My original video about DistroKid is one of my most watched videos, ever . Thank
you all for the positive comments - I'm so glad that you found it helpful. You had
some great questions as well! So today I'm answering 20 questions about
DistroKid. The stuff I didn't cover in that video, but so many of you asked. If
you haven't watched that video about DistroKid - check it out first because
I cover all the basic information like what district it is how it works, the
different plans, how you get paid... By the way the information in this video is NOT
LEGAL ADVICE. I always encourage you to do your own research and get a lawyer if
you need real legal advice. If you're new around here I'm Sanjay C. And I have
tons of videos about music production and gear reviews on my channel. Consider
subscribing if you haven't already. I'll be sure to make it worth your click. All
right! The first question is probably the most popular one. You asked, if I release
a song on Spotify through DistroKid is it automatically protected from
copyright infringement. It's not the releasing of the song on Spotify that
protects you, it's the actual creation of the music. U.S. copyright law protects
your music when it's created for the first time by you. So yes, you are
protected as soon as you create music. Still formally applying for a copyright
will give you some extra protection. I'll add a link in the description to read
more about it. Alright number two, I don't live in the U.S. how can DistroKid
help me collect royalties? You can upload a DistroKid from wherever you live
and it'll be available wherever those platforms stream. For example if Spotify
is available in your country uploaded through DistroKid and it'll be
available to your friends and listeners in your country on Spotify and
everywhere else! Number three, do I need to register my music with BMI or ASCAP?
What happens if I don't? BMI and ASCAP are organizations that
help musicians get paid for the performance of their music in public
places like bars and clubs malls coffee shops. You don't have to register your
music with them but they do offer some other nice services. ASCAP only charges a
one-time $50 fee so it's worth checking it out. All right next question,
which should come first? My DistroKid account or my Spotify Artist account?
What's the best way to do it? Okay if you don't have an existing Artist page on
Spotify the DistroKid service will create one during your first upload. If
you already have a Spotify Artist account, you can connect to it during
that upload process. Boom! Well that was easy. Next up, what if someone else does a
cover of my song and uploads it through DistroKid, then how can I claim copyright
infringement? Alright, if someone has uploaded your song without your
permission you can reach out to each store like Spotify with a DMCA takedown
request. You might need to Google around for each stores process for that it's
different for different stores. Alright does DistroKid own the rights to my
music in any way legally? No. DistroKid does not claim rights to any of your
uploads. You may see some people claim that 'hey DistroKid is stealing my song
rights'. Honestly, I don't even know how this would be legally possible, it just
doesn't make sense. They're not taking your rights away. Next! We have a few
questions about your songs and YouTube. When DistroKid uploads my song to
YouTube... where does it go? YouTube will decide which channel your music goes
into. I found that they actually place my song under a topic called "Sanjay C" a topic.
Artists are automatically assigned a topic page. This happens for everyone
including "Drake" (You know, the Rapper!). The topic page has content that's available in YouTube's
music app and their streaming service. But if you already have a YouTube
channel you can associate your channel to your DistroKid account. I'll put a
link in the description with instructions on how to do that. Next, so
what if I've already posted my songs on YouTube
do I need to delete them? Okay so you don't need to delete them. When you
upload to Google Play your songs are also added to YouTube as
an Artist track which shows your album art as the video with your music playing. You
can still upload your own music video for your song. In fact most major Artists
upload via a service like DistroKid to get an art track onto YouTube. And
separately upload a music video directly to YouTube. Okay more about YouTube. If I
already posted my song on YouTube and then DistroKid does the same, can I
still monetize my video? Good question. You can still monetize your own videos
now if you've opted into DistroKid's YouTube money service which adds your
music to YouTube's Content ID system, it checks all over YouTube for videos that
may be using your music then collects ad revenue for you. And if it finds your
upload you may see claims from Audiam or Interstreet Recordings. But you
can safely just ignore those claims DistroKid will collect the AD revenue
and send it back to you anyway. Hey if you're finding this information
useful hit the like button and if you haven't joined DistroKid yet you can
use the link in the description to get a discount to sign up - it's an affiliate
link and you can create one as well to pass on a discount to your friends and
make a little money for yourself. Unless you want DistroKid to keep all the
cash - get paid people! Spotify isn't available in my country will DistroKid
still upload the song for me and get my Spotify account created and
verified? Yes they will. You don't need to have Spotify in your country to earn
money from your music on it - can't be that. What's the benefit of using
DistroKid over Amuse or Tunecore? from what I've seen so far the main
benefits of using DistroKid is that it's cheaper than most other services,
but you have to do your own research on that. Some services offer some benefits
that others don't and some service fee methods may make better sense for you.
Okay I found my song available on Instagram in the US and UK but not in my
own home country. What happened? Okay most uploads appear worldwide in every
country that the different stores or streaming services support. Some releases
may not be distributed to all countries or even they may be removed based on
language explicit, content licensing and other various issues. I guess it's gonna
be kind of hard to figure out what happened - every country's laws are
different and the way streaming services work in different countries may be
different too. Next question, does DistroKid process royalties
in all countries? Okay in whatever country a store or streaming service
operates in DistroKid will collect the royalties for you and you get to
keep all those earnings. It's a nice thing about DistroKid. Okay I like this
one. What about cover songs? Can I upload them? Yes. You can upload cover songs and
DistroKid will charge you twelve dollars ($12) a year for that song to manage
the license. It's to pay the original songwriter... check out the link in the
description for these specifics. But yeah, you can upload cover songs. Next question.
I've already released the song through Level Music or CD Baby or whatever - how
do I transfer them to DistroKid? The simple answer is to upload the song to
DistroKid first and then go back to your old distributor and remove them
from there. If you use the exact same metadata like song titles album titles
ISRC code the stores specifically Spotify will ensure that you don't lose
play accounts for the playlist that your song is on. By the way that ISRC code
I mentioned just now that's an international code that identifies your
song. You can find your ISRC code in DistroKid on your song page. Next
question can I downgrade from DistroKid Musician Plus Plan to the cheaper
musician plan. Alright right now the only way to downgrade your plan is to delete
your songs and albums, cancel your account and then create a new account
with the lower plan using a new email address. That kind of sucks... but that's
what you got. All right, how can I change the DistroKid ISRC to my personal
ISRC? All right we're back to the ISRC code. To use your own ISRC you will need
the Musician Plus Plan or the label plan on DistroKid then you can use your own
ISRC when uploading. Certain things like audio files,
track listing, genre, language, cannot be changed via a metadata update. To change
them we'll need to delete and re-upload a corrected version. Next question, I
uploaded a song a few weeks ago and it's still not on Spotify - what happened? So it
can take up to a week for albums to be reviewed, approved
and then sent to stores. For some people it's been a day or so, like it was for
my song, and for some even two weeks to get approved. That's why I recommended
setting up and scheduling your song release date two weeks ahead in that
previous video. You'll need the Musician Plus plan to set a custom release date.
The delay could be all sorts of things. Some services like Pandora took a long
time to post my song. When Spotify just took a couple days. Oh
for more information about the time it takes to release two stores you can
check a link I'll put in the description. Okay I have 30 songs and lots of plays
and only 80 cents in earnings... what gives? Well first of all Congratulations! On
lots of plays. Keep in mind that sales reports and payments are available to
you based on when DistroKid receives them from those stores. It generally
takes a few months for stores to report any earnings. But some stores do report
less frequently- like maybe quarterly. I saw other comments from people who are
just saying they're not getting plays or earnings for their songs. You have to
promote your own music. You've got to be your own PR team and promote your songs!
Far and wide. As much as you can so you can reach listeners. Don't just let your
music sit there. Share it and keep sharing. And keep creating! Alright
last question. If I stop paying my yearly fee to DistroKid are my songs
permanently deleted from platforms along with the number of plays they've got? Yes.
But there's a way to protect it. You see, you're paying for a service! So if you'll
stopped paying... then of course, once you cancel your subscription the takedown
requests are submitted to stores. But don't forget DistroKid also has this
"Leave a Legacy" feature which costs extra per song or album. But you can rest
assured that your song or album will not be taken down if you stop paying the
yearly fee. I think this is a great option if a song or album of yours is
doing really really well. Protect it! And you can do this at any
time even if your song is already uploaded. There you have it! 20 questions
answered about DistroKid. If you found this information useful, hit the LIKE
button and if you have any other questions leave them in the comments
below. Maybe I'll do another video like this. Don't wait to get your music out
there. No matter what service you use, finish a song- upload it and move on.
That's the best way to keep improving your craft.
Keep Making The Music YOU Love and check out one of these videos next!