Guides
Music release guides
Straight answers about distribution, streaming royalties and releasing music, useful whether you're on Audora or not.
Releasing
Step by step
How to Get Your Music on Spotify in 2026 (Step by Step)
Spotify doesn't accept uploads from artists. The route your song takes to get there, and how to avoid the mistakes that delay releases.
8 min read
How it works
Sony Music Distribution Explained: How Independents Get In
"Distributed through Sony" gets thrown around a lot. What the Sony distribution ecosystem is, why its doors don't open by sign-up form and what a label channel changes.
8 min read
Genre playbook
How to Release Metal Music Independently in 2026
Metal has its own rules: a scene that smells lazy presentation instantly, channels most genres ignore and fans who still buy music. How to plan a release around those rules.
9 min read
Promotion
TikTok
How to Promote Your Music on TikTok in 2026
Of the songs that entered the Billboard Global 200, 84% went viral on TikTok first. How to get your music into the machine, with every claim sourced.
10 min read
AI assistant
How to Release and Promote Music with ChatGPT or Claude
What your AI assistant can do for a release and your daily promo once your distributor speaks MCP, how artists use it week to week, and the calls that stay yours.
7 min read
Money
Royalties
How Much Does Spotify Pay Per Stream in 2026?
Spotify has no per-stream rate. How its royalties work, what artists earn and what moves the number.
8 min read · Calculator included
Costs
DistroKid Pricing 2026: Plans, Add-Ons and the Real Total
The $24.99 headline is real but partial. Every DistroKid add-on priced from their own pages, and a calculator that shows what your catalog costs in total.
8 min read · Calculator included
Budget
How Much Does It Cost to Release a Song? (2026)
The upload fee is the smallest number on the budget. Cover art, copy, video, campaign and posting hours, each one priced.
7 min read
Costs
TuneCore Cost Per Year (2026): The Real Renewal Math
Per-release renewals compound: what a 5-, 10- and 20-release catalog costs a year, from TuneCore's own pricing pages, dated and linked.
7 min read
Comparisons
Written by us, held to one standard: the other side could read every fact and agree. Where a competitor fits you better, the guide says so.
Head-to-head
Audora vs DistroKid (2026): An Honest Comparison
Where DistroKid wins, where we do and how to tell which fits you, written so either side could read it without wincing.
8 min read
Head-to-head
Audora vs TuneCore (2026): An Honest Comparison
The 20% social-royalty fee nobody reads about until it bites, what a release still needs after the upload and who should pick which.
8 min read
Head-to-head
Audora vs CD Baby (2026): An Honest Comparison
What the permanent 9% costs you, what a release needs beyond delivery and what Universal's acquisition of CD Baby's parent means.
7 min read
Switching
DistroKid Alternatives 2026: 7 Compared on What They Cover
Thinking about leaving DistroKid? How to choose a distributor, seven alternatives and what each one does for a release, what leaving each one costs and how to switch without losing your stream counts.
10 min read
Switching
Amuse Free Plan Is Gone: 2026 Pricing and the 25% Exit Cut
Amuse built its name on free distribution, then removed it. What Amuse costs now, the 25% catch when you cancel and where its former free-tier artists land.
8 min read
Switching
The playbook
How to Switch Music Distributors Without Losing Streams
Get the order right: deliver first, take down second, and your streams, playlists and release history carry over.
9 min read
Exit guide
Leaving DistroKid: What Happens If You Stop Paying (2026)
What happens when you stop paying, what Leave a Legacy costs and what you keep, with every policy linked to DistroKid's own pages and the exit steps in order.
9 min read
How it works
Who Owns Your ISRC Codes? The Plain Answer
An ISRC is an identifier, not property. Registrant vs. assignee, what transfers when you switch distributors and how to find your codes today.
7 min read
Routes
AWAL Alternatives: What to Do If You Don't Get In
A rejection from a selective service is a routing decision, not a review of your music. The routes still open to you, compared by model.
8 min read