The ULTIMATE GUIDE To Music Distributors In 2022: Get Your Music On All Platforms

This is the most up to date and comprehensive guide on which Music Distributor you should work with for 2021. There can be some pitfalls and things to be aware of and I want to make sure you avoid them so you can work on getting your music heard.

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Serious? Let’s go.

LET’S GET SOCIAL:
📲 Instagram: @damiankeyes1
📲 TikTok: @damiankeyes

ESSENTIAL VIDEOS TO RELEASE YOUR MUSIC:

📚 MY BOOKS:

👇 ABOUT ME:
Hey! I’m Damian Keyes and I've worked with musicians every day of my life for the past 20 years. The internet is de ply untrusting understandably and here is my background so you can have the full picture.

When I was 18, I was signed to a major label and at 23 I co-founded a Music University in Europe called BIMM (valued at $300M). I’m also a bass player, I’ve played for a number of artists including Eric Clapton, Alanis Morrisette and Billy Cobham. I initially retired at 30, but realised that life gets boring if you’re not building!

I have always been in-between the music industry and education which is how I ended up building my YouTube channel - I’ve been teaching artists how to release music long before it was a ‘niche’! I now educate artists around the world with my Academy, YouTube channel and Social Agency.

It’s great to meet you and looking forward to working together on your music!

[DamianKeyes]

Roses are red, violets are blue. Scroll up and smash the like button and I'll really like you too :)

Haha.

[itsWilliamOwen]

To anyone that is planning on using any of these distributors and you are a Non- US citizen remember to fill in the Tax Treaty with all your information. If you don’t do this you could be subject to 30% of your income being held for tax. So if you don’t fill the form in and you earn £10, 000 the distributor will keep £3, 000 and pay it to the IRS you can claim it back when you file your tax return in your own country but it’s best filling it in soon as possible so you can keep all 100% royalties and sales. Good video bud keep it up👏🏻

[TomRivieremusic]

I have been using CDbaby for years.No Problem. I wait till I get about 12 tunes like the L.P days. I don't do commercial music anymore like when I was in my 20s. I compose and do what I like for a change. The music business has always been hard as a profession unless you are lucky with a talent to be spotted. You truly have to love making music to have a career in it. Failure can not compete with persistence, Have fun!

[NURREDIN]

As far as I'm concerned Distro Kid is THE WORST. They dropped my account, telling me there were too many R&B artists. Then they won't let me access my account, but my music is still playing on the streaming services, and I have NO IDEA how much I've made, and they haven't paid me ONE DAMN DIME. After they dropped me, they had the nerve to put a claim on two new jazz songs I uploaded to You Tube. I'm going to sue them.

[othusa]

I've already decided I'm going with CD Baby for my upcoming single and album release. Your songs stay on platforms forever after you pay them once, and CD Baby colloects 9% but this makes them incentivized to see your music succeed. Plus for a not-beginner artist which is myself who is also with BMI and Sound Exchange, they have many other useful features.

[JACKSONPRYORBENNETT]

I use CDBaby and started releasing music last year. No problems. About to put out my 6th single pretty soon

[RottenAppleBoBA]

We have distrokid and we've never really had a problem with the royalty bit. It's rare for people to use our music and it's really only 4 cents anyways. We just take it as free promotion

[refractivemusic]

CD baby for me, no annual fees to keep the music up is a winner for me.

[GeoZero]

CDBaby for years baby. See what I did there. CDBaby allows multiple "collecting songwriters" which I think is similar in concept as the Distrokid's separate payment to each songwriter. Also never had a customer service issue with CDBaby, in fact they seem to respond within 24 hours, and have been helpful. That said, service is relative to one's issue and expectation of resolution of that issue. I uploaded a video to YouTube with one of my songs which CDBaby had in an album, and it got a copyright strike - I contacted YouTube and CDBaby, and within 48 it was resolved. A bit of a hassle... yes. But I sure felt protected that CDBaby had my back against potential uses of my music.

[gioscacco]

i’m starting a career and you are basically the man who threw me into the music industry, thanks for your videos!!

[SamuelRobertsMusic]

OMG im an autistic idiot who gets so confused so easily and have struggled to do any thing with my music, discovering this channel has literally made me tear up, tytyty 1000 times ty, im going to watch all ur videos.

[DrumDon]

Great video. Appreciate your insight. I have worked with all except Ditto, but heard bad things. One reason to consider Tunecore over Distrokid is album titling, particularly if you’re releasing tribute or cover song albums. DK will not let you use the original artist name in your title anywhere - no exceptions. This is madness. How are you supposed to tell people what your album is? (e.g. piano renditions of Coldplay, etc) When I asked them, they were uncooperative and claimed the stores reject them. This is not true because I have done this through Tunecore for years. Something to consider if you’re releasing a tribute album. DK is completely wrong on that one, and with not being able to title it for what it is, you’ll be less searchable.

[foolingpirates]

I use Songtradr and think they're the best.
Would love to hear what Damien thinks about them.
They deal with publishing, sync licensing, distribution and don't pull your music.
After all don't we wanna leave something behind? With Distro Kid, if you die and therefore stop paying them, your music dies too. Unless you pay yet another extra fee, per song 👎

[NutopiatheBand]

Unrelated but we got our music on a New Music Friday Latin on Spotify this week. Your videos have turned our life around. Take care Damian! :) Best wishes from Puerto Rico! :)

[scottrap]

I’m still mixing and mastering my songs and researching distributors. I personally have heard the most complaints about DK and practically none from CD baby. I think that’s the direction I’m headed unless I’m convinced otherwise

[Gazic]

You forgot to mention that CD Baby is a one-off fee, rather than annual like DistroKid, BUT they force you to buy a barcode for $20, which almost doubles the cost of the $29 you're quoting to upload an album.

[od]

Great breakdown. I will choose CD Baby since they have the one time fee and the music lives forever. Also, I released an actual CD back in 2010, and one day magically, that CD was on all the platforms. This was before having music on streaming platforms was an option.

[JoeyClarksonMusic]

Love your content Damian, thanks for all the great tips and inspiration! I've used ditto music, distro kid and orchard music in the past and had nothing but problems with their customer service and consistency in communication. I moved to CD baby two years ago and haven't looked back since - I've always received above average customer service :)

[Donelomusic]

I've been using CD Baby Since 2007 and i have no problem with them at all.. Now my question is how can i start my own distribution Company?

[danielc]

Thanks for breaking all of this down into a digestible format. I'm new to all this and still a few months from releasing anything, but your video helped take the mystery out of the process.