ACME IDEA CORP

How to leave a distributor and take your catalogue with you

75 · · 17 min read · Español

Leaving a distributor is a delivery, not a cancellation: send the same recordings through the new distributor with the same codes and metadata, take the old copies down once the new ones are live, and keep the old account open until its last statement arrives. The order is the whole job. The three companies most self-releasing artists use each publish a version of it, and they do not agree.

  • You can leave DistroKid, TuneCore or CD Baby without their permission. DistroKid’s subscription renews on the date you first signed up, and TuneCore charges a release’s renewal unless you cancel before its renewal date.
  • The new delivery must repeat the old one: the same audio, ISRCs, titles, artist names and original release date. DistroKid accepts no UPC from outside and TuneCore accepts one only on two of its plans, so a moved release can take a new UPC.
  • DistroKid and CD Baby say to deliver through the new distributor first and take the old release down afterwards. TuneCore says to request the takedown first. The first order risks a brief overlap, the second a gap.
  • Cancelling is a takedown. Ending a DistroKid subscription removes every release without Leave a Legacy; TuneCore’s and CD Baby’s cancellations work release by release, and CD Baby’s are final.
  • YouTube Content ID takes one administrator per recording, so the old distributor’s claim must end before the new one starts. Stores report sales two to three months late, and some once or twice a year, so the old account keeps receiving money after the move.

Can you leave whenever you like?

Yes. DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby all let you deliver your releases through another distributor without permission; the date that matters is your next renewal.

Nobody makes you ask. DistroKid’s help centre says you can distribute “alongside or instead of DistroKid, as we are a non-exclusive distributor.” CD Baby’s says its agreement “is non-exclusive, which means you’re free to work with other distributors.” TuneCore publishes a guide to switching to TuneCore from somebody else, which is the same answer from the other side of the door. The clauses that decide how long each agreement runs and what ends it are read one by one in what to check before signing a distribution deal. This page starts where that one stops.

What the agreements do set is a calendar. DistroKid’s subscription is “billed annually on the date you first signed up,” and a TuneCore release renews unless you cancel it “prior to the renewal date to avoid being charged.” The deadline for your exit is an anniversary.

Start with weeks in hand, not days. Everything below takes a store’s time as well as yours, and a move that runs into the renewal pays for a year it did not need.

One exit is not this page’s. A deal that paid you an advance, or runs for a term in years, ends when its own agreement says it ends, and what that kind of deal takes is a page of its own. Everything here is about the three self-release services, where the only permission the move needs is yours.

What has to be identical in the new delivery?

The audio, the ISRCs, the titles, the artist names and the original release date must match the old delivery. The UPC carries over only where the new distributor accepts yours.

All three companies say so, in nearly the same list. DistroKid: use “the exact same metadata (song titles, album title, ISRCs, etc.) and audio files you used with your old distributor.” CD Baby: “exactly the same metadata as before (artist name(s), song/album titles, ISRC codes, UPC, etc.).” TuneCore: the same UPC and the same ISRCs “as long as the album you’re redistributing is exactly the same” — add, remove or reorder a track and the UPC has to change; re-record, remix or retitle one and its ISRC has to change.

The reason is the store’s, and Spotify gives it. Its page on re-uploading music links a new copy to the old play count when the audio and metadata of the two versions are the same, “including duration, title, and artist name”; the mechanism is walked on the page about a distributor closing. None of the three distributors promises the result. DistroKid’s words are “We can’t guarantee”; CD Baby’s, that it “can’t guarantee all partners will carry over counts, reviews, or playlist placements.” Match everything and you have done every part of it that is yours to do.

The ISRC field is where the plan matters. DistroKid lets you enter an existing code “on the upload form in the Musician Plus or Ultimate plan,” and generates a new one for a recording that has none. Every company does the same with a blank field, which is how one recording ends up with two codes. Check the plan before the first upload, not after the fifth.

The UPC is where the three part ways. CD Baby asks for the code already on the release. TuneCore takes an existing UPC only on “pay-per-release OR the Professional Unlimited Plan.” DistroKid does not take one at all: “It is not possible to use UPCs from outside of DistroKid,” and “A unique DistroKid UPC is generated for every upload.” TuneCore states what that means to a store: “Stores view each release (UPC) as a final product.” A new UPC is a new product, which is what a UPC is for, and DistroKid names the cost in its own switching guide: “Note that you may lose reviews in iTunes and Amazon.” If the new plan cannot carry your UPC, that line is part of the price.

Then the date. The new form will ask when the release came out, and the answer is the first release date, not today’s. The original release date is the field that tells a store this is an old record arriving through a new door.

Last, the question every upload form asks: are you already on Spotify and Apple Music? Answer it with your existing artist page, every time. TuneCore asks for the artist page link “to ensure that your next release is mapped to the correct artist page.” CD Baby asks for Partner Artist IDs, because “Without the correct ID, your release could be placed under a different artist’s profile with the same or similar name.” DistroKid’s form has a section headed “Artist already in Spotify?” The identifier your old distributor sent does not travel with you. And if Spotify’s Artist Profile Protection is on with its Block setting, Spotify’s page says a release that needs your approval and does not get it “won’t list you as an artist and may not go live on time.”

One more line from CD Baby’s guide, for any catalogue with a history: “If a platform (like Spotify) removed your content previously, delivery might fail—even if the switch is otherwise done correctly.” Know which of your releases that sentence is about before you queue them.

Which comes first, the new delivery or the takedown?

The new delivery goes first: DistroKid and CD Baby say deliver, then take the old release down; TuneCore says request the takedown first.

Here are the three orders, in each company’s words. DistroKid: upload to DistroKid, then “The next day, go to your old distributor and remove those releases.” CD Baby: submit the release, and “After your release is live on streaming platforms, contact your previous distributor and ask them to remove the release.” TuneCore: “First, you will need to contact your current distributor and request that they take your content down from stores,” then upload, “even if the old release hasn’t been removed from every store yet.” Three help centres, two orders, one move.

Each order buys a different risk. Deliver first and for a while there are two copies. DistroKid warns that your albums may “appear twice in streaming services before your old distributor takes them down” and calls that brief overlap “okay.” CD Baby’s page on using two distributors describes the same thing left running: a store that receives one release from two distributors “won’t know which one to pay,” and “To avoid confusion, they often remove the album entirely until the issue is resolved.” A short overlap is what every switch passes through. An overlap nobody ends is the case CD Baby is describing.

Take down first and the risk turns over. TuneCore names it in its own guide: there may be “a gap between when your old version comes down and your new version goes live.” In that gap, on Spotify, the old track is a grey row that will not play, and the new one does not exist yet.

Our recommendation is the first order, kept short. Deliver through the new distributor. Wait until the new copy is live on the stores you care about. Check that Spotify has linked it — the play count beside the song in the desktop app, and in Spotify’s own words, “If the play counts match, the tracks have linked.” Then take the old release down, within days rather than weeks. The overlap stays short by design and the gap never opens.

TuneCore has its own reason to put the takedown last: “We can’t reverse takedowns, as stores consider this action permanent.” Whose word permanent actually is, the store’s or the distributor’s, is a question the takedown page settles. Either way, the step you cannot take back goes at the end.

Why not just cancel the old account?

Because cancelling is a takedown. At DistroKid, ending the subscription removes every release that lacks Leave a Legacy, on DistroKid’s schedule rather than yours.

DistroKid says so in one sentence: “If you don’t renew your subscription to DistroKid, your music will be removed from services.” The only exception is bought one release at a time. A release carrying the Leave a Legacy extra stays up “If you ever cancel your subscription,” and “each release must have this extra if you wish to cancel your subscription and keep your releases listed in streaming services.” The button sits under Account, then Manage, then Cancel membership.

TuneCore and CD Baby cancel release by release, and in both a cancel is a takedown under another name. TuneCore offers “Takedown All Stores” to remove a release now, or “Cancel Renewal” to have it come down at the end of its renewal period, and either way it is the whole album: “You cannot take down individual tracks from an album.” CD Baby’s Cancel ALL Digital Distribution removes a release from every partner, cancels its social video monetisation on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, and “cancellations are final.”

So the cancel button is not the end of the move. At DistroKid it is a takedown of everything at once; at the other two it is a takedown with a different label. Press it before the new copies are live and the whole move runs ass-backwards: the catalogue comes down on the old company’s clock while the new one is still in somebody’s review queue.

The tool for a move is the per-release takedown, pressed on each release’s own page once that release’s new copy is live — DistroKid’s “Remove this release from all stores,” TuneCore’s Takedown All Stores, CD Baby’s Cancellation Options. How long each store then takes is a clock with its own page. The account comes last, and two sections down says when.

What happens to YouTube Content ID and social video money?

Content ID runs in reverse: each recording takes one Content ID administrator, so the old distributor’s claim must end before the new one starts.

CD Baby states the rule from the inside. To deliver a recording to Content ID, “you must grant CD Baby exclusive administrative rights over the sound recording for the purpose of Content ID. This means the same recording cannot be simultaneously delivered to Content ID by another distributor or rights administrator. If it is, an ownership conflict will occur and monetization may be restricted.” TuneCore lists the same fact among the recordings it will not send at all, those that “Are already monetized on YouTube by another distributor.” DistroKid sells the service as Social Media Pack, an annually charged extra, per release, covering YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.

What a conflict does to the money is on CD Baby’s page about social video revenue. While one is active, “Monetization claims on the asset may be paused or restricted” and “Revenue may be withheld or adjusted,” released later as a “Backpay Resolution” line if it is settled in your favour. What a gap costs is on the same page: claims earn only “from the date the claim becomes active,” and “Past views are not retroactively monetized.” A short gap loses the videos watched during it. A conflict can hold the lot.

So for this one system the order flips. Deliver the new copies with Content ID switched off. Make sure the old claim has ended — at CD Baby, cancelling a release cancels its social video monetisation with it; at the other two, confirm it with support. Then opt in at the new distributor. Stores: the new copy first. Content ID: the old claim gone first.

When can you close the old account?

Close the old account only after its last statement arrives. Stores report sales two to three months after they happen, and some report only once or twice a year.

The last takedown ends the earning, not the paying. CD Baby: “Most sales are reported 2–3 months after they occur, but some partners report only once or twice per calendar year.” You can leave in an afternoon; the money takes a year to notice.

TuneCore gives the same delay in its own words: “there is a two-month delay in accounting,” and “some stores process accounting quarterly.” CD Baby’s social video money arrives on its own calendar, “quarterly, 45 days after the end of each quarter.”

Both companies say what to do about it, and it is the same thing. TuneCore keeps any account with transactions open “so that you can log in to access any possible future funds that are posted to your account.” CD Baby closes an account only after every release is cancelled, warns that “If you close your account before all sales have been reported, we may be unable to pay you directly,” and recommends “leaving your account accessible (but inactive, meaning no live titles),” which costs nothing. DistroKid pays a deleted release’s earnings “for the time it was live,” and after a lapsed subscription you can still “log in to your account, and you will still receive any earnings owed to you.”

Our rule: leave the old account open for a full year after the last takedown. Withdraw on a schedule, not in one sweep at the end. Download every statement as it arrives, and at CD Baby the End of Year Tax Statement too, because the last few are statements you will be reading with no live release left to check them against. Then cancel. Last, not first.

What is the order, start to finish?

Copy the register, deliver identically, take each old release down once its replacement is live, then move Content ID, and close the old account last.

  1. Copy the register while the login works. Every ISRC, UPC, title, artist name, version, duration and original release date, release by release. The fields the standard says are yours are the floor, and the rest of the export is the same list a shutdown asks for.
  2. Note the dates. The anniversary of your DistroKid sign-up, and each TuneCore release’s renewal date.
  3. Check the new plan. At DistroKid, entering your own ISRCs needs Musician Plus or Ultimate; at TuneCore, keeping your UPC needs pay-per-release or Professional Unlimited.
  4. Deliver through the new distributor. The same audio, ISRCs, titles and artist names, the original release date, the UPC where it is accepted, your existing artist pages selected. Content ID off for now.
  5. Wait until each new release is live, and check that Spotify’s play count has linked.
  6. Take each old release down on its own page. Not the account.
  7. Move Content ID. Confirm the old claim has ended, then opt in at the new distributor.
  8. Keep the old account open for a year. Withdraw on a schedule, and download every statement and tax form.
  9. Then cancel.

None of that is hard, and all of it rests on step one. The move is an afternoon only if the fields you have to repeat are somewhere you can read them without the old login, which is the first thing the catalogue audit checklist asks you to prove. If you can, the new form is a copy job. If you cannot, it is detective work, done against a dashboard you are trying to leave.

FAQ

Can you move some releases and leave the rest where they are?

Yes. DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby each deliver and take down one release at a time, so a catalogue can move one release at a time. The releases left behind still depend on the old account: at DistroKid they stay up only while the subscription renews or with Leave a Legacy, and TuneCore takes down whole albums, never single tracks.

Does it cost anything to leave a distributor?

None of the three companies’ help pages read for this piece names a fee for leaving. The costs are dates: TuneCore charges a release’s renewal unless the cancellation arrives before the renewal date, DistroKid’s subscription renews on the date you first signed up, and CD Baby charges nothing to keep an account open with no live titles.

Does the new distributor pay for streams of the old copy?

No. Spotify pays recording royalties through the licensor that delivered the music, so streams of the old copy are paid to the old account, including the ones reported after its takedown. DistroKid says it still pays a deleted release’s earnings for the time it was live. Track-linking moves the play count, not the money.

Sources

Every page cited here was read on 5 October 2026. The three distributors’ help centres refuse automated reads of their pages, so each article was read through that help centre’s own article service, which returns the same text with its last-updated date; the links lead to the pages a reader can open. Each switching guide is written by the company you would be moving to, and describes the move from that side of it. Spotify’s Artist Profile Protection is in beta and available to a limited group of artists. None of this is legal advice: if your agreement paid an advance or runs for a term in years, a lawyer reads the exit with you.

Keeping the register

A move is a form filled in a second time, field by field, from whatever you kept the first time. CatalogTracker keeps those fields outside both dashboards: each release with its UPC, its release and original release dates and its distributor reference; each track with its ISRC, version, recording type and duration; search by any of those codes; and a history of every change, with who made it. It delivers nothing, takes nothing down and holds no earnings. It holds what the new form is going to ask for. In development for iPhone.