How Music Distribution Works: Everything Artists Need to Know

Why do I need a music distribution service? 

One might think that artists upload their music straight to individual streaming services preparing a release like you would upload a YouTube video or a song to directly to SoundCloud. But since releasing music comes with some more complications - such as keeping track of streaming data and royalty payouts - all artists should go through a digital music distribution service like amuse to get their music out in the right way. 

The digital music distribution service basically mirrors your sound file and its metadata (song title, cover art, songwriters, rights holders, etc) to the different streaming services, acting as a hub that collects streaming and royalty data. That means you can upload a single release and automatically submit it to all the stores you want to send it to in one go. A digital music distribution service also functions as a pipeline between services like Spotify and Apple Music and your own wallet.

When you create a release with amuse, we will automatically send your music to all the major digital music stores and streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube (plus many more).

Without a music distribution service, artists would have to submit a new release to each music store or streaming service individually (a LOT of work). 

Does music distribution cost anything? 

At amuse, we offer free music distribution and always let artists keep 100% of their rights and royalties. Why? Our free distro service helps us discover new artists to sign to our record label. 

For the pros who want to stay independent and level up their career, our Boost and Pro tiers lets you also distribute your music to Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, with other features like Fastlane releases, VIP support, and automatic royalty splits. 

Which are the most important music stores and streaming platforms? 

It’s important to make sure that your music is available to be discovered everywhere that your potential fans are spending time. For most artists, a lot of their streams are going to come from a few key players. 

• Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and video streaming service that has millions of songs from artists all over the world. 
• Apple Music is Apple’s on-demand streaming service with access to over 50 million songs. 
• Amazon Music is an online streaming service and music store with more than 2 million songs. 
• Tidal is a subscription-based music, podcast, and video streaming service that features high fidelity sound, hi-def video, curated playlists, and original content. 
• Deezer is a streaming platform with more than 56 million tracks, originating in France and now available in over 180 countries. 
• Pandora is a major music and podcast discovery platform, providing a highly-personalized listening experience to more than 70 million users. 
• YouTube is a video-sharing service where users can watch or upload their own videos. Artists can publish music videos to the platform or monetize their tracks via YouTube Content ID. 
• Facebook offers artists the chance to showcase their music on the platform, letting fans add your tracks to their Stories or their profile’s music feature. You will also be able to have your music be available on Instagram as a music sticker to be used in Stories or Reels.
• TikTok is the world’s fastest-growing social media app and features popular content like dance routines, challenges, and duets. 

Here is a list of all the stores you can release your music to when using amuse. 

So, how does music distribution with amuse work?

Distributing your music with amuse is super simple, you can do it in a few minutes via our desktop web builder or direct from the app. We’ll ask you to upload a few things (like artwork and audio files), choose a title and date for your release, name any contributors and select the stores and streaming platforms you’d like us to deliver to. 

Once the release has been submitted, our team will check your release and make sure everything looks good (we’ll email you if any action is required), and then we’ll send it to the stores. 

On the day of your release, we’ll reach out with a link to your music on the stores for you to share with your fans. 

How long does it take for my releases to reach stores?

Start users can choose release dates at least 28 days into the future. Boost and Pro users have access to Fast Lane Releases, meaning they can pick a release date 14 days into the future.

How do I get paid for my music? 

Music stores and streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music usually pay out royalties 2-3 months after the streams happen. So, if one of your tracks is streamed in February, this will show up as a royalty payment in April. 

At amuse, we process the incoming payments from the streaming platforms at the end of each month. Once you earn more than $10 in royalties, you’ll be able to withdraw your earnings via the app. 

If you want to receive your royalties faster and skip the waiting period, you now can with Early Access! Early Access is our automatic data-calculated payout feature that allows you to have access to your royalties from weeks to months earlier than stores’ payout based on artists’ upcoming royalties. Once we're sure of the exact royalties you're due, we're able to provide you with an individually tailored offer to withdraw the money today.

Read more about Early Access and Fast Forward here.