How to release your music online (2026): distributors, steps & tips

You don't need a label to put music on Spotify, Apple Music or Bandcamp. You need a distributor, which is a service that delivers your tracks to the streaming platforms and pays out what they earn. Here's how it works, without the jargon.

What a distributor actually does

Streaming platforms don't take uploads directly from artists. A distributor is the bridge: you upload your finished track, artwork and details once, and they push it to every store, collect the royalties, and pass them back to you. That's the whole job.

Picking one

They mostly differ on how they charge and what extras they bundle. The common choices:

• DistroKid: flat yearly fee, unlimited releases. Popular with bands that put out music often.
• CD Baby: pay once per release, no yearly fee. Good if you release rarely.
• TuneCore: per-release pricing, long-established.
• Amuse and Ditto: free or low-cost tiers worth checking if budget is tight.
• Bandcamp: not a streaming distributor, but the best place to sell music and merch directly to fans, and it pays far more per sale than streaming.

A common combo is a streaming distributor for reach plus Bandcamp for income and superfans. They're not mutually exclusive.

The steps that matter

1. 1Finish the master. Get it properly mixed and mastered. This is not the place to rush.
2. 2Make square artwork (3000×3000 px, no store logos or unlicensed images).
3. 3Get the metadata right: exact track titles, featured artists, songwriters, genre. Mistakes here are painful to fix later.
4. 4Set a release date at least two to four weeks out, so you can pitch to Spotify's editorial team and build pre-saves.
5. 5Claim your artist profiles: Spotify for Artists and Apple Music for Artists. This lets you pitch playlists and see your stats.
6. 6Release, then share the links everywhere, including your band page.

Common mistakes

• Uploading the day before you want it out, which loses the pre-save and playlist-pitch window.
• Inconsistent artist names across releases, which splits your profile.
• Forgetting Bandcamp, and leaving the money that streaming won't pay on the table.

Once it's out

Put the streaming and Bandcamp links on your Bandpit page and drop a track into the featured player so visitors can hear you the moment they land. Every gig you add then points new listeners straight at the music.