The money is already landing on more than one name. The account that sent the first single is still an artist account: one identity, an annual upload subscription, a payout into a single wallet. That is a working artist distributor, and it is not a label.
You have outgrown the artist tool when the unpaid work is the roster, not the upload. The move itself is mechanical. Keep the ISRCs, deliver the same recordings through label infrastructure, confirm they are live, then take the old copies down.
The job changed, the tool did not
Artist-first distributors exist for a reason. DistroKid popularized the flat annual fee, unlimited uploads, and 100% of streaming royalties, and TuneCore and CD Baby sit in the same DIY lane. That model is rational if you are one artist putting out records. DistroKid's Ultimate plan even lets one account carry up to 100 artist names, with a label-name field per release and automated splits to collaborators.
Splits send a share to a collaborator. A label ledger tracks earnings, recoupment, and net payable per artist across a catalog. Those are different jobs. Extra artist slots on an upload tool do not become a statement you can send someone, and they do not recoup an advance against a release.
The artist tool has run out when some of this is already true:
- You pay more than one artist, and they expect a statement.
- Advances, marketing, or production costs need to come off royalties before anyone is paid.
- You run more than one imprint as a real catalog, not as a text field on a release form.
- Month-end is a CSV export and a spreadsheet.
- Someone should be reviewing metadata, audio, and claims before a release hits the stores.
None of those are upload problems.
What label infrastructure actually is
LabelGrid is built for that second job. Distribution still goes to all major DSPs, under your own label name, not "distributed by LabelGrid". The difference sits around the upload: the roster, the labels, and the money.
On Artist Payouts, which starts at Basic, each artist gets an account that accumulates earnings, expenses, statements, and payments. Assigning royalty splits on a release is what creates those accounts. You can charge an advance or a marketing cost to the ledger, then pay the net. Solo does not include this, and it does not include automated splits. Solo is one label. That is the wrong plan for a roster.
Labels are first-class objects, which is the other half of catalog management. Basic holds three, Pro holds five, and Custom Distribution starts at fifty. Retention on standard DSP earnings is 85% on Solo and Basic ($99 and $199 a year), 90% on Pro ($499 a year), and 95% on Custom Distribution and the API plans. Custom Distribution starts at $999 a year. 100% applies only to royalties collected through your own direct DSP deals. UGC and Content ID sit at 80% on every plan, including Custom. Full figures live on the pricing page.
One gap is worth stating without a workaround attached: a LabelGrid account has one login on every plan, with no seats, invites, or sub-users. Pro adds labels and tooling, not logins.
Custom Distribution and the API plans add DDEX ERN import (3.8.2, 4.3.0, 4.3.1, and 4.3.2). LabelGrid supports those versions and is not a DDEX consortium member. For most labels leaving an artist distributor, the dashboard upload with matching ISRCs is the path. DDEX import is for operations that already speak ERN.
How a multi-artist catalog actually moves
An ISRC identifies the recording, not the distributor. IFPI is blunt about it: once assigned, the code stays with the track for its life, even if ownership changes, and it must not be reused. Streaming services key history to that identifier, so a new ISRC is a new recording with zero streams.
The operational sequence is not the DDEX Catalogue Transfer Standard. That standard, published with ERN 4.3 on 1 December 2022, is a lift-and-shift that reassigns the rights controller between a relinquishing record company and an acquiring record company at the DSP. DDEX is explicit that the CT 1.0 mechanism does not seek to support transfers that involve distributors as the transferring parties. A DistroKid-to-LabelGrid move is a redelivery: same ISRCs, same UPCs where you own them, matching metadata, then a takedown of the old copies.
Export the codes first. ISRCs, UPCs, artist names, titles, original release dates. TuneCore states that a catalogue transfer keeps streaming history; for DistroKid and CD Baby, confirm who owns the codes before you move. If a distributor retained ownership, LabelGrid assigns new ones and the streaming history resets. Confirm that before you upload anything.
Recreate each release with those exact codes and the original release date, and set Transfer from Distributor to the outgoing company on the Settings tab before you submit; the field locks once the release is distributed. Artist names have to match spelling, including capitalization and the featured-artist abbreviation (feat versus ft). Then deliver, and do not take anything down yet.
LabelGrid's quality review runs before delivery and takes up to 10 business days on Basic and Pro (5 on Custom Distribution and API), and each store then needs its own processing time. Confirm live on Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, and Meta, not only in the dashboard. Only then request takedown from the old distributor, and ask them to drop YouTube Content ID claims with it. Spotify needs at least two business days, and CD Baby's own terms say content comes down within five business days of a withdrawal notice; DistroKid and TuneCore publish no takedown turnaround, so ask them before you plan the overlap. The step-by-step, including the overlap quirks, is in the catalog transfer guide.
A brief overlap is expected. What is not acceptable is leaving the same recordings live from both feeds as a permanent split. LabelGrid distribution is non-exclusive, so part of a catalog can stay with the old distributor, split per release: some titles here, others there. One title in two places is a duplicate at the stores.
A few platforms need extra care. Beatport transfers the label as a whole because it reports at label level, so you cannot keep Beatport back catalog with the old distributor and send only new titles through LabelGrid. Re-upload every Beatport release with the same metadata, or those royalties have nothing to match against. TikTok matches on ISRC, UPC, and the preview clip start time; a mismatch can mint a new sound page. Meta and YouTube Content ID can throw dual-registration conflicts during overlap, so do not re-upload to "fix" them: wait for the old takedown.
Large catalogs hit a rolling submission cap if you push the whole roster through at once. Contact support before you start so a bypass window can be set. On Basic and Pro, releases are recreated one at a time in the Distribution dashboard; DDEX import is only available on Custom Distribution and the API plans.
Price the tradeoffs before you start
DistroKid paying through 100% of streaming royalties is a real line, and LabelGrid does not match it on LabelGrid-delivered DSP deals. Basic at $199 a year keeps 85% of standard DSP earnings and Pro at $499 a year keeps 90%, while Custom Distribution starts at $999 a year with 95%. You are buying the ledger. If the streaming split is the only number that matters, the artist distributor still wins that line.
Spotify and Apple own the artist profile. New deliveries attach through consistent artist metadata and roles, which is why spelling has to match. User saves attach to the track URI, and that URI stays stable only if the ISRC is retained. Editorial playlist placement is not something official DSP documentation enumerates as surviving a redelivery, so check it rather than treating the identifier as a guarantee.
If you cannot reuse the ISRCs, treat the move as a new catalog. That is the expensive version.
Getting Started
Export the codes first. Confirm you own those ISRCs and UPCs, plus the exact artist and title strings, before you touch LabelGrid. Open an account at app.labelgrid.com on Basic or above, recreate the first batch with matching metadata and original release dates, and leave the old copies live until the new ones show on the stores. The field list and the overlap notes are in the catalog transfer guide. Artist-side payout setup is in Artist Payouts.
