Best 7 Free Music Distributors In 2024 | Are They Legit?
Mar 23, 2024
Congratulations on completing your song! Now, it’s time to share your musical masterpiece with the world, and what better way to do so than by distributing it across major streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music? But how exactly do you go about uploading your music to these platforms?
Regrettably, Spotify and Apple Music don't allow artists to directly add songs to their databases. Instead, musicians need to collaborate with music distribution companies to release their tracks on these platforms. Traditionally, this process incurred significant expenses. However, today, many top-tier music distributors offer competitively priced plans, making them more accessible to artists.
But what if you're not prepared to invest money upfront, yet still want your songs available on these platforms? Fortunately, there are several distribution companies that provide free services. In this article, I'll introduce the best options for independent artists in 2024. Here's a quick overview of the list:
- RouteNote
- AWAL
- Unchained Music
- TuneCore
- FreshTunes
- United Masters
- Music Gateway
With no further ado, let’s go through each one by one and lay out their advantages and drawbacks.
1. RouteNote
RouteNote offers both free and paid plans for artists to choose from. Even with the free tier, the company allows you to upload unlimited songs under different artists' names, something most other free distributors don’t do. Moreover, RouteNote puts your music on over 200 online stores and streaming platforms, including all the major ones like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon.
You can upload all the music you want without paying upfront. However, RouteNote takes a 15% cut from your online revenue. If you go for RouteNote’s paid plans, you can keep 100% of your song royalties.
Besides, RouteNote takes a longer time to process your submitted songs and put them online with the free plan, meaning that you should schedule your releases at least 3-4 weeks beforehand. It is also worth mentioning that some users have complained about occasional delays in receiving payments and an overall subpar customer support service.
2. AWAL
Similar to the previous distributor, AWAL (Artists Without A Label) offers unlimited song releases with their free plan. Again, you’ll have to leave 15% of whatever you make from your streams with the music distributor.
One of the advantages of AWAL over other free distributors on this list is the vast array of services it offers. AWAL offers a bunch of promotional tools that can help you receive the recognition you deserve on online platforms. AWAL assigns artist managers through their A&R team who can help you directly increase your monthly listeners.
The catch? AWAL is picky when it comes to collaborating with artists. The company only works with established artists with already-polished work. Usually, new artists cannot find a spot on AWAL’s list.
3. Unchained Music
Compared to most other free distributors, the biggest advantage of working with Unchained Music is that you can keep 100% of all of your royalties. Moreover, you can use the distributor’s services to publish unlimited songs on all the major streaming platforms.
Also, Unchained Music offers some promotional services and tools that allow artists to enhance their social media presence. Although helpful, the range of services offered by AWAL is significantly more.
The downside of Unchained Music is that the revenues you earn from your songs will be locked for a month before you can withdraw them.
4. TuneCore
As one of today’s most popular music distributors, TuneCore offers various plans for artists with different goals, needs, and budgets. The company offers its “New Artist” plan for free for those who are not yet ready to spend money for their releases.
The distributor offers access to the TuneCore Rewards Master Class, which can be helpful for artists to find their feet in the music market.
The downside of TuneCore’s New Artist plan is that it is pretty limited. Although you can upload as many songs as you want, the free plan only covers social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Another disadvantage is that TuneCore takes a 20% cut on all your revenues, which is more than all other distributors on this list.
5. FreshTunes
FreshTunes is another free music distributor that allows independent musicians to have unlimited releases on streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music. The revenues you make from Spotify and Apple Music all go to your pocket. However, FreshTunes takes a 20% cut of your YouTube Content ID royalties.
Besides uploading your music, FreshTune delivers hardly any other service for free. The company offers professional feedback for an extra fee, which can be useful for new artists. Even if you require customer service and live chat support, you’ll have to pay $25 per ticket.
6. United Masters
United Masters is another distributor on the market that offers both free and paid plans for artists. The “Select” tier costs 60 bucks a year and gives you access to all the essentials, including unlimited releases on 30+ major platforms, such as Spotify and Apple Music.
United Master’s “Debut” plan comes with no upfront cost and gives artists access to one release per month. Similar to TuneCore’s free plan, the Debut tier only offers distribution on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Moreover, United Masters takes 10% of your revenue and allows you to cash out once your revenue reaches $50.
Besides releasing your tracks on social media, United Masters offers a few more services with their free plan, including basic customer support, basic education, beat exchange, and mastering access.
7. Music Gateway
Music Gateway offers a wide range of services beyond just music distribution. After signing up with this distributor, you can upload up to five songs without any upfront payments. They offer two free masters for the free distribution plan and offer multiple promotional and licensing opportunities.
In return, Music Gateway takes %20 of your distribution royalties and %50 of sync replacement revenues. Their paid plans are pricier than most other distributors, with "Pro" costing 22 dollars per month which allows for 80 track uploads and 5 masters.
