Hey everybody. I like to have my music on spotify, amazon, apple etc just for family, friends, ex-girlfriends etc……but at the moment distrokid is charging me $39.99/yr +$36/yr (for 3 covers ive done……one of these is exponentially most listened to).
I make $30-50/yr from streams. But i’d really like the cheap cheap cheapest way to do this. Its just a fun thing to do but it seems like i could go cheaper.
Thoughts?
got any of their CC #'s? 
CD Baby will distribute it to all the streaming services for a one-time fee, no monthly or subscription fee.
It would be worth you reading several previous threads on music distribution services:
https://www.elektronauts.com/search?context=topic&context_id=203510&q=Music%20Distribution%20&skip_context=true
ironically, no more results found
I’d wager if you were to survey a cross section of non-musicians about where they listen to music online, you would get something that looks like a giant pie piece comprised of YouTube / SoundCloud / Spotify and another 20-30% represented by the cumulative “other”, I don’t have facts to back this up but that’s my impression. Soundcloud does not have audio optimized for music, SoundCloud and Spotify do but the commercials and difficulty of sorting through content make people stick to what they listen to. If you use any service where you pay for “pro” you’re already paying more into it than it’s probably worth. It’s an illusion that we’re part of, a cycle of diminishing returns. In that case my honest opinion is go with what you’re happiest with. What requires the least upkeep, what do you feel most confident that your content is protected by.
Like I said, this is strictly speculative but my impression is that internet artist uploaded music and streaming services are headed to hell in a handbasket (to use the term loosely) and at this point, where your stuff is already uploaded may be the best place to keep it. If you’re really unhappy with distrokid, I imagine the trade offs of the other sites can be balanced if you make columns and see which list gives you a bigger headache. It’s unfortunately that kind of subject these days, isn’t it?
Of course, the caveat is that if you’re a popular or other sort of musician on the rise, you need to think about it more carefully and plot it as you would any other business decision. I’m talking about for us of the receding hairline amateur enthusiast type 
Yeah im 52 and my friends/family are in that realm….most of them listen on spotify, apple and amazon. My son and his friends listen to my music and act like they like it. Theyre consistent spotify type people……
I’m monitoring this conversation because at this point, I don’t trust ANY of these companies.
And I don’t understand why Spotify could get away with not paying artists.
To see actual past results from peters link, and not just this thread, we gotta hit the “search” button again for “music distribution “ to see whats been covered……
Im interested in this ditto music company and considering going that route if i can confirm its really $20/yr……
The website looks like it was made my distrokid or spotify hmmmmmm!
CDBaby is good. I have been using it for years. Recommended.
This is probably out of date again already as the last update was in 2022, but Ari Herstand’s deep dive guide has for years been the best place to get a comprehensive look at all the options (and there are a lot).
However, to potentially save you a lot of time… @HoldMyBeer’s recommendation of CD Baby is a good one. One of my older LPs has been distributed by them for over a decade, and I only paid once. They are definitely still the best option if you’re also doing a physical release.
For digital-only, it’s really hard to beat Soundrop. They actually used to be zero upfront cost + percentage of sales, but later added a one-time upfront cost with the explicit message that this was so they could keep a sustainable business without moving to subscriptions. I’ve been using them for a few years now, and they’ve been great.
January 2024 update: see below. Soundrop has fallen off a cliff.
Wow, that’s even cheaper than what I have paid in the past.
when I searched for a distro a couple months ago, I landed on RouteNote (there’s a free option that seemed reasonable)
I haven’t released any music though …
I use it cause they do distribute to Beatport. I already use another one for all the usual streaming services and this one just for Beatport and Juno download.
It is a lot more annoying than my other distributor (SoundCloud), if you’re interested I can explain why… but I am using them because… Beatport… and cheap 
I’ve used the free version and it’s fine… they take a cut from your royalties in the free tier, and have a 50 usd threshold for payouts. Don’t know if they’ve changed this, but the free version only accepted mp3 files so
Holy moly this world evolves quickly! Leanin soundrop…….