If you want to make your music available on all the major platforms then there is no better option then DistroKid, this easy to use and cost-effective system, provides an easy way to distribute your music fast and easily.
For only $19.99 a year as a single artist, you can upload as many projects or solo tracks as you like, and in this tutorial we’re going to walk you through the process of uploading your first song toApple Music, Google Play & YouTube Music, Amazon, Pandora, Deezer, Tidal, Napster, iHeartRadio, ClaroMúsica, Saavn, MediaNet and over 150 other smaller outlets, and today I’ll show you just how easy it is to use.
To get started you’ll first need to create an account, to claim a 7% discount, sign up here.
Upon first signing up to DistroKid you’ll be taken through a series of prompts to set up your account and then upload your first project.
Setting Up Your DistroKid Account
1, Fill Out Your Contact Information
Upon first signing up, you will be prompted to first fill out your contact information, before moving to the next step.
2. Uploading Your Music
In stage 2 you’ll be able to pick from the wide selection of platforms DistroKid uploads to, by default all options are ticked, so if you don’t want to upload your music to any of these specific platforms here is where you’ll untick those options.
Select how many songs you are intending to upload, hit yes or no to tell DistroKid whether your song has been previously released or not and then enter your artist name.
3. Upload Your Artwork
Next in the process is uploading your projects artwork, the recommended format being .jpg and optimal size 3000 pixels wide by 3000 pixels height.
4. Upload Your First Track
Now it’s time to fill in your track information, Give your Track a name, select whether you wrote the song or not, hit yes or no if your song features explicit lyrics, choose your file format preferably WAV for maximum quality.
DistroKid gives some excellent tips to help you title your tracks, for example:
Sweetest Girl (feat. Akon, Lil Wayne & Niia) if there are featuring artists in your track and they also recommend to Capitalise your titles because most platforms will reject all lower-case titles or any wEirD capitalization,
Example: It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
5. Adding Extras
DistroKid offer a vast amount of extras with any upload, “Youtube Money” is a great option to help you easily utilize Youtube Content ID for $4.95 a year plus 20% of Youtube Ad Revenue, DistroKid will manage all revenues made when people use your music in Youtube videos.
Adding YouTube Money as an extra is without dubt the easiest way to earn money from YouTube without being a part of their partner program.
Two of my favourite additional features are the Store Maximizer and the Shazam & iPhone Siri options.
The Store Maximizer will save you a lot of time and effort, when a new music service is added to the platform, for only $7.95 a year DistroKid will automatically add your music to the store.
The Shazam and iPhone Siri option is super cool, for literally $0.99 a year your music will be able to be recognised by Shazam and iPhones Siri.
6. Finalisation
Lastly, you need to finalise a few last details about your track, tick the first check box if you’re going to use the Youtube Money feature, and then tick the last remaining boxes if you own full 100% rights to the music your uploading and you’re not trying to rip anybody off.
Now hit Done!
It’s as easy as that to use DistroKid to upload your music to all the major music platforms,
With 17 Years music production experience, George Matthews is the CEO of Your Local Musician, he also makes music under the name Grimmm and releases Lo-fi music.
