DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby are three of the best-known names in DIY music distribution.

But their economics aren’t identical.

DistroKid

Current US Musician pricing:

$24.99 per year.

Unlimited releases.

100% ordinary DSP royalty pass-through, minus banking fees and applicable taxes.

TuneCore

TuneCore’s Rising Artist plan also currently costs $24.99 annually and offers unlimited distribution.

Higher plans add more functionality.

TuneCore also maintains pay-per-release options.

CD Baby

CD Baby works differently.

It currently charges:

$9.99 per single

$14.99 per album

with no recurring subscription simply to maintain an artist account.

CD Baby takes 9% of download and streaming revenues.

Which is cheapest?

For a prolific, successful artist:

DistroKid or TuneCore’s fixed subscription can be extremely efficient.

For an artist releasing one song every few years:

CD Baby’s one-time model may be appealing.

For an artist earning almost nothing:

a no-upfront model such as RouteNote Free can minimise financial risk.

Don’t search for one universal winner

The cheapest distributor changes depending on:

release frequency

royalty income

catalogue size

number of artists

required features

time horizon

The best exercise is to model your own five-year cost.

That’s more useful than reading ten “best distributor” rankings.