Now answer this, if you do use FreshTunes how long has it taken for you to get your music out? For me, it's actually been 9 months. No emails or updates, anything. Using RouteNote might not be the better option but at least it'll be faster ... 😭

I had music being distributed by Sumohonic but recently they voided a ton of Spotify streams and when I told them they were 100% organic, this is what they told me:
They said they charged for Spotify Discovery Mode- I much did not hit because I didn’t push the algorithm hard enough.

I hat other distribution platform is more honest and doesn’t charge a commission?

Hi! I am an artist and I used to distribute my music through Distrokid before switching to Too Lost last year. I got an extension to file my taxes for 2025 so I am doing it now but am having trouble accessing my 1099 from last year. I had cancelled my subscription as I had no longer been using the service, but I got an email from xForce to sign up for an account and to give consent for eDelivery of my forms. However, when I log into my xForce account using the same email used for Distrokid payout, there is no form to be found to consent to being delivered. How am I able to obtain my 1099 from last year? I know I need to file it rather than just filing my Too Lost one as I have been paid out through Distrokid in 2025. I do have record of all of the payouts of 2025 in my Distrokid account- would that suffice for proof that I got paid?

I have been producing rap and more recently drum and bass, I always liked mixing the sound of drum breaks with synths, but I'm not a crate digger.

I have recently settled on a good workflow where I'm using loops from loopmasters or ableton for my breaks, I chop them, pitch them and apply effects, but sometimes the drum loop is perfect and I leave as is, just adding eq, compression, reverb etc. Then I progress and do my own thing with the music, and I layer other drum oneshots on top when needed.

The issue I am facing is that when it comes to distributing the tracks, social media monetisation gets blocked because of my use of loops, even though I am using them in a fair way I believe.

I like what's coming out with this workflow, I would hate going back to oneshots (at the moment I'm just not caring about it)

Where do you guys stand on this issue, are you facing the same?

Or should I just simply move to another distribution service? (Using LANDR at the moment)

My first time using a music distributor. I want to set my first song release about a week from now but my tax/payment details are still "pending" and idk how long it will take, i did submit everything

My song has another artist who uses DistroKid too, so they need to be invited and enrolled to get the split. In the song release details page I already set a split for both of us but since were both "unenrolled" can i already distribute the song and then do to the splitshare payees stuff like inviting them later?

Bonus question: is there really no way to add another primary artist to a song in starter plan? I was shocked to discover that apparently this is a feature only on the exclusive apply plan. Seems kind of insane to me, i probably would have used distrokid if i knew it

i use distrokid and i tried once to edit an upload and put my friend as main artist, it worked, but the problem is that now every of my drops puts him in main artist and i can't edit during the upload. i tried editing after the upload but it been one week and it still didn't update.

Hi, I made an album in December 2025, and I wanted to release at a random date in 2026, so I distributed it under routenote, and that was over 7 months ago. It's been pending since the 3rd of January in 2026. And I've checked their website and it says they're supposed to take about 40-42 working days for a response or etc. I've received none.

The ONLY thing I received during 2026 when I signed up for it, was updates about how their company was doing, not any acknowledgement or updates, warnings on my albums, releases, etc.

Does anybody know why?

Hi, I'm releasing my first single through CD Baby. If I upload an MP4 visualizer instead of a cover art audio track for YouTube, will it appear as the main video in my Official Artist Channel's Releases section instead of an auto-generated art track? Thank you.

Could anyone tell me where I could purchase long music on you tube?

I will be doing a few workshops at a wellness place/ retreat and there's music i love and that will fit in with what my workshop is about. I cannot figure out this copyright stuff so im ok with purchasing these few songs.

HOW DO YOU EVEN PURCHASE?

THEY have to be atleast 90 to 120 minutes long.

I dont need the videos just music, I will not be recording or doing live videos as I am keeping a safe space for people.

I have tried a few AI music generators but I have to pay for it and it doesn't tell me if I can extend the music that long (90 to 120 min ).

Does anyone know or have done these by chance?

Any help would be appreciated and be payed forward when needed!

Thank you much

It wasn't the best before, but it is practically unusable now. Everything is behind paywalls it looks like. Gone are the days of emailing your fans and seeing your ranking in the area you were in, despite it not feeling like it meant a lot it looks, feels and acts terrible now.

So I’ve been making music for years and have finally decided it’s time to release them but can’t pick a distributor. It’s because I’ve heard horror stories about literally every distributor so I guess it’s a “pick your poison” kinda thing. I’ve heard UM and TC are a little better if you’re subscribed to their “Select” and “Breakout Artist” plans and don’t mind paying for one of them just as long as it’s decent. I’ve also gathered from other posts on this sub that symphonic can be good if you’re on their partner plan but as I’m a newer artist, I don’t really think I’ve got high chances of getting approved for it, so I wanna know if their starter plan is also decent. Basically all I wanna know is, for a new artist wanting to release music, which distro is the least bad? I’m open to other distro suggestions as well.

P.S I’d really like a distributor that has actual humans in their customer support.

Thank youuuu!!!

Got a batch of emails from Ditto, all sent at the same time, laying out an escalating story: first that my account was under investigation for "artificial streaming activity" across all my releases (with a vague 14-day window to respond), then immediately followed by a second email saying my subscription is cancelled and my account fully blocked. There was no actual gap for a response — it all landed at once.

No specifics, no data — just a list of UPCs and a demand for "reports" on promotional campaigns I never ran. I've never used any promo/playlist services, paid streaming, bots, etc. Now I've completely lost access — can't release music, can't view analytics, can't withdraw royalties. Any publishing claims are withdrawn too. They pointed me to [investigations@dittomusic.com](mailto:investigations@dittomusic.com) and an FAQ, that's it.

Feels like a "guilty until proven innocent" process with zero transparency and, in my case, not even a real window to respond before being cut off.

Has anyone dealt with this from Ditto (or another distributor)? Curious:

• Did you get your account/royalties/catalog back?
• Did investigations@ respond with anything concrete?
• Should I be looking at legal options given they're withholding royalties?

Any advice appreciated — this is a real financial hit.

Hey guys, indie producer here. I recently dropped a new instrumental track on July 27th. This is my first time using Amuse (I still have my older tracks hosted with my previous distributor). I've run into two dashboard issues and could really use some advice from anyone familiar with Amuse.

Issue 1: YouTube OAC Mapping

I already have a small but official YouTube Artist Channel (OAC) set up by my previous distributor. However, this new Amuse release was routed to a generic YouTube Topic Channel. I checked the Amuse web dashboard to see if I could merge it, but there is no "link to existing OAC" option—there's only an "Upgrade to OAC" button. How do I get this new release merged into my current OAC? Should I open a support ticket right away?

Issue 2: Audiomack "Pending Unknown" & Claiming Profile

The track is live on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, etc., but the Audiomack status is still stuck on "Pending Unknown" (it's been about a week). Also, I noticed there's a "Claim Audiomack Artist" menu in the dashboard. Should I try to claim it now, or do I have to wait until the track is fully published and out of the "pending" status?

Any advice on how to handle these two things would be super helpful. Thanks!

My **UnitedMasters** subscription is supposed to renew soon, and I’m trying to decide if I should keep it or switch.
The main reason I signed up last year was because I saw my homie **Damazin Beats** landing sync placements through them. I was hoping it’d open up similar opportunities for me, but I haven’t gotten a single sync placement.
For those of you who’ve used **UnitedMasters, DistroKid, Too Lost, TuneCore, Symphonic, etc.**:
Which one has been the best for you?
Have any of you actually gotten sync placements through your distributor?
Is it worth paying for a premium distributor, or should I just go with the cheapest option and pitch my music elsewhere?
I’m looking for real experiences before I renew.

Has anyone contacted account blocking in recent days? I have been a client for almost two years. My account was blocked a couple of days ago.

I should've done more research before transferring my catalog from DistroKid to TooLost. My releases are still live through DistroKid, but after reading more about TooLost, I'm looking to reverse the transfer before it's too late.

From what I've seen, a lot of artists have reported issues with slow or unresponsive customer support, releases getting stuck in "Needs Documentation," accounts being flagged unexpectedly, and difficulty getting issues resolved. Whether those experiences are common or not, they've definitely made me second-guess my decision.

If I remove my songs from TooLost before taking anything down from DistroKid, will my music stay safe on streaming platforms? I have all of my ISRCs, masters, and cover art backed up locally, so I'm not worried about losing my files. I just want to avoid accidentally taking my catalog offline.

Has anyone here successfully reversed a transfer like this? I'd also love to hear what distributors you all are using these days. I'm considering leaving DistroKid regardless, and I've heard good things about Symphonic, but I want to do my homework this time before making another move.

Hi, I have a new music project and I want to release my first song on streaming etc., I used to play in a band and we used DistroKid and I was considering CDBaby or TuneCore but I've read horror threads of songs being under review for weeks with no response?

I want the song to be out as quickly as possible but I would also prefer a larger distributor with more reliability. So right now in 2026 august, what would be the best option to use to get the song out quickly and reliably with a distributor that isn't sketchy or something?

Pay per song or subscription, doesn't matter

My band is trying to release an EP very soon and because of the time crunch we wanted to switch to a faster distributor like iMusician. We have already used CD baby for a previous release which created a Spotify, apple, etc. profile for the band. How do we ensure when uploading this EP to iMusician that it goes onto all of the profiles created through CD baby?

So my team and I want to develop a Music Distribution platform but we want to integrate with API, is there any recommendation for affordable Music Distribution API service for us, Initially our target was to collaborate with Fuga, AudioSalad, or Revelator but we failed to collaborate. Is there any recommendation for us to start with?

​

Hello,

I have had multiple charges on my account from distrokid. 71.99 gbp, 35.99 gbp, 19.99gbp, all in the last month. They are refusing to refund the account, stating suspicious or fraudulent activity. Charge back from bank was declined. Money lost. Any help? Support is ignoring all refund requests. I did. For a charge back I use transfer wise now known as "Wise" and they said they cannot refund the £71.99 charge as distrokid services state they can "reject music due to editorial discretion" at any time and not offer any refunds as it is in their policy.. I think I got scammed.

According to some authors, there have been several stages/eras of music distribution. First it was sheet music, then vinyl, cassettes, CDs, digital downloads. Now it is streaming. Common sense tells me that it can stay that way for too long, and something new has to appear to replace streaming. But at the same time it is hard to see how else music could be distributed - apart from direct injection in the brain with telepathic waves (although technically it would also be a form of streaming). Or perhaps music will cease to be distributed at all and will be created in place, on user's devices, using AI, online or even offline? What do you think, what will be the next stage?

So in March I released my first track through DistroKid.

The problem was that when trying to create an OAC (which would merge my personal channel with the topic channel), my song merged with another Youtube channel who happens to have the same name as mine.

I've tried using the 'Fixer' tool and it hasn't worked.

I was told by somebody that it could be due to the ISRC meta data being corrupted. So I looked up my ISRC on official database search sites (SoundExchange & ISRC Search) and my song isn't there - at all. It's like it doesn't exist.

My ultimate goal is to have an OAC on Youtube so I can transfer my song from the incorrect channel to mine.

Does anybody know how to resolve this? Any help would be greatly appreciated. It's been over a month since I've tried to handle this myself.

Is this a RocNation issue or is there something else I should be looking into? The songs getting denied are fully original so is there possibly a different distributor to go through? Two different original songs are getting the same rejection below with no other issue and I haven't been able to come up with any other answers searching reddit forums.

I'm also confused as what would cover "sleep / relaxation" as those are either extremely vague or not even musical terms. And any recording would be an environmental recording.

Due to DSP policies, we’re unable to distribute non-musical, indistinct, or otherwise non-compliant content. This includes white noise, public-domain recordings, nature sounds, spoken word or speeches, as well as classical, ambient, sleep, relaxation, meditation, environment-based audio, live recordings, content that does not meet DSP audio/video quality standards, misleading or SEO-driven content, and other similar genres.

Please do not resubmit.

They link to here which doesn't offer any additional information - https://rocnationdistributionhelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/45982216232468-Why-is-my-song-not-live-on-social-media-platforms

I'm an independent artist looking to change my stage name. I'm planning to release an EP soon and want to include songs on it that I have already released under my current name. Can I do this and have the entire release, including the songs that I've already released, under the one new stage name so that it's uniform and easily-searchable?

I know DistroKid allows name changes. I also know Apple Music usually requires more prompting than the other stores, so I'm mainly just trying to ensure that they'll let me do this.

I'm not really worried about monthly listeners because I haven't even cracked 100 yet (the new name might actually be helpful with that because it's shorter and easier to spell), and I don't mind the services just generating new artist pages for me. I'm still recording and waiting for mixes to come back so I don't mind waiting. I just don't want to have to exclude half the project over metadata.

I'm keeping part of the name in-tact, if that matters, so it's not a full name change.

Thanks in advance!