DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby are three of the best-known names in DIY music distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But their economics aren’t identical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Current US Musician pricing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$24.99 per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlimited releases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
100% ordinary DSP royalty pass-through, minus banking fees and applicable taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TuneCore’s Rising Artist plan also currently costs $24.99 annually and offers unlimited distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Higher plans add more functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
TuneCore also maintains pay-per-release options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CD Baby works differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It currently charges:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$9.99 per single<\/p>\n\n\n\n
$14.99 per album<\/p>\n\n\n\n
with no recurring subscription simply to maintain an artist account.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CD Baby takes 9% of download and streaming revenues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For a prolific, successful artist:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
DistroKid or TuneCore’s fixed subscription can be extremely efficient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For an artist releasing one song every few years:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
CD Baby’s one-time model may be appealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For an artist earning almost nothing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a no-upfront model such as RouteNote Free can minimise financial risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cheapest distributor changes depending on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
release frequency<\/p>\n\n\n\n
royalty income<\/p>\n\n\n\n
catalogue size<\/p>\n\n\n\n
number of artists<\/p>\n\n\n\n
required features<\/p>\n\n\n\n
time horizon<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best exercise is to model your own five-year cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That’s more useful than reading ten “best distributor” rankings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3878,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2347,1378,2346],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-3917","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-cdbaby","tag-distrokid","tag-tunecore"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n