Questions people ask before switching
Who runs iGroove, and who runs LabelGrid?
iGroove’s Imprint names “iGroove AG” at “Churerstrasse 135 CH-8808 Pfäffikon SZ” and states that “the company headquarters of iGroove AG is located in Switzerland”. Their published General Terms and Conditions carry “Date: April 19th, 2024 (Effective as of May 4th, 2024 at 00:00 hours)”, and they set out who the service is for: “the products and services offered by COMPANY are intended solely for entrepreneurs and are not available to consumers.” That is worth reading without irony, because it is the honest frame for this comparison: iGroove is not a consumer subscription. LabelGrid’s contracting entity is LABEL GRID, LLC, formed in 2017 and based in Denver, Colorado, independently owned with no major-label and no DSP parent. An API plan or third-party distribution with LabelGrid is also a conversation rather than a click, with onboarding screening and KYC or KYB. Where a company is incorporated is not a reason to pick either one; it is here because people ask.
Is LabelGrid cheaper than iGroove?
It depends on how much you release and how much it earns, and at the low end the answer is no. iGroove’s pricing FAQ is explicit that there are no annual fees and no other recurring costs at iGroove, and that “you only pay a one-time fee for distribution per release”, with their price list setting that one-time setup fee at CHF 25 / EUR 19 / USD 20 / GBP 15 for a single, CHF 35 / EUR 29 / USD 30 / GBP 25 for an EP and CHF 55 / EUR 49 / USD 50 / GBP 40 for an album; which currency applies depends on the currency setting in the customer’s account. LabelGrid charges a flat yearly fee per plan, published for every distribution plan and every API tier, with no per-release upload charge. Three releases a year earning very little cost less on their model. A catalogue that earns steadily costs less on a flat fee, because a share of revenue grows with the revenue and a yearly fee does not.
Do I keep more of my royalties with LabelGrid or with iGroove?
On three of our tiers, you keep more with iGroove. Their price list states that “PARTNER receives 92% (ninety-two percent) of the revenues”, defined as “settled and actually paid gross revenues from the exploitation of the Recordings minus sales tax or corresponding taxes and minus all taxes that have to be incurred and withheld”. A LabelGrid customer keeps 85% on Solo, 85% on Basic and 90% on Pro, so 92% beats all three. On Custom Distribution and every API tier a customer keeps 95% of standard-DSP royalties earned through LabelGrid’s own deals and 100% of what they earn on their own direct DSP deals or their own Merlin membership through SOBO, available on Custom Distribution and the API tiers only. Those tiers are entered through a signed agreement rather than a checkout, which is part of the comparison. Content ID and UGC revenue carries a 20% fee on revenue earned through LabelGrid’s deals. Both companies also publish that a negotiated route exists and neither publishes its numbers: their features page says “each iGroove deal is individually checked and designed, so additional costs may be incurred depending on the deal size”, and our custom deals can move caps, platform fees and, in special cases, royalty retention.
What happens to my catalogue if I leave iGroove?
Their Terms grant iGroove exclusive authority in the selected contract territory through the selected providers during the exploitation period, and clause 5.2 states that “recordings published through COMPANY remain in COMPANY’s exclusive distribution in the contract territory during the exploitation period”, so the customer cannot distribute those recordings through another distributor to the same providers in the same territory. The same clause says “PARTNER is not obliged to publish all available Recordings exclusively through COMPANY”, so the exclusivity is per recording rather than over a catalogue. The contract runs for an indefinite period and either side can end it on 30 days’ notice to the end of the month; the exploitation “ends 12 (twelve) months after the end of the contract term”, with recordings confirmed for distribution before 4 May 2024 carved out, and their FAQ puts it as retaining the distribution rights for an additional 12 months before they revert. With LabelGrid the licence is global and non-exclusive, you may distribute the same content elsewhere at the same time, and no exclusivity survives termination.
Can I take a release down from iGroove whenever I want?
Not during the exploitation period without asking. Their Terms state that “any Takedown requests by PARTNER concerning Recordings published through COMPANY during the exploitation period … are only permissible with prior consent from COMPANY”, including partial takedowns by territory or by provider, with exceptions arising from “legal situations such as copyright infringement by PARTNER or proven loss of rights”. Two neighbouring clauses complete the picture: until the exploitation period expires the customer and artists may not re-record or re-produce the underlying works in the contract territory, excluding TV and radio broadcasts, concerts and festivals and excerpts on the artist’s own sites and social channels; and after the contract term ends, “PARTNER is no longer allowed to submit new products, upload associated Recordings or have them distributed by COMPANY”, so existing releases stay exclusive while new ones stop. On LabelGrid a withdrawal is self-serve and the timeline is published: deselect outlets on the release’s Outlets tab and save, delivery takes 1 to 3 business days, stores take 1 to 14 days to process, and full removal is typically 2 to 3 weeks. Removal is per release rather than per track, and deselecting a single store leaves the release live everywhere else.
Does LabelGrid offer advances?
No. LabelGrid does not offer advances against future royalties, and no plan or upgrade changes that. iGroove do: their iGroove Plus page offers “Flexible advances” and says “you can access advances any time, on terms that are fair, and without having to commit long-term”. Their FAQ sets the requirements as being at least 18 years of age, holding the necessary rights, and a calculated advance amount above EUR 1,000, and states that “advances are regularly possible with a participation of iGroove of at least 14% and a release evaluation period of at least one year”. That participation rate belongs to the financing deal on the songs put into it and is a different arrangement from their standard distribution terms. Their Terms also record what an unrepaid balance does: where there is “a balance against PARTNER on the Account (negative amount / ‘shortfall’), the exploitation period automatically extends (even in the case of a pronounced termination) until PARTNER has fully compensated the existing shortfall”. If capital against future royalties is what you need, iGroove is the right place to ask.
Does iGroove run marketing campaigns for you?
Yes, as a bookable service alongside the distribution rather than inside its price. Their marketing services page sells playlist pitching and Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, streaming and Spotify promotion, and opens “no matter what deal you have with us, you can get your releases promoted on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and directly on streaming platforms with our marketing experts”. iGroove Plus adds a “personal product manager (WhatsApp, email, phone)”, strategy and release planning with a point of contact for strategic questions, mediation of contacts in the music scene, help with social profile verification, and a panel offering Spotify Discovery Mode. Prices are not on those pages: their price list says “current prices and information for booking Other Services can be viewed in the Account or will be agreed upon individually”. LabelGrid’s platform ships promotional tools: a hosted landing page and smart link for every release with an lbl.gr short URL, Spotify pre-saves, optional fan email capture and landing analytics, direct posting to Bandcamp, SoundCloud, YouTube and Instagram from the release row, and the same landing pages on your own domain through the WordPress plugin.
What does it cost to get paid, and who pays it?
LabelGrid charges no payout fee of its own on any plan. The bank transfer fee for each payout is deducted at cost. The other deductions are the plan’s distribution share, the higher share on Content ID and UGC revenue, and any charges your own bank makes. iGroove’s Terms say the same about bank costs: “bank fees or other costs incurred in the course of these transactions are borne by PARTNER.” One fee on their side is scoped narrowly and worth knowing before you set up splits. Their price list states that “all RevShare-Partners using the ‘My Deals’ feature will be charged a fee of 8 (eight) USD/EUR/GBP/CHF for each requested payout”, and their FAQ scopes it: “there are no costs for those who set up deals … this fee only applies to artists who are not already iGroove customers”. So it falls on a split partner, not on the account holder. Their My Deals feature lets a customer set participation for each individual song and pays partners into their own iGroove accounts monthly; on LabelGrid, automated splits and per-artist statements run from Basic up and on every API tier, with Solo carrying neither. On payout floors, their FAQ publishes one, “withdrawals are only executed for amounts of at least 100 CHF / EUR / USD / GBP”, while LabelGrid's minimum payout is USD 20, with a smaller balance carried forward.
Can I move my catalogue without losing my streams?
Both directions turn on identifier continuity. iGroove’s switching FAQ describes an import tool that “automatically imports the metadata of the selected releases” and is explicit about the condition: “to preserve your streams and playlist placements, you must use the same EAN and ISRCs when registering your releases with iGroove as you did when originally distributed through your previous distributor”, with the metadata and audio identical, and they disclose that a release will be live twice until the previous distributor completes its takedown. LabelGrid works the same way: a customer who already holds codes enters them during release creation, which keeps streaming history and chart continuity, and we validate the barcode check digit on UPC-A and EAN-13. Where you hold no codes, both sides issue them, and their Terms reserve the right to assign ISRC and EAN or UPC where the customer has not supplied them, while LabelGrid assigns an ISRC per track and a UPC per release at no extra cost and you keep them if you move on. One asymmetry matters on the way out: their Terms distribute in the territory “World” to all current and future providers by default, which means back-catalogue recordings can reach newly added platforms without further consent, and a takedown inside their exploitation period needs their consent.
Does iGroove have an API, a sandbox or a white-label portal?
We cannot answer that from their published pages, and we are not going to guess. A search of the 28 distinct documents captured from igroovemusic.com on 23 September 2026 finds no occurrence of “API”, “webhook”, “sandbox”, “white label”, “reseller”, “DDEX”, “ERN”, “MCP”, “SOBO” or “Content ID”. That is a fact about their documentation and not a claim about their product; absence from a set of pages is not a denial, and iGroove are the people to ask. Their help centre is organised into six sections, Advances, Basics, Marketing, promotion and reach, Payouts and credits, Release delivery, and Uploading and adjusting releases, and several article titles in that index cover ground we did not read, so we make no claim on those topics either. On our side the same questions have published answers: the API documentation is readable without a login, the three standard API tiers and Custom API are priced on the pricing page, the sandbox is enabled as part of the API upgrade once a plan is active, DDEX ERN import runs on the API plans and Custom Distribution, and the MCP server is open source on npm under MIT.