Some videos may be muted due to product restrictions.
In general, Facebook/Instagram videos that mimic an audio-only listening
experience are not permitted. Examples include still image videos,
or live streams with large amounts of matched audio.
If you would like to allowlist any videos from this restriction,
please submit a ticket with the following info:
-
Links to Instagram/Facebook profiles you’d like to allowlist
-
The ISRC’s of each track you’d like to have added to the
allowlist
If you see an error that says "Streaming services rejected this audio
because it's already been uploaded, but with a different song title or
artist name," it means that you previously uploaded your song(s) with
a different artist name or title. Stores do not allow music to be re-uploaded
with conflicting metadata, even if a previous version was uploaded and
then deleted to be re-uploaded with changes.
Feel free to reach out here and we can help provide clarification on
what needs to be done in order for this release to be eligible for all
stores.
Please note, once an ISRC is used on an account, it is permanently
locked to that account.
In order to upload the track under a new account, you'll need to
use a new ISRC. Please choose a different one, or leave the ISRC
field blank and one will be generated for you.
If you want to use the same ISRC, you'll need to upload the track
under the original account. Otherwise, our system won't be able to
allocate royalties to the appropriate user.
If you are having another error with the DistroKid Upload Form, hit us up below!
We know it’s no fun when you upload your work, only to see that result
in an error during processing. Typically, these errors occur due to an
incorrect file format being used, or a timeout/connectivity issue occurring
during the upload process.
Before reaching out to us, please review and try the following:
-
Reset your connection! Any timeout during the uploading process
can result in a processing error.
-
Clear your cache and cookies, and then try restarting your browser.
-
Ensure that you are using the correct file type, and that the
file size does not exceed 200mb.
Audio files should be WAV, MP3, AIFF, CDDA, M4A, Windows Media (WMA),
or FLAC. If you're sending a WAV, 16-bit, 44.1 kHz WAV is typical but pretty much anything works.
Best practice: Submit a high-res copy of your songs to us, and let stores
convert them to their liking.
Artwork should be a .jpg image, that is ideally 3000x3000 pixels, in
the RGB format.
If you follow the steps above, and are still receiving an error, please
reach out to us, providing screenshots of the error you are seeing.
Depending on upload volume, it can take up to a few days or so for albums
to be reviewed, approved, and sent to stores. Once approved, it can take
up to several days for stores to insert the release on their end.
During this time, your release will show the “processing” status.
For more information about the time it takes for releases to go live
to stores once approved, please check out the FAQ article https://distrokid.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360013649293 here.
Delays are rare, but they do happen, and are often out of our control.
We recommend checking out our FAQ regarding release dates -
Particularly the “Note” section.
If your release is still processing after 5-7 days, please reach out
to us, and we can check the status of your release!
In order for us to be able to submit your work to stores, we need
to ensure that your work follows all rules and guidelines for each
store.
If your release is rejected, we’ll be sure to send you an email,
informing you of why it was rejected by stores, as well as how to
fix the issue.
To get in touch with our team about login issues, please click
here.
Our chatbot "Dave" will help get some info from you so we can route your
question to the right people as quickly as possible. 💪🏼
To update your DistroKid account info, click on your profile icon in the top right corner of your DistroKid dashboard.
-
To update your email, password, name, and address, click on
Account
-
To update your payout method, click on
Payout Method
-
To update the credit card you have on file with DistroKid, click on
Credit Card
At this time, the only way to downgrade is to delete your albums,
cancel your account, and create a new account with a lower plan and
a new email address.
To cancel your DistroKid account, please visit
https://distrokid.com/leave.
Once that’s complete, shoot us an email, and we can refund the time
remaining in your subscription fee.
Keep in mind that once your account is canceled, if you have any
albums in stores, they will be removed.
Also note that if you choose to do this, and sign up for the Musician
plan, you will lose the ability to choose a label name, specify release
dates, and other great features.
Free, unlimited backups of your music files and metadata
are contained within your DistroKid Vault. To access
your vault, simply click on the “More” menu in the
top right, and then click on
“Vault”.
If you are experiencing any issues accessing your
vault, contact us here. Please provide a detailed
description of the problem you are experiencing,
including screenshots if possible!
When a stolen/disputed credit card is used on DistroKid, the DistroKid
account becomes limited. This is for the safety of cardholders (like
you!) so that the offender can't continue to use the stolen card.
This also blocks the offender from being able to use other stolen
cards they may have in their possession.
If you're the legitimate cardholder and want your account reinstated,
simply call the number on the back of your credit card and have them
withdraw all DistroKid disputes.
Once the dispute has been removed by your bank, please attach documentation
from your bank stating that the dispute has been withdrawn, and we
can follow up with our card processor to unlock your account.
While your stats are up to constantly up to date (generally within
24 hours!), earnings reports are often 30-60 days behind, and are
typically reported every 30-45 days. Stores determine when they send
out reports on their end.
Additionally, there are several services that only report 1-2x per
year, about 6 months behind. So, while your stats are up to date,
it’s important to keep in mind that the dates that your earnings
reflect are from several months prior.
Receiving your earnings reports a few months behind is normal, and
nothing to be concerned about! We collect earnings for streams/sales
in the stores we distribute to and pass 100% of those earnings along
to you as soon as we receive reports from stores, minus banking fees/applicable
taxes.
To see detailed information about your streams and sales once stores
have reported your earnings, visit Bank,
then click See Excruciating Detail.
DistroKid’s referral program is available to all account holders,
regardless of what tier you’re currently subscribed to.
To access your referral code, click on the “More” menu in the top
right, and then click on “Referral Program”. Anyone who clicks it
will get 7% off, and you'll make $10 for every signup!
Note: Referral earnings may not appear on your account until
3 months after the person using your referral link signs up for a
paid DistroKid account. This protects us from cancellations, fake
referrals, trial accounts, etc.
Click here to
select or change your payout method.
Before requesting more payout options, please review the fees associated
with each payment method. Thanks!
Payments are made every couple weeks, so when you receive
it depends on how long before the next payment your request
was submitted. Typically, withdrawal requests take 1-14
business days to process.
Please note, depending on the payout method you’ve selected,
and your geographic location, some withdrawals may take
longer than others.
If you haven’t received your payment after 14 business
days, please reach out to us here, providing the withdrawal
date, and the method of withdrawal you’ve selected.
Currently, DistroKid requires payment using Visa,
MasterCard, or American Express credit/debit cards
Unfortunately, if your card isn’t working, there’s
very little we can do to assist. That’s because our
card processor is telling us that your bank is declining
the transactions on their end.
In fact, your credit card info never touches our
servers or our database -- it’s sent directly from
your browser to our credit card processor -- so there’s
nothing we can change on our end to fix it.
Please try another card, or check with your bank
to make sure your card allows for recurring payments,
and all charges from DistroKid.com.
Also, please note that our card processor occasionally
runs a temporary $1 hold (not a charge) to make sure
the card on file is valid. If a hold fails, you'll
need to visit www.distrokid.com/card to update your
payment information, or follow up with your bank
for more information.
When a stolen/disputed credit card
is used on DistroKid, the DistroKid
account becomes limited. This is
for the safety of cardholders (like
you!) so that the offender can't
continue to use the stolen card.
This also blocks the offender from
being able to use other stolen cards
they may have in their possession.
If you're the legitimate cardholder
and want your account reinstated,
simply call the number on the back
of your credit card and have them
withdraw all DistroKid disputes.
Once the dispute has been removed
by your bank, please attach documentation
from your bank stating that the dispute
has been withdrawn, and we can follow
up with our card processor to unlock
your account.
All receipts for DistroKid purchases can be found by visiting
https://distrokid.com/receipts.
If you have made a purchase that is not showing up in your DistroKid receipts
section, please let us know the date and amount of your purchase as well as the
product you were purchasing.
Please click the link below to be connected with an agent via our Support Bot, "Dave".
Dave will gather all of the information we'll need to process your refund request as quickly as possible.
Your tax forms have been sent to the email address associated with your DistroKid account as of January 1st. If you do not have access to this email, please contact us below.
DistroKid is working with the company Tax1099.com to send your forms that report DistroKid withdrawals for the year. Please look for them on the schedule below:
U.S. Artists: Form 1099-MISC will be distributed on February 1st. If you withdrew less than $10 for the fiscal year, you will not receive a form.
Non-U.S. Artists: Form 1042-S will be distributed on March 15th.
Make sure to check your spam folder if you can't find the emails from Tax1099.com.If information is incorrect on your tax form, please update the information on your account. Let us know when you have updated information at https://distrokid.com/account and https://distrokid.com/payouts.
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.
If information is incorrect on your tax form, please update your information on your account. Let us know when you have updated information at https://distrokid.com/account and https://distrokid.com/payouts.
If you’re managing multiple DistroKid accounts, please make sure to update each account to have accurate, consistent, and up-to-date information. You can update this information by visiting https://distrokid.com/payouts.
Once this information is updated, reach out to us, and will re-issue your tax forms.
Note: 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 email includes instructions on what your unique password is to unlock your 1099. For most people, your password will be the first 4 letters of your name/business and the last 4 digits of your Tax Identifying Number (SSN for individual US Citizens) making an 8 character long password.
For a more detailed explanation on how to retrieve your tax form password, please read this article.
Note: 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 email includes instructions on what your unique password is to unlock your 1099. For most people, your password will be the first 4 letters of your name/business and the last 4 digits of your Tax Identifying Number (SSN for individual US Citizens) making an 8 character long password.
For a more detailed explanation on how to retrieve your tax form password, please read this article.
If you’re managing multiple DistroKid accounts, please make sure to update each account to have accurate, consistent, and up-to-date information. You can update this information by visiting https://distrokid.com/payouts.
To get instantly verified on Spotify:
-
Sign into DistroKid
-
Click "More"
-
Click "Streaming Service Goodies"
-
Click "Spotify for Artists" and follow the instructions.
If you need to get verified before your first release goes live, you can look
up your Spotify Artist URI here, so you can verify directly with Spotify the
old fashioned way.
Spotify offers playlist pitching via your verified Spotify for Artists account
for releases in their system at least one week before the release date. Please
make sure the release is uploaded to DistroKid at least two weeks prior to your
release date (Musician Plus/Label plan required).
Once you have at least one live release on your Apple Artist Page, you can register
for Apple Music for Artists and claim your page at
https://distrokid.com/am4a.
To set up Instant Gratification for your release, follow the steps below.
-
Upload your album to DistroKid
-
Set a release date in the future (at least 4 weeks is highly
recommended), and enable pre-order (how-to)
-
After your album is uploaded and live in iTunes, fill out
this form.
For more information on Instant Gratification,
check out this article.
Please note, if you submit an edit request after you submit your request
to set up Instant Gratification, your Instant Gratification request will
be undone and you will need to resubmit your Instant Gratification request.
If you already have your music mastered for iTunes via an approved mastering
house, we can enable your account to upload MFiT audio.
Note: we cannot assist with mastering your files at this time.
DistroKid offers distribution to Beatport as an Album Extra for all DistroKid releases with the electronic genre. Beatport distribution costs $9.99/month for unlimited distribution for all of your artists. If you have already purchased the extra on one release, it will be made available for your past and future releases at no additional charge.
To send your electronic music to Beatport, upload your music to DistroKid making sure to select the electronic genre and appropriate sub genre.
You can request to link your release to your Instagram profile by filling
out this form here:
Synced lyrics are only available to:
-
Artists with Musician Plus or Label accounts.
-
Songs with approved plain lyrics. So if you just uploaded some plain
lyrics, just hang on while we review your lyrics. It should only take
a day or so for lyrics to be reviewed.
The first step is to upload plain text lyrics at
https://www.distrokid.com/lyrics.
Once approved, you can then sync your lyrics to your songs.
To claim an original sound on TikTok please send the following:
-
Link to Original Sound
-
ISRC for Release
-
Time range where your song appears in the Original Sound (e.g. 0:30-0:38):
Claim YouTube Official Artist Channel
To claim your YouTube Official Artist Channel:
-
Make sure you already have a channel dedicated to your content as an
artist on YouTube, and that this channel has artist content uploaded
to it. If not, please create one, and name it after your artist name.
*Note that you can apply for a blank,new channel to be designated as
an Official Artist Channel, but if there is no existing, independent
content on that channel, the request may take longer to process.
-
Make sure your artist has at least one release that has selected "Google
Play/YouTube" as a store within DistroKid.
-
Go to the YouTube Official Artist Channel section of your DistroKid account
(Click the "More" menu > "Streaming Service Goodies")
-
Select the artist you want to associate with your YouTube channel.
-
Authenticate into your YouTube account
-
Claim your channel
-
Done!
Once a claim is placed on a YouTube video, you can whitelist it to relinquish
any claim to ad revenue:
https://distrokid.com/YouTubeWhitelist/
Note that this cannot be done in advance, and it cannot be undone.
If you accidentally whitelisted a video a video in advance of a claim being placed,
or would like to remove a whitelist claim, let us know below. Please make sure
to include the ISRC of the track and a link to any relevant videos.
-
Click “Get Started”
-
Log into your Amazon account.
-
Click on the “Claim an Artist” button in the upper right or upper left
corners, and search your artist name.
-
Select “Connect Via Distributor”, and link to your DistroKid account.
-
Done!
If you have a Twitch channel, you can link that channel to your music. That way,
Twitch will link to your Twitch channel (and your Spotify page) whenever your
music is streamed on Soundtrack by Twitch. To do this, visit:
http://distrokid.com/twitch-connect.
Let us know if you want to send your music to Pretzel, and we can enable Pretzel
as a store on your account!
Please note: Once your music has been sent to Pretzel, you will need to fill
out
this form
in order for your music to go live.
If you have content that is being distributed to Pandora but is not yet live,
please sign into your Pandora account and complete the simple three-step form
at
amp.pandora.com/submit.
While your content may be delivered to Pandora by DistroKid, Pandora is still
a curated collection. Submitting your content will prioritize it for review by
Pandora.
To edit your artist profile on Deezer, head to Deezer for Creators to apply for direct access to your Deezer artist profile.
You can edit your profile image, bio, social media links and more through Deezer's Creator service. When asked for your distributor's email, feel free to enter support@distrokid.com.
Please note, DistroKid doesn't have any control on whether or not Deezer
will accept your profile information, so please make sure you pay special care
to their profile specifications.
Update profile in TIDAL
To request a profile update in TIDAL, please fill out the form below!
Please note, DistroKid doesn't have any control on whether or not these stores
will accept your profile information, so please make sure you pay special care
to the individual stores specifications.
If you're interested in adding your music to TouchTunes, please let us know below.
Opting in will also automatically send your music to PlayNetwork.
While we can submit your music to TouchTunes and PlayNetwork, their catalog is
hand-curated based on industry research and popularity as it relates to their
particular needs. Therefore not all of the music they receive will be made available.
Because we don’t control the curation process, we're not able to provide much
info with regard to what gets chosen, or how long it will take to go live in
TouchTunes and/or PlayNetwork.
If you want to send your music to Audiomack, you will need to connect your Audiomack account and your DistroKid account. Check out this FAQ article on how to get started!
Please contact us here if you are having issues linking your Audiomack account
to your DistroKid account.
You can opt new music into distribution to Yandex Music by selecting "Yandex Music" on the upload form! For previously released music, head to your album page, click "Add to more stores", and select "Yandex Music".
Please contact us here if you are having issues linking your Audiomack account
to your DistroKid account.
You can add Qobuz on the upload form, just make sure it's selected on the list
of stores you want your release to be distributed to!
For existing albums, just head to the album page that you wanted to add Qobuz
to, scroll halfway down, and then click "Add to more stores" to add your existing
work to Qobuz, as well as any other stores you may haven't opted into yet!
Every so often, a store's API might stop sending stats. These issues are usually
resolved on their own within 24 hours or so.
Keep in mind that the estimated stats come from a completely different system
than royalty reports, and any fluctuations will have absolutely no effect on
your actual earnings from streams/sales.
If you cannot access your stats temporarily on DistroKid, stores do offer Apps
where you can track stats within their platform as well.
Apple provides stats via Apple Music for Artists. You can sign up for Apple Music
for Artists through Apple directly:
https://artists.apple.com. When asked
for contact info, you can use your own.
You can also see Spotify stats with a Spotify for Artists account. You can get
a verified Spotify for Artist page via DistroKid at
https://www.distrokid.com/spotify.
For other stores, you can see detailed stats once earnings reports arrive from each
store.
Pandora offers a similar service which you can sign up for via
https://amp.pandora.com/
Many artists notice their stats and royalty reports don’t match. This is nothing
to be concerned about and is normal, for a few reasons we’ll list below!
First off, stats and royalties are two entirely separate reports. Your stats
are generated from what is called a “Trend Report”, and is available to give
you an idea of how your work is doing. Trend reports include stats from a multitude
of sources, including users who don’t use subscriptions on streaming services,
as well as streams from trial or promotional accounts.
Secondly, while your stats are up to date (generally within 24 hours!), royalty
reports are often 30-60 days behind. Additionally, there are several services
that only report 1-2x per year, about 6 months behind. So, while your stats are
up to date, it’s important to keep in mind that the dates that your earnings
reflect are from several months prior.
Finally, not all streams generate earnings, and depending on the country of origin
that a stream occurs in, the rate a store pays out may differ from region to
region. Stores set rates on their end, and that’s not something that DistroKid
(or any distributor) has any control over.
Note: If you engage in marketing or playlisting services that use artificial
streams to pad your numbers, stores may withhold your earnings for streams they
deem fraudulent, in addition to removing your work from their platform.
You can read more about the proliferation of disingenuous marketing and playlisting
services here.
You can visit your HyperFollow page and click MENU in the top right to make a
few handy edits!
-
Rearrange order of links
-
Add links to other stores that we haven't added (even ones we don't distribute
to!)
-
Turn audio previews on/off
-
Embed a YouTube video
-
Add some "Holiday cheer" (check it out, it's fun)
-
Change the "Talk to me" button text
-
Turn Spotify pre-save on/off
-
Hide or delete any of your HyperFollow pages
You can also hide/remove your HyperFollow page from the Menu, if you'd like.
Please allow 24-48 hours after your release date for HyperFollow pages to replace
pre-save / pre-order links with direct links. You can also disable the pre-save
option by clicking Menu > Edit this page in the top right corner of your HyperFollow
page.
Thanks for your patience!
HyperFollow messaging, a.k.a. "Talk to Me", is brand new -- and very exciting!
We've received lots of great feedback, and are working to incorporate it. Thanks
for your patience as we continue to make HyperFollow great.
Please note that it's not currently possible to disable this feature, you can
customize the button text with some pre-set options by clicking Menu > Edit
this page. We'll let you know when we have more updates!
Email addresses are only collected on your HyperFollow page if someone pre-saves
the release prior to the releases live date.
Once the release is live, the pre-save function is converted to a standard landing
page, and email addresses are not collected.
We’re constantly adding new features to HyperFollow. If you are having any problems
utilizing HyperFollow or it’s various features, please let us know! If possible,
please provide screenshots of the issue you are having.
Please note: In order to use Splits and have us take care of payment splits, you'll
need a paid DistroKid account. Please make sure you're accepting the invite from
an active account.
If you're having trouble accepting the invite from an active account, first have
the uploader remove and re-add you to the Split.
To remove someone from a Split,
go to 'Show Splits History' on the release page, and then click 'Show Options'
--> 'Remove' next to the email you want to delete.
To remove someone from a Team, go to 'Show Team History' on the release page,
and then click 'Show Options' --> 'Remove' next to the email you want to delete.
Once they're removed, you'll see the earnings in your Bank within the next few
days.
If you are experiencing any issues with earnings allocations on your existing
Splits, please reach out to us here, providing screenshots if able.
Everything you upload is backed up via our Vault, which you can access any time
while your subscription is active.
-
Sign into DistroKid
-
Click More (located on the top right menu bar)
-
Click "Vault"
Vizy is a music video generator that musicians can use to get videos to
post their music on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and more.
Hit us up if you have a specific question!
If your Vizy video has not processed or is taking longer than our site says it
should take to process (or any other issue regarding your Vizy videos), please
hit us up so we can check it out!
Questions or suggestions about Vizy, Mini Videos, or our Meme Videos? Feel free
to reach out to us here!
If someone has locked a track via DistroLock, it needs to be unlocked before
anyone can upload it.
If you're the one who locked the track, simply head over to DistroLock and unlock
it. (Click the green lock to do so.)
If someone else locked the track, you'll need to reach out to them so they can
unlock it for you.
DistroLock works best for music that has not yet been distributed. Previously
released music may already be in public fingerprint databases, which means it
can't be locked by anyone.
The good news: If you’re the one who previously distributed it, you
already have some protection. That's because responsible stores & distributors
may cross-reference their new uploads with fingerprint databases, and reject
unauthorized releases of your music.
Note: Songs with publicly-available audio (generic loops, sounds, and samples)
may be rejected by DistroLock. That's because those are sounds everyone is allowed
to use - which may trigger positive identifications with other people's music.
Hope this helps and thanks for trying DistroLock.
If you’d like to remove a release from DistroLock, simply head over to DistroLock
and unlock it. (Click the green lock to do so.)
Promo Cards are high quality promotional static images built for social media,
perfect to get the word out about your new track! Throw these awesome graphics
highlighting your release to your Instagram story, Twitter Fleets, or heck even your
LinkedIn feed! (We know how the promotional game goes 💪🏼) Check them out here:
https://distrokid.com/promocards/
Slaps.com is a Social Network for Musicians to
share, comment, and hype up each-others tunes. Artists can give time based feedback
as well as connect with other artists, reach out via DistroKid’s direct messaging
feature, as well as follow each other on social platforms linked on their Slaps
profile page. Head over to www.slaps.com to
check it out!!!
DistroKid Spotlight is a contest, like a rap battle or battle of the bands, where
songs are put head-to-head & listeners vote for their favorite.
Anyone (not just DistroKid members) can listen & vote on their favorites.
Songs with the most votes will be added to a big DistroKid Spotify playlist.
Playlists are updated each week, and votes are reset to zero.
You can submit (or remove) a song any time. Max one song per artist can be in
the contest at a time. There’s no limit to how many times a song can be added
to playlists.
Duplicate votes from the same person will be removed when votes are tallied.
Feel free to share your voting link (get it here)
and ask people to vote for you.
The Wheel of Playlist is a game, very similar to the Wheel of Fortune where you
can be added to our Spotify Playlist!
If someone lands on your number, you're bumped, but can spin again immediately
to land a new, and possibly higher spot! If you aren't bumped, you can respin
for a better (or worse spot, good luck on your spin!) every 24 hours.
Dave, DistroKid’s AI bot, is a free and fun tool that will analyze your music.
Dave will tell you about the BPM, musical key, loudness, danceability, acoustic-ness,
and way more!
Didn’t find what you’re looking for?
