DistroKid - 20 Questions ANSWERED! Copyrights, Cover Songs, Royalties, Spotify, Global Earnings...

[@u-kugroove5079]

Because of your first Distrokid video, I used them to distribute my songs. Now I wake up and look to see my music being played in countries all over the world. Yesterday was South Africa. How cool is that? Thanks for your continued help to music producers with your research and videos!

[@SanjayC]

That’s sooo cool! Happy to hear you are having success with your music. Much love! Keep it coming!

[@nikolaivasilev7371]

@@SanjayC how does it feel being a scammer? Yes,everyone get a lawyer.Consider that you are doing business with a company WITHOUT a real address ! Consider that they give zero of the company info on business.Consider that dozens of musicians were scammer for 1/3 of the money outside of US,despite tax lawyers saying it is not legal...and then Distrokid sending only generic letters to them and refusing to get in touch with these people. Research this company and avoid this kind of scammers....Sanjay,hope you get cancer

[@nikolaivasilev7371]

@@SurfyStories they took big part of money of many of those that use it,by saying their country has extra tax and not providing any link or info on it.They cheated out many out of their money. They also make bot accounts to promote their company,often citing same bullcrap,not even trying to change it. Hope they go bancrupt,including those few youtubers that get payed to promote them.

[@BackyardRonin]

@@nikolaivasilev7371 hey mahn just wondering if you had any suggestions other then distrokid. I live outside of the U.S and i don't really want to deal with getting scammed

[@embodie_breaks7089]

@@BackyardRonin also wondering.

[@AlexanDroMusicTv]

Thank you so much for educating us independent warriors working on our music to be heard out there. Thanks coach

[@SanjayC]

You're very welcome. Glad you found this useful!

[@SanjayC]

📣 Do you have more questions? Ask them here!

[@SanjayC]

@JW Productions, yes, I'm going to plan that video. May take some time.

[@1neeraj9]

Hey Sanjay, thanks for the video. Very informative. Lots of love from India. Just wanted to ask a few things. I am a guitar player. I am planning to make a few instrumental covers before I can upload some original content on YT and Streaming apps via Distrokid. And to be popular on KZbin itself, I need to upload on a regular basis. So if say upload 1 cover song instrumental per week, I will have 48 songs. Now I have a to pay 48x12= 576 dollars per year! That's insane right? I do want to upload original stuff, but hoe do I get my channel a subscriber base before?

[@peralta229]

I've always had many questions about distrokid sir and you've solved them all sir so thank you so much for that sir.😁😃😀🎹😊😄

[@SanjayC]

@moojic boi - Posting cover songs on DistroKid will be expensive, yes. I suggest posting them for free on KZbin and Soundcloud only. And try to build an audience like that. Building an audience takes time, so its probably a better idea to build it first on KZbin and then once you have a good following, then you can tell them that they can listen on Spotify, and slowly start uploading through DistroKid.

[@SanjayC]

@focus gamin yt: So happy to hear that!

[@m_aminoracousticmusic6312]

He definitely has the most comforting and polite way to pursue people to subscribe to his channel 👍🏽👍🏽🙏🏼

[@SanjayC]

Thank you 🙏🏼

[@chandrakantjadhav6774]

🙏🙏iooiiii

[@chinkwengelwanda4313]

yeah. I was gonna subscribe eitherway, but his voice and politeness got me too

[@LaizaMarah]

555@@SanjayC5 5555555555555555575555555555555555

[@SanjayC]

Educate yourself on taxes and your earnings from any distributer. If you're an artist outside the US, talk to an accountant or a legal professional about US tax withholdings. Additional information on tax withholdings and DistroKid can be found here distrokid.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360044282254-How-to-claim-tax-treaty-benefits-if-applicable-to-you-

[@Eli-jk7bk]

Please watch this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/i4ucgWtmjbV8jbs and clarify your viewers

[@varunnarayanan3477]

THANK YOU SO MUCH! I ASKED FOR THIS SO RECENTLY AND YOU ROLLED IT OUT SO FAST. AMAZING!!

[@SanjayC]

I’m here for you bro!

[@joshuaamontanezlaboy935]

Man you got right to the point, you talk about what we really need to hear and know

[@SanjayC]

Thanks for noticing that :-)

[@prod.bongoat3802]

I believe that the ISRC code you get for any song you distribute, belongs to your name (you also have to enter your actual name). That also ensures people know you have the copyright.

[@SanjayC]

Good tips!

[@WasabiNoise]

There is one little "issue" with KZbin Money. If you upload your songs and select genres like Hip-Hop or Electronic Music, the "KZbin Money" option will disappear. But if you select other genres, like pop, DistroKid will additionally ask you if all the sounds in your song are completely original. In other words, if you use ANY sound, or ANY instrument, or ANY loops, in GarageBand, Ableton Live, totally legal loops downloaded from Stripe, or whatever other services, you CANNOT select "KZbin Money". This, I believe, is a problem created by KZbin, where they had too many songs wrongfully claimed by their automatic service because a lot of people use the same loops to create their songs. Even Justin Bieber had issues over a loop he used from Splice lol. There's a lot of controversy in this because I could create Electronic Music without using any loops or sounds and yet DistroKid doesn't show that option as soon as you select Electronic Music or Hip Hop.

[@TreSoona]

WasabiNoise there ain’t no way around this if you’ve already submitted but want KZbin Money for video I’ve posted already?

[@WasabiNoise]

Tre Soona I’ve just seen this reply, no idea how to change this latter. If you used completely original sounds you could try contacting them? Maybe they can enable that.

[@StreetDiscipletheGOAT913]

Happened to me with my song goat it got claimed Bc me and someone used the same beat and I disputed the claim

[@BobMaulucci]

I hesitated to check the KZbin tracking box when I used GetGood Drums for my songs. Are midi grooves like those in Kontakt or things like Slate Drums going to trigger this issue? Should I not have worried about it?

[@adityabhardwajverse]

Distrokid Cd Baby or Tunecore? The best?

[@machduel]

If you're only starting out, I'd say distrokid over tunecore. CDbaby had so many negative things surrounding it that I ruled it our early. Tunecore can work if you're only putting out a little bit of music. If you're looking to release weekly or monthly and really build up a catalog but don't have tens of thousands of streams to make the money back, then tunecore with the $10 per song per year will get very expensive. I'd say start off on distrokid just to get an unlimited amount of songs out for only $20 a year, then once you create a buzz and have a significant amount of streams then I'd say move to tunecore to make sure you get all of your royalties. Tunecore covers more areas of royalty collection, so it will get you the most money from your music as long as you have enough streams to sustain the $10 per song per year fees. If you don't then my advice is to go with distrokid.

[@rakeshrainmusic]

That's a serious pack of helpful information in the right time needed. Thanks Sanjay and Dharti.

[@SanjayC]

Hey, Rakesh, buddy! Nice to hear from you!

[@livebhajancollections]

hi if i upload music on destrokid will i get any copyright strike .. if yes then how to remove it..

[@PiddeBas]

No, why would you?

[@keironlaer]

You'll only get copyright strikes if it's not your music and someone else already owns the copyright

[@aldo6532]

You cannot upload remixes to DK. If you make original music you’ve got nothing to worry about

[@laurenblainebamartistmgt]

Effron White gets copyright strikes sometimes on live videos when he performs his own music. CD Baby is looking out for his copyrights and their system automatically tags songs written by him that aren't the official release from one of his 4 CDs. There's a link next to the notification of the copyright strike that tells you how to contest the strike. Just fill in that form they have. Hope that helps.

[@CEOCODI]

@@aldo6532 aye I be rapping of free beats but I distribute to distro kid would I get copy right

[@sircraftguymusic]

this guys videos are so well made. thank you for all of this content im starting my music journey soon and you have helped me a lot :)

[@SanjayC]

So happy to hear that. Thank you!

[@PianoTutorialEasy]

Hi, you really helped me with your informative videos, thank you!

[@SanjayC]

So glad to hear that...and good luck with your channel!

[@Lasrymusic]

This video is literally the best distribution video for independent artists

[@wise1beats]

You're the GOAT, Sanjay thx for giving the community knowledge!

[@SanjayC]

🙏🏼🙏🏼 thanks Wise One

[@damelos4039]

You may not be a lawyer but that was all GREAT information....and it was free. No legal fees! Thanks.

[@SanjayC]

Haha. That’s true. Thanks 🙏🏼

[@lo-fillama]

i love your gear and colors and vibe of your setup

[@SanjayC]

Thanks so much!

[@TheDancingBalladeer]

You've been a Big help to me Sanjay :-) All questions were answered carefully and accurately. There are many videos explaining different points about DistroKid but yours is what I found with sincerity and without bias. Thank you Sanjay C. 🙂

[@ericaguilarofficial]

Thank you so much Sanjay C! That cleared things out for me, I just uploaded my single to distrokid then availed their service for "Content ID", but now, I am uploading my OWN created video for an Official Audio of my song. And you're correct about the "Interstreet Recordings" who is claiming my OWN song! I got confused for a while on what to do, but thanks to you, it's not that hard to think eventually! hahaha! Thank you!

[@daniwinarta2246]

Thank god I'm elite notification squad lol

[@SanjayC]

Dani bringing the Eliteness!

[@chikku3351]

If we distribute music through Distrokid which takes 1400/- gives Official artist channel permanently ? or should we pay for every particular time?

[@lachlanrussell18]

Despite all the problems I’ve had with distrokid, it’s still the best service for this. If I was a millionaire, I’d probably go with something that’s a one time fee option over a subscription service, but for the smaller artist? It is *the* service

[@SanjayC]

Yeah, I think this is a good way to go especially as you are building an audience slowly and finding what songs/albums do well.

[@ShannonMarie_aguafiestasvlogs]

Great video. Thank you!

[@BlueFlame_l.o.g]

Sanjay Thank You brother! Excellent videos! 👍🌟🙏

[@SanjayC]

My pleasure

[@dmarvanofficial6220]

Hey Sanjay, Thank you for this valuable information. It's time to grow! 2020 gonna be an amazing year for my music!

[@SanjayC]

Love hearing that, man! Keep it up!! I'm routing for you

[@Pianistec]

A question nobody ever answered (PLZ HELP): Can I delete the Cover license by just deleting the cover-song??

[@MoiseArchipe]

Thanks for the informations! You really covered all my questions!

[@SanjayC]

Awesome!! So happy to hear that

[@jacobchiang]

Thank you sir, very helpful information!

[@pfonixz]

Thx so much I love your videos keep doing this.. 🚀

[@SanjayC]

Thanks, Phoniex!

[@LouisRazonMusic]

Thank You for this video Sir 🙏👍 I register and started my distrokid just today using your affiliate link.

[@SanjayC]

Thank you

[@MagnumVideos]

Subscribed. This was a very informative video. Thanks for sharing all that info.

[@iamshiv21]

Make the music you love

[@SanjayC]

MTMYL, Shivam!

[@atrhsdfl867]

@@desithugsrecords sounds like, and i'm guessing here,,, you uploaded a cover song? cover songs they charge you $12.00 each cover song then everyone with yearly plans pays a $1.80 something for each release so its adding up to a cover song for you lol.. also watch what options you choose for your release, there are extras fees for special features like music ids/detection and stuff.... it does say "13.89 for the optional album extras" keywords " optional EXTRAS"

[@homemusicstudio7604]

My first payment came on 10th November but till now the next payment has not come. One month is complete. Can you tell on what date the payment comes? please help

[@ashleyemmashepherd3617]

I just recently joined distro kid and have already released a few songs, but I still have a few questions. In regards to your comment about uploading your music videos straight to your channel rather than through distro kid, is this the same for lyric videos? Can I make a lyric video and upload it straight to my artist channel? Do I need to mention distracted in the description, do I need to add anything else?

[@kingjangad]

@Sanjay C , I have a question... I have a label plan... I do have my own artist profile , and I already my SPOTIFY for artist, now my question is, I have another artist, how can I create a SPOTIFY for artist ( for her) so she can monitor her account/artist profile..Thanks

[@RicoSantino]

i got a question so when i uploaded my song "the art track" i click it, it then goes to my music video how do i set that up for all my songs that got videos been digging have n0t got any help

[@raisonjohn9668]

Been lil late..... luv frm india 🇮🇳

[@SanjayC]

Much love 🇮🇳

[@Onzay]

Hi, I had published some songs on distrokid and I had also put the youtube option, initially they were on the theme channel then I moved them to mine, now I have removed them from the other stores but on youtube they have not been deleted, you could tell me how I could do to delete them thanks.

[@belle1488]

Brilliant job my friend. Concise, well said, and super informative.

[@Phober]

Hi sanjay yesterday i just start on distrokid but accidently i saw people on youtube making videos said that distrokid will banned your account with no reason ..and i am affraid what should i do? Because i am a rapper that used free for profit type beat and wanna release my songs but i am affraid that i will get banned from distrokid..can you give me some tips or advice?

[@SanjayC]

You should be OK to upload to DistroKid. Make sure you keep a record of what you downloaded and the site so that you can prove that it is royalty free.

[@Phober]

@@SanjayC thankyou man..yeah i just upload my song just now and everything works fine

[@siddharthst2712]

Thanks for this video , notification squad !!

[@SanjayC]

Noti Squad is here! King of the Bell icon!

[@siddharthst2712]

@@SanjayC also like the new format of news + new content every week

[@SanjayC]

Thanks, Siddharth!

[@PStoner]

Yo Sanjay C I stuck with the information bro can you help me? The Distrokid ask the payment method I chose Paypal and then they ask the Tax Forms it’s have W-8BEN , W-8BEN-E & W9 what should I choose? I don’t know much about the Taxes p.s. I lived in Thailand bro 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@therealjuss_]

I have a question. I purchased a lease for a beat on KZbin that is still currently on KZbin. Can I still upload my song to the KZbin Money portion on Distrokid? It asks the questions of whether this content or any sounds like the song are also on KZbin. With the beat still being on KZbin I don't want to check the box and possibly have my account banned or song removed.

[@BTRFLY]

I doubt you will get banned, but I don't think you are eligible to check "the mark" if your track has audio files which are already used in other songs. You can still upload it, but you might not receive the ad revenue from youtube.

[@therealjuss_]

@@BTRFLY Thanks man!

[@xochiya]

Wait so about the cover songs and the leave a legacy feature. If I do the leave a legacy so I won’t have to pay anymore for that song. Do I still have to pay $12 every year since it’s a cover? Or how does that work?

[@d.o.nmuzic3802]

One thing left out of this video is: When you’re in the distrokid site, when you select hiphop or edm as your category, the KZbin monetizing option goes away.

[@SanjayC]

That's weird. i didn't know it did that

[@DesireeD]

Really useful, thanks Sanjay!

[@PeMeYo]

Man, A Thousand Suns is such a great album🔥

[@michaelfoy6831]

Man thank you so much, your content is straight to the point and inspiring! Subscribed instantly you have really helped me so far 🙏🏻

[@milesparadise5598]

Appreciate you taking the time to explain that you ain’t like these other fools you explain 🤔 things in a manner everyone can understand excellent job I’m 👏 clapping for you good job 👏

[@bond773]

As always Sanjay making great videos! Thanks!!!

[@christopherkenny8597]

Thank you for all the videos Sanjay!! They're super helpful, and I could've missed a lot of plugins if it weren't for those freebie updates! hehe. I was wondering if distrokid will stop monetizing our artist-topic account if we were to create an official youtube artist account? Thank you again for all the help you've given to us musicians!

[@leswhite3524]

BMI affiliation is free for songwriters. At least it was when I joined. There was a small fee when I joined ASCAP as a publisher. That's the most affordable way to gain affiliation.

[@dhanu0002001]

I have released my song through Distrokid to KZbin . Contend ID identified in my release but few other people have uploaded my video in their channel . It’s not still identified copyright claim endorsement on their video. Do you have any idea ?

[@sontwisted]

Audiam may have stopped representig your music for content id what kind of music do you make

[@mathieumoes]

With the cover licence through Distrokid, will the cover song only be available in the US or also in Europe ? Thanks !

[@rajeevmusic]

6:48 Im from India, could you show how to collect royalties? There are many payment methods which confuses me a lot! I wanna choose the best payment method that can give you the best royalties.

[@kenedward]

thank you for this!

[@pikaspectrum]

What if I get a Official Artist Channel badge on KZbin via distrokid and do not continue to pay for the next year, would my badge be removed?

[@Mindspiritrelaxationwithmusic]

Attention: Using content id on distrokid will block your streaming with your own music on. This is very annoying and penalizing the KZbin channel. I cant believe how is possible that Distrokid didnt consider a issue like this.

[@lflynn82]

As always very informative thank you Sanjey I appreciate your videos

[@MagnumVideos]

I'm curious as to where the 99 cent fee comes from and goes to. (That's the fee you pick on the upload form.)

[@franciscomoralesmusic]

How can I tell KZbin I own my music? I am getting KZbin copyright claim when I upload my own video clips with music which has been previously posted in distrokid or Spotify by me 🤔

[@666aw]

hey bro i have more than 5 million views and $600 in profits, but I woke up to find that all my music had been deleted and all my money had been withdrawn. Is there a way to recover it? ( Mostly copyright)

[@JanMetternich]

Good video. I got my new Royalties a few days ago. For some reason Distrokid only payed me out for like a quarter of the streams for September. Last month it was the same and I thought I’ll get the rest this month but I got even less. That’s quite frustrating because I got a lot streams last month with Spotify algorithm playlists. Hope you can help me ✌🏻

[@leotheproducer6456]

I have a track dropping the 26th but i also created a Animated cover that i intent to upload on youtube. How shoukd i go about it? can i still droppin the video after my song drop or do i do before?

[@13jeettt]

Yo i have been usin distrokid since last two years. I have the musician plus plan. Can i upload a song which features me plus two other artists? I mean is it possible to mention them in the artist thing and not just in (feat.) ? Bit urgent. Would appreciate your reply

[@rochamusicx]

This awesome thank you! My only issue is that I’m not sure if I should use my real artist name or my channel name RochaMusic X. For one if try to use that they ask if this is a band? So not sure what to do. Any advice? I guess my thought process is to turn my KZbin channel into an artist channel I am trying not to loose my subs.

[@TheAnmolShelke]

There I am bought it from your referral 😊

[@SanjayC]

Thanks so much 🙏🏼

[@Hinoki_Weitzel]

i woke up today with my song removed due to copyright infrigement. Its a remix of a song but I got permission from the original creators. The removal of this song ruined my whole account and now I went from a ton of listeners to like 10 monthly. Should I just quit music now?

[@666aw]

same shit i lost about 600$ and 7 million view

[@ephemerons]

If I did downgrade my account, I understand I've got to close the account completely and start a new one with a new email. Fine, but is there any way of preserving what has already been uploaded and accepted through Distrokid (ie the tracks themselves, credits, artwork, lyrics, Spotify vids etc) so I don't have to do all that from scratch?

[@1NONLYABBY]

what if i turned on content id for my song and next day i upload official music video and coz of i got copyright on my music video and i will earn too, but what if my utube channel watch time reachs 4k hours , will i need to remove copyright claim from my own songs even I'm the one who is the owner of that songs, if i won't need to remove copyright clam than is ok, but what if i need to remove copyright claim from my own songs, can u tell me how can i remove copyright claim from my own song

[@marek-maria-lipski]

Super.Super.Super.

[@djwillofficial]

Hi Sanjay C, I want to know if mixes are supported when it comes to distrokid.

[@ssuhasStudio]

do i get to edit the discription details of the youtube channel distrokid has made for my songs

[@shrutisargam8121]

What happens if I upload a cover through distrokid paying a yearly fee of $12 and for some reason, I don't pay $12 the next year?

[@premixmpk7070]

Most helpful video 😊 ,thank you so much for detailed explanation

[@SanjayC]

Awesome! Glad you like it!

[@stevenwigginton6453]

i have a quick question hopefully it can get answered quickly i uploaded a cover song a while back and i had to pay the yearly fee obviously and i dont want the song on stores anymore and i also dont want to have to pay that fee yearly what do i do the release is already deleted i just need to know what i can do if i have to pay that yearly fee do i delete my account or what (i dont feel like paying for a fee anymore it just costs more money lol)

[@stevenwigginton6453]

update: i contacted distrokid and they said that once the album or single is deleted you won’t have to pay for the following year im just letting people know just in case people had this same issue cheers

[@musrick-beats97]

thanx a lot.

[@saulmuzic]

Hey Sanjay C my question is if you and another person are going to drop a song together you will need to make 2 Spotify accounts and everything else ? I’m kinda confused on how that works and also Pay twice for distrokid or no ?

[@UniSeano]

Great overview. Thanks for answering these questions. 👍

[@SanjayC]

Glad it was helpful!

[@preyaslokhande301]

THIS VDO HELPED ME A LOT THANK YOU SANJAY ! HOW TO UPGRADE FROM MUSICIAN TO MUSICIAN PLUS PLAN ? DOES IT TAKES NEW EMAIL ID AND SERIOUS OTHER STUFF LIKE YOU TOLD IN THE VIDEO OF DOWNGRADING THE PLAN

[@puppetpatti]

I have a question. When I go through Distrokid, and then use my own music in a different video, say like on TikTok, I get the sound removed. How can I use my own music and not have this happen?

[@saulmuzic]

Me and my friend are going to drop a song together which is going to be a collab and it’s both our first song so obviously I’m going to use the & symbol so it can show up on both our profiles. We are separated artists in the musican plus plan for distrokid so would I first claim my Spotify artist account then he claims his Spotify artists account ? It should be good ? No confusion??

[@nickyjonez9076]

It's been 22 days. Still my music isn't live yet. what should i do now?

[@aziatik]

Hi I wanted to have another primary artist in my song how would I do that?

[@Perma_nature]

If I could hit the like button twice, I would!

[@SatyajitKhairnar]

THANKYOU

[@SanjayC]

You're welcome!

[@DanzelDangleben]

hey sanjay, question. if i upload to distrokid my music(instrumentals) as a artist/producer... but, then someone wants to use that same instrumental to release a song with lyrics, is there any conflict? would i need to take down the release i did (instrumental) or is it treated as a seperate entity. same as how you might find a song and it's instrumental on spotify, youtube etc..

[@DeZware597]

When i was done upload mine songs i go back en then i see this 2step Authentication can somebody help me

[@outsidegreaserecords]

hey watsup i have a quick question, is it ok that i upload a 7 track mixtape using free type beats from youtube without leasing the beat,i know i wont go viral, i just want to look good for future bisness partners ,can i do it?

[@SanjayC]

I'm not exactly sure if that's a good idea. If you own the beats and then sell them later, you may run into complications with your buyers. I say that if you're not sure, then don't do it. Be safe.

[@dangerouslybiased3203]

Question: We uploaded a five-track EP in March 2020 via Distrokid. It showed up on all platforms successfully. However, three of the five album track videos that were up on KZbin seem to have been replaced by other videos we have of the same songs, like music videos and instrument play-through videos. The tracks do show correctly on KZbin Music, though. Our KZbin Channel is linked in Distrokid. Any insight on this? I wonder if KZbin recognized the audio of these videos were the same and replaced the Distrokid video with the video we uploaded separately...

[@AjayKesbhat]

How they do my income if songs are takedown by original artist or label and also delete my original . I mean can distrokid give me my Royalties?

[@bodegasoundsmusic]

Great information. Greatly appreciated!

[@SanjayC]

Glad it was helpful!

[@AbhiAS]

Actually I Am A DJ Can I Upload Any DJ Remix Track On Distrokid (Platforms) And If Will I Get My Artist Tag

[@fyebassmuzikproductions4872]

How do I find my song on pandora

[@deftiny]

Do I need to be on pc to link KZbin or just not an option anymore?

[@findJLF]

Great video - love your work

[@prod.bongoat3802]

Wow thank you for the KZbin topic one, always pissed me off how it posted to a topic with like 1 follower, didn't know it could be changed

[@SanjayC]

No problem. Glad it was helpful!

[@VibeSounds]

I have been thinking about using distrokid for a while. This was helpful! 👍

[@SanjayC]

Glad it was helpful!

[@bedroomproducer16]

Very nice explanation....Thank you very much...

[@SoJesusChristMusic]

Is that your music playing at the end?

[@SanjayC]

Yes it is 😊

[@SoJesusChristMusic]

Sanjay C 🔥

[@Jpaul038]

Thanks for the very informative video SanjayC!

[@SanjayC]

My pleasure

[@barbosaelvisoficial]

Awesome video, sir! Question: I am a independent artist, here in USA, and I already released two songs last year through Distrokid; I have ASCAP and Songtrust as well. I record label from Brasil that I know very well reached out to me and wants me to sign with them. What will happen to my two songs already released with Distrokid if I sign with them? Will I have to keep paying the membership every year for those two songs? Is there a way to transfer those songs over to the record label? Thanks for your feedback on this, in advance.