How to Distribute Your Music (Get on Spotify, Apple Music, and Everywhere Else)

You finished the song. It's mixed, it's mastered, it sounds like a real record. Then you open Spotify to upload it and there's no upload button — because artists can't put music on Spotify directly. That's the wall almost every independent musician hits the first time, and the thing on the other side of it is called distribution. It's not complicated, but it has a few moving parts and a couple of traps worth naming before you hand over your first track.

Here's what a distributor actually does, how to choose one without overpaying, what you need ready before you deliver, and the mistakes that quietly cost artists money and momentum.

What a Distributor Actually Does

Streaming platforms don't accept music from individuals. They only take deliveries from approved distributors, which act as the pipe between your finished file and every store at once.

• Delivery. You upload your track, art, and metadata once, and the distributor pushes it to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, Deezer, and a long tail of other stores — you don't deal with each platform separately.
• Royalty collection and payout. As your song gets streamed and sold, the distributor collects the money the platforms owe you and pays it into your account, usually monthly.
• Your Spotify for Artists access. Once the distributor delivers your track, it unlocks your artist dashboard — which is what lets you pitch editorial playlists and see your stats.

A distributor is a delivery service, not a label. It doesn't sign you, it doesn't own your music, and it doesn't market you. That's the right mental model: you're renting a pipe, not giving anyone your record.

How to Choose a Distributor

The big names — DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, Amuse, Ditto — all get your music to the same platforms. The real difference is how they charge you, and that maps directly to how often you release.

• Flat annual subscription. Pay one yearly fee, upload as many songs as you want, keep 100% of your royalties. This wins if you release regularly — the cost per song drops the more you put out.
• Per-release pricing. Pay a one-time fee each time you put out a single or album, and keep your royalties. This can be cheaper if you only release once in a while, but it adds up fast if you're active.
• Free tiers. A few distributors deliver for free and take a cut of your royalties instead, or deliver more slowly. Fine for a first one-off release with zero budget; less good long-term if you plan to build a catalog.

Two things to check no matter which you pick: that you keep full ownership of your masters and publishing, and how the service handles it if you ever leave (you want your music to stay up, or come down cleanly, without losing your streaming numbers). Walk away from anything that wants a percentage of your songwriting or a claim on your recordings. That's a label deal wearing a distributor costume.

Get These Ready Before You Deliver

A distributor ships exactly what you give it — so anything wrong in your files goes out to every platform at once. Have all of this correct before you hit deliver:

• A mastered audio file. Usually a high-quality WAV. If your track isn't mastered, that's a step to finish first, not something distribution fixes. A weak master sounds weak everywhere.
• Cover art at spec. Typically 3000x3000 pixels, square, RGB — with no web addresses, no social handles, and nothing that looks like an ad. Platforms reject art that breaks these rules.
• Clean metadata. Exact artist name (spelled and capitalized the way you want it everywhere), song title, any featured artists, and your songwriter and producer credits. This is what shows up under your name forever, so get it right the first time.
• A release date with a buffer. Set it two to four weeks out and deliver now. That window is what lets you pitch editorial and plan the rollout instead of scrambling.

Singles, EPs, and Release Strategy

Once you can distribute anything, the question becomes what to release and when. For most independent artists building from zero, a steady drip of singles beats hoarding a finished EP.

• Every single is a new shot. A fresh release date means a fresh editorial pitch, a fresh reason to show up to your audience, and another data point telling the platforms you're active.
• Consistency compounds. Releasing on a regular cadence keeps you in front of listeners and the algorithmic playlists that reward recent activity. Five singles across a year usually outperforms one EP dropped in silence.
• Bundle later if it fits. You can always collect your singles into an EP or album down the line. Save the full-project release for work that only makes sense heard as a whole — and even then, lead with a single.

The Mistakes That Cost Artists Money

Distribution is simple, but a handful of avoidable errors show up over and over:

• Uploading the night before. No buffer means no editorial pitch and a rushed rollout. Deliver weeks ahead.
• Distributing an unfinished track. A distributor is the last step, not a mixing or mastering service. If the record isn't done, finish it first.
• Sloppy metadata. A typo'd artist name or a missing songwriter credit can split your streams across duplicate profiles and cost you royalties and publishing money.
• Signing away rights for "distribution." Any deal that takes a slice of your publishing or your masters isn't distribution. Read the terms.

Distribution Ships the Record — People Make It Land

Getting your song onto every platform is the easy, mechanical part. Making sure the song is worth shipping — and that there are people ready to hear it — is the part that actually decides how a release goes. That's where Bandry fits around distribution.

Before you deliver, Bandry helps you find the collaborators who get the track finished: a mixing engineer, a mastering engineer, a producer, or a co-writer. Post a seeking or offering listing on the bulletin — local roles are matched to your radius, remote roles like mixing and mastering reach everyone — tap 🔥 to endorse work you rate, and tap 🔗 to send your contact info straight to the person you want to work with. There's no messaging middleman and no swiping; the link-up is the introduction.

Browsing Bandry is free. Posting and linking up run on a subscription — $12.99 a month or $129.99 a year, with a 14-day free trial. Get the record right, distribute it clean, then pair this with the first-single playbook and the Spotify playlist guide so your release lands instead of just going live.