How to move your music from DistroKid to Identity Music

DistroKid’s been in the news a lot recently - and not for the best reasons.

If you’ve got music distributed with DistroKid and you’re looking to move away, here’s how to move your music from DistroKid to Identity Music without losing streams, statistics or playlist placements.

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Can I move away from DistroKid without losing streams?

You absolutely can, if you do the transfer properly. When you move distributors, there needs to be a period of time for stats, playlists and streams to transfer from one distributor to another - called tracklinking.

Tracklinking usually takes around 6 weeks and during that time there will be two versions of your releases live (one with your previous distributor and one with your new distributor) - but nothing will change for your listeners!

During tracklinking you will continue to receive royalties and reporting from your old distributor and will start to receive similar data from your new distributor too. Throughout the 6 weeks, you’ll see stats decline on your old distributor’s version of your release while they’re replaced with the new version.

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How to leave DistroKid & switch to Identity Music

Moving your music catalogue away from DistroKid might be the right decision for your music career, particularly if you’re struggling to get the right support.

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Organising your metadata

If you’re moving your music from DistroKid to Identity Music, this step is simple: you can either provide us a spreadsheet with all your metadata in, or send us links to your live releases on Spotify or Apple Music - whichever you prefer.

To maintain your streams and statistics while your catalogue is transferred, it’s really important that you use the same metadata with your new distributor as you did with your previous distributor. This includes:

• Track and release title
• Artwork
• Main Primary Artist, Primary Artist, Featured Artist, etc.
• Primary and Secondary Genre
• Label (if applicable)
• UPC (very important!)
• ISRC (also very important)
• Copyright information

And any other metadata relevant to your releases. If you’ve got track splits with other artists, your new distributor will need details of those too to ensure everyone gets paid correctly.

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Make sure you have your audio files

To make the process of transferring your catalogue as simple as possible, it’s important that you have your master audio files well-organised. 

The simplest way to make sure you can easily give your new distributor access to your audio files is to store them in a Google Drive folder, Dropbox, or some other file sharing platform. What matters most is that every file is there and named in a way that makes each track easily recognisable.

In terms of file format, WAV is the best for maintaining high quality sound.

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Redistribute your releases with your new distributor

If you’re moving from DistroKid to Identity Music, we can do this for you - as long as you can provide links to your live releases (Spotify or Apple Music) and your audio files, we can build your catalogue in your Identity Music dashboard and distribute it for you.

Other distributors may have similar arrangements, or a bulk upload facility. Check with them to see what the simplest method available is - the less manual work needed, the better.

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Wait ~6 weeks for tracklinking

If you have releases live with DistroKid right now and want to make sure that your stream counts, playlist placements, and analytics remain intact when you transfer them to a new distributor, this is the most important step.

Instead of requesting takedowns from DistroKid right away, your releases need some time to transfer over all their data to the new versions that are live with Identity Music (or your chosen distributor). This period of time is usually 6 weeks, but you can check in with our Client Management team for confirmation that everything has transferred properly before you request takedowns from DistroKid.

For your listeners, nothing will be different during the tracklinking period. Your songs will be available as usual, there will just be two versions of each track behind-the-scenes while everything transfers away from DistroKid.

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Frequently Asked Questions: leaving DistroKid for Identity Music

Will I lose my streams if I leave DistroKid?

Not if you allow the tracklinking period to pass before taking down your releases from DistroKid. Keeping both versions live for long enough allows the data (streams, playlist placements, analytics) to move over from DistroKid to Identity Music - so make sure you’re not taking down your DistroKid releases too early.

Will my music be unavailable while I move from DistroKid?

If you’ve left your releases live with DistroKid at the same time as distributing them with Identity Music, they will remain available to your listeners as usual. If you request takedowns from DistroKid before you’ve redistributed your releases with Identity Music, there will be a period of time where they are unavailable on streaming platforms - which is why the period of tracklinking is so important.

Will I be able to distribute the same music with Identity Music that I did with DistroKid?

For the most part, yes. The only exceptions are AI-generated music and music that uses unlicensed samples. Unlike DistroKid, we have an extensive quality assurance process for every track distributed with Identity Music. We do not generate tracks that are fully AI-generated and we will need to see licenses for any tracks that use samples or beats. There will be restrictions on sending tracks with non-exclusive samples/beats to Rights Management Platforms. These aren’t rules imposed by Identity Music; they are rules imposed by the platforms themselves that DistroKid may not have been compliant with in the past.

I don’t have the original audio files for my releases - can I still leave DistroKid?

Yes, you can. Each of your releases can be downloaded from within your DistroKid dashboard - so even if you don’t have a copy of your master audio files saved in your own files, you can export them from DistroKid ready to release with Identity Music.

Why should I choose Identity Music over DistroKid?

DistroKid is an entry-level distributor. They distribute your music, and that’s about it. There are frequent complaints about lack of customer support, withheld royalties, unexpected takedowns - not to mention the lawsuits being directed at DistroKid in the past few months. At Identity Music, we’re committed to distributing, protecting and promoting your music - as well as making sure everything we release meets platform requirements so it’s not suddenly taken down for no reason. You can find out more about how Identity Music compares to DistroKid here.