DISTROKID BANNED ME FOR LIFE

Summary

In this video, Ryan from the Indie Music Academy recounts his experience with DistroKid, a music distribution platform. Despite being a loyal client with a record label account and multiple releases, Ryan's account was suddenly banned without explanation, and his music was delisted. After unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue, he was forced to move his music to another distributor. Ryan highlights the potential pitfalls of DistroKid's subscription model, which can trap artists into lifetime contracts, and encourages viewers to consider their options carefully.

Takeaways

• 😕 The artist experienced a ban from DistroKid without prior notice, causing their album not to be distributed.
• 📧 After two weeks without updates, the artist contacted DistroKid and received a vague response citing 'editorial discretion' as the reason for the ban.
• 🚫 DistroKid's response listed potential issues like poor quality or copyright infringement, but did not specify the exact reason for the ban.
• 🔄 The artist, having been a loyal client with multiple releases, was surprised by the ban and sought clarification.
• 💬 DistroKid did not offer a phone call to discuss the issue, only email communication, which the artist found unsatisfactory.
• 📉 The artist was informed that they could no longer distribute music through DistroKid and were advised to find another distributor.
• 💰 DistroKid's 'Leave a Legacy' fee was revealed to be only applicable in the event of the artist's death, not for account cancellation or ban.
• 🚫 The artist felt trapped by DistroKid's business model, which seemed to prioritize lifetime subscriptions over artist satisfaction.
• 🔄 The artist decided to move their music to another distributor, AWAL, which operates on a revenue-sharing model without yearly fees.
• 🎧 The artist encourages viewers to consider the implications of subscription models and to make informed decisions about music distribution.

Q & A

What was the issue with the artist's album release through DistroKid?

The artist's album was not released and was not available in stores two weeks past the release date without any updates or communication from DistroKid.

How did DistroKid respond when the artist inquired about the delayed album release?

DistroKid responded by stating that the artist's releases have been rejected due to editorial discretion and suggested that the artist should try another distributor.

What reasons did DistroKid provide for the rejection of the artist's album?

DistroKid listed possible reasons such as too many similar releases, poor quality sound recording, potential copyright infringement, and poor quality artwork.

Why was the artist particularly upset with DistroKid's handling of the situation?

The artist was upset because DistroKid banned their account without any prior notice or specific reason, and they were not given a chance to rectify any potential issues.

What is the 'Leave a Legacy' option mentioned in the script?

The 'Leave a Legacy' option is a fee that artists can pay to DistroKid to keep their music distributed in case they are unable to pay the annual fee, including in the event of death.

What was the artist's reaction to DistroKid's business model regarding the 'Leave a Legacy' option?

The artist found DistroKid's business model to be exploitative and restrictive, as it trapped artists into a lifetime subscription and only allowed music to remain distributed if the artist died.

Why did the artist decide to move their music to another distributor?

The artist decided to move their music to another distributor because DistroKid would not allow them to continue using their service despite being willing to pay additional fees.

What was the outcome of the artist's attempt to cancel their DistroKid account and billing?

DistroKid informed the artist that they could not cancel their account and stop the annual fee without risking the removal of their music from stores, unless they chose the 'Leave a Legacy' option or died.

What alternative distributor did the artist switch to after leaving DistroKid?

The artist switched to a distributor called AWAL after leaving DistroKid.

What is the Indie Music Academy and how does it aim to help independent artists?

The Indie Music Academy is a resource for independent artists that offers educational content, industry tips, and strategies to help artists grow their fanbase and earn income from their music.

Outlines

00:00

😤 Unjust Ban from DistroKid

The speaker recounts their frustration with DistroKid, a music distribution platform, after being banned without clear reason or prior notice. Despite being a loyal client with a record label account and several releases, DistroKid abruptly stopped the distribution of a new four-track album and banned the user's account. The user reached out to DistroKid for clarification and was given vague reasons such as 'editorial discretion,' which included potential copyright infringement or poor quality, despite the user's professional background in music production and the album's originality. The user's attempts to get a clear answer were met with unhelpful responses, leading to a negative view of DistroKid's customer service and practices.

05:01

🤔 The Aftermath of DistroKid's Decision

After DistroKid's decision to ban the user, they were left with no choice but to find an alternative distributor for their music. DistroKid's response to the user's inquiries was unsatisfactory, offering no clear explanation or solution, and suggesting that the user switch distributors for future releases. The user, who had been with DistroKid for over three years and had nine releases, was shocked by the platform's lack of support and the revelation that their music would be removed if they couldn't pay the annual fee, even in the case of being banned. This led the user to consider paying a 'leave a legacy' fee to keep their music on the platform, but DistroKid's policies made it clear that this was only an option in the event of the user's death, highlighting the inflexibility and what the user perceived as an exploitative business model.

10:03

🚫 The Dark Side of Subscription Services

The speaker concludes their story by emphasizing the hidden truths and potential pitfalls of subscription-based music distribution services like DistroKid. They recount their decision to move all their music to a new distributor, AWOL, which did not have yearly fees and instead took a percentage of earnings, aligning the distributor's interests with the artist's success. The speaker shares their positive experience with AWOL and encourages other independent artists to be aware of the terms and conditions of the platforms they use. They also promote the Indie Music Academy's resources, including the Indie Vault, which offers free ebooks and guides to help artists navigate the music industry. The speaker ends on a note of empowerment, urging artists to make informed decisions and to take control of their music careers.

Keywords

💡DistroKid

DistroKid is a digital music distribution service that allows artists to upload their music to various online platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and others. In the video, the artist discusses their experience with DistroKid, including being banned from the platform without clear reasons, which halted the distribution of their album.

💡Album Release

An album release refers to the process of making a collection of musical recordings available to the public. The video's narrative revolves around the artist's frustration with their album not being released as expected through DistroKid, despite following all the necessary procedures.

💡Copyright

Copyright in the context of the video pertains to the legal rights granted to creators for their original works, which in this case includes the artist's music. The artist mentions ensuring that their music is original and not infringing on any copyrights, which is a prerequisite for distribution.

💡Music Distribution

Music distribution is the process of making music available for sale or streaming through various platforms. The video discusses the artist's journey with DistroKid for music distribution and the challenges faced when their account was banned, affecting their music's availability.

💡Indie Music Academy

The Indie Music Academy is mentioned as a resource for independent musicians, offering advice and tools to help them succeed in the music industry. The video's host, Ryan, is associated with this academy and shares his personal experience to educate and inform other artists.

💡Music Industry

The music industry encompasses the businesses and organizations involved in the production, distribution, and sale of music. The video provides insights into one aspect of the industry, focusing on the challenges an artist faced with a digital distributor within this broader context.

💡Subscription Model

A subscription model, as discussed in the video, is a business approach where customers pay a recurring fee to access a service or product. DistroKid operates on such a model, and the artist's experience highlights the potential pitfalls of being locked into a subscription without clear options for resolution when issues arise.

💡Royalties

Royalties in music refer to the payments made to artists and copyright holders for the use of their music. The video touches on the importance of understanding royalty collection, which is crucial for artists to earn income from their work, and is part of the broader education provided by the Indie Music Academy.

💡Music Production

Music production involves the recording, mixing, and production of music tracks. The artist in the video has a background in music production, which is relevant to the discussion as it establishes their credibility and experience in creating original music suitable for distribution.

💡Digital Music Platforms

Digital music platforms are online services where music can be streamed or downloaded. The video's central issue is the artist's inability to have their music available on these platforms due to being banned from DistroKid, which serves as a distributor to such platforms.

💡Legacy Fee

The legacy fee mentioned in the video is a one-time payment DistroKid offers to artists to keep their music distributed after they decide to cancel their subscription. The artist's experience with DistroKid's legacy fee policy is a key point of contention in the narrative, as it was not an option for them despite their willingness to pay.

Highlights

Artist experienced a two-week delay in album release with no updates from District Kid.

After inquiring, the artist was informed that their account was banned by District Kid without prior notice.

The ban was due to 'editorial discretion' with a list of potential reasons including poor quality or copyright issues.

The artist had been a loyal District Kid client for over three years with a record label account.

The artist's music was professionally recorded and they owned all copyrights, yet still faced the ban.

District Kid suggested the artist try another distributor for future releases.

The artist requested a more specific explanation for the ban but received a vague response.

District Kid's customer support did not offer phone support, only email communication.

The artist was willing to pay a 'leave a legacy' fee to keep music on the platform but was rejected.

District Kid's policy suggests that the only way to stop payments is through death, not account cancellation.

The artist had to move all music to another distributor due to District Kid's uncooperative stance.

The artist discovered a more artist-friendly distribution service, AWAL, which does not charge yearly fees.

AWAL's business model is based on revenue sharing, aligning incentives with artist success.

The artist encourages viewers to consider the long-term implications of subscription services for music distribution.

The Indie Music Academy offers resources like the Indy Vault and a music royalty collection guide for independent artists.

The artist concludes by emphasizing the importance of making informed decisions about music distribution platforms.

Transcripts

and then finally after two weeks I reach

out to district kid and ask hey my album

still isn't out yeah what's going on and

I sent this email I have it right here I

said hey district kid it's been nearly

two weeks past the release date of my

album it's still not in stores and I

also don't have any updates in my

account nor have I heard from you that

it's going to be delayed I'm just

emailing to see what's going on and just

a little backstory this is a four track

album of my original music and it ended

up never being distributed because

district kid just banned my account

without any notice and I understand that

sometimes with companies stuff happens

and district kids seemed to be doing all

that they can but then some things

actually came out shortly after that

actually changed my view on distribute

[Music]

hey guys my name is Ryan from the indie

music academy and welcome back to the

channel where we uncover the mysteries

of the music industry learn how to grow

a larger fanbase and earn an income from

our music and today this video is gonna

be really different from past videos I

usually talk about music industry tips

and strategies but I've been getting a

lot of comments and dm's and I've been

talking to people about actually sharing

my district kid story about how I was

actually banned from district kid after

being a user for 3 plus years and having

the record label account with over nine

releases so if anyone was to get banned

from district kid I wouldn't think it'd

be me because I was a loyal paying

client on one of their top accounts but

it did happen and a lot of you wanted to

hear that story I've been talking about

it a little bit in the comments kind of

diving in answering individual questions

but I want to just lay it all out right

here from beginning to end just so you

can know about what happened you can

know about the things that were

discussed with district kid and you can

know the outcome and you can learn how

to avoid the outcome for yourself so I

don't know how long this is gonna be I'm

just gonna tell the story and you guys

make your own conclusions on whether or

not you want to can

you use district kid I didn't have that

choice they made that choice for me I'm

now with a wall distribution and I

actually have a song coming out this

Friday so if you want to support my

music I'll leave a Spotify link in the

description just so you can listen to my

new track but it's not distributed by

district kid because of this sequence of

events that I'm about to share right now

just like I said in the intro this video

I wanted to release some original music

and district it essentially stop that

from happening just a little backstory

it was a four track album it was all

original music there were no samples

there was no copyright gray area or

anything that could potentially derail

this release it was a pretty

straightforward release and if you guys

follow this channel if you've been

following for awhile you'll know that I

produce music I produce music here in my

studio I do it at a pretty pro level I

have went to school for music I have my

music degree I've worked in multiple

Studios produce multiple artists written

for film and television mixed and

surround sound I have pretty much done

it all and have a lot of experience when

it comes to recording and mixing music

in addition to all that I write music I

perform weekly I get paid to perform and

I'm not a beginner musician I've been

doing this for a long time I know what

I'm doing in the studio but even let's

just pretend that I didn't and let's

pretend that I was a beginner artist

that's still not really an excuse to not

notify the artists if their release

isn't getting released for some kind of

technical reason right imagine I'm a

beginner and district kid they market

towards first-time musicians and they

market towards musicians with lower

budgets that's why they have the $20 a

year subscription it's literally the

lowest price option for distribution so

even if I wasn't experienced there

should still be no problem because the

district it website is made to guide

artists along the distribution process

and to make sure that they upload a wave

instead of an mp3 or to make sure that

their album art is the required 3000 by

3000 pixels and all that kind of stuff

it even auto corrects your song title if

you ride it incorrectly and the little

pop-up comes up to hell

you do everything correctly and this

wasn't my first release with district 8

either I had the record label account I

had nine releases before this particular

release ended up getting me banned so

after noticing that my release still

wasn't on Spotify and still wasn't on

Apple music two weeks after the release

date I emailed distro kid to find out

what was wrong and this was their reply

they said hey Ryan we've been notified

that one or more of your releases has

been rejected due to editorial

discretion some possible reasons are too

many similar releases from the same

artists poor quality sound recording not

music potential copyright or trademark

infringement poor quality artwork or

similar content already in stores for

example rain sounds and that sort of

thing stores are no longer accepting

releases from you via district kid

please try another distributor so after

two weeks of wondering when my albums

gonna come out not getting any

notification from district kid I finally

reached out to them asking what's going

on and they said oh by the way stores

are no longer accepting your releases

via district hit find another

distributor and they left a laundry list

of things that could have been but they

didn't really say exactly what was wrong

they just banned me and I had to go and

follow up and ask some more questions so

this is what I replied I said hey Pete

I'm sorry but you're gonna have to

provide a better explanation all my

music is completely original it's

professionally recorded mixed and

masters I pay for the record label

account because I release a large volume

of music with a variety of artists this

would be my ninth release with district

kids since 2016 can you be more specific

as to what the problem is I own all the

copyright to my music will I be able to

release future albums with district kid

or are you suggesting that I need to

move all existing releases to another

distributor as well please let me know

if you have any more information then

destroy Kid replies back sorry that's

all the info we have stores are no

longer accepting releases from you do to

editorial discretion existing releases

will remain in stores for now but you'll

need to try another distributor for

future releases

then I ask can I schedule call with

someone they say we don't offer

telephone support but happy to answer

any questions via email which is what

we've been doing and then I say are you

saying I can no longer ever release

music with district kid just like that

unbanned with no warning no notification

and no reason and there's nothing

district kid can do to back for me as a

returning customer after 9 releases

district 8 is just dropping me and it's

over and then district kid replies

that's correct

stores are no longer accepting new

releases from you do two editorial

discretion you're welcome to try another

distributor ok so it took some time for

that to sink in for me because district

had made it clear that they didn't

really know why it happened and they

really couldn't do anything to help me

as their artist as their customer but

you know me I'm a pretty nice guy and so

I just figured that there was some kind

of glitch and so the support guy did the

best he could

district it didn't have answers and what

I would do is just pay the legacy fee to

keep my music up there and then just

continue distributing music with some

other distributors because district kid

was no longer accepting my releases so

that was my plan I wanted to pay the

district kid leave the legacy fee 29 for

single and $49 for an album which is

essentially paying disrobed kid twice

that was my only option if I wanted to

keep my music on district kid and I was

prepared to pay it so at that point I

was fine with district kid but then some

things actually came out shortly after

that actually changed my view on

district kid this is what I wrote to

them I said hey district kid I want to

do to leave a legacy option where I can

pay to keep my tracks distributed but

how do I cancel my account slash billing

so that I no longer have to pay the

yearly membership since I cannot upload

any more tracks in my account is

basically frozen right it's a fair

question for some reason my account was

banned so of course I can't upload any

more music but I figured that as long as

I pay the $29 for a single and the $49

for an album for the leave a legacy fee

I should be able to keep my music up

there it doesn't cost them anything to

keep my music on Spotify it's already in

the Spotify database and at those prices

I might as well just distribute with CD

Baby because that's how

much it cost to get a song distributed

actually it's cheaper I think it's like

$9.99 a single so I'm paying twice now

per song hopefully I'm gonna have my

music distributed forever the way that

it should be but this is what district

kid replied which shook my view of them

and proved to me that their whole

business model is just about nickel and

diming artists in doing whatever it

takes to keep them on this lifetime

subscription this is what district had

said the legacy extra exists so that

your albums won't be removed due to a

lapsed membership payment if you're

unable to pay the annual fee in the

event of death if you intentionally

canceled your district kid subscription

you wouldn't be able to upload any

additional albums and previous releases

will be removed from stores let me

translate that for you out of district

kid speak into normal language the only

way to stop paying for district kid is

if you die the leave a legacy option is

only for you dying any other scenario

even getting banned even not being able

to upload any more music even wanting to

switch distributors the leave a legacy

option doesn't count it's only in the

circumstance where you end up dead

what kind of business model is that

where you're locked into a lifetime

contract where you can only get out of

it and keep your music distributed if

you die that's ridiculous I was willing

to pay district hit double I was paying

for the record label account I was

paying a hundred and thirty nine ninety

nine dollars a year and no matter what

the circumstance district hit has it

built into their business model where

you either keep paying for the rest of

your life or all your music gets taken

down from district kid what I ended up

having to do is to move all of my songs

from district kid to another distributor

my current distributor now AWOL and it

was a long process I got through it I

had to do it in a specific way to make

sure I didn't lose any stream counts I

had to do in a specific way to make sure

the UPC codes carried over all kinds of

stuff like that a huge hassle and all

because district kid wanted me to keep

paying one hundred and thirty nine

ninety nine for the rest of my life even

though I couldn't use district kid

anymore

and even when I said I was gonna pay the

leave a legacy fee on every single one

of my tracks they still wouldn't work

with me so that's my story and if you

are a current district at artists I'm

not telling you to quit district kid in

fact I'm not even sure if you can but

with all that being said district it was

good to me and their platform is good

and it was all great right up until the

end when all of this hidden truth came

out so if you're a district guitarist

right now and you love the payment

splitting you love the district hit

analytics you might have a record label

account and you love having the ability

to distribute for multiple artists under

one account continue to use district kid

I'm not telling anyone to cancel with

them and go through what I went through

but I just want to let you know that if

you think that at any point during the

rest of your life you might not want to

pay that district could fee any more

then seriously consider not choosing

district 8 if that is something that you

personally want in your life

district kid has a lot of amazing

features that a lot of other

distributors don't have and that's why I

picked them in the first place but it's

really unfortunate that this great

service is poisoned by a business model

that traps artists into a lifetime

subscription nickel and dimes them for

features that come free with other

distributors like Shazam and YouTube

Content ID and then on top of that the

only way to have your music up forever

is if you die at the end of the day I'm

actually glad that district could ban me

because it revealed a lot of the dark

side to the subscription that I was

subscribed to and so I ended up

canceling my account I ended up having

to move all of my music over to a wall

and I'm glad that I did because a wall

has no yearly fees they just take a

small cut only if I make money if I

don't make anything from my music they

don't get paid so that's their incentive

to increase the reach of their platform

and add new distributors add new

worldwide territories and the analytics

on the back end are great and I can

download spreadsheets and everything

that I need to get a crystal clear view

of everything that's going on with my

music so if you got to this point in the

video thanks so much for watching I know

that this was a longer video and maybe a

little more ranty than usual but I just

want to end on the latter side by saying

that at the indie music Academy we want

independent artists to succeed and

why we have something called the Indy

vault which is a digital treasure trove

of things like music industry contracts

there are things in there like my

Spotify playlist game plan and the music

royalty collection guide it's a free

ebook actually all of its free so if

you're interested in joining the indie

fall to go click the link in the

description below and we also have a

giveaway going on right now where you

can win a free microphone so if that is

still going on by the time you watch

this video go ahead and click the link

for that in the description as well so

once again thanks so much for watching I

hope this video was truly helpful to you

and again I'm not telling you to do any

particular thing I just want to share my

experience with district 8 and my

knowledge about the music industry so

take some of it apply some of it or take

none of it it doesn't matter to me we'll

still be friends if you decide that you

love district kid that's fine I don't

have strong feelings for district Adeiny

more I just wanted to share my story

because a lot of people were asking you

to so that's all for this video thanks

so much for watching and hit the like

button and subscribe if you appreciate

content like this and you appreciate the

content that's on this channel so thanks

so much

once again I'm Ryan from the indie music

academy and I'll see you guys in the

next video

[Music]