Are you wondering about whether to choose DistroKid or SoundCloud for Artists as your music distributor? Then you’ve arrived in the right place.
I’ve used both of these popular music distribution platforms to release music myself personally, and in this article, I’m going to discuss what I learnt from using them both, and also reveal my preferred option.
After having initially used SoundCloud for Artists as my distributor for all of my releases as an independent electronic music artist, I made the decision to move all of my music to DistroKid last year.
This article is not sponsored, but if you click the links to DistroKid on this page and make a purchase, I will earn a small affiliate commission, which helps to support my work as an independent music producer.
There are a few reasons why I chose to switch to DistroKid, all of which I’m going to cover in this article, but if you’re wondering which distributor I’m using right now, the answer is DistroKid. And if you’re interested in joining DistroKid, you can get a 7% discount off your first year of membership if you use the button below to sign up.
My experience with SoundCloud for Artists
When I first started producing and releasing electronic music in early 2022, I opted to use SoundCloud for Artists as my distributor.
The main reasons for this were ease and simplicity. I already had a SoundCloud account (where I was posting my music and sharing it with others), so it made logical sense to use SoundCloud for Artists (which was previously known as the Repost Network) when I decided to start releasing music to streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music.
It was easy, fast and the price was a simple yearly fee, and SoundCloud has a long track history when it comes to distributing digital music.
I think I distributed about 10 songs through SoundCloud for Artists in total, and I have to say that my experience was overall very positive. I had no major problems using their platform and all of my releases were distributed to music stores quickly and as planned.
The SoundCloud for Artists distribution system is easy to use and it only takes a few minutes to prepare a release for distribution to Spotify and beyond.
SoundCloud for Artists also has some other great benefits, such as optional distribution of your music to the YouTube Content ID system (which you have to pay extra for with some other distributors).
However, after having done a bit more research into other music distributors in 2024, I made the decision to switch to DistroKid — and I’ll explain why.
Why I chose to switch to DistroKid
As I mentioned above, I made the decision to join DistroKid (and move all of my existing releases to DistroKid) in 2024, for a number of reasons. Here is a summary of why:
• DistroKid lets you keep 100% of your royalty earnings — It was something of a surprise to me when I found out that SoundCloud for Artists takes a 20% cut of your royalty earnings. This means that you will only receive 80% of your total royalty earnings from streaming platforms such as Spotify or Apple Music if you distribute your music through SoundCloud for Artists.
One of the major plus-points of DistroKid, in my opinion, is that it allows you to keep 100% of your royalty earnings from all streaming platforms. Of course, there are other pros and cons to DistroKid, which I cover in a separate article, but the fact that you keep 100% of your earnings is great.
• Additional features, such as distribution to Beatport — As I produce electronic and house music, I quickly learnt the importance of getting my music onto Beatport. However, when I used SoundCloud for Artists, they do not have an option to distribute your music to Beatport. This is still the case as far as I can tell.
So, if you want your music on Beatport, you won’t be able to do this through SoundCloud for Artists, which is a big drawback in my opinion. DistroKid offers distribution to Beatport (for an additional monthly fee), so this was another major reason why I chose to switch to DistroKid.
• Popularity and Track History — DistroKid are known as one of the most popular and biggest music distributors in the world. Of course, they’re not perfect, but the fact that they are so widely used helped to convince me to join them.
My experience with DistroKid
I chose to use DistroKid as my distributor in 2024 and have used them for all of my releases since then. Overall, I’ve been really happy with how it’s gone.
Not only am I able to get my music on Beatport, which I wasn’t able to previously, but their platform is incredibly easy to use and really really fast at getting my music into streaming services. It usually takes only a couple of days for my future releases to show up in my Spotify for Artists account.
I personally pay for the DistroKid Ultimate plan, which gives me all of the specific features I want such as custom label names in streaming stores, plus other features such as customisable pricing on iTunes and more.
I really like how the DistroKid platform is set up and makes it really easy to get your releases set up and sent to stores. It’s also really easy to make minor edits to your releases using their platform, for example changing your album artwork.
Overall, I really love using DistroKid and can honestly highly recommend them as a great distributor.
Is there anything else to consider?
If you’re thinking of moving your existing releases to DistroKid from SoundCloud for Artists or another distributor, be sure to carefully read the terms and conditions and distribution agreement before doing so, as every distributor has different legal agreements. If you’re in doubt about how the switch would work, reach out to your existing distributor and ask them for clarification before proceeding.
Wrapping up – Conclusion and final thoughts
I hope you’ve found this comparison article useful. As you’ve probably already guessed, I really love DistroKid and definitely recommend them as my preferred distributor at the moment.
That being said, SoundCloud is a good distributor and I really didn’t have any major problems with their platform, I really just wanted some extra features which DistroKid were able to provide.
As mentioned above, if you want to join DistroKid, you can get a discount off your first year of membership when you sign up using the button below.