Getting your music onto streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music has never been easier due to tons of music distribution companies popping up over the last several years. However, because of this increased accessibility, it's tough to know which distributor is best for you and your unique situation.
In this guide, I compared 2 of the most popular distributors for independent artists: Distrokid vs Ditto to help you decide which music distribution service is right for you.
Distrokid vs Ditto: Who is Best?
The short answer is Distrokid is better if you're looking for speedy uploads to stores and "preferred" distributor status from Spotify while Ditto is more cost-efficient and transparent about price. That said, there's a lot more that goes into each distributor so keep reading to learn more about the pros and cons of these 2 services.
After you’re done reading, don’t forget to check out our Bedroom Producer Essentials guide where you'll learn about all the necessary gear you need to get started on your music production journey.
With all that said, let's get into our comparison of Distrokid vs Ditto.
Price: $19.99 - $35.99/year (before 7% discount)
Deal/Trial: 7% off your first year
Pros: With Distrokid you have unlimited releases, so you're encouraged to release as much music as possible without worrying about having to pay extra. They'll distribute your music to Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok, Amazon Music, and many more. You also get to keep all of your earnings and will get paid directly by Distrokid via bank transfer, PayPal, or physical checks.
Distrokid offers a yearly pricing model starting at $19.99/year, however you'll need to go with the $35.99/year plan if you want to choose custom release dates (which is very important). I prefer the yearly pricing model compared to other distributors that charge per release or take a percentage of your royalties for every release.
Another big plus is that Distrokid is one of Spotify's "preferred and recommended providers," meaning Distrokid users can get seamless access to Spotify's artist tools like Spotify for Artists and be eligible for new beta programs such as the recent Discovery Mode program.
The upload process on Distrokid is simple and user-friendly and they also help you get instant access to your Spotify for Artists profile, which is definitely a perk for new artists. They also offer HyperFollow links for every release, which aggregate all the different streaming platform links onto one link to use for promoting your track.
Cons: While there are many Pros to consider for Distrokid, there's also some drawbacks. The first is that their cheapest $19.99/year plan is basically worthless since it doesn't allow you to select a future release date, and instead releases your track whenever the streaming platforms receive it. If you want to build a real, sustainable income from releasing your music, you'll need to schedule your releases at least a month in advance to give yourself time to pitch to the Spotify playlist editors via Spotify for Artists for a chance to be featured on official Spotify playlists.
Another downside is that if you want to set up splits with other artists, they'll also need to be paying Distrokid members. Many other distributors allow you to set up royalty splits without requiring all artists to be on a paid plan.
Final Thoughts: All-in-all, there's lots of good things about Distrokid that help to explain its popularity like the unlimited releases, keeping 100% of your earnings, their preferred status with Spotify, and the helpful promotional tools like HyperFollow links and video generators. That said, their marketing can be a bit misleading since their $19.99/year plan has lots of shortcomings and any serious artist would need to upgrade to at least the $35.99/year plan.
Price: $19 - $29/year
Deal/Trial: 30-day free trial
Pros: The upload process on Ditto is simple and easy to grasp for newer artists, and they'll upload your music to all the major streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music/iTunes, Instagram/Facebook, TikTok, Amazon Music, and many more. You're also able to select a future release date on their cheapest $19/year plan, an important contrast to the way Distrokid operates.
Another big plus when compared to Distrokid is that you can set up automated royalty splits and collaborators can get paid without having to pay for Ditto. They will still have to make a free Ditto account and manually withdraw their funds, though.
Lastly, they don't push for as many add-on charges as Distrokid does. Distrokid up-charges for things like YouTube Content ID, adding your music to new stores they onboard, leaving your tracks up in the event you cancel your Distrokid account, and more. Ditto has far fewer and less essential add-ons, meaning you won't need to pay more for every release.
Cons: One of the biggest downsides of Ditto is that releases take a lot longer to process than Distrokid, usually around 2 weeks. This isn't a huge deal if you're planning your releases far in advance, but can cause some problems if you're looking to get a release out quickly.
Another thing to note is that their customer support is quite slow to respond and help you with your problem. They're also not one of Spotify's "preferred and recommended providers," which helps contribute to the longer processing times and less seamless integration with Spotify's tools.
Final Thoughts: All-in-all, Ditto is an extremely solid distributor that does everything you need it to do and is more transparent about the costs involved. That said, there are definitely some downsides to consider such as the long processing times and slow customer support.
Final Thoughts
Both of these distributors have their strengths and weaknesses, and whichever is "best" really comes down to what you prioritize in your music distribution service. If you value processing speed over everything else, go with Distrokid. If you value more cost-efficiency, go with Ditto.
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