DistroKid is usually marketed around one simple idea: pay an annual subscription and upload unlimited music.

That sounds cheap.

But how much does DistroKid actually cost once you start using it seriously?

DistroKid currently charges $24.99 per year for Musician, $44.99 for Musician Plus and Ultimate plans start from $89.99 per year in the US. In the UK, the equivalent prices are currently £19.99, £35.99 and £71.99.

The basic Musician plan gives one artist unlimited uploads, but some useful release features require Musician Plus.

For example, artists wanting to customise release dates need the higher plan.

That means the cheapest advertised price may not necessarily be the price a serious artist actually pays.

DistroKid Album Extras can increase the cost

DistroKid also offers optional extras on individual releases.

These currently include:

  • Leave a Legacy
  • Social Media Pack
  • cover song licensing
  • Dolby Atmos
  • loudness normalisation
  • Beatport distribution

Leave a Legacy currently costs $29 for a single or $49 for an album containing two or more tracks.

Cover-song licensing costs $12 per cover song every year.

Dolby Atmos costs $26.99 per track.

Social Media Pack costs $4.95 per single per year or $14.95 per album per year, plus DistroKid keeps 20% of the revenue generated by that feature.

None of these fees are hidden. DistroKid publishes them.

The problem is that artists often compare distributors using only the headline annual subscription.

What happens if you stop paying DistroKid?

This is arguably the bigger consideration.

DistroKid’s Leave a Legacy feature exists specifically to prevent releases being removed because a membership lapses or is cancelled.

Without it, maintaining your subscription can effectively become part of the cost of keeping your catalogue distributed.

For someone releasing music for ten or twenty years, that matters.

Does DistroKid take royalties?

For ordinary streaming and download income, DistroKid says it passes 100% of what stores allocate to the artist, minus banking fees and applicable taxes.

That’s one of DistroKid’s strongest features.

But there is an important trade-off.

A successful artist earning $20,000 per year may happily pay a subscription to keep 100%.

An artist earning $20 per year might be better off using a distributor with no upfront fee.

RouteNote Free, for example, charges no upfront or annual distribution fee and artists retain 85% of net revenue.

The real cost of DistroKid

DistroKid can be excellent value for prolific artists generating meaningful income.

But don’t calculate its cost as:

annual subscription = total cost.

Instead calculate:

subscription + extras + withdrawal costs + catalogue size + number of years you intend to distribute.

That gives you a much more realistic idea of what DistroKid will actually cost.