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!

[@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

[@marylaiza8561]

555@@SanjayC5 5555555555555555575555555555555555

[@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!

[@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!

[@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!

[@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?

[@PianoTutorialEasy]

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

[@SanjayC]

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

[@ShannonMarie_aguafiestasvlogs]

Great video. 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?

[@joshuaamontanezlaboy935]

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

[@SanjayC]

Thanks for noticing that :-)

[@wise1beats]

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

[@SanjayC]

🙏🏼🙏🏼 thanks Wise One

[@Lasrymusic]

This video is literally the best distribution video for independent artists

[@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

[@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 🙏🏼

[@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!

[@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"

[@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.

[@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.

[@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. 🙂

[@BlueFlame_l.o.g]

Sanjay Thank You brother! Excellent videos! 👍🌟🙏

[@SanjayC]

My pleasure

[@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

[@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.

[@bond773]

As always Sanjay making great videos! Thanks!!!

[@raisonjohn9668]

Been lil late..... luv frm india 🇮🇳

[@SanjayC]

Much love 🇮🇳

[@belle1488]

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

[@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!

[@michaelfoy6831]

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

[@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!

[@jacobchiang]

Thank you sir, very helpful information!

[@lflynn82]

As always very informative thank you Sanjey I appreciate your videos

[@137Enki]

Thank you so much.

[@elishaseidman2207]

Great Vid! You helped me a lot!

[@DesireeD]

Really useful, thanks Sanjay!

[@PeMeYo]

Man, A Thousand Suns is such a great album🔥

[@bedroomproducer16]

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

[@MoiseArchipe]

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

[@SanjayC]

Awesome!! So happy to hear that

[@JulesFox]

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!

[@Perma_nature]

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

[@premixmpk7070]

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

[@SanjayC]

Awesome! Glad you like it!

[@UniSeano]

Great overview. Thanks for answering these questions. 👍

[@SanjayC]

Glad it was helpful!

[@LouisRazonMusic]

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

[@SanjayC]

Thank you

[@IamRaffinaD]

Thank you

[@bodegasoundsmusic]

Great information. Greatly appreciated!

[@SanjayC]

Glad it was helpful!

[@christopherkouri2317]

Awesome and informative! Thank you good sir!

[@aniruddh_d16]

3rd view,great video as again,almost finished my cover.

[@SanjayC]

Thanks, Andrew! When is your song coming out?

[@aniruddh_d16]

@@SanjayC 8:30 AM (Final touches)

[@SanjayC]

Awesome!!

[@aniruddh_d16]

@@SanjayC Wait,you mean my own song? 'cause im only uploading my cover of the Stranger Things Theme?

[@aniruddh_d16]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/hX6xg3WrqqaljbM Here it is. Voila`

[@pfonixz]

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

[@SanjayC]

Thanks, Phoniex!

[@codestudioYT]

Informative Videos!!

[@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

[@rahulmj2107]

Pal how to input credits in description for (movie)cover songs, from where we need to pull those details. Also explain how much revenue for us and how much for producers, kindly make a separate video, in searching for this nearly 20 days in youtube but couldn't figured out any.

[@SatyajitKhairnar]

THANKYOU

[@SanjayC]

You're welcome!

[@youmbeats236]

Great videos, really appreciate your content

[@SanjayC]

I appreciate that!

[@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

[@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 👏

[@usmonyusupov5103]

Thanks, great video!

[@SanjayC]

Glad you liked it!

[@MIRAJADESIGN]

Suuuuuper helpful info! Thanks!!!!

[@SanjayC]

Good to hear that!

[@DopamineOverload]

Thanks for this, Sanjay! Distrokid's been under fire a lot lately, because of "editorial discretion" removal of releases and "thanks, but you need to find another distributor for your music". I've had friends with quality music release their stuff through DK this year and late last year and all of a sudden, it's gone for that reason. Distrokid blames iTunes and Amazon Music for the choice, but there's no reason for it, whatsoever. Artwork is fine, music is completely original (and high-quality recordings/writing). I advise everyone out there to instead, use CDbaby. They're more expensive (and were the first to offer not only an online music store pre-digital music, but the first to offer digital distro to all the services out there). I've had no issues with them for 16 years. Just an FYI to everyone out there.

[@pattyspeedmusic]

Thank You for this comment. With CDBABY, are Logic Pro X loops library sounds OK to use?

[@gavinkaufmanworld]

Another great video - thanks 😀

[@SanjayC]

You’re welcome!

[@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 ✌🏻

[@blueser100]

Great video. WhT if already have a personal you tube account but you dont want to use it as your professional one? Which box would you check on distrokid? WhT is the reason/benefit for choosing your own ISRC number?

[@Jpaul038]

Thanks for the very informative video SanjayC!

[@SanjayC]

My pleasure

[@daze158]

who decides the price your single will sell for .99 , 1.29 etc?

[@laurencealonzo2245]

What is the best plan for a single artist

[@mlrd6622]

I personally went with Ditto Music about a year ago.

[@SanjayC]

How do you like Ditto?

[@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!

[@lo-fillama]

i love your gear and colors and vibe of your setup

[@SanjayC]

Thanks so much!

[@laurenblainebamartistmgt]

BMI and ASCAP ARE the organizations that collect and pay you the royalties from broadcast/streaming performances, not just from bars and live performances. Is DistroKid setting themselves up to be a competitor to BMI/ASCAP for managing royalties? Just asking because of the minimizing of ASCAP/BMI. What are the advantages of using DistroKid over those platforms, please?

[@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.

[@nicolaspesman]

Your video’s are amazing

[@VibeSounds]

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

[@SanjayC]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Only1Dharti]

IF I wanted to do a duet with you and then release it all over the world... Do you think DistroKid would allow such an angelic voice to be on the track with you and then help release it?

[@musqitonebeats2129]

Height of overconfidence lmao 😂

[@SanjayC]

Let me consult with DistroKid about heavenly music first.

[@Only1Dharti]

musqitone lolll 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@Only1Dharti]

Sanjay C Ok. Please get back to me ASAP. I have a lot of important things going on and I’m a really busy person.

[@bellamonstrum]

@@musqitonebeats2129 ​ Dharti's his wife

[@themelomaniac1083]

Please make a video on how to avoid accidental copyright infringement? What can happen if I release a song on spotify that sounds like somebody else's song? Can the file a lawsuit against me if I have not formally registered my work?

[@AnmolShelke]

There I am bought it from your referral 😊

[@SanjayC]

Thanks so much 🙏🏼

[@xavierrivera5755]

First I would like to say how happy I am to to have found somebody like you with your great videos..My question is that I have a remix of a cover song but I have the famous artist that originally sang the song singing it,does Distrokid take care of the licensing.It’s a different version of the original but the artist has passed away and as a tribute to the artist I redid it with the artist singing the whole song…Thanks in Advance for your guidance…Xavier

[@phmusicproductions]

Super!!!!!

[@dharshan199427]

LOVE FROM INDIA... Thanks Buddy ;)

[@SanjayC]

You're welcome!

[@TeaLeafThief]

If I asked one of my favourite streamers to listen to my track and he did live will he get in trouble or have trouble with monitising his video? Cause I don't want that to happen, I was just super appreciative that he listened and liked my track!

[@jeremysmith9696]

Thanks for all the vids and help over the last year. I was able to put out my debut album "Journey to Pluto" by Studio Smith Sound. Thanks Sanjay for all the inspiration and Help.

[@SanjayC]

Congrats Jeremy!

[@Evolinag]

I'm a producer and songwriter, and the creative force behind the whole project, however I am not the face and name of the project, but my singer is. My name is solely supposed to show up in the credits. Is it possible that I keep the full rights to my project? As I have heard DistroKid automatically adds the artist as the copyright owner.

[@IceCreamBallsGT]

hey sanjay! great video!! btw whats the beat thats playing in the outro did u upload this beat somewhere? it sounds so sick!! i liked and subscribed!!

[@SanjayC]

Hey, I made it. I make all the music in my videos, except in the Saturday News Reports where I feature other artists/viewers.

[@ujjawaljaiswal9885]

We are band of 4 artists which plan should we choose on distrokid?

[@noormart411]

Thank you so much it was helpful ❤

[@rajs4012]

So this "Topic" Channel that distro kid makes, am I in control of it? Can I post videos like music videos or other general announcements on that KZbin Channel? Thanks

[@CesarRosasJr]

This is an important question. If somebody were to dispute a copyright claim in regards of the use of my music. How do I get the notification that somebody has submitted a dispute in which how can I determine if the dispute gets rejected or accepted?

[@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!

[@israelsprince]

Your videos are great! How does Distrokid work if I'm not the actual performer? In others word the artist wrote the lyrics, but I did all of the music?

[@imTrulyTQ]

this just helped me 😅

[@musrick-beats97]

thanx a lot.

[@KBZAJAZZ]

Excelent video. A question: what about jazz standards like FLY ME TO THE MOON or MISTY... are there any fee to pay? Since the songwriters dies almost 50 years ago

[@recipes4mydaughter407]

Why can’t I use my own music on TikTok? It keeps muting my videos and yes I got approved for an artist account on TikTok so they know I’m the owner of the song

[@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

[@ricardoferreira9075]

If I choose the "Leave a Legacy" option and stop paying the membership, how do I receive the earnings from the songs?

[@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...

[@apeksh3063]

Can you make a monitor about studio monitor (displays)? What kind ? How long? Something related to that?

[@SanjayC]

Hi Apeksh, I highly recommend getting an ultrawide display. The extra space you'll have makes working in DAWs so much easier. You don't need anything expensive. I have a 27" ultrawide by LG - the cheapest I could find. And its just perfect for my needs.

[@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

[@tahiro1121]

I am looking into producing dance tunes mostly, and that means there would potentially be DJs wanting to download my tunes through services like Beatport (and others alike) if my tunes do well to the point that such DJs want play my tunes in their sets. How should I go about such if tunes must be made available on services not covered by Distrokid?

[@arminverwest220]

Hello, I have good question : how if I stop dealing with distokid and I let my music available in the stores, who gonna pay me? From where I get my money , if no longer in contact with distokid?? Please help. Thank you 🙏

[@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.

[@james3009]

Sanjay, as always, thank you so much for all the information. My question is about sampling. I have used distrokid for my first simple album upload and when they ask for info about each song, sampling is a big no no. However, a lot of hip-hop producers have used sampling to make tracks. For example, you can get license from tracklib for a song that you can sample. How do you get around that on distrokid? Thanks in advance :)

[@kenedward]

thank you for this!