The music industry is changing whether we like it or not, and we as musicians and producers must change to maintain our quality of life. The world of selling cd’s has ended and we are in an era of streaming and selling digital downloads. This means we need ways to monetize the different platforms and distrokid is my absolute favorite option. Let’s see how to upload music using the distrokids platform.

1.) Log in to Distrokid

Navigate to distrokid via the website listed in the resource box. Please log in and you will be redirected to the control panel after registering. Upon reaching the dashboard, you will see your catalog made up of singles and albums. If there is a green box then the track is active, if it is yellow then it is pending, and if the box is red then there is a problem. If you don’t have anything in your list, then this is the first time you’ve uploaded, and move on to step 2.

2.) Click Upload

Click upload on the top left navigation bar and this will take you to the upload page. Uploading is simple and all you need is a unique album cover and your song file. Don’t skimp on album art as it needs to be unique, you can’t have multiple songs with the same album art as it confuses streaming distributors and you risk losing your investment.

3.) Profit

Now you need to market your music to make money for people who buy your track and also streams. If your songs have streams, then you are owed royalties and make sure you get them. All money is sent to your bank on distrokid and there are reports that break down where every penny comes from.

One of the best features of distrokid is found in the top menu bar and is the teams feature. The team feature allows the artist to split tracks based on percentage with whichever artist is involved in the song writing process. This is huge if you’re an artist and want to control feature splits or collaborators.

This platform is set up for independent artists to operate as a label by giving them the functionality of teams. There are different levels, and if you think outside the box, you could make a living from streaming or collaborations. Overall, distrokid is my favorite platform for distributing music and it will surely be around for many years to come.