Music Distribution Fee Calculator — DistroKid vs TuneCore vs CD Baby

Which music distributor leaves you the most?

Enter how many releases you put out a year and how many streams you get a month. You see what you keep on each distributor after its yearly plan, per-release fee and royalty cut, and the streams-per-month crossover where a flat plan starts to beat a revenue share. Every distributor's pricing page quotes only its own scheme; this puts them side by side.

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1. Your music

Streams per month

Payout per stream ($)

New releases per year

Use the average payout per stream from your own royalty statement if you have one. 0.0035 is an approximate starting point.

2. Distributors and their fees

These are approximate starting points, not verified. Distributors change pricing often: check each pricing page and edit any number.

Enter streams and releases, then click Compare.

What this does not cover

USD only. No currency conversion, withholding tax or income-tax treatment of music income.
Features are not compared. Payout speed, store coverage, publishing admin, Content ID, takedown terms and support differ a lot.
Plan details. Multi-year discounts, per-store fees and promotional pricing are not modelled; edit the yearly fee to approximate them.

Common questions

Which music distributor is cheapest?

It depends on your release count and your streams. A free or revenue-share distributor is cheapest while your royalties are small; a flat yearly plan that keeps no cut wins once your royalties are large enough that the percentage would exceed the plan fee. This calculator finds that crossover for your numbers.

How much does a stream pay?

Roughly a third of a cent to a few tenths of a cent per stream, varying by service, country and listener plan. The default here is an approximate starting point; use your own statement's average payout per stream and edit it.

Do distributors take a cut of royalties?

Some do and some charge only fees. Per-release fees, yearly plans and a percentage of royalties are all common, sometimes combined. Each row here has all three.

Are the preset prices current?

They are approximate starting points, not verified numbers. Distributors change pricing often, so check each pricing page and edit the figures before relying on the result.

Is this financial advice?

No. It does arithmetic on the numbers you enter. It does not compare features, payout speed, takedown terms or tax treatment of music income.