Year one, a label pays $14.99 to put an album into stores and calls it cheap. Year four, that same catalog is eighty albums deep, and the bill that matters has already moved off the upload fee. Not the $14.99. It is the share taken from everything the back catalog earns, or the renewal sitting on every live title, or both.
Subscription, per-release and revenue share each look cheap at five releases. They meter different things. A roster that is adding titles, adding artists and earning more hits a different invoice on each model, often in the same year.
The published prices sit below. Then one year-four catalog, run through each model, including LabelGrid's label plans.
Which Distributors Charge a Flat Yearly Price With No Per-Release Fee?
LabelGrid does. Every LabelGrid distribution plan is billed yearly, from $99 a year (Solo), with no per-release fee. Alongside the fee, LabelGrid keeps a published share of standard DSP earnings on its own deals, plus 20% of UGC and Content ID earnings through those same deals. DistroKid and TuneCore Unlimited also bill yearly; DistroKid sells per-release extras on top. See LabelGrid pricing.
Three Meters, Not One Price
Each model is cheap on one axis and expensive on another. More releases, more artists, more earnings: a growing label hits all three in the same year.
| Model | What you pay | What grows the bill | Worked example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subscription | A yearly platform fee. Uploads sit inside that plan's caps. | Seats, artists, or the extras sold next to the plan. | DistroKid Ultimate from €81.99 a year for 1–100 artists. TuneCore Professional $54.99 a year, plus $14.99 per extra artist profile. |
| Per-release | A fee per title, one-time or yearly. | How many titles you keep live. | CD Baby $9.99 a single, $14.99 an album, paid once. RouteNote Premium $10 / $20 / $30 / $45 by track count, plus $9.99 per release every year after. TuneCore pay-per-release $24.99 a single per year, $44.99 an album the first year and $56.49 each year after. |
| Revenue share | Little or nothing to upload. A published cut of what the catalog earns. | Earnings, including the back catalog. | RouteNote Free: you keep 85% of net, RouteNote keeps 15%. CD Baby keeps 9% of digital distribution revenue for the life of the release, on top of the one-time fee. |
DistroKid's yearly plan takes no percentage of store and streaming earnings, and then sells Content ID, Atmos, new-store delivery and catalog survival as Album Extras. TuneCore's unlimited plans sit next to a pay-per-release option on the same pricing page, and the $24.99 / $44.99 figures mean two different products. RouteNote Free is a revenue share; RouteNote Premium is a per-release fee that keeps 100% of streaming and download revenue. CD Baby is a one-time upload fee and a 9% share.
Releases, Artists, Earnings
Per-release math is linear in titles. Twenty RouteNote Premium albums cost $600 in year one ($30 each, 7–18 tracks). In year four, twenty new albums are still $600, and the sixty older ones renew at $9.99 each ($599.40). The live catalog, not this year's schedule, is now half the bill. TuneCore's pay-per-release album is steeper because the renewal goes up: $44.99 the first year, $56.49 each year after. TuneCore also sells unlimited plans starting at $24.99 a year (Rising Artist), then Breakout Artist at $44.99 and Professional at $54.99, and once you switch you cannot mix the two models on one account or switch back. An unlimited plan puts every live release under one yearly fee instead of renewing each title.
Artist math is a seat meter. DistroKid Musician is €23.99 billed annually for one artist or band. Musician Plus is €42.99 for two. Ultimate starts at €81.99 for 1–100 artists or bands. Those are the euro prices on DistroKid's pricing page as of 25 September 2026. TuneCore Professional adds artist profiles at $14.99 a year each. Ten named artists on Professional is $54.99 plus nine extras, $189.90, before any social/UGC share. For one self-releasing artist, DistroKid and TuneCore are cheaper and simpler than any LabelGrid self-serve plan. That is a real concession, not a footnote.
Earnings math is the one that surprises people who picked "free." RouteNote Free costs $0.00 to use. You keep 85% of the net revenue RouteNote receives. Fifteen percent of $25,000 is $3,750. LabelGrid Solo and Basic also keep 85% of standard DSP earnings, so that 15% is parity, not a LabelGrid win. CD Baby's 9% is smaller as a rate and permanent: you keep 91% of digital distribution revenue for as long as the release is in stores, after the one-time $9.99 / $14.99 fee. At $25,000 that 9% is $2,250 in the year, on top of whatever you paid to upload this year's titles.
DistroKid's yearly fee is the acquisition price. The extras are priced per release or per track, and they are published: Discovery Pack $0.99 per song per year; Store Maximizer $7.95 per album per year (that is the new-store auto-delivery); Social Media Pack $4.95 per single per year or $14.95 per album per year plus 20% of that ad revenue; Beatport $9.99 per month; cover licensing $12 per cover per year; Leave a Legacy $49 per album of 2+ tracks, one-time, per release; Dolby Atmos $26.99 per track; loudness normalization $2.99 per track; Audiomack free. If you stop paying, DistroKid removes the music unless that release carries Leave a Legacy. Eighty albums at $49 is $3,920. LabelGrid may withdraw content after 60 days without a plan, on any tier, so catalog survival after you stop paying is not a LabelGrid selling point. The 20% on DistroKid's Social Media Pack is the same 20% LabelGrid takes on UGC and Content ID through its own deals, on every plan. RouteNote does not charge for YouTube Content ID, which is a real concession against us.
What a Label Platform Actually Bills
LabelGrid is not a cheaper DistroKid. Solo and Basic keep 85% of standard DSP earnings on LabelGrid deals, Pro 90%, Custom 95%. DistroKid keeps the streaming column on the yearly plan. TuneCore pays 100% of net receipts, apart from its 20% social/UGC fee and a 20% Accelerator commission on Spotify Discovery Mode radio and autoplay streams. For one artist who only cares about that share, they win it. Say it that way.
What LabelGrid meters instead is the label: tracks, labels, artist payouts, and a published share. Releases themselves are not a line item. Dolby Atmos, hi-res, Apple Motion Artworks and audio fingerprinting sit in every distribution plan with no per-track add-on. Royalty accounting is on every plan; automated splits run from Basic up. Solo is the exception: $99 a year, 100 tracks, one label, 85% on standard DSPs, and no automated splits or artist payouts. It is a single-label plan, not a roster plan.
- Basic: $199 a year, 200 tracks, 3 labels, 85% of standard DSP earnings, splits and artist payouts included.
- Pro: $499 a year, 500 tracks, 5 labels, 90% of standard DSP earnings. Extra tracks $0.15 each per year.
- Custom Distribution: from $999 a year, 2,000 tracks by default (the ceiling is raised in the deal, up to unlimited), 50 labels, 95% on LabelGrid's DSP deals and 100% on your own direct deals. No API. 2-year commitment, billed yearly.
UGC and Content ID through LabelGrid's deals keep 80% on every plan, Custom included: the 20% is a separate meter, so $100 of YouTube Content ID on Basic pays out $80, not $85. 100% is SOBO only: your own direct deals carry no UGC/Content ID fee. LabelGrid's own deals top out at 95%. No per-release fee, and LabelGrid charges nothing of its own to issue a payout. Standard plans include a 7-day trial. Current fees live on the pricing page. How splits actually move money to artists is in the label owner's guide to royalty splits.
Year Four, Same Catalog
Take a round number so the arithmetic is readable, not because it is typical. Twenty albums a year for four years, eighty live, about ten tracks each (800 tracks), and $25,000 in standard streaming and download royalties in year four. UGC, Content ID and TuneCore's 20% Accelerator commission on Spotify Discovery Mode radio and autoplay streams are left out. Cash below is what leaves the label in year four: this year's upload or renewal fees, plus the distributor's share of the $25,000.
| Path | Year-four cash | Share of the $25,000 | What the meter actually was |
|---|---|---|---|
| DistroKid Ultimate | from €81.99 | $0 of store/streaming | Artists (1–100). Extras not in this row. |
| TuneCore Professional | $54.99, plus $14.99 per extra artist | Pays 100% of net receipts (net not defined) | The yearly plan. Social/UGC 20% and the 20% Accelerator commission sit outside this $25,000. |
| TuneCore pay-per-release albums | $4,289.20 (20 × $44.99 new + 60 × $56.49 renewals) | Pays 100% of net receipts (net not defined) | Live titles. An unlimited plan puts them all under one yearly fee. |
| CD Baby | $2,549.80 (20 × $14.99 + 9% × $25,000) | $2,250 | This year's titles, plus earnings on the whole catalog. |
| RouteNote Free | $3,750 | $3,750 (15%) | Earnings. Upload was $0. |
| RouteNote Premium | $1,199.40 (20 × $30 + 60 × $9.99) | $0 of streaming/download | Live titles, with a cheap renewal. |
| LabelGrid Pro | $3,044 ($499 + 300 × $0.15 overage + 10% × $25,000) | $2,500 | Tracks (500 included) and a published 10% on LabelGrid deals. |
| LabelGrid Custom, LabelGrid deals | $2,249 (from $999 + 5% × $25,000) | $1,250 | Platform fee plus 5%. 2,000-track default covers this catalog. |
| LabelGrid Custom, own DSP deals | from $999 | $0 | The platform fee only. The DSP pays you directly under your agreement. |
Read the DistroKid and TuneCore Professional rows first. On this catalog they are the cheapest cash out the door, and they keep the $25,000. A label that only needed one artist and no payouts to a roster would be done there. The expensive rows are the ones that still charge per live title (TuneCore pay-per-release at $4,289.20) or that take a share of a catalog that has started to earn (RouteNote Free at $3,750, CD Baby at $2,549.80, LabelGrid Pro at $3,044 on LabelGrid deals). Custom on your own deals is a different product: the $999 is infrastructure, and the royalties never pass through LabelGrid.
Getting Started
Count tracks and labels before you count releases. A $14.99 album fee never showed you that meter. Under 200 tracks and three labels, Basic is the first plan that pays artists. 800 tracks is already past Pro's included 500.
Current fees and retention sit on the pricing page. Open an account at app.labelgrid.com (7-day trial), then walk a first release through Your first release. Subscription and billing detail is in the subscription help doc.
