Guide
Best music distribution services compared: prices, cuts and stores
There's no single best distributor. They differ most on how you pay, what happens to your music when you stop paying, and which smaller platforms they list. Here are ten services side by side, using each company's own pages.
Updated November 2, 2026
Short answer
The right music distributor depends on how you want to pay. Ditto Music has the lowest yearly starting price here at $19. CD Baby charges once per release and takes 9% of streaming revenue. RouteNote has a free option where you keep 85%. Amuse, LANDR and RouteNote keep music up if you stop paying, for a cut. Of the pages we checked, only DistroKid describes store removal alerts, on its Ultimate plan.
What to do, in order
List the platforms you need
Check the store list for any platform your fans use. A service can be missing from one company's list and offered as an opt-in by another.
Work out what you'd pay over time
Compare the yearly price with any cut of your earnings, and with what each extra costs, such as Content ID.
Check what happens if you stop paying
Some services take music down, some keep it up for a bigger cut, and some charge per release to keep it up.
Check you can keep your codes
If you are moving music, ask whether you can bring your ISRCs and UPCs. Keeping the ISRC helps a store recognize the same recording.
Price, your share and what happens if you stop paying
Starting prices are in US dollars. Most services have higher plans for more artists or features.
| Service | Starting price | What you keep | If you stop paying |
|---|---|---|---|
| DistroKid | $24.99 a year | 100% | Music can be removed. Leave a Legacy, $29 per single or $49 per album once, keeps a release up |
| TuneCore | $24.99 a year | 100% of distribution; 80% on YouTube Music, TikTok and social platforms | Taken down after 42 days; a re-release needs a new UPC |
| CD Baby | $9.99 per single, $14.99 per album, once | 91% of streaming and downloads | No yearly fee to stop paying |
| UnitedMasters | SELECT $59.99 a year, per its help page; DEBUT is free but doesn't distribute | 100% on paid plans | Taken down; one year to resubscribe for automatic redelivery |
| Amuse | $23.99 a year | All earnings after conversion and service fees | Stays up; Amuse takes 25% |
| Ditto Music | $19 a year | 100% of streaming income | At risk of removal, but not automatically taken down |
| RouteNote | Free, or from $10 per release then $9.99 a year | 85% on Free, 100% on Premium | Moves to Free and stays up at 85% |
| LANDR | $24 a year | 100% while subscribed | Stays up; LANDR takes a commission, which its help pages and terms state differently |
| Too Lost | $19.99 a year or $2.99 a month | 100%, minus taxes and banking fees | Not described in its help center |
| Symphonic | Starter $29.99 a year | 100% of streaming service royalties on Starter | Account deactivated and content comes down |
Which ones list SoundCloud and Audiomack
All ten list Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, TIDAL, Deezer and Pandora. The differences show up on smaller platforms.
| Service | SoundCloud | Audiomack |
|---|---|---|
| DistroKid | Not on its list | Free opt-in; needs an Audiomack account |
| TuneCore | Not on its list | Not on its list |
| CD Baby | Not on its list, which says it isn't complete | Not on its list, which says it isn't complete |
| UnitedMasters | By request on paid plans | Listed |
| Amuse | Listed | Listed |
| Ditto Music | Listed | Listed |
| RouteNote | Listed | Not found on the pages we checked |
| LANDR | Not on its list, which names only some platforms | Not on its list, which names only some platforms |
| Too Lost | Opt-in; needs exclusive rights | Listed |
| Symphonic | Opt-in | Listed |
Not on its list means the company's public store list doesn't name it. It doesn't prove the service can't deliver there.
Which suits what you need
These are facts from the tables above, not rankings.
- Lowest yearly starting price here: Ditto Music Starter at $19.
- No yearly fee: CD Baby charges once per release and takes a commission. RouteNote Free costs nothing and takes 15%.
- Music stays up if you stop paying: Amuse, LANDR and RouteNote, each for a cut of your earnings.
- Keep your existing ISRC and UPC when switching: TuneCore, CD Baby, RouteNote, UnitedMasters and Symphonic all describe keeping both. Ditto Music and LANDR say they can't use an existing UPC.
Who tells you if a release disappears
Most distributors' pages describe delivery, not what happens on a store afterwards. These are the closest features we found. The other services' pages we checked don't describe a store removal alert.
- DistroKid Artist Profile Alerts, on Ultimate: emails you when music is added or removed, titles or artwork change, or your artist URL changes on Spotify and Apple Music.
- Too Lost Profile Defender: flags releases on your Spotify and Apple Music profiles that didn't come through Too Lost.
- TuneCore Release Tracker: follows a new release up to going live.
- Amuse Stream Check, LANDR StreamScan and Symphonic StreamSafe: show artificial streaming flags.
Artificial streaming fees can reach you
TuneCore, CD Baby, UnitedMasters, Amuse, Ditto Music and Symphonic all describe passing artificial streaming penalties on to the artist or account holder. A release can be removed at the same time, so check your balance as well as your catalog.
How Traxure helps
Traxure is not a distributor, and it works with whichever one you pick. If you have DistroKid Ultimate, Artist Profile Alerts already covers Spotify and Apple Music. Traxure checks your Spotify profile every 12 hours and your full catalog every day, and it also checks Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, TIDAL, SoundCloud and Pandora. It confirms a change with a second check, then emails you the before, the after and a note to your distributor ready to send. If you switch, Move Guard gives you your UPC, ISRCs and release details for the new distributor and tells you when it's safe to take the old upload down. Monitoring starts with a seven-day free trial.
Prices, store lists and terms were checked on each company's own pages on 2 November 2026. They change, so check before you decide.
Questions artists ask
What is the cheapest music distributor?
Among the ten here, RouteNote Free costs nothing and takes 15% of what you earn. Ditto Music Starter has the lowest yearly price at $19, and you keep 100% of streaming income.
Which distributors let you pay once?
CD Baby charges $9.99 per single or $14.99 per album once and takes a commission. RouteNote Premium has a first payment per release, then $9.99 a year.
Does my music stay up if I stop paying?
It depends on the service. Amuse, LANDR and RouteNote keep music up for a cut. TuneCore, UnitedMasters and Symphonic describe taking it down. DistroKid says releases can be removed unless you paid for Leave a Legacy.
Do I need Traxure if my distributor has alerts?
Not always. Check which stores your distributor's alerts cover. DistroKid's cover Spotify and Apple Music on its Ultimate plan. Traxure's alerts cover eight platforms and work with any distributor.
Sources
- DistroKid: pricing
- DistroKid: services and stores
- DistroKid: if you stop paying
- DistroKid: Artist Profile Alerts
- TuneCore: pricing
- TuneCore: stores it distributes to
- TuneCore: fees on monetizing your audio
- TuneCore: renewing an Unlimited plan
- TuneCore: Release Tracker
- CD Baby: what it costs
- UnitedMasters: SELECT plan
- UnitedMasters: DEBUT plan
- UnitedMasters: moving to a different plan
- UnitedMasters: monetizing on SoundCloud
- Amuse: pricing
- Amuse: stores
- Amuse: if you cancel
- Ditto Music: pricing
- Ditto Music: if you stop paying
- Ditto Music: existing UPCs
- Ditto Music: SoundCloud delivery
- RouteNote: pricing
- RouteNote: what it takes
- RouteNote: SoundCloud
- LANDR: distribution plans
- LANDR: after you cancel
- LANDR: terms of service
- LANDR: moving your releases
- Too Lost: what it costs
- Too Lost: additional deliveries
- Too Lost: Profile Defender
- Symphonic: pricing
- Symphonic: SoundCloud
Traxure
Know the same day, not weeks later.
Traxure checks your releases on Spotify and other platforms around the clock, confirms a change before alerting you and tells you what to do next. Seven-day free trial.
Pricing
Plans from $12 a month.
7-day free trial on every plan. Cancel anytime.
- Artist $12/mo
- Manager $69/mo
- Label $199/mo