DistroKid vs Landr [An Honest Comparison From An Indie Artist]

If you're an independent artist looking to distribute your music, you might be wondering which is better when it comes to DistroKid vs Landr?

I have used both of these music distributors and I’ve compared them with many other distributors like TuneCore vs DistroKid, DistroKid vs CD Baby, and TuneCore vs United Masters.

I’m going to be as objective as I can in this post and share my honest opinion to help you choose the best music distributor for you but why trust me?

I’m a full-time independent artist and I’ve produced and released hundreds of songs. You can listen to some of them here. I also run a YouTube channel where I document and share my experiences as an indie artist. If you end up wanting to choose DistroKid at the end of this post, I can offer you a 7% discount that you can sign up with. If you’d like to choose Landr, I can offer you a 20% discount that you can use. If you sign up with these links, I get a tiny kick back and you get off to the right start.

I’ve come to learn when I’m comparing music distributors, the best categories to talk about are:

1. Cost

2. Features

3. Royalty Payments

4. Distribution Reach

5. User Experience

6. Customer Service

I will go deep in each of these areas giving you the information you need to make a strong decision for your next music release. If for some reason, you make a mistake, or you regret your decision, you can also switch music distributors, don’t worry about that.

Last thing I’ll say, don’t let the choice of a music distributor get in the way of releasing your music. This is the final step, and although and important one, learn fast and choose one, don’t spend days thinking about it.

Company Background

Let’s dive into the company backgrounds of DistroKid and Landr for a second. It can be helpful some times to know where the companies are coming from and how they were built up.

DistroKid was founded in 2013 by Philip Kaplan. They have been known for its affordability and user-friendly platform, DistroKid has quickly become a favorite among independent artists. It offers unlimited uploads and you can keep 100% of your royalties, making it a cost-effective solution for musicians at any stage of their career.

Landr started as an AI-powered mastering service in 2014 and later expanded into music distribution. Landr differentiates itself by combining professional mastering services with distribution, providing artists with a comprehensive platform to enhance and release their music.

Quick Comparison Chart

If you’re looking for a quick answer when it comes to DistroKid vs Landr, you might find it in this chart here:

Cost

Let’s dive into cost and see what music distributor has a better bang for your buck, not necessarily who is cheaper, but where will your dollar last more.

DistroKid offers a straightforward pricing model with three main plans:

1. Musician Plan: $19.99/year, unlimited song uploads, and one artist/band.

2. Musician Plus Plan: $35.99/year, includes customizable label name, release date, and iTunes pricing, plus two artists/bands.

3. Label Plan: $79.99/year, includes everything in Musician Plus, plus up to five artists/bands.

I want to mention one thing you don’t see in the DistroKid pricing plans are their “add on” features. For example, you can choose to get YouTube monetization, mastering services, store automated, etc.

These all come at an extra cost and can quickly add up if you’re not careful. They have a lot of useful features that you can add on that provide lots of value but it’s important to have a look at how they might affect your annual fee. If you want to take a super deep dive into the DistroKid pricing plans, you might be interested in this post on what DistroKid plan is best.

Landr has a tiered pricing model:

1. Free Plan: Limited distribution options and retains 15% of royalties.

2. Standard Plan: $12/month or $108/year, unlimited distribution, and retains 9% of royalties.

3. Pro Plan: $25/month or $225/year, unlimited distribution, retains 5% of royalties, and includes mastering credits.

Who Wins When It Comes To ‘Cost?’

On face value, DistroKid does seem cheaper with their lower annual fees that include unlimited distribution while you keep 100% of your royalties. However, Landr provides a rich set of features that extend the value of your dollar. For example, you can get mastering services that are included which can sometimes cost you about $50 or $100 per song if you’re outsourcing it on your own. This begs the question though, should you use Landr mastering services or master your own song? That’s a can of worms, that I don’t want to open yet but I do suggest trying out the Landr mastering services and comparing it to another master you’ve either done yourself or outsourced.

Remember, if you end up taking the plunge with either of these distributors be sure to use my discounts here, 7% with DistroKid, or go with a 20% discount to Landr.

Features

The features that DistroKid and Landr provide might make or break the decision for you. This is because, at the end of the day, each distributor will do one thing: get your music uploaded to the streaming services. Whether that is getting your music uploaded to Apple Music or even getting your music uploaded to YouTube. Both distributors will do this. Where they differ will come down to the features that each of them offer.

DistroKid features:

•  Unlimited Uploads: Release as much music as you want.

•  Payment Splitting: Automatically split royalties among collaborators.

•  YouTube Content ID: Monetize your music on YouTube. (Extra fee from annual fee)

•  HyperFollow: Create pre-save links to promote upcoming releases.

•  Mastering service: Master your song with DistroKid

•  Marketing Goodies: They have a few Spotify playlists, a video generator, and photo generator.

If you want to take a deep dive on what all the DistroKid add ons and features are you might be interested in this post what are the DistroKid extras.

Landr features:

•  AI Mastering: High-quality mastering for your tracks.

•  Sample Packs: Access to a library of samples.

•  Sync Licensing: Opportunities to place your music in TV, films, and commercials.

•  Collaboration Tools: Share projects and collaborate with other artists.

Who Has Better Features?

I find that DistroKid is really strong when it comes to their distribution and split payment features. Both of these are very solid, they have simple distributors add-ons that are really valuable. Besides this, they are one of the pioneer of royalty split payments. This has been a game chancer for the releases that I have on DistroKid. I can easily split royalties with my collaborators and I no longer have to pay them out on my own.

On the other hand, DistroKid lacks quality in their other features where Landr shines. For example, the mastering services that DistroKid offers are of very low quality compared to the mastering services Landr offers. That’s not really a surprise considering Landr started out as a  offers a more comprehensive suite of tools, including mastering and sample packs, making it a good choice for artists seeking a one-stop-shop.

Royalty Payments

Let’s talk about money. A subject a lot of people like to avoid talking about but it’s super important you’re clear on this. To start things off right, I want to show a picture that I created for one of my past distributor comparisons, talking about music royalties.

You’ll notice that your distributor only pays you a portion of the royalties that your song collects. You should consider signing up for services like Soundexchange which collect your performance royalties. Get signed up with your country’s PRO (Performance Rights Organization). I’m with SOCAN because I’m in Canada. Lastly, get a service like SongTrust which helps with your publishing administration. Some distributors like TuneCore offer this service as a feature, it’s something that DistroKid or Landr don’t offer but I do have a comparison on TuneCore vs Landr if you want to learn more.

Let’s talk about about DistroKid and Landr pay you your music royalties.

DistroKid allows artists to keep 100% of their royalties on all plans. Payments are processed quickly through PayPal transfers and you can withdraw your money at any time.

I do want to mention one thing first before we move on: tax. Tax can be ugly but it’s important you understand how tax can work with your royalties. DistroKid will withhold tax on your royalty income unless your country has a tax treaty with the United States. For example, I live in Canada and there is a tax treaty that Canada has with the US. This means that DistroKid does not withdraw any tax from my royalties. However, you might be reading this in a country that does not have tax treaties with the US. You can look on the IRS website here to see if you’re country has a tax treaty with the US.

Let’s move on to Landr now. Landr retains a percentage of royalties depending on the plan that you sign up with. By the way, if you’re going to sign up with Landr, feel free to use my 20% discount.

•  Free Plan: 15% cut.

•  Standard Plan: 9% cut.

•  Pro Plan: 5% cut. Payments are also processed efficiently, with detailed financial reports available.

A cut in royalties is something you must consider if you’re going to go with Landr. I’ve met some indie musicians that will not even discuss the option of a royalty split. I’ve met some that are always open to it. So, it might depend on you as an artist. One thing I will mention, a cut in royalties does not mean a cut in copyright. No matter how much of your royalties you’re giving away, you will still retain 100% of the copyright of your song. That’s really important to remember.

The other thing is, usually the cut in royalties is a sign that the service is invested to make you a success. If they are getting a percentage of your sales, well, they would like it to be big! So they are invested in making you successful, that’s the hope. For instance, if you get signed to Universal Music, they will likely take up to 80% of your earnings. Now, that’s a lot! But in return, they can make you a big success! Even though you might be getting 20%, that could still be millions, in some cases.

Who Wins With Royalties?

DistroKid offers the advantage of keeping all your royalties, making it more favorable for artists who want maximum earnings from their streams and sales. Landr's tiered system offers flexibility but at the cost of a percentage of your royalties. So, what would rather? Give up some royalties or keep them all to yourself? I'll share some subjective opinion on this based on my experience. I can understand as a new artist you might want to keep everything for yourself, that's normal, you worked hard on your songs, they're your babies and you deserve all the money that you make from them. However, as you being to grow as an artists, you'll soon realize the benefit of bringing people into your team by sharing some of your royalties. Ideally, the people you are sharing your royalties with though are doing the work to help you get discovered. This is hugely important!

If royalty payments are one of the big deciding factors for you, you might be interested in reading this post on what streaming services pay the most.

If you're going to dive into either of these distributors be sure to use my discounts here, 7% with DistroKid, or go with a 20% discount to Landr.

Distribution and Reach

Let's talk about the distribution networks and reach both DistroKid and Landr have. Let's start with DistroKid first.

DistroKid distributes music to over 150 digital stores and streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. It's unfortunate that they don't advertise all of these sites on the DistroKid website  though. That's one of the things I dislike about DistroKid, they hardly offer any information on their website and are pushing you to sign up. I can empathize that they are trying to get sign ups but I think they can add more information to potential customers first. I'll get to more of this later.

Landr also distributes to over 150 platforms, ensuring your music reaches a broad audience. It's exactly the same as DistroKid, both releasing their music to 150+ stores and they don't give any more information besides that. It's not a problem if you are only interested in getting your music uploaded to Spotify or on social platforms like TikTok. However, if you're looking for niche or boutique streaming platforms, you might want to look at TuneCore because they showcase all their platforms they work with.

On top of normal distribution reach, Landr offers a platform of sync licensing opportunities that can help you find new revenue streams. However, these are not guaranteed.

Who Has Better Distribution?

There's no clear winner here, they both offer the same value. I will mention one thing, if you're looking for a smaller streaming platform to get your music on, you might want to reach out to their customer service teams to see if offer it.

User Experience

The design and experience of their websites and mobile apps should play a part in your decision making on what distributor is best for you. It's not the be all and end all but you'll be using these platforms a lot when you're uploading music. I upload a song to my Spotify page almost once a month, that's a lot of music. Not only that, I'm also in there a few times a month, making withdrawals, and looking at stats too. If The money is small at the beginning but, as an artist, I also subscribe to making money in a variety of different ways.

Let's start with DistroKid first and their main site. As I've said before, their main site is super simple. Almost too simple! There is hardly enough information to decide and therefore you're forced to sign up to get more information. It's okay though, it's free to sign up and you'll get more information on the inside. When you're looking to upload a song with DistroKid  it's super easy. I think they've made it the easiest out of all the distributors I've seen so far. Withdrawals are easy with PayPal and it's also easy to do things such as adding or fixing song credits. This is something I like to check on with each release as well.

Landr has a very sleek and modern interface. It's obvious to see when you arrive on their website. They offer tons of helpful information on their site, it's clear, it's concise. In my opinion, their website is much better designed than DistroKid's. However, it's not all about the website design. What about the internal app design of getting your music uploaded? Well, it's better too, in my opinion. Design is a subjective thing but I always find things to be much more intuitive on Landr than DistroKid.

Both DistroKid and Landr also offer impressive mobile apps to manage your music.

Here's a screebshot of the DistroKid mobile app on the music page:

Here's a screenshot of the Landr mobile app on the mastering service page:

Who Has The Better Design?

I would say both DistroKid and Landr match up in their quality of upload designs but in general, I prefer Landr user experience and design. Landr seems to pack in more with their site, where DistroKid seems to be much more simple, too simple? It could be ideal for someone super beginner and want a hassle-free experience but I believe Landr feels more experienced. Think of DistroKid as a Honda Civic and Landr as a Lexus Toyota. Both are going to get you there but one of them is a far more comfortable ride.

Customer Service

Let's talk about customer service for a brief moment. It's important. Especially at the beginning of your career as an independent artist. You're going to have questions about your release, how long does it take? How do I add credits? How do I change my release? What's an ISRC code?

There's lots of things to learn at the beginning and you'll be either getting answers from people like myself on YouTube or you'll be reaching out directly to DistroKid or Landr customer service teams.

DistroKid provides customer support primarily through email and an extensive FAQ section. They have a chat bot as well that you can use but to be honest I don't think it's very good. On top of this, they also offer a helpful community forum where users can seek advice and share experiences. So, in general, there's a ton of help online that you can get from people because DistroKid has had millions of users.

Landr also offers customer support via email too but they offer chat too. Their support team is known for being responsive and helpful, providing assistance with both distribution and mastering services. 

Who Has Better Customer Service?

It's a clear winner for me that Landr has better customer service. This is quite clear on their site too as they mention this as one of their big selling points, it's hardly existent on DistroKid's site. So, keep this in mind if this is something you need to have.

Final Thoughts On DistroKid vs Landr

Both DistroKid and Landr offer valuable services for independent artists. There's a ton of competitive overlap in their services but at the core, in my opinion, they cater to different artists.

It goes like this:

•  DistroKid is ideal for artists seeking a straightforward, cost-effective distribution service that allows them to keep 100% of their royalties.
•  Landr is perfect for those looking for a comprehensive platform that includes professional mastering, sample packs, and sync licensing opportunities, even though it comes with higher costs and a percentage of royalties retained.

Consider your specific needs and goals as an artist to determine which platform is the best fit for you. If you’re looking for maximum earnings and simplicity, DistroKid might be your best bet. If you want integrated mastering services and additional tools to enhance your music, Landr could be the better choice.

Good luck on your music journey, and feel free to reach out with any questions. Remember, if you're ready to start with one of these distributors be sure to use my discounts here: 7% with DistroKid, or go with a 20% discount to Landr.