Can You Change Album Art Once Uploaded to Distrokid
Today is a big mean solar day. Every bit you guys know, I've tested all the music streaming distribution sites and accept consistently ranked CDBaby every bit the best one, specifically for up-and-coming artists.
I finally got around to testing out Distrokid and take been using it for the final three months (on iii releases) and in this mail will share with you the pros and cons of Distrokid.
Will DistroKid knock CD Baby off its music distribution throne? Let'south become into the good, bad and ugly…
Bad Things About DistroKid: Bad and Ugly
There really ain't another way to put it: It'due south definitely the ugliest of the bunch.
The vibe I get from the site is information technology it's a i-human being functioning and that one man is either purposefully making the site expect bad (to make us think he'due south passing on the savings to us) or merely completely ignoring bones design principles.
For case, this is the upload page:
Yikes! At present here'southward what happens when you click "Squad".
I hope yous're sitting down for this.
Are you lot still live? I know, I know, everything is just plain bad.
It's so bad, I almost didn't want to sign upwards but and so I saw that Derrik Sivers the founder of CD Infant, is recommending the site.
And since I capeesh Derrik's way of thinking, I was like "ah what the heck! Let's give this a shot!".
I wish DistroKid either doubles down on bad design or but does the web two.0 style that's been in vogue for the final ten years (*cough* just re-create Tunecore).
This one-half-ass chore, makes me experience like they're going to run to the Caymans with my $48 in streaming revenue!
Upselling Me into Oblivion
I know trying to upsell your customers is the snazzy thing to do in eCommerce, just it's not cool and doesn't feel human being.
Especially when all your customers are musicians: our whole thing is trying to feel more homo!
I mean, every song we make is trying to bring some god damn humanity into this cold wired earth, and you're doing this to me:
This doesn't brand me feel more human! Can't y'all just include this for free? And what happens when Distrokid dies?
Song Landing Page
It's nice that they provide this feature and if you lot don't know what it is, it's just a landing page that has links to all the streaming services your song is on (Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Deezer, etc).
But it looks so ugly, in that location's no way any creative person should be sharing that with their fans. In fact, someday I find a new creative person and see their link in bio is to Distrokid, I caryatid myself.
At that place's also a little button at the top that says "Talk to me", which fans are supposed to utilize to message the artist. This is a useless distraction equally information technology takes away from the users' menses (to listen to the song!).
For independent artists, the song landing page, I like the near is the one from ToneDen.
It'due south the one with the link which will usually start with fanlink.to.
Information technology'southward free to use and looks much better than the 1 Distrokid provides.
The Affair Virtually Almanac Fees
This isn't a bad thing but could be a bad matter if you make it a bad thing: why are you lot making it a bad thing?
For artists who release one song every 10 years, paying an almanac fee is not a good idea (plain) and you'll want to stick with CDBaby.
But for the balance of the states who churn out songs weekly, Distrokid's interests align non only with our interests simply likewise with Spotify's.
Y'all see there is reason to believe that Spotify'southward algorithm rewards musicians who release music on a consistent and frequent basis.
This is why I recommend every artist, from major to mini, drib a song one time a calendar month (at the very least) and you'll see in the adjacent paragraph how Distrokid makes this economic.
The Proficient Things About DistroKid!
While the design of the site makes me feel like they don't give a hoot about me, the bodily services Distrokid offers tells me they are legit and 100% for independent musicians.
Permit's start with the biggest benefit: pricing.
And this is something you better be sitting down for.
For but $twenty a year, you tin can upload UNLIMITED songs to Spotify, Apple tree Music, and the whole streaming services dare.
$20 a year!
Upload every bit many songs every bit you can make!
With CDBaby and Tunecore, they usually charge most $10 per vocal. I don't get how they're going to compete with this, cause pretty websites ain't going to cut information technology.
Oh, and did I mention you go along 100% of your royalties.
I know this is sounding like an infomercial correct now. Merely in my CD Baby vs Tunecore review, you lot tin can see exactly how much royalties they snip away from you.
And it's a lot higher than 0%.
We musicians should treat our royalties like old men treat their lawn: get your damn self off my lawn!
Some other thing Distrokid doesn't accuse is for the UPC lawmaking, they just give it to you lot for free, which has e'er felt like a scam the other sites charged for.
Tik Tok Integration
Another benefit, which I assume CD Baby et all, will practice is uploading your songs to TikTok.
If you haven't heard of TikTok or don't care, download the app and put 100% of your social media content creation into information technology (peculiarly if you are a musician) because in that location's a expert chance you'll go viral on your 3rd postal service.
For me, I wanted my songs to go on TikTok and so I could do dizzy videos to them and Distrokid is the only 1 offering that service (and if others are they're not credible).
Distribution Speed
With CD Baby, information technology would take two weeks to get a song on Spotify and with Distrokid, my songs were getting on within 1-3 days. This isn't necessarily a practiced matter anymore, every bit to get on Spotify'southward playlists they recommend submitting the song two weeks before release.
I'd recommend submitting it even before, which means setting your release date three to 4 weeks in accelerate.
Withdrawing Earnings (Update: 2021)
Since I wrote this article, some people in the comments have mentioned they have had trouble withdrawing their earnings and I constitute that a footling troubling. And so what did I exercise? I withdrew my earnings from Distrokid to become an idea of the process. I had over $2000 USD to withdraw from Distrokid and it transferred without any issues. I likewise live in Canada and so had to fill out the necessary forms (W8) and Distrokid and their payment partner Tipalti made it like shooting fish in a barrel to do so.
The just thing that is a little frustrating and this isn't a knock against Distrokid simply one against the streaming services, is why does information technology take so long to calculate and send our royalties? In most cases, it'southward at least a two-month wait. Don't computers do all the bookkeeping? Why are yous sitting on our money for months? LOL. But I digress.
Bonus Tips
Now it should exist pretty clear I recommend Distrokid over CD Baby, so here are some bonus tips to help you brand the transition.
1) Become the $19.99 programme, instead of the cheaper $9.99 plan, because you tin't choose your release date.
This is important for three reasons (and aye I made all these mistakes, so yous don't take to):
(A) You accept no thought when your music will be released on all streaming sites every bit each streaming service has dissimilar processing times. So if you tell your fans your song will be out Friday, it might not be out on Apple Music until the following Monday.
(B) Y'all won't be able to submit to Spotify'southward playlist equally Spotify's editors won't take time to review information technology. And you at least want to try to get on a Spotify playlist, even though the chances are 0.02%.
(C) You lot can't set your record characterization proper noun, and then on your release it'll say something ugly like "Distrokid 1872047202".
2) If you've establish anything I've said today helpful, use my VIP LINK to sign up for Distrokid. You'll get 7% off your membership and I'll go a minor commission from Distrokid.
Have you made the switch to Distrokid? Let me know in the comments what your experience has been with them.
Source: https://www.adgmastering.com/distrokid-review/