DistroKid vs CD Baby [An Honest Comparison]
Aug 12, 2023
So, you’re ready to release your music into the world and you need to pick a music distributor? With so many to choose from and so many different features, who do you pick?
In this post, I will be comparing two of the biggest distributors in music: DistroKid and CD Baby.
CD Baby is one of the first digital music distributors and DistroKid came onto the scene later and since then has gained of lot of popularity and attention. But both offer unique features that might work for you depending on what you are looking for as an artist.
In this post, I will break down the platforms on the following topics:
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Distribution
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Cost
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Extra Features
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Getting Paid
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Customer Service
If you want to see my review of the individual platforms, you can read my DistroKid review here and my CD Baby review here.
You can also watch a video of me breaking down DistroKid and CD Baby here. You might also consider joining my on YouTube because I share information what everything you need to know as an indie artist.
Distribution
The first topic that I am going to tackle is distribution. Distribution is the process of sending your music to stores and online streaming services.
While CD Baby started as a physical distributor for indie artists and small labels, they quickly pivoted and added digital distribution to their services once companies like Spotify started to dominate music consumption. On the other hand, DistroKid has always existed as a digital distributor.
First, let’s look at how DistroKid handles distribution.
DistroKid makes it easy to sign up and upload music to streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, Amazon Music, YouTube Music. It would take my a long time to list all the streaming platforms here. For instance, they upload your music to over 150 stores and are continually adding new streaming services.
Once you sign up, you can click to “upload” music and fill out a form with album information, album artwork, and artist information. Compared to some other distributors, DistroKid’s process is pretty quick (they claim to be the fastest in the world).
I can attest to how simple and easy it is to use. For instance, just take a look at the DistroKid website. There's hardly anything to be confused about. There's not a lot of fluff or feature distraction that a lot of other distributors have, one of those being CD Baby.
Simple or now, it’s still recommended that you provide at least a one-month lead time for getting your work into the world and taking advantage of promotional support that DistroKid offers through playlist submissions. Not only that, but it's a good idea to get your music upload to your distributor at minimum 4 weeks in advance because then you can take advantage of the Spotify pitch tool. The Spotify pitch tool allow yout to pitch your song to the in-house Spotify curators. This gives you the opportunity for your song to be heard by Spotify for the chance to land a placement on a Spotify editorial playlist.
I also want to add that DistroKid is great if you are releasing covers or are strictly a cover artist.
While other companies (like CD Baby) will make you obtain a mechanical license on your own, DistroKid licenses your covers for you and ensures that all parties get paid. Here's a great video on how to release covers song legally.
Now, let’s talk about CD Baby.
CD Baby also has a submission form for music once you sign up on their website. However, the form is a bit more time-consuming. If you're wondering, both CD Baby and DistroKid will send your music to very similar platforms. At least all the main ones. If you're looking for something specific then be sure to run through their list of streaming platforms or try to connect with their support teams.
But, if you are just looking to get your music onto the big platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, Instagram, then both will get the job done.
Distribution Winner: DistroKid and CD Baby
Cost
Before we dive into cost, I want to talk about you and your plans for your release.
Cost is not so straightforward because the cost-benefit of any given platform will depend on how much music you plan to release (how prolific are you?) and how large your audience is.
If you’re just getting started, it may be difficult to forecast your reach and need for releasing music. But, I’d recommend starting with realistic expectations. I have no doubt that your release could blow up and you'll be the next big thing, you should think like that. It's positive thinking! However, get someone to do a gut check with you, a could place is to ask someone you trust. Literally ask them, "what do you think of my song?"
Also, both DistroKid and CD Baby have different features that are part of their payment tiers. Which features are most important to you as an artist?
First, let’s talk about DistroKid.
DistroKid was the first digital distributor to use an annual fee in their pay structure. With a set annual fee, you can have an unlimited number of releases through DistroKid. Distrokid has three tiers and I will detail each one below. DistroKid pioneered this way of a pricing model and now you see other distributors like TuneCore following in their footsteps.
Musician ($22.99/year)
With their most basic plan, you can upload unlimited songs and lyrics to your artist profile.
You also get access to a hyperfollow page, promo videos, Spotify video art generator, and Spotify verification. The hyperfollow page is a great tool to prepare for your release but also share a listen page after your song is released. For example, here is my hyperfollow page for my single King of my Own.
Musician Plus ($39.99/year)
This plan includes everything from the first tier plus you can customize your label name, release date, pre-order date, and iTunes pricing.
You can also have two artists (or bands) on your account, which is great if you are involved in multiple projects. You also get daily streaming stats. In this plan, I really like the idea of customizign your label name. This means, for example, when you're looking at the artist on Spotify, it will cover distributed by DistoKid and you can put anything in it's place. For instance, check out my label name on my release of my song King of my Own.
Take a look at the red arrow below. I'm able to customize the label name and put Charles Cleyn in this place. If you didn't have this plan, it would say something like DistroKid LLC. It's not a huge concern and it's not going to change the quality or placement of your music, it's more of an aesthetic piece.
Ultimate ($89.99/year)
Ultimate is basically the same plan as Musician Plus except it allows you to have between 5-100 artists on your profile.
If you have many projects, or are running a small label, this is the plan for you. Seriously though, if you do want to start your own label then this plan is for you. You can have 100 artists on your label and only be paying $89.99 for distribution. Not bad, right?
While these are set costs that recur annually, DistroKid does have quite a bit of add-ons. We’ll talk more about these in the section on “extra features” but it’s important to note that their annual cost does not cover these.
What about CD Baby?
CD Baby charges a flat fee per release versus DistroKid’s recurring annual cost.
They have two basic tiers that apply to singles and albums. You can see the details on their pricing page and in the graphic below.
Standard Single/Album ($9.99/release)
Their standard level is the same price whether you’re releasing a single or an album.
Their standard level has many features of the “Musician Plus” tier of DistroKid. You get access to tools for sync licensing and artist verification on major platforms. The former, tools for sync licensing could be something attractive to you if you're music is fiting for sync. For instance, could you see your song in a Netflix show? What about on an ad? Or in a TV show? This is what sync licensing is. It's important to know though, other distributors, like TuneCore as well, have these sync licensing features and there is no guarantee that your music will be placed anywhere.
Pro Single/Album ($49.99/release)
The jump from standard to pro is quite big, and there’s a reason.
A Pro release through CD Baby includes everything from the standard tier PLUS publishing royalty collection and song registration with royalty collection societies. Basically, this tier ensures that you get paid for your releases through CD Baby, while the standard does not have publishing royalty collection. Publishing royalty collection is a service that will work on your behalf to collect all your music royalties that may have been generate not only from streaming but from international radio play or satellite play as well. TuneCore has this as a feature as well but it's an add on feature across all their plans instead of a feature baked in. Here is a post on TuneCore vs CD Baby.
Is DistroKid or CD Baby cheaper?
In the beginning of this section, I mentioned that choosing a platform depends on your needs as an artist. This also goes for price. CD Baby’s standard release is the cheapest option, but you lose the opportunity to track and receive publishing royalties on the back end.
If you create a release that gets a lot of streams, you could be losing money.
On the other hand, Distrokid’s first tier is not very expensive, but there is a recurring annual cost. If you’re getting a ton of streams, that annual fee won’t matter because you’ll be paid more on the back end.
When you're basing your music distribution decision on cost, you should consider the question, "what many streams will my song get?" If you think it will be getting a lot of streams then you might consider a distributor with a low cost annual fee to retain more of your royalties. However, if your song won't be racking up many streams than it's more economical to pay a one time fee and give up some of your royalties in return.
Overall, I’d say that DistroKid is the way to go if you plan to release more than one project within a year or two. But, if you’re planning to release one project and don’t mind setting up royalty tracking and registration, then CD Baby’s standard option is best.
Cost Winner: DistroKid and CD Baby
Extra Features
DistroKid is pretty bare bones in terms of features.
If you look at the DistroKid website, you’ll immediately understand that their main goal is to distribute music. Other sites, like CD Baby, are more complex with more of links, features, and resources.
So, what extra features does DistroKid offer?
As I mentioned above, DistroKid has a few add-ons that you can pay for at release including:
- Loudness Normalization
- Tidal Master/MQA
- YouTube Content ID
All of these are all add-ons that you pay for individually on top of your annual payment.
But, all of these features are directly related to distribution.
CD Baby has a ton of features on their site when it comes to promoting your work and growing as an artist. They have an entire page of promotional tools and relationships with companies that can broaden your audience. Here are a few that stand out:
Show.co
This platform allows you to promote your music through a variety of channels. You can launch a pre-save campaign through Spotify, build your email list, run ads, and more. As a CD Baby customer, you get to use show.co for free. Show.co is very familiar to ToneDen and it gives you the opportunity to create buzz before your song is launched and continue the growth after it's live. I used show.co to create Spotify pre save campaigns when I first started releasing music and I found it really valuable.
Bandzoogle
Bandzoogle is a platform that helps you build an artist's website. This is a great option for artists who know very little about building a website but want a space to sell merch, grow a newsletter, and more. As a CD Baby customer, you get discounts when you use Bandzoogle.
In my opinion, if you're an artist, you need a website. So, if you don't have one already, then this could be a game changer for you. Although, I don't love the website templates on Bandzoogle as compared to some of the other website builders. However, any website is better than nothing. A website is important to showcase who you are, your music, your concerts, your merch. It's like your online calling card.
CD Baby Curated Content
Since CD Baby has been around for a while, they have an impressive amount of free content through their blog, podcast, and conference. Yes, these are free but it does go without saying that CD Baby has been around for a long time, and tthat's not nothing, plus they seem to genuinely care about creating great content, that's free, which will help DIY musicians.
It’s pretty clear that if you are looking for extra features, CD Baby is the way to go. While DistroKid does a fantastic job distributing your music (and, fast!), they haven’t expanded their company to provide the services that CD Baby provides. Not yet at least.
Extra Features winner: CD Baby
Getting Paid
When it comes to royalties from digital streaming and downloads, DistroKid takes 0% commission, while CD Baby takes 9% commission. In other words, you will keep 100% of your royalties with DistroKid and you'll keep 91% with CD Baby.
However, even though DistroKid boasts that their artists receive 100% royalties, they do use a 3rd party company for royalty collection so you may be losing a small amount of money as an artist. I've never been able to acutally prove this within the fine print so if you are readying this and you know, please let me know. In the meantime, check out my more comprehensive review of DistroKid.
CD Baby also offers publishing royalty collection and administration in their upper tier.
Now, your net pay for any of these companies is offset by the amount that you’ve contributed in the first place. Since DistroKid has an annual fee, you would need to have many more streams over the lifetime of the release for the cost to make sense.
So, who wins?
If you don’t have many streams and are a small artist, CD Baby could be more lucrative in the long run. If you have a good number of streams (more than 150,000 per year), DistroKid is the way to go.
Getting Paid winner: DistroKid and CD Baby
Customer Service
Ah, customer service. If you are new to digital distribution, reliable customer service will be very important if and when questions arise.
DistroKid has a customer service centre where you can submit a request and get a response between 3-7 business days (on average). It seems that easier requests get faster response times than more complex requests. There is also a chat customer service but it's a bot and unfortunately the bot isn't very smart. You'll likely have to email them on the submission request.
CD Baby also has a help centre with articles and helpful information. And, while they do have a form to submit a request, their response time is also not indicated: “A member of our support staff will respond as soon as possible.”
Both companies are similar in this area and I can't say there is a justified winner that takes the cake.
Customer Support winner: DistroKid and CD Baby
Overall Rating
I rated both of these platforms equal in most of the categories, so which one is the best? Is that a bit of a cop out, ya, probably. But again, it really depends. I feel like a broken record talking about how "it depends" so much. But, it really does.
As an artist who regularly releases music and has good streaming numbers, DistroKid makes sense for me.
But, if I were a new artist and didn’t have a huge following yet, CD Baby would be the best in terms of cost and extra features.
Want to know more about either of these platforms? You can check out my post on CD Baby here and my DistroKid review here.
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