May 23, 2020 Update- Some folks have correctly pointed out that if a distributor needs to pay money (wire fees, PayPal fees, foreign withholding taxes for sending money to countries that don’t have a tax-treaty with the US, etc.), that money should be withheld from the artists’ payment. We agree that’s ok. That because in those cases, the distributor isn’t keeping that money. They are required to pay it to a third-party company or government.

Original post- A music distributor is a company that helps musicians (and record labels) get their music into iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and other online music stores & streaming services.

There are lot of distributors. (I happen to run one called DistroKid. But this article isn’t an ad for us.)

One of my responsibilities is to help identify & root-out baddies that prey on musicians. Every week, some new company asks us to partner with them. They want us to offer their services to our artists.

Some companies are legit. For example, we love working with the excellent Loudr (they’re great!) to get cover licenses for our artists.

But most of the time we pass on partnerships. That’s because too many companies are driven by taking money from artists, rather than helping them.

Sometimes, sadly, this applies to distribution companies, too.

Distribution isn’t that hard.

I run a large distributor. We put your music in stores. Then our work is mostly done.

We pay you every month, but that’s about as difficult as sending a PayPal.

Based on the above, you should understand that rule #1 is don’t ever give a percentage of your earnings to a distributor.

Giving your distributor 5% means that if you manage to make $20,000 from your music, you’re paying $1,000 to your distributor— for a thing they helped you with on day-one (which wasn’t very hard in the first place).

It’s even more insane when you realize your distributor does the same amount of work whether an artist earns 1 dollar or 1 million. So you shouldn’t have to pay more if you happen to be more successful.

May 23, 2020 Update- Some folks have correctly pointed out that if a distributor needs to pay money (wire fees, PayPal fees, foreign withholding taxes for sending money to countries that don’t have a tax-treaty with the US, etc.), that money should be withheld from the artists’ payment. We agree that’s ok. That because in those cases, the distributor isn’t keeping that money. They are required to pay it to a third-party company or government.

You’re the one marketing, gigging, & clawing your way to success. Not your distributor. If you don’t use DistroKid, that’s okay (even tho we’re great and don’t take a cut!) — but please don’t willingly pay a tax to your distributor.

That’s just silly.

But it’s easier said than done. The weird thing is that a lot of (most?) distributors will try to trick you into thinking their service is free.

“What?” you ask.

I don’t want to name names. Because I don’t want to give them attention. But here are some examples of what the internet calls “dark patterns” — web design that’s intended to trick users into agreeing to things they wouldn’t normally agree to.

Below are actual screenshots from various distributors. If you’re reading this and you work at one of the companies depicted below, please respect artists and… just… stop it.

“CREATE MY FREE ACCOUNT”

This is one of the largest distributors in the world. There is nothing “free” about it. Once you sign up, it’s $29.99/year to distribute an album. To their credit, they don’t take a cut of your earnings. But they make up for that with extraordinarily high per-album yearly fees. But however you slice it, it is not free.