payment provider requires the following minimum thresholds depending on your selected payout method:

• PayPal —  $2 minimum.
• ACH (U.S. only) —  $2 minimum.
• eCheck (U.S.) —  $2 minimum.
• eCheck (non-U.S.) —  $5.00 minimum.
• Paper Check —  $3 minimum.
• Wire Transfer (U.S.)— $15 minimum.
• Wire Transfer (International in local currency) — $20 minimum.
• Wire Transfer (International in USD)—  $26 minimum.

For more info about Payment Thresholds please see this table.

Note: You'll keep more of your earnings if you withdraw larger amounts, since you'll save money on fees.

DistroKid is unable to help with any tax issues, as we are not tax professionals.

You'll want to consult a tax professional for help with anything tax-reated, but here is some information that you might find useful:

You can find detailed information about all charges by going to More (top right on the upper menu bar) > Account Settings > Receipts.

You can also find details about all earnings under Bank > See Excruciating Detail.

You might also check out your PayPal account, or Bank Tab which shows your earnings. We pass along 100% of earnings from stores, minus banking fees/applicable taxes, to you.

US-based artists are asked to complete Form W-9, and non-US-based artists are asked to complete Form W-8BEN. We're required to collect this information once per year, and all DistroKid users are required to complete the required tax documents in order to receive earnings from DistroKid. 

For any help completing the forms, please consult a tax professional.

Note: US-based artists are asked to complete Form W-9, which asks you for your TIN/EIN. As an individual, your TIN is your social security number (SSN). If you have registered as a business, your TIN is your EIN. For help with additional questions related to the tax forms, please consult a tax professional.

DistroKid cannot give tax advice, so we must state that this is not tax advice. Please consult a tax professional if you have any questions about the information here.

If your country of tax residency is not in the United States, up to 30% of your earnings may be subject to tax withholding. If there is a tax treaty between your country and the United States, and if you qualify for the benefits of that treaty, withholding may be reduced or eliminated.

Depending on the rules and regulations in your country of tax residence, you may be able to credit some or all of the United States tax withheld (if any) against your taxes.

A detailed list of applicable withholding rates per country can be found in the column labeled “Copyrights” here:
https://support.tipalti.com/Content/Topics/UserGuide/Taxation/TaxWithholding/WithholdingRates.htm 

If you made a withdrawal in the previous fiscal year, you'll receive your tax information from noreply@tax1099.com.

• 1099s will be made available for US-based users by March 31st.
• 1042's will be available by March 31st for Non-US users. 

For more information on how to access your 1099 or 1042 forms, including the password generated for you, please read this article.

If you updated your tax information multiple times in the same fiscal year, each distinct payee will receive separate forms for the withdrawals taken under their validated tax identity.

DistroKid does not provide W-2 forms at this time.

Please note that DistroKid can't provide any information about taxes, or anything related to taxes, tax forms, tax withholding, etc. We know that this stuff can be confusing, so if you do have any questions about anything tax-related, please contact a tax professional who will be able to provide advice and explanations to help you out.

Your password is 8 characters.

Please enter the first 4 letters of the name listed after the word 'Dear...' at the beginning of this email, all lowercase, and the last 4 digits of the tax ID (either SSN/EIN or ITIN).

EXAMPLES:

1. If your name appears on the form as Mary May with an SSN of 711223456, then the password would be mary3456 (first 4 characters of your Full Name / Business Name + last 4 digits of your SSN/ITIN number).
2. If your business name appears on the form as A & D with ITIN as 012847934, then the password would be ad7934 (first 2 characters without spaces and special characters of your organization name + last 4 digits of your ITIN/EIN number).
3. If your business name appears on the form as Mary May PLLC with ITIN as 012847934, then the password would be mary7934 (first 4 characters of your organization name + last 4 digits of your ITIN/EIN number).
4. If your name appears on the form as Al & D with ITIN as 517223355, then the password would be ald3355 (first 3 characters (ignore special characters and spaces) of your Full Name / Business Name since the Full Name / Business Name is shorter than 4 characters + last 4 digits of your SSN/ITIN number).
5. If your name appears on the form as Mary May without an SSN/ITIN number, then the password would be mary (first 4 characters of your Full Name / Business Name).
6. If your name appears on the form as Al & D without SSN/ITIN number, then the password would be ald (first 3 characters (ignore special characters and spaces) of your Full Name / Business Name since the Full Name / Business Name is shorter than 4 characters).

DistroKid can't provide any information about taxes, or anything related to taxes, tax forms, tax withholding, etc. We know that this stuff can be confusing, so if you do have any questions about anything tax-related, please contact a tax professional who will be able to provide advice and explanations to help you out.

Artists for Change allows artists to automatically donate a percentage of royalties to charitable organizations and causes.

Artists are donating a percentage of their royalties to:

Miracle Messages

North Brooklyn Angels

Slice Out Hunger

Stop AAPI Hate

Support + Feed

Vouchers 4 Veggies

Asian Americans Advancing Justice

GroundUp Music Foundation

NAACP Legal Defense Fund

National Independent Venue Association

It’s easy to get started! Pick an organization or cause you want to support from the list above, or here, to find the Auto-donate instructions. You’ll get an email address you can use to sign into DistroKid, click “Splits” and add to start donating any percentage you like!

DistroKid can split earnings from any song or album, and automatically send those earnings to other DistroKid users. Add your collaborators, producers, bandmates, managers and more. We'll pay them directly, so you don't have to think about it. To get started, sign into DistroKid and click "Splits", or navigate to the album page you wish to setup a split on - halfway down there will be an option to create a split directly from your album page.

Some other cool things about Splits:

• You can change the splits any time.
• You can add or remove collaborators any time.
• You can go back in time and see any previous splits.
• For privacy, collaborators can only see what percentage they get. They can’t see who your other collaborators are, or what percentage other folks are getting.
• Your release won’t be delayed if your collaborator is slow to sign up. Instead, we’ll just hold the money for them until they join.
• If your collaborator never joins, you can easily cancel their invitation and earnings set aside for them will come back to you.

Note: Each collaborator will need to have a DistroKid account to collect their earnings. If they're not already using DistroKid, they'll get a 50% discount to sign up! If they don't want to sign up, you can even pay for the "Split subscription" ($10 per year) on your account, so that they can directly receive your earnings and all of the accounting is automatically done for you!

Until they accept your invitation, your collaborator's assigned split of the earnings will be held in DistroKid's bank. Once they accept and create an account, the held earnings will be available in their own Bank within 24 hours.

For a quick how-to on splitting earnings, check out this video:

With DistroKid's Splits feature (which allows collaborators to automatically split earnings on any release!), artists can set up Recoupments for any individual collaborator per Track.

Example:

Let’s say one of the collaborators, Hayden, paid $2000 for the beat, or music video, etc. Hayden can now be paid back first — before the normal splits kick in for everyone else.

Once the initial funds have been Recouped, the Splits will automatically go into effect for all other collaborators on the Split.

Yes!

To remove someone from a Split, go to 'Show Split History' on the release page, and then click 'Show Options' --> 'Remove' next to the email you want to delete.

Once they're removed, any earnings that were held will appear in your Bank within 24-48 hours.

(If you still want to split earnings with them, but they just need a nudge, then click 'resend invite' instead!)

Check to see if there’s an extra space after the email. There probably is!

Please fix and try again.

DistroKid makes it possible add collaborators to any track.

When someone buys the entire album (as opposed to buying or streaming an individual track), we'll automatically calculate pro-rata revenue split. 

Example: if an album has 2 tracks, and you're owed 50% of one track, then you'll receive 25% of a full album sale.

The Split manager can see this by clicking "Edit Split" > "Review Changes", and scrolling to the bottom.