Tunecore vs Distrokid – What’s the Best Choice for Your Music

It’s also worth noting that, while Distrokid appears to be inexpensive at first, once you start adding extras (which all cost extra, too), it may become quite costly. This includes things like having your music included in new stores as they open, or having Siri or Shazam recognise your music or even YouTube’s content ID identifying your music.

To receive all of the Distrokid addons, for example, the ordinary “Musician” plan would cost $84.86 for your first release, $64.87 for each additional single, and $112.78 for each additional album (10 tracks).

Do you have a song that you’d like to cover? That’ll cost you another $12. Oh, and if you acquire the YouTube Content ID addon, they also steal 20% of your YouTube ad earnings.

That’s not to say TuneCore doesn’t provide extras; their “TuneCore Social” service costs $10.99 a month. And, if you want to use YouTube or Publishing, those services cost $12 and $99 respectively as a ONE-TIME charge, not every release.

Moreover, TuneCore allows you to purchase additional distribution credits at a 15% discount. The credits, however, can only be used for new releases and not for renewals of prior releases.

Let’s take a closer look at the basic service and the extras that both providers provide.

Both companies provide basically the same service: they will distribute your music to all of the major online music streaming and sales platforms (150+). They both provide insights and tracking for your sales, among other things. Finally, for both organisations, the upload process and settings are essentially the same.

When you look beyond the “bread-and-butter” functions, though, the disparities in service become apparent.

TuneCore simply exceeds DistroKid in terms of customer care and support. They’re a decade older than DistroKid and have a lot more offices/employees, so if you have a problem or have questions, you can quickly contact someone and receive help.

TuneCore’s Artist Support Team is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They’re taking this seriously and will respond within one business day. They also respond to DMs on social media and provide phone support if needed.

The service provided by DistroKid is… less than ideal. You can contact them (if you can find their contact information buried in their FAQ), but it won’t be pleasant. Response times are slow, and they aren’t usually that helpful (but that’s just my opinion).

TuneCore also features a more informative blog for aspiring musicians, as well as partner discounts on products and services that musicians may find useful (like product manufacturing, for example).

Distrokid claims to have some amazing extra features, such as obtaining you a “blue check” on Spotify quickly, allowing you to publish your lyrics to select sites, and backing up your music in case you lose your master recordings.

However, in my perspective, those are “meh” bells and whistles that don’t mean much but seem good.

DistroKid is essentially a low-cost “get your music on streaming sites and music shops” service. That isn’t a criticism; they are still a wonderful company.

When it comes to value-added services, however, TuneCore goes above and beyond.

If you use their Music Publishing Admin add-on, for example, your music is immediately considered for any TV/Film/Ad/Game sync chances they come across.

Furthermore, they strive to provide new chances for its artists, such as their new Reward card, which allows musicians to gain access to VIP masterclass sessions to help them advance their careers, as well as discounts and other benefits.

Those opportunities seem to me to be far more valuable than DistroKid.

There are also some variations between the companies’ add-on services.

Let’s start with the “addons” Distrokid offers, which we touched on briefly previously in this essay.

Things start to get REALLY exciting at this point. Both firms pay all royalties and sales to the artists – you get 100% of what they make. But that isn’t the whole tale.

TuneCore is able to negotiate directly with music platforms due to its dominance in the business. The majority of other distribution companies are unable to do so. What this means for you as an artist is that you will receive 100% OF THE MONEY PAID OUT BY THE STORE.

Because companies like DistroKid can’t work with shops directly, they rely on middlemen (in DistroKid’s case, a company named Merlin to collect payouts). Unfortunately, before it reaches DistroKid, middlemen take a cut.

So, while DistroKid receives 100 percent of the money from Merlin, they do not receive 100 percent of the store’s payout.

TuneCore’s payouts to artists are so superior. In fact, they’ve given out over $2,000,000,000.00 to artists over their existence. (That’s two billion dollars.)

For all of the reasons stated above, I believe it is safe to say that we are HUGE fans of TuneCore.

I’ve used DistroKid to release music in the past and found it to be good, but I want to continue using TuneCore in the future.

They’re simply the better choice, from their customer care to their bigger payouts to artists and the more beneficial extras that come with the service. That’s why, when it comes to independent music distribution services, they’re our top recommendation.

DistroKid is a fantastic company that provides excellent service. TuneCore, on the other hand, outperforms them in the areas that matter to us.

TuneCore is the way to go if you’re planning to release your song soon.