Frequently asked questions
Who is Ditto Music, and where are they based?
Ditto Music is the trading name of Ditto Ltd, of 29-31 Parliament Street, Liverpool, L8 5RN, company number 03976764. Their newsroom describes the company as one of the world's leading music distribution, record label services and artist management companies, supporting over 2 million independent artists and labels. LabelGrid was founded in 2017, is based in Denver, Colorado, and runs three products on one backend: distribution, Imprint the white-label portal, and Engine the API.
Does Ditto Music publish its pricing?
Yes. Starter is €19 a year for one artist, Pro is €59 for two, and Labels starts at €89 for up to five artists and runs in bands to forty; a free Collaborator account exists for people receiving splits. Marketed separately are promotion campaigns at €459 one-time over four weeks and €629 over six, plus publishing, sync licensing, mastering, music videos and a merch store. LabelGrid publishes every distribution plan and every API tier, including the Custom Distribution and Custom API starting prices.
Does Ditto Music take a commission on royalties, and does LabelGrid?
Ditto publishes no commission on recorded-music royalties and LabelGrid publishes one, so on this question their deal is the more generous. Their pricing page says "Keep 100% of royalties" and their homepage says "100% Royalty Payouts. No deductions or complex tax forms." The commissions they do publish are on publishing, at 10%, and on sync placements they negotiate, at 20%. Our rate is written down instead: Solo and Basic retain 85%, Pro 90%, and Custom Distribution and every API tier retain 95% on our own standard-DSP deals and 100% on yours, with our Terms stating accounting fees between 0 and 20% of net payable revenue paid to us by the DSPs and the per-plan figure on the pricing page. What their distribution Terms do not state is a percentage or a definition of net revenue; they state a condition on payment, that "Only monies earned within the preceding months shall be paid and only if received from retailer/licensee", with "any transaction charges" passed on. The parity belongs in the same breath: UGC and Content ID revenue carries a 20% fee on revenue earned through LabelGrid’s deals.
What does it cost to withdraw royalties from each platform?
Ditto pays on request from the dashboard or app, to a bank account, PayPal or Payoneer, after an identity check. Their Terms state that "Payment shall only be made to You if accumulated outstanding earnings exceed 25GBP", carried over until it is attained, and their help centre lists the charges: £0.75 to bank accounts in the UK, USA and most European countries, £3 for Global ACH, £9 for a wire transfer and £3 to a Payoneer wallet. LabelGrid charges no fee of its own to issue a payout. Our threshold is the parity to state plainly: we may require a minimum payout threshold, notified to you if one applies rather than published as a figure, and may carry a balance below it into a later cycle, so their £25 floor is not a LabelGrid advantage. Your own bank's charges apply either way.
What happens at Ditto Music if you stop paying?
Their help centre states that you need an active Ditto subscription to withdraw royalties and release new music, and that Release Protection shields releases from takedown on the Pro and Label plans. An opt-in toggle can cover a renewal out of your royalty balance, shown as a Subscription transaction, with the card charged if the balance falls short. Their agreement runs one year and renews automatically unless either party gives written notice at least 30 days before the anniversary; either party may also terminate on one day's written notice, after which Ditto instructs partners within 30 days to remove the recordings and further subscription payments are forfeited. Ours is the blunter policy on takedown: if a LabelGrid subscription lapses for more than 60 days without renewal, we may withdraw the content and suspend or terminate the account on any plan.
Can you run a label or a roster on Ditto Music?
Two different things carry that name. The self-serve Labels subscription holds a roster in one dashboard, 5 to 40 artists depending on the plan, with per-artist profiles, roster analytics and automatic splits. Separately there is Ditto Label Services, a managed arm that works with a hand-picked roster. One clause is worth reading before you commit a label to the self-serve tier: a fair-usage policy applies to the Unlimited Distribution package at their discretion, and their Terms state that the package "is intended for individual artists rather than labels". On LabelGrid every customer, artist or label, is its own full workspace with its own login, catalogue and earnings, and Imprint puts those workspaces on your own brand.
How does Ditto Music Publishing work, and does LabelGrid do publishing?
Ditto Music Publishing Ltd takes an exclusive administration appointment and is included with Pro and Label subscriptions. The commission is 10% of publishing royalties and 20% on sync placements they negotiate, and their publishing Terms charge the subscription fee set on the pricing page in addition to that commission. Read their definition before you sign: Net Revenue is revenue actually received by them in the United Kingdom attributable to the rights you grant, minus taxes, amounts payable to governments, expenses they reasonably incur, and fees charged by third parties including sub-publishers and CMOs, so the Ditto Music 90% you keep is a share of that residue. They also remain entitled to the full publisher's share of performing rights income, and a writer who belongs to no collective management organisation accepts that they may collect 100% of it. LabelGrid does not administer publishing, so here they offer something we do not.
Do both platforms offer YouTube Content ID and royalty splits?
Both do, with different terms attached. Ditto's help centre says YouTube Content ID is available in their Release Builder for Pro and Label subscribers. Their splits run at release and track level, up to 20 collaborators per split, each payee confirming through a free Ditto account. LabelGrid includes YouTube Content ID on every distribution plan, and UGC and Content ID revenue earned through LabelGrid's deals carries a published 20% fee. Automated royalty splits run from Basic up and on every API tier, and are not on Solo or GATE.
What rights do you grant Ditto Music, and when can they freeze an account?
Two clauses in their distribution Terms are worth reading. Where you subscribe to their PPL Airplay Royalty Registration Service you additionally grant "a royalty free, world-wide exclusive licence" of listed rights, plus the right to synchronise the Works in timed relation with moving images. Separately, you agree that your account and revenue may be frozen at their discretion if they believe material you submitted is illegal, fraudulent or in breach of their terms or a partner's; if it is so found, service fees paid and subsequent royalties are forfeited. On sync, Ditto Music Publishing licenses non-exclusively: a placement you find yourself keeps the full fee, one they negotiate carries 20%. Our mirror is owed here: LabelGrid may withhold royalties, hold them in reserve and apply setoff where we suspect infringement, and a reserve may remain in place indefinitely while a claim or clawback risk is unresolved.
Does LabelGrid do custom deals, and who should choose LabelGrid?
Yes. A custom deal is for a business that has outgrown the ceilings of the published plans: too many tracks, too many labels, or too much monthly royalty income for any listed tier. Caps, platform fees, bespoke packaging such as bulk label pricing, and in special cases royalty retention are negotiable; the route is public and the numbers are agreed under NDA. Choose LabelGrid if you want the rate stated as a plan term with the per-plan figure published, if you build on an API and want public docs with a sandbox on the plan, or if you run a white label where every customer needs its own workspace.