Since I started selling and putting my music on-line in December 2021, my music has always been distributed by the on-line distributor called Dittomusic.com.
From July 2023 onwards, for some of my alternate projects, like my FREE albums, (and also after little problems I had with Ditto) I’ve decided to give my trust to another on-line distributor called Distrokid.com.
On this page, I will tell the story of my relationship with both of these companies. I’m not saying one is better than the other, actually they both have their pros and cons. But I’m just telling my experiences with both of them as they happened to me. That way, if you’re a fellow musician, yourself, you can benefit from my experiences with them.
I will update this page as the problems or their solutions will come along as I go.
First of all, what I wanted from my on-line distributor was this :
- a single company who will distribute my music on-line
- a company who respects my sometimes hectic release schedules
- a company who answers me back quickly when a problem occurs
- a company who reports me back about how well my music is doing on-line out there with clear stats from Spotify, Deezer, Amazon, etc.
What I love about Dittomusic.com
- it’s very easy to distribute a single, an EP or an album there
- contrary to what I’ve read about them, they are pretty quick to respond to any of the problems I’ve submit to them (I’ve got an answer usually from one to 2 or 3 days) that seems reasonable to me
- The stats ! If I want to see how well my music is doing every week, I can and their stats page is amazingly well done. I just love that about them. I can see how many streams and how many sales I’ve earned on their stats page no matter what major site the stats are coming from, all those stats are there on the same page and that is truly great, I must admit.
- The price : they’re the most cheap. I pay 20 bucks a year (and it includes the stats of how well my music is doing out there) this is truly great and cheap.
What I don’t love about Dittomusic.com
Some rules I’ve learned the hard way. Sometimes my projects are rejected because of what I see as STUPID RULES like these for instance :
- An album can’t be called just one letter or one number or even a year (Beyonce call her 4th album « 4 » when I couldn’t call my 5th album « 5 », Taylor Swift can call one of her albums « 1989 » when I couldn’t. All albums must be called with 3 letters at least : which is for me stupid and discriminatory rule
- A remix can’t be called « edit » or « single edit » there when Madonna can call « Live To Tell » single version « edit » and I can’t, so there it is, I say it again : stupid and discriminatory rule.
- Sometimes stupid rules applies, sometimes they don’t. Example : I’ve called my 1st remix album « Remixes volume 1 » and they refused I call my 1st singles compilation « Singles volume 1 ». Why ? Because they said some bullshit like I can’t call an album « Volume 1 » when there ins’t already a « Volume 2 » available or that this name is too generic. Again, I think this is a stupid rule again, right there.
Therefore, anytime my projects were being rejected for what I consider like stupid reasons, I started to look for another distributor for my music. That’s when I turned to Distrokid.com for these specific projects.
Also, they have no respect whatsoever for your release schedule. If I decide I want my single or album to be released on January 1st, even though I give them my project 1 month ahead of schedule, they chose to tell me there’s a problem with my project that I need to fix only on January 1st !
And since all project need at least 10 days to be put on-line there, then the next available release date for my project is not January 1st but January 11th. And this is truly unacceptable for me. Especially since I give them my project always something like 1 month ahead, I think they shouldn’t wait the very last minute to tell me there is a problem with my project.
And also when there is a problem with my project, they are often not very specific about it and I often have to dig to know what’s wrong.
But apart from that, I love dittomusic.com. I’ve been using them for almost 2 years and they are still, my prefered distributor, at least, for now. Until maybe I’ve found better. After Distrokid & Bandcamp (which I love very much and I have no intention of giving up), I might try TuneCore next to replace Distrokid, Dittomusic or both.
What I love about Distrokid.com
- it’s also very easy to distribute a single, an EP or an album there
- They can release my projects very quickly (when Ditto needs 10 days at least, sometimes Ditrokid does it in 3 or 5 days : not to all companies at the same time, but still, their quick response is very impressive)
- If there is something wrong but your record sleeve or your track, they tell you almost immediately as you submit your project.
- They accept your projects more quickly than Dittomusic, they don’t seem to have a « in review » phase like Ditto. I never had a project rejected. I’m still using them for only 4 months now, but with Ditto I already had 2 or 3 projects rejected for a reason or another by that time.
What I don’t love about Distrokid.com
You have to use your « real name » in the writting credits. I believe this is for Spotify only, but still, Distrokid states this as a rule. Ok, so I’m not Madonna or Lady Gaga but if I chose « The Edit King » as my artist’s name, it’s not for my real name to appear on-line. This is a STUPID RULE.
I am not a fraud, and even if I were, they already have scans of my real national « identity card », so they know I’m a real person and what my real name truly is already. So I don’t see why tracks can be said to be written by Madonna or Lady Gaga and not Louise Madonna Veronica Ciccone or Stefani Germanotta and I have to put my real name out there for everyone to see. STUPID RULE.
Contrary to what happens on Dittomusic.com, on Distrokid there isn’t a single page that resumes all your stats into one. If you want to see how well your music is doing on Spotify, you have to go to your Spotify page. If you want to see how well your music is doing on Deezer, you have to go to your professionnal Deezer page, but in Dittomusic, all your stats are on your Dittomusic page, you don’t have to go anywhere else. That’s very much more convenient. Here Distrokid is being lazy and not professional enough as I see it.
The price : even though they have a cheap formula like Dittomusic.com at 20 bucks or so, for this price, you don’t have your stats. If you want to see how well your music is doint out there, you have to take a 35 bucks a year formula which is much less cheap that Dittomusic + their stats page isn’t a real stats page, it’s not as well done as Ditto’s so….
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