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Best music distributors, scored out of 100

Seven distributors scored on year-one cost, release controls, exit terms, payouts, promotion and AI rules.

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What's the best music distributor?

It depends on how you release. For six singles a year, LANDR and UnitedMasters score highest at 78. Ditto is cheapest at $19 a year if you keep paying. CD Baby suits occasional releases, at $9.99 per single with no yearly plan. Amuse keeps music live after you stop paying, for 25% of royalties. Prices as of October 2026.

Seven distributors, ranked by score

The top four sit within 2 points; DistroKid trails the leaders by 9. How we score

  1. 1 LANDR Producers who want music to stay live after cancelling 78 out of 100
  2. 2 UnitedMasters Low-cost unlimited releases, with brand and sync openings on SELECT 78 out of 100
  3. 3 Amuse Keeping music live after you stop paying 76 out of 100
  4. 4 TuneCore Scheduled releases with optional catalog promotion 76 out of 100
  5. 5 Ditto The lowest yearly price, if you keep paying 74 out of 100
  6. 6 CD Baby Occasional releases without a yearly plan 71 out of 100
  7. 7 DistroKid Frequent releases with simple splits 69 out of 100

Scored on year-one cost (25), release controls (20), royalty share and exit (20), payouts (15), promotion tools (10) and rights and AI rules (10).

What six singles cost in year one

6 of 7 cost under $25 for the year; CD Baby costs $59.94.

Distributor Plan Year one
Ditto Starter plan, one artist $19
UnitedMasters DEBUT+ plan $19.99
Amuse Artist plan, one artist $23.99
LANDR Distribution Basic $24
TuneCore Rising Artist plan $24.99
DistroKid Musician plan, one artist $24.99
CD Baby Six singles at $9.99 each, one time $59.94

Where each one falls short

Distribution plus promotion: who runs the ads?

Amuse gives you an ads tool, TuneCore takes a share of extra streams, and Dynamoi runs the ads for you.

Service What's offered Who does the work How it's paid
Amuse Meta ads through Promote Amuse: creating a Meta campaign You, inside Amuse Paid add-on, plus your Meta budget
TuneCore Accelerator programs like Discovery Mode TuneCore Accelerator TuneCore, if your songs qualify 20% of the streams the programs add
CD Baby Show.co, HearNow and Managed Ads CD Baby: how much it costs Depends on the product Each product priced separately
Symphonic Marketing resources Symphonic Symphonic; Partner tier by application Distribution from $29.99 a year
Dynamoi Publisher of this page Managed Smart Campaigns Dynamoi Dynamoi runs the campaigns Ads billed separately from distribution

How each distributor scored

Each criterion is rated 0 to 5 and weighted; the score is the weighted sum out of 100. The frame: One artist releasing six original singles in a year, ASAP release dates acceptable, no cover licensing, AI generation or social-video add-ons.

Distributor Year-one cost (25)Release controls and splits (20)Royalty share and exit (20)Payout documentation (15)Promotion tools (10)Rights and AI policy (10) Score
LANDR 4/53/54/54/54/55/5 78
UnitedMasters 5/54/53/53/54/54/5 78
Amuse 4/54/53/54/54/54/5 76
TuneCore 4/54/53/54/54/54/5 76
Ditto 5/54/52/53/54/54/5 74
CD Baby 3/53/54/54/54/54/5 71
DistroKid 4/53/53/53/54/54/5 69

  • Year-one cost, 25 points

    Mandatory first-year prices for six singles: 5 at $20 or less, 4 up to $35, 3 up to $60, 2 up to $100, 1 up to $150. Taxes, bank charges, add-ons and royalty shares are judged elsewhere.

  • Release controls and splits, 20 points

    5 for full scheduling, metadata and territory control with flexible splits; 4 for a useful scheduled workflow with limited tier restrictions; 3 when a material control needs an upgrade or manual work.

  • Royalty share and exit, 20 points

    5 for the full ordinary share and easy catalog and royalty access after you leave; 4 for strong persistence with modest published deductions; 3 for a meaningful commission or a renewal-or-takedown tradeoff; 2 when the owner must pay to reach royalties.

  • Payout documentation, 15 points

    5 for complete, consistent timing, threshold, charge and exit pages; 4 for clear but method-specific detail; 3 for missing detail or conflicting pages. This rates clarity, not speed.

  • Promotion tools, 10 points

    5 for several integrated promotion workflows with clear eligibility and costs; 4 for links plus useful optional tools or programs; 3 for basic links. Claimed outcomes earn no points.

  • Rights and AI policy, 10 points

    5 for specific disclosure, rights, limits and platform exceptions; 4 for clear rules with some detail missing; 3 when key exceptions are scattered. Accepting more AI is not scored as better.

Unknown performance, such as real delivery speed or support quality, is left unscored rather than guessed. Read how we research and rank.

Also checked, not scored

Three more distributors belong on any honest shortlist, but we couldn't check them as deeply, so they carry no score.

  • RouteNote

    A Free plan with no upfront price that keeps 15% of earnings, leaving you 85%, with unlimited releases. Its timing, payout and AI terms were outside this review. routenote.com: free distribution, as of October 2026

  • Symphonic

    Starter is $29.99 a year for one artist, with 100% of ordinary royalties, 30% on user-video earnings and 200+ providers. Partner is by application. Symphonic, as of October 2026

  • SoundOn

    TikTok's distributor. Its current terms did not load as readable pages when we checked, so we don't repeat older pricing claims or score it. SoundOn, as of October 2026

Questions artists ask

How do I get my music on Spotify?

Choose a distributor that delivers to Spotify, prepare rights-cleared audio, artwork and metadata, and submit early enough for review. The right distributor depends on how often you release, the controls you need, prices and payout terms, not on a promised Spotify rate. Spotify's own provider directory is a good starting list.

Which is better, DistroKid or CD Baby?

For frequent releases, a yearly plan usually costs less up front than paying per release. CD Baby has no yearly renewal but keeps 9% of digital receipts, while DistroKid's extras and per-release protection change its headline price. Compare your release schedule and what happens if you leave.

Is there a better distributor than DistroKid?

There is no universally better provider. A no-cash start, an occasional album, a custom release schedule, a multi-artist roster or optional promotion each point to a different choice. On our rubric the other six all score above DistroKid's 69, partly because its cheapest plan has no release-date control and its published bank-charge pages disagree. The gaps are small.

Which music distribution service is best for AI music?

Start with the AI tool you used, its rights terms, voice permissions and where you want the track to go. TuneCore requires models trained on fully licensed data; LANDR caps AI uploads each month and excludes several destinations; Amuse rejects AI covers and impersonation. No distributor can supply rights you don't have.

Which music distributor pays the fastest?

None was shown to be fastest end to end. Store reporting, the distributor's processing, the cash-out threshold and the bank transfer each add their own time, and a weekly payout run describes only one stage. Compare those stages and charges rather than one headline.

Is there a free music distributor for Spotify?

RouteNote's Free plan costs nothing upfront and keeps 15% of earnings, leaving you 85%. That is a different model from a yearly plan that passes through 100% of ordinary royalties. Any "free" distributor should state its royalty share, limits and cancellation terms.

How can I distribute my music to TikTok?

Choose a distributor that delivers to TikTok and clear the rights for that use. Being in TikTok's audio library, earning from other people's videos and paying for promotion are three separate things. Check each provider's user-video charges and AI restrictions; delivery alone doesn't bring reach.

Which distributors also help promote music?

Several do, in different ways. Amuse sells a Meta ads add-on you set up yourself, TuneCore runs conditional Accelerator programs for a share of the streams they generate, and Symphonic offers marketing resources. Dynamoi, which publishes this page, runs optional managed ad campaigns alongside apply-only distribution.

More on AI rules: distributors that accept AI music.