There are many different music distributors (over 100!) and you can categorize them in a number of meaningful ways, including, but not limited to:
- Company size: in terms of artists, labels, songs, revenues, offices, employees, etc.
- Geography: from global music distributors, to country-focused companies. For example, to access the Chinese market you would need a separate music distributor, such as NetEase Cloud Music, or one of Tencent’s subsidiaries, such as QQ Music and Kugou. Luckily most global music distributors have partnered with these companies.
- Musical genre: from rap and hip-hop to classical music, jazz, country or heavy metal.
- Business model: based on its fee structure and revenue model, read more about how music distributors make money.
- Artist control: everything from DIY platforms which are open to virtually all artists versus curated marketplaces including a vetting procedure which assesses the artist (growth) potential, follower counts and past streaming performance or which is even on an invite-only basis.
- Artist support: in terms of marketing, sales, promotion and (personalized) campaigns
- Analytical and reporting features: from bare bones dashboards to extensive data driven insights across all channels and even integrated analytics across streaming platforms.
However, in the rest of this article we will group a number of these distinctions together and group all music distributors in one of 3 categories, which also uses some or even most of the distinctions made above. What is important is that all music distributors perform the basic function of publishing & licensing of songs and royalties collection & management.
- Digital-only music distributor
- Full-service music distributor
- Label / artist services music distributor
1. Digital-only music distributor
Digital music distributors focus exclusively on distribution to online (digital) platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. Some well known music distributors which fall in this category are DistroKid, TuneCore and Amuse. This is the focus of this website.
2. Full-service music distributor
Full service music distributors do not only offer digital distribution, but also offer physical distribution to (online) retail stores (CD’s and vinyl records). Some well know examples are The Orchard (acquired in 2015 by Sony Music), AWAL (acquired by Sony Music in 2021) and Symphonic Distribution (still independent).
3. Label / artist services music distributor
An label or artist services music distributor offers record label services besides both digital and physical distribution. For example:
- Artist development
- Music production (e.g. music studio, musicians)
- Promotion
- Legal & contractual support
- Networking & industry connections (collaborations, cross-over songs)
- Brand & merchandise management (your band t-shirts, posters and patches)
- Financial support (cash flow management, administrative and tax management)
- Tour support
The latter include the major labels which offer all these services (if they are willing to sign you). Due to many acquisitions, the major labels are heavily concentrated and now only number 3 household names, which cover the majority of all the artists you’ll hear on the radio:
