Your distributor isn't working hard enough for you

When you sign up for music distributors (think DistroKid, CD Baby), the deal is straightforward: you pay them a fee, they get your music onto Spotify, Apple Music, and elsewhere. They collect your royalties, deposit them into your account, and you’re free to focus on making music. It’s a simple transaction that’s worked well enough for millions of independent artists, and helped make streaming platforms the defacto method of consumption for music.

Unfortunately, the music industry isn’t simple anymore. AI-generated music is flooding streaming platforms at an unprecedented rate, with Deezer reporting that roughly 28% of daily music uploads are now fully AI-generated. Copyright claims are getting more complex. Publishing rights are a maze that most artists can’t navigate alone. All the while, the distributors that paved the way for streaming’s success are doing the bare minimum with these new challenges.

DistroKid handles roughly one-third of all new music releases globally. That’s an astonishing market share for a company that started in 2013 with a lean tech model and a simple value proposition: unlimited uploads for a flat annual fee. CD Baby, founded way back in 1998, has been in the game even longer, building a reputation as the reliable option for independent artists.

These platforms succeeded by removing barriers. No longer did you need a label deal to get your music on iTunes. No longer were you at the mercy of distributors who took huge cuts of your royalties. The democratization of music distribution was real, and these companies deserve credit for making it happen.

But success breeds complacency. And when you’re handling a third of the world’s new music, there’s not a lot of pressure to innovate. As one comprehensive review notes, DistroKid “used to innovate and push the boundary,” but now other companies “have started innovating far quicker” while offering similar features for cheaper prices.

The signs are everywhere. DistroKid still charges extra fees for features like royalty splits that competitors now offer for free. Their customer support relies heavily on chatbots, leaving artists stranded when real problems arise. CD Baby was recently acquired by Universal Music Group’s Virgin division after staff layoffs in what insiders called “a challenging time for DIY distributors”. These aren’t the moves of companies pushing boundaries.

Let’s talk about the elephant in the recording studio: AI music. Not the hypothetical future of AI music, but the very real present where 27% of musicians are already using AI tools in music creation, and 57% have used AI for tasks like generating cover art.

This is where the complacency gets dangerous. When Hypebot reached out to major distributors in 2023 to ask about their AI policies, the findings were disappointing. CD Baby’s stance is the most restrictive: their distribution guidelines explicitly state that “CD Baby does not accept music created with A.I.” Even if an AI tool claims to output royalty-free music, CD Baby notes there’s “no way to ensure unique sounds or rights compliance”, a blanket ban that offers zero guidance for artists who want to use AI ethically.

DistroKid’s response is even vaguer. The platform doesn’t have an explicit ban on AI content, doesn’t ask whether tracks are AI-made, and imposes no labeling requirements. Instead, they simply “defer to the rules of partner streaming services”, meaning they’ll only reject AI content if Spotify or Apple catches it first.

TuneCore has made some moves, but they’re inconsistent. The platform won’t distribute tracks that are 100% AI-generated with no human contribution, and has explicitly warned users about content from AI tools like Suno or Udio (the platforms currently facing major label lawsuits). But what counts as “human contribution”? A single live vocal take over an AI-generated track?

This is reactive policy-making at its worst. These companies aren’t building tools to help you understand whether your AI-assisted track meets platform requirements. They’re not aggressively developing systems to verify the provenance of AI-generated elements. They’re not creating frameworks for fair compensation when AI models are trained on your work. They’re just... waiting. Hoping the problem sorts itself out or that someone else will solve it for them.

The lack of clear guidance creates a chilling effect where artists avoid potentially legitimate uses of technology because they’re afraid of having their entire catalog taken down.

Some smaller distributors are showing what proactive engagement looks like. LANDR accepts AI-assisted music but implements actual guardrails: they require disclosure at upload, limit AI-generated releases to 5 tracks per artist per month to prevent spam, ban AI cover songs entirely, and use detection technology to screen uploads before they hit stores. Symphonic requires artists to declare AI use during upload and provide details about which models were used, partnering with Humanable to offer AI-free certification for artists who want to prove their music is 100% human-made.

TuneCore, to its credit, has experimented with things like the GrimesAI pilot program. It’s proof that consensual, compensated AI collaborations can work. But it’s an outlier experiment, not a systematic approach to the problem.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: there’s no money in solving these problems.

DistroKid makes money from annual subscription fees. CD Baby makes money from distribution fees and a cut of royalties. That’s it. There’s no revenue stream tied to publishing data. There’s no financial incentive to build sophisticated AI content verification systems. There’s no direct profit in helping artists navigate the complexities of AI-generated content rights.

This complacency is directly hurting artists. The MLC took over at least $424 million in unmatched mechanical royalties when it launched in 2021, money sitting unclaimed because songwriters either didn’t know they needed to register or their distributors didn’t help them do it. This number continues to grow.

Unlike streaming platforms that have an incentive to solve these problems (and some are trying their hardest to do so), traditional distributors don’t have that alignment. They’re intermediaries who succeeded by being pipes. And pipes don’t need to be smart. They just need to flow.

This is why you’re seeing minimal innovation in critical areas like:

• Publishing rights management. Most distributors either don’t help artists register their songs with mechanical licensing collectives or make them pay extra for the privilege. DistroKid now offers optional publishing administration, but charges a steep 20% commission on all publishing royalties collected. TuneCore charges $75 upfront plus 15%. LANDR doesn’t offer any publishing administration at all, explicitly telling artists “the royalties LANDR collects are recording royalties, not songwriter royalties” and directing them to handle PRO registration themselves. CD Baby’s situation is even worse. They discontinued their Pro Publishing service in August 2023, replacing it with “CDB Boost”, a watered-down version that only covers U.S. mechanical royalties via The MLC, not performance royalties. Both CD Baby and other services like SoundOn explicitly instruct artists to register with ASCAP, BMI, and others on their own.

• Real-time royalty data. While UnitedMasters launched daily payouts using predictive modeling in 2025, most distributors still operate on monthly or quarterly cycles. Artists are waiting 2-3 months to see money from streams that happened in January.

• Fraud detection that doesn’t hurt innocent artists. After Spotify started penalizing distributors for fake streams, DistroKid and TuneCore implemented automated systems that ended up freezing legitimate artists’ accounts with little recourse. Indie artist Devi McCallion had tens of thousands of dollars in royalties frozen by DistroKid on suspicion of bot streams. She spent a month dealing with chatbots and automated responses, only learning about the fraud investigation after she publicly called them out. Electronic artist Benn Jordan had his entire catalog removed by TuneCore in early 2024 over alleged “abnormal streaming activity” on one or more tracks. The takedown happened before TuneCore even notified him. Only after massive public outcry did TuneCore admit an “internal error” and restore the music. Jordan’s experience spurred TuneCore to promise they’d “develop a system that advocates for their customers rather than adhering to a zero-tolerance policy” (an admission that their processes were broken).

These are system failures that reveal a fundamental problem: when you scale up automation without scaling up support or sophistication, artists suffer.

The good news is that we know what better looks like.

• Clear AI policies with nuance. Instead of blanket bans or vague deferrals, distributors need detailed guidance on what’s acceptable. If an artist uses AI for mastering, that’s probably fine. If they use a voice cloning tool they have commercial rights to, that should be fine too. If they’re uploading 10,000 tracks a day using someone else’s voice, that’s obviously not fine. The policy should reflect these distinctions.

• Content verification systems: We have the technology to implement C2PA metadata standards (like OpenAI did with Sora 2) and audio fingerprinting to verify originality. Services like Audible Magic have already developed AI detection capabilities that can identify AI-generated cover songs and vocal clones. Their Version ID system uses machine learning to recognize a song’s underlying composition even when performed by an AI model trained on a different artist’s voice. Some AI music generators like Suno embed sonic watermarks in their output, making detection straightforward for distributors who bother to scan for them.

• Publishing administration as a baseline: Every distributor should help you register your compositions and collect all the royalties you’re owed. This shouldn’t be an expensive add-on. It’s table stakes in 2025. Yet here’s the reality: Symphonic charges $100 upfront plus 15% commission via Songtrust. UnitedMasters offers publishing as an invite-only service via Sentric, taking 20% of publishing royalties (50% for sync placements they secure).

• Better data, faster. Real-time or near-real-time royalty reporting should be standard (not a premium feature). The technology exists. The only thing missing is the will to implement it properly.

👨‍🦲 A note from Chris McMurtry

I started building ONCE, selfishly for myself, but then quickly realized that what we’ve actually been building is the infrastructure modern artists actually need, as opposed to the one the industry has been coasting on. AI is inevitable, but it’s not something to fear, in my opinion. The question isn’t if it’s coming, but how we use it responsibly to protect creators and their rights.

“What is best for the artist; for the creator of the music itself?”

That’s the filter for all decisions we make at ONCE. That’s why we’ve built tools for AI-assisted data collection, rights management that accounts for new forms of content, and policies of absolute transparency that give artists clarity instead of confusion.

AI music isn’t a sideshow. It’s a tool (and it’s now a new category) that needs real infrastructure, the same way streaming did twenty years ago.

Here’s what needs to happen.

• Distributors need to invest in AI infrastructure. This means detection systems, content verification, clear policies, and educational resources for artists. The technology exists. The expertise exists. What’s missing is the commitment.

• Revenue models need to evolve. If there’s no money in solving these problems, then the business model is broken. Distributors should be exploring how to monetize value-added services like AI content verification, advanced analytics, and comprehensive rights management. Artists will pay for tools that actually help them navigate complexity.

• Industry standards need to emerge. The major distributors should be working together (with streaming platforms, rights organizations, and artists) to establish clear standards for AI content disclosure, rights verification, and fair compensation. There are early signs of progress: CD Baby is working with Spotify to develop an industry-standard for AI disclosures in music metadata.

• Support needs to scale with complexity. As the industry gets more complicated, chatbots and automated email responses become less adequate. Real support from people who understand music rights, AI policy, and platform requirements isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity.

The music industry has been here before. When streaming first emerged, distributors had to adapt or die. Those that moved quickly and built the right infrastructure thrived. Those that clung to the CD distribution model became irrelevant.

We’re at a similar inflection point with AI, but with a much more compressed timeline. AI music tools like Udio and Suno went from launch to widespread use in months, not years. By some estimates, roughly 18% of daily uploads on major streaming platforms are now AI-generated. That percentage is only growing.

Your distributor’s job isn’t just to be a pipe that connects you to streaming platforms. In 2025, that’s the bare minimum. Their job is to help you navigate an increasingly complex industry, to protect your rights in an era of AI-generated content, to provide the data and tools you need to build a sustainable career, and to advocate for your interests when platforms make changes that affect your livelihood.

Most of them aren’t doing that job. They’re comfortable. They’re profitable. They’re handling millions of tracks a year with minimal overhead. And they’re failing you in ways that aren’t immediately obvious until you run into a problem they haven’t bothered to solve.

The incumbents built their businesses by disrupting the old guard. Now they’ve become the old guard themselves, and the disruption is coming for them. Platforms like ONCE are showing what’s possible when you build with the future in mind instead of protecting the present. The question isn’t whether traditional distributors can adapt. It’s whether they’ll bother to try before artists start looking elsewhere.