Free Music Distribution: 11 Best Spotify Distributor Services

Have you just completed your new Hit? Mixing and mastering process is done?

Now it's time to share it with the world! Get your music out there on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music—all those great streaming services.

But how exactly do you get your music on these platforms? It can be confusing, especially for independent artists like you. Don't worry—I've got you covered! In this post, I'll break down the best FREE ways to distribute your music.

Routenote is a digital music distribution platform founded in 2007. They operate from Great Britain and helps artists release their music.

Routenotes digital music distribution offers a free and premium plan. With free music distribution, Routenote takes a 15 percent commission from your earnings.

With the Premium Plan, you get 100% of your earnings, but you pay per music release to the aggregator routenote.

The good news is you can switch between the free and premium plan at any time.

Stores

According to Routenote, your music can be distributed up to 200 different shops and streaming services. Also interesting that many Asian and Chinese stores are included in distributes your music to the following stores:

Apple Music, Itunes, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Play, Deezer, Youtube, Shazam, Pandora, Melon, Soundcloud, Juke mymusic, Groove Music, Claro Musica, Tidal / WiMp, eMusic, Napster, Omnifone, Anghami, Gracenote, Kanjian

Routenote Pricing:

Routenote distributes your Music with no upfront cost but keeps 15% of your download and streaming revenue.

When do you receive payment from Routenote?

Once the balance on your Earnings page has reached the USD$50 minimum threshold amount.

Extras:

Non Exclusive release agreement

RouteNote Premium - You keep 100% of the royalties for a small upfront cost. You pay $9.99 annually ongoing and one time per release (Singles $10, EP $20, Album $30, Extended Album $45)

Youtube Content ID included

Custom Web Store with - Routenote Direct

Payment Splitting for Collaborations

Routenote Rating

4,1 (Source Trustpilot 2024)

Soundrop Music Distribution, formerly Loudr.fm, whose service was shut down in 2016, offers almost free distribution to Youtube Music, Apple Music, and Spotify. They charge 0.99 cents per song release and 15% of your download and streaming revenue when you use their service. You can also release cover songs, and they will organize the licensing for you.

Soundrop also includes a revenue splitter, an elegant and efficient way to add revenue splits for music collaborators during uploading. So, every producer or songwriter gets paid for their work.

Stores

Soundrop distributes your music to the following stores

• iTunes / Apple Music

• Spotify

• YouTube Music

• Deezer

• Amazon 

• Pandora

• Netease

• Tencent

• Anghami

• Boomplay / Ayoba

• Resso

• Tidal

• iHeartRadio

• Jaxsta

• JOOX

• Napster

• Qobuz

• Claro música

• Peloton

• AWA

• Line Music

Social Media

• Facebook / Instagram

• TikTok

• Snap x

Revenue share with Soundrop:

Soundrop takes 15% of your download and streaming revenue.

When do you get paid by Soundrop?

As soon as the balance on your earnings page reaches the minimum threshold of USD$20.

Extras:

Automatic revenue splits

Facebook / Instagram Story Fingerprint

Use Show.co marketing tools for free

Set up payee splits to distribute revenue to multiple rights holders automatically.

Sell cover songs - pay a one-time fee of $0.99 per composition. We will calculate and pay all appropriate publishing royalties on your behalf.

Soundrop rating

1.6 (Source Trustpilot - June 2024)

With Boost Collective, you can publish your music to over 200 stores and streaming services. You can also easily share your income with other artists, which is certainly an essential feature for some.

Stores:

The Boost Collective distributes your songs to over 200 stores and streaming services. Here is an excerpt of the most popular stores.

ADAPT, AMAZON, ANGHAMI, APPLE MUSIC, AUDIBLE MAGIC (LICENSING), AUDIOMACK, AWA, BEATPORT, BOOMPLAY, DEEZER, FACEBOOK AUDIO LIBRARY, FACEBOOK RIGHTS MANAGER, FLO, IHEARTRADIO, IMUSICA, ITUNES, JAXSTA, JIOSAAVN, JOOX, KKBOX, KUAISHOU, LICK, MIXCLOUD, MUSICTIME, NAPSTER / RHAPSODY, NETEASE, NUUDAY, PANDORA, PELOTON, PRETZEL, RESSO, ROXI, SHAZAM, SNAP, SOUNDCLOUD, SOUNDTRACK YOUR BRAND, SPOTIFY, TENCENT, TIDAL, TIKTOK, TREBLE, TRILLER, TWITCH, YOUTUBE CONTENT ID, YOUTUBE MUSIC.

Costs

You can publish your music for free via the Boost collective, but 15% of your earnings will be deducted. In the end, you will receive 85% of the revenue.

Payout:

According to the Boost Collective, you must deposit at least 25 USD before a payout can be made via Paypal. If you prefer the bank transfer, the limit is currently 50USD

Rating

The rating is currently not available via Trustpilot

Amuse was founded in 2016. It is an app-based and 100% free music distribution service. Upload your music and distribute it to Spotify, Apple Music, and iTunes in just a few days. You can upload your tracks in .wav format via iOS or Android apps. However, you also need a Google Drive, Dropbox, or iCloud account. Only with one of these cloud services can you send your songs directly to Amuse. Otherwise, this service works entirely trouble-free and is worth a try.

With the free Plan, it takes up to 4 weeks to release your music.

Amuse distributes your music to the following stores for free:

• Spotify

• Apple Music

• Itunes

• Deezer

• Audiomack

• Claro Musica

• Youtube Music 

• Tidal

• Amazon Music

• Napster

• Pandora

• Tik Tok

Price / Spread Income:

• Amuse keeps 0% of your download and streaming revenue. Everything is free, and 100% of the royalties go to the artist.

• If you value fast support and quick releases, the Pro Plan is also available for $59.99 per year. It allows you to manage multiple artist profiles.

When do you receive payment?

• If you’ve earned $10 or more, you can withdraw your royalties using PayPal

• "Early Access" lets you access upcoming royalties as small as $10 USD from weeks to months earlier than stores' payout. 

Extras:

• If you pay for Amuse Boost or Pro, your Music get's released faster, you can choose between more streaming services, multiple Artist Profiles, Custom Label etc.

• They discover artists they believe in and offer them a record deal that includes marketing, financing, promotion and playlist pitching. If you are one of them, they split the profits 50/50 with the artists.

• First app-only Music Distributor with no desktop site, you have to upload your music to Icloud, Dropbox or Google Drive to release your music

Amuse Rating:

• 4.4 and 4.7 out of 5 (Source: Apple App Store / Google Play Store - Mai 2024)

• 3.9 out of 5(Source Trustpilot - 2024)

Founded in 2003, Awal Distribution is owned by the Kobalt Music group and represents more than 4000 Artists and Labels. Its Music Aggregator service is App-based and invite-only. You can submit your own music, but Awal will review your sound quality, social media reach, press releases and Spotify plays from the past.

Therefore, the chances of your application being accepted are not high. However, if you have already built up a large audience and following, it is worth applying to AWAL to benefit from their reach.

Awal shops:

Awal distributes your music to 200 territories and +100 download shops and streaming services:

• Apple Music

• Itunes

• Spotify

• Amazon Music

• Google Play

• Deezer

• Pandora

• Napster

• Tidal

• Beatport

• Boomkat

• Soundtrack your Brand

• Svooq

• Juno Records

• Traxsource

• Beatport

• Vevo and many more

Spread Income with Awal:

• No upfront fees but Awal takes a 15% share of the revenue

When do you receive payments from Awal?

The withdrawal limit at Awal is currently 50 pounds and is always transferred around the 15th of each month.

Extras:

• They don't accept everyone

• you keep 100% ownership of your Music

• Awal App to track play stats etc.

• Marketing

• Funding

• Playlisting and Radio Submissions

• Data Analytics

Awal Rating:

1.9 out of 5 (Source: Trustpilot - 2024)

Songtradr was founded in 2014 and mainly specializes in music licensing, offering you many distribution options.

With their free plan, you will receive 90% of your earnings, but they also offer a paid plan for 49 USD, where you will receive 100% of your earnings.

Which Shops for Download and Streaming are Included?

• Spotify

• Apple Music

• Deezer

• YouTube Music

• Tidal

• Amazon

• and many more (Beatport, Boomplay, Juno Dance, Traxsource)

Spread Income:

• With the Songtradr starter plan, they keep 10% of your streaming revenue.

• If you are a member, it will cost $49.00 for a yearly subscription to keep 100% of your earnings

When do you receive payments?

• The minimum payment threshold is $ 10,00 via Paypal

Extras:

• Payment Splitting

• Music Licensing

Songtradr Rating:

• 3.8 (Trustpilot 2024)

• Some complaints on Trustpilot because of the payouts

Symphonic Distribution offers a top platform for established artists and labels, which is among the best.

If your partnership application is accepted, you can also benefit from playlist pitching, which is included. As a partner of Symphonic, Symphonic will retain about 15% of your earnings.

However, the starter plan is most suitable for most artists. With this plan, you pay an annual fee of $19.99, but you can keep 100% of your earnings.

Stores

With over 200 download shops and streaming providers, Symphonic offers an extensive and far-reaching distribution network to get your music out there. This means your music will be available on popular platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal.

Cost/revenue distribution

The Starter Plan costs just $19.99 per year and you keep all your earnings.

You can apply for the partner plan for a more personalized plan. This plan has no restrictions or fees; you only pay a percentage of your royalties when you use additional Symphonic resources.

Payment

Symphonic offers a payment system that allows artists to receive their earnings directly into their PayPal or bank account. The payout usually takes 1-3 business days.

Tools & Extras

Symphonic.com provides useful tools for artists to distribute and promote their music. It allows for a fair distribution of profits among the band members.

In addition to the basic service, Symphonic.com offers several extras to help artists market their music, such as music video distribution, social media management, and playlist pitching. These extras are available for an additional fee and can be added to any pricing plan.

Artists can also use Symphonic.com to distribute their music physically on vinyl, CD or cassette.

Symphonic rating

Symphonic has a rating of 4.6 out of 5 points (source: Trustpilot - 2024).

United Masters is an exciting music distribution platform that lets you sell Beats to Artists and has an app for managing all services.

In addition, artists can use a music licensing feature to make their songs available for TV shows, video games, or films. United Masters also has many partnerships with large companies and offers promotion tools for playlist pitching.

The free plan is currently very limited and only allows one monthly song to be published on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, but not on other streaming services.

Which Shops for Download and Streaming are Included?

For Free: Distribute to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok once per month

Paid: You can distribute your music to over 35 Shops and streaming services if you pay for the select membership.

• Apple Music / iTunes

• Spotify

• TikTok

• Instagram

• Amazon

• Tidal

• YouTube

• SoundCloud.

Spread Income:

• With the United Masters free plan, they keep 10% of your streaming revenue.

• If you are a SELECT member, it will cost $59.99 per year to keep 100% of your earnings and to get additional features

When do you receive payments?

• The minimum payment threshold is $ 50,00, you get paid via Paypal on a monthly basis

Extras:

• Payment Splitting Feature with other artists

• Artist Websites

• Music Licensing Deals

• Select Member Extras [Keep 100% of Sales Publish, Unlimited Beats, Exclusive Sync and Brand Opportunities, Playlisting & Editorial Promotion, Sell Beats to 1.5 Million+ Artists, Get Paid Instantly, Custom Producer Storefront, Sales and Performance Data ]

United Masters Rating:

• 3,9 (Source Trustpilot 2024)

Bandcamp's distribution service is perfect for getting your songs out to your fans. On Bandcamp, you have your own store as a label or artist. You can offer your songs as a free download and ask for an email address, or set the price yourself to distribute your latest EP or album. Another nice feature is the integrated store to sell merch, vinyl, CDs and tapes. You can also create download codes to give away some of your music for free. Distribution through Bandcamp is not exclusive, so you can still distribute your music through streaming services like Spotify.

What download and streaming stores are included?

Bandcamp Store

Revenue sharing:

Bandcamp takes 15% of your download revenue.

When do you get paid?

Your cut of each digital transaction is deposited into your PayPal account 24-48 hours after the sale.

Extras:

• Physical records & merch sales (vinyl, posters, tickets, t-shirts)

• Optional high-quality download formats like FLAC, WAV and Apple Lossless

• Pre-orders

• Discount Codes for your fans

Tunecore

Tunecore is a leading global music distributor with over 7,000 reviews on Trustpilot and an impressive rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars. Your music can reach over 150 platforms in 200 countries and territories through their services. The annual cost for their distribution services is $9.99 for a single and up to $29.99 for an album.

Horus Music

Consider Horus Music for reliable music distribution with over 200 store partnerships, including popular streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. They offer access to Asian markets and have updated their pricing model to an upfront fee starting at £20 per year with 100% of the revenue back as royalties. You can also get extras like physical distribution and phone support. They have a Trustpilot rating of 4.2 out of 5.

Level Music

Level Music is a global music distributor that can help you release your music without upfront costs or annual fees. For $20 a year, you can release up to 200 songs or release two songs for free. Level Music distributes your music to all major streaming and download stores and offers a statistics tool to help you understand your listeners. They only take 8% of your revenue and you can withdraw your earnings through PayPal. Create landing pages to promote your music more effectively. Start sharing your music with the world with Level Music.

Have you ever wondered what you could earn on a streaming platform? It's important to have a presence on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Music, even if the pay isn't great.

Some producers prefer to release only vinyl tracks to maintain their underground status. For many musicians, concerts and gigs are the main source of income, but it's important to build a strong fan base on streaming services first.

But what would you earn if you generated 1 million plays on each of these platforms, your estimated income would be

1. Napster - 19.000$

2. Tidal - 12.840$

3. Apple Music - 7830$

4. Google Play - 6760$

5. Deezer - 6400$

6. Spotify - 3180$

7. Amazon - 4020$

8. Youtube Music - 2000

9. Pandora - 1330$

Have you ever noticed how listening habits have changed over the last 50 years? The glorious era of vinyl, the rise of the cassette and the CD. Followed by digitization and the internet era, the beginnings of illegal downloads, and the legal download shops and streaming portals that followed.

Anyway, it's very interesting to see what the future holds.

Over the past 50 years, the music industry has experienced significant changes that have been driven by technological advancements, evolving consumer preferences, and market dynamics. This visual analysis examines the shifting revenue sources from physical formats like vinyl, cassette, and CDs to digital formats such as downloads, and streaming. Additionally, it highlights the fluctuations in overall revenue over time.