DistroKid / TuneCore
Yearly subscription. Unlimited uploads on paid tiers. 100% of most streaming royalties. Extra fees and cuts often appear on social, Content ID, and publishing admin.
WANNA PLAI?
DistroKid. TuneCore. CD Baby. vs PLAIGROUND.
Sep 5, 2026. Same stores. Different money rules.
The real difference
They all reach the same platforms. The cut is where the models diverge.
DistroKid and TuneCore sell annual unlimited plans and keep 100% of most store royalties. CD Baby charges per release and keeps 9% forever. PLAIGROUND takes none. Membership is the fee.
CD Baby
One-time fee per single or album. No subscription. Permanent 9% commission on digital revenue. Add-ons for mechanicals, SoundExchange, sync consideration.
PLAIGROUND
Basic free: one song for life. Creator and Pro: membership only. 0% royalty cut. Publishing and Boosts included. Tell us what a human did. We still deliver Fully AI.
What you actually pay
- Basic is $0. One song. Distribution only. No publishing. No Boost. No withdraw.
- Creator is $14.99/mo or $149/yr. Eight distribution uploads and eight publishing registrations a month. Boosts. Analytics. Payouts.
- Pro is $19.99/mo or $199/yr. Unlimited. Catalog migration. Same 0% cut.
- PLAIGROUND takes none of the royalties. Membership is the fee. Stores still take their usual cut. We do not add another one.
- Publishing is not an extra 15–20% admin fee. It is built into Creator and Pro.
- We accept traditional, AI-assisted, and fully AI. We still deliver Fully AI even if a store will not pay.
If I can buy a car at the click of a button, I should be able to upload my music like that too.
The others optimized for catalog volume and add-on revenue. We optimized for the artist who wants the business out of the way so they can make the next one.
Upload once. Get paid everywhere.
PLAIGROUND takes none of the royalties. Membership is the fee.
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