Record labels used to be the one ticket into the music industry. Now, it’s easier than ever for struggling musicians to get their music and video content out there. DistroKid, an independent music distribution firm, launched its new music video distribution service called DistroVid to allow any artist to upload an unlimited number of music videos to Apple Music, Amazon Music, TIDAL, and Vevo.
The company also noted that more digital service providers will come online in the coming months. According to DistroVid’s website, the service covers YouTube as well. The membership costs $99 annually, and users can add additional artists for $49.99 annually.
“Many streaming services have begun playing music videos in addition to audio–but until now, there hasn’t been a great way for independent artists to get their music videos into these services,” Philip Kaplan, Founder, and CEO of DistroKid said in a statement. “Our new music video service, called DistroVid, makes it super easy & affordable for independent artists to get their music videos everywhere.”
The new service could help streamline video distribution for independent artists as it is typical for video distribution services, like Symphonic and Ditto Music, to charge one-time fees of $95 to $99 per music video upload. With DistroVid, artists pay the same price once each year and can upload unlimited music videos. Also, DistroKid pays artists 100% of their earnings, whereas some competitors pay 70%.
From an artist’s perspective, DJ Hoppa said DistroVid is a “game-changer” for independent labels and artists. “I’ve always stressed the importance of music videos to every artist we’ve worked with – videos really help give potential fans a way to connect with both the artist and their music,” said DJ Hoppa, founder of label Broken Complex. “Up until now, it’s been expensive and difficult to add my music videos to streaming services, which means our fans are forced to bounce between different apps to see them. DistroVid changes all that. The new tool makes it easy and affordable to upload as many videos as I want, then send them directly to where fans are already listening to my music. DistroVid is going to be a game-changer for my independent label and for independent artists everywhere.”
The video distribution service was first tested last month. Some DistroKid artists criticized the company for the annual price. DistroKid tweeted a response:
Other video distribution services (there aren’t many) charge $200 or more *per video*. Our service is less money, unlimited, and of course the best & easiest & fastest
Still we totally understand folks want an even better value and you can count of us to bring it
— DistroKid (@DistroKid) May 5, 2022
Originally, DistroKid was planning to charge non-members $129 per year. However, this is no longer reflected on the website.
Another affordable option is PeekSound, which charges artists $80 per year for unlimited music videos—a $19 difference from DistroVid. The catch is that PeekSound does not distribute music videos to TIDAL and charges an extra fee for Apple Music and Vevo. Also, artists have to upload videos to their YouTube profiles themselves. PeekSound users keep 100% royalties.
DistroKid was founded in 2013 and currently serves around two million artists. The music distribution company was one of the few trendsetters to switch from a pay-per-release model to an annual-fee model. Recently, rival TuneCore overhauled its pricing structure for the first time in 16 years to bring itself closer to DistroKid’s pricing structure.
Last year, DistroKid received investment from software investor Insight Partners, valuing the company at $1.3 billion. The company also unveiled two programs in 2021. One is a program called “DistroKid Upstream” for streaming data-sharing and the other is a Twitch affiliate partnership program.
