TuneCore vs DistroKid vs CD Baby: Music Distribution Compared (2026)

Published March 11, 2026 · 9 min read

Getting your music onto Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and dozens of other streaming platforms requires a distribution service. For independent artists, TuneCore, DistroKid, and CD Baby are the three biggest names in the space — but they each take fundamentally different approaches to pricing, royalties, and features. Choosing the wrong one can cost you money or limit your reach.

This guide breaks down exactly how each service works, what you'll pay, what you'll keep, and which one makes the most sense for your situation in 2026.

Why music distribution matters

Streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and Amazon Music don't accept uploads directly from artists. You need a distributor — a middleman that delivers your tracks to these stores, collects royalties on your behalf, and pays you out.

Your choice of distributor affects several things directly:

How much you keep — Some services take a percentage of your royalties, others charge a flat fee.
Where your music appears — Not all distributors reach every store and platform.
How fast you get paid — Payout schedules and minimum thresholds vary widely.
What tools you get — Analytics, playlist pitching, sync licensing, and social monetization features differ between services.
What happens if you stop paying — Some distributors remove your music if your subscription lapses.

How distribution services work

The basic process is the same across all services. You upload your finished audio files (typically WAV or FLAC), add metadata — track titles, artist name, genre, release date, ISRC codes — and your album artwork. The distributor then delivers your release to the platforms you select. Once your music starts generating streams or sales, the distributor collects the royalties and pays you according to their schedule.

Where services differ is in their pricing model, royalty split, feature set, and the level of support they provide. Let's look at each of the three major options.

TuneCore

TuneCore was one of the earliest digital distribution platforms and has distributed music for artists across virtually every genre. It operates on an annual subscription model tied to each release.

Pricing

TuneCore offers tiered plans. The Unlimited plan costs around $14.99/year for a single and $29.99/year for an album. Their Rising Artist plan is free to start but takes a 15% commission on royalties. The Unlimited plan lets you keep 100% of your royalties with no commission. If you stop paying the annual fee, your music stays in stores, but new distribution requires an active plan.

Key features

Distribution to 150+ stores and streaming platforms worldwide
100% royalty retention on the Unlimited plan
Publishing administration — TuneCore can collect mechanical and performance royalties globally
Detailed sales analytics and reporting dashboard
Social monetization for YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok
Sync licensing opportunities through their partnership network

Best for

Artists who release music consistently and want to retain 100% of their royalties. TuneCore's publishing administration service is a genuine differentiator — many artists leave money on the table by not collecting all their publishing royalties, and TuneCore handles this for an additional commission.

DistroKid

DistroKid is known for speed and simplicity. It uses a flat annual subscription model that covers unlimited uploads, making it one of the most cost-effective options for prolific artists.

Pricing

DistroKid's Musician plan starts at $22.99/year and allows unlimited uploads to all major platforms. The Musician Plus plan ($39.99/year) adds customizable release dates, store-specific pricing, and a few other features. The Ultimate plan ($54.99/year) includes additional tools like playlist placement and extra artist accounts. All plans let you keep 100% of your royalties.

One critical detail: if you cancel your DistroKid subscription, your music is removed from all stores. This is the trade-off for the low annual fee.

Key features

Unlimited uploads for one flat annual price
100% royalty retention across all plans
Fast delivery — releases can appear on platforms within days
Spotify for Artists, Apple Music for Artists, and Amazon for Artists integration
Lyrics distribution to platforms that display them
Splits feature to automatically divide royalties with collaborators
YouTube Content ID monetization (available as an add-on)

Best for

Artists who release frequently — singles, EPs, albums, remixes — and want to keep costs predictable. If you're putting out a dozen or more tracks per year, DistroKid's unlimited model is hard to beat on value. Just be aware of the removal policy if you ever stop paying.

CD Baby

CD Baby has been around since 1998 and takes a different approach: you pay once per release and your music stays in stores permanently. No annual fees, no subscription renewals.

Pricing

CD Baby charges a one-time fee of $9.95 per single and $29.95 per album for their Standard plan. The Pro plan costs $29.95 per single and $69.95 per album, which includes publishing royalty collection. CD Baby takes a 9% commission on Standard plan royalties and 15% on Pro plan royalties (which includes the publishing collection cut). Your music remains in stores indefinitely, even if you never log in again.

Key features

Distribution to major platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, and others
One-time payment with no recurring fees
Music stays in stores forever — no risk of removal
Pro plan includes publishing royalty collection through CD Baby's partnership with Songtrust
Sync licensing program for placement in TV, film, ads, and video games
Physical distribution (CDs and vinyl) to retail stores
YouTube monetization through Content ID

Best for

Artists who release less frequently and value permanence. If you put out one or two albums a year and want the peace of mind that your catalog will stay online without ongoing payments, CD Baby's one-time fee model is appealing. The 9% royalty commission is a trade-off, but for lower-volume artists, it can actually work out cheaper than annual subscriptions.

Other distributors worth knowing

While TuneCore, DistroKid, and CD Baby dominate the market, a few other services serve specific niches:

LANDR Distribution — Bundles distribution with LANDR's AI mastering tools. Plans start around $12.99/year for a single, with unlimited distribution on higher tiers. A solid option if you already use LANDR for mastering.
Amuse — Offers a free tier that distributes to major platforms (with slower delivery times and a limited feature set). Their Pro plan removes these limitations. Good for artists just starting out who want zero upfront cost.
UnitedMasters — Provides distribution alongside brand partnership opportunities. Their Select tier takes 10% of royalties in exchange for more marketing and sync opportunities. An interesting model for artists looking to monetize beyond streaming.

Head-to-head comparison

Here's how the three major services stack up on the factors that matter most:

Pricing model

TuneCore — Annual fee per release (or free with 15% commission on the Rising Artist plan)
DistroKid — Flat annual subscription, unlimited uploads
CD Baby — One-time fee per release, no recurring costs

Royalty split

TuneCore — 100% on Unlimited plan; 85% on Rising Artist plan
DistroKid — 100% on all plans
CD Baby — 91% on Standard; 85% on Pro

What happens if you stop paying

TuneCore — Music remains in stores; new features and uploads require resubscription
DistroKid — Music is removed from all stores
CD Baby — Nothing changes; music stays in stores permanently

Speed of delivery

TuneCore — Typically 1-3 weeks to all platforms
DistroKid — Often within a few days, one of the fastest
CD Baby — Typically 1-3 weeks

Publishing administration

TuneCore — Available, collects global mechanical and performance royalties
DistroKid — Not offered natively
CD Baby — Available on the Pro plan through Songtrust

Which one should you choose?

If you release music frequently (monthly or more), DistroKid gives you the best value with unlimited uploads at a fixed price. If you want the most comprehensive feature set with publishing administration, TuneCore's Unlimited plan is worth the per-release annual fee. If you prefer a set-it-and-forget-it model and don't want to worry about annual renewals, CD Baby is the safest bet for catalog longevity.

For brand-new artists testing the waters, consider starting with Amuse (free tier) or TuneCore's Rising Artist plan to get your first release out with no upfront investment.

Audio file requirements for distribution

Regardless of which distributor you choose, they all have strict audio file requirements — and this is where many independent artists run into problems.

All major distributors require lossless audio files. The universal standard is WAV at 16-bit/44.1 kHz or higher (CD quality). Most services also accept FLAC. None of the major distributors accept MP3 files as source audio, and for good reason.

When you upload a track to a distributor, that file becomes the master from which every streaming platform creates its own encoded version. Spotify transcodes to Ogg Vorbis at various bitrates. Apple Music uses AAC. Amazon uses its own encoding. Each platform applies its own compression to your uploaded file.

If your source file is already an MP3 — which is lossy-compressed — then the streaming platforms are compressing an already-compressed file. This results in compounding quality loss: artifacts from the original MP3 encoding get amplified by the platform's re-encoding. Your track will sound noticeably worse than competing releases that were uploaded as WAV. For a deeper look at why this matters, see our guide on WAV vs MP3 in music production.

The technical specifications most distributors require:

Format: WAV (.wav) or FLAC (.flac)
Bit depth: 16-bit minimum, 24-bit preferred
Sample rate: 44.1 kHz minimum (48 kHz, 96 kHz also accepted)
Channels: Stereo (2 channels)
No clipping: Audio should not exceed 0 dBFS

If your final masters are in MP3 format — whether exported from a DAW incorrectly or received from a collaborator — you'll need to convert them to WAV before uploading. While the conversion won't restore lost audio data (the damage from MP3 compression is permanent, as we explain in our MP3 vs FLAC vs WAV comparison), it will put your files in the correct container format that distributors accept. Ideally, always export your masters as WAV directly from your DAW to avoid any unnecessary quality loss.

If you have multiple tracks to prepare, batch converting MP3 to WAV can save significant time — especially when you're preparing an entire album for distribution.

Final thoughts

There's no single best distributor for every artist. The right choice depends on how often you release, how much you want to pay upfront versus ongoing, whether you need publishing administration, and how important catalog permanence is to you.

What all three services agree on: your audio files need to be high-quality, lossless formats. Invest in getting your masters right before you worry about which platform delivers them. Start with clean WAV exports from your DAW, and you'll be set regardless of which distributor you choose.

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