iMusician vs. RouteNote – music distributors compared in 2026
With another update to their pricing tiers, we take another look at how music distributor iMusician stacks up against RouteNote in 2026.
We take a dive into what the music distributor offers artists and how much it really costs to get your music on to the world’s online stores and streaming services.
Pricing
RouteNote
Regardless of the tier you choose, with RouteNote you can upload an unlimited number of tracks, releases and artists, and on our Free model, it’s totally free!
With RouteNote, we have two basic distribution models. Of all the options listed, RouteNote Free is the only way to get your music on stores without paying upfront. We never lock our artists in and they can switch models, per release, at any time.
With RouteNote, YouTube Content ID is included at no extra cost, meaning you’ll earn 85% through our Free tier or 100% through our Premium tier.
- Free
- 15% commission
- 15% YouTube Content ID commission
- $0/year
- $0/release
- Unlimited artists
- All features
- Premium
- 0% commission
- 0% YouTube Content ID commission
- $9.99/year per release
- $10 per single
- $20 per EP
- $30 per album
- $45 per extended album
- Unlimited artists
- All features
iMusician
Last year, iMusician switched up their pricing tiers, dropping their ‘Free’ model for a pay-per-release ‘Starter’ tier, along with launching a new $299 per year ‘AMPLIFY Pro’ tier. This year, iMusician has once again tweaked their structure.
On their pay per release model, iMusician artists are required to use the ‘Rockstar’ tier for some basic features like classical music distribution and pre-saves. Other features like YouTube Content ID and custom release regions are available on both tiers, but require upfront payment of $1 per track and $10 per release respectively on the ‘Starter’ tier.
Over on their subscription tiers, the number of artists and features available increases as you move up the price ladder. Features like changes to a release and custom label names require additional payment on the ‘AMPLIFY’ tier, while features like revenue splits are only available on the higher ‘AMPLIFY+’ and ‘AMPLIFY Pro’ tiers.
Labels managing over 20 artists on iMusician are required to pay $299 per year for their ‘AMPLIFY Pro’ tier.
Pay per release
- Starter
- $9 per release
- 10% commission
- 20% + $1 per track YouTube Content ID commission
- Limited features
- Rockstar
- $69 per release
- 0% commission
- 20% YouTube Content ID commission
- All features
Subscriptions
- AMPLIFY
- $29/year
- 0% commission
- 20% YouTube Content ID commission
- 1 artist
- Limited features
- Additional charges for features
- AMPLIFY+
- 2 artists – $59/year
- 10 artists – $131/year (all prices for 2-20 artists can be found here)
- 20 artists – $221/year
- 0% commission
- 20% YouTube Content ID commission
- All features
- AMPLIFY Pro
- $299/year
- 0% commission
- 20% YouTube Content ID commission
- Unlimited artists
- All features
Features
The number of artists and features available to iMusician users vary based on the tier. At RouteNote, we believe the same basic tools should be accessible to all musicians, regardless of budget. RouteNote gives all paying and free users the same basic features.
| Feature | RouteNote Free | RouteNote Premium | iMusician Starter | iMusician Rockstar | iMusician AMPLIFY | iMusician AMPLIFY+ | iMusician AMPLIFY Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unlimited artists | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | ✔️ |
| Initial price | $0 | $10-45 | $9 | $69 | $29 | $59-221 | $299 |
| Annual renewal | $0 | $9.99 | $0 | $0 | $29 | $59-221 | $299 |
| Commission | 15% | 0% | 10% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| YouTube Content ID commission | 15% | 0% | 20% + $1 per track | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% |
| Revenue splits | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Changes to release | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | $10 | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Custom label | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | $20 | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Custom release regions | ✔️ | ✔️ | $10 per release | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Classical music distribution | ✔️ | ✔️ | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
| Pre-saves | ✔️ (with PUSH.fm) | ✔️ (with PUSH.fm) | ❌ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ | ✔️ |
iMusician doesn’t distribute to many of the same partners as RouteNote, such as SoundCloud, CapCut, Kuack Media Group and Nuuday, as well as leading Asian streaming services like AllSaints, Bugs!, FLO, Genie, Joox, Kanjian, LINE MUSIC, NAVER VIBE and Zing MP3.
With our close partner PUSH.fm, all artists can get free access to powerful marketing tools, like Pre-saves, Smart Links and more.
Distributing with RouteNote is not exclusive and you have full control of where your music goes, meaning you can leave your releases live with another distributor, while filling the gaps with RouteNote. Alternatively, switching distributors completely while keeping your stats is super simple.
Conclusion
When distributing with iMusician, artists are immediately faced with choosing between saving money but significantly limiting the features or forking out up to $300 per year for many of the same features included on RouteNote’s Free tier.
With RouteNote Free you can distribute to all stores, get all features included and pay zero dollars, while you keep 85% of the revenue. Then when you’re ready to upgrade, earning 100% of your royalties with RouteNote Premium is a switch away.
Switch to RouteNote today and supercharge your online presence with no upfront costs!