ACME IDEA CORP

What to check before signing a distribution deal

70 · · 23 min read · Español

Read seven clauses before the price: what you grant and whether it is exclusive, how long it runs and how it ends, whose codes go on the record, what comes out of the money and whether you may audit it, what happens when a store says the streams were fake, what you promise about the recordings and pay for if it is wrong, and where a dispute is heard. The three agreements most self-releasing artists sign answer those seven questions differently, in writing, today. None of them is hiding it. All of it is on a page you scrolled past to reach the button.

  • DistroKid’s and TuneCore’s grants are non-exclusive. CD Baby’s Digital Distribution Addendum makes its grant exclusive for delivery to third-party stores, because stores refuse a recording delivered by two parties. All three grants are sub-licensable and reach user-generated content and remixes on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
  • DistroKid’s term is one year and renews automatically; TuneCore’s terms apply while you use the service; CD Baby’s runs until either side gives 24 hours’ written notice. All three may be amended by the company; DistroKid and CD Baby give notice by changing the date at the top of the document.
  • All three assign the ISRCs and the UPC unless you supply your own. All three accept your own ISRCs, DistroKid on two of its plans; only TuneCore accepts your own UPC, on two of its plans.
  • All three pay 100 per cent of what they receive less deductions the agreement defines. DistroKid’s and TuneCore’s terms state that you have no right to audit their books and give one year to object to a statement; CD Baby’s allows a CPA audit once a year and eighteen months to object.
  • Spotify charges labels and distributors per track for flagrant artificial streaming; TuneCore states the charge at €10 per track per month and passes it to the account holder. Both TuneCore’s and DistroKid’s terms let the company freeze, withhold or forfeit a balance on a fraud finding. You warrant that everything uploaded is cleared, and you indemnify the company if it is not.

What do you grant, and is it exclusive?

DistroKid’s and TuneCore’s grants are non-exclusive; CD Baby’s Digital Distribution Addendum makes the grant exclusive for delivering your recordings to third-party stores. Same service, three companies, two answers to the first word in the clause.

The word is doing less than it looks like it is doing, and the honest company says so. DistroKid’s agreement: “The rights granted by you to DistroKid are non-exclusive. Be advised, however, that if you send your Recording(s) to the same Digital Stores via DistroKid and a separate service, the double listing of your Recordings may cause complications and/or problems in those Digital Stores.” TuneCore’s distribution terms grant “the non-exclusive right” for the term, worldwide. CD Baby’s addendum goes the other way and explains itself in the same sentence: the rights “are exclusive with respect to serving as your authorized representative for distributing Your Content to third party distributors for online redistribution, because online retailers (e.g., iTunes, Amazon, etc.) will refuse content that may be delivered by multiple parties.” Three agreements, one fact: a store takes one delivery of a recording, so exclusivity is the shape of the pipe whether or not the document says the word. What non-exclusive buys you is the right to sell direct and the right to leave. It has never bought anyone two distributors.

The word after it matters more. Every grant is sub-licensable, and the sublicensees are named. DistroKid’s licence lets it authorise “third-party partners and/or licensees of DistroKid, which offer services permitting the creation, use and exploitation of so-called ‘remixes’ of your Recordings and so-called ‘user generated content’ embodying your Recordings, including, without limitation, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram” — and, for those services, to include your recordings in remixes, “Mix Content” and the libraries users draw on. TuneCore’s grant authorises “the creation, use and exploitation of User Generated Content.” CD Baby’s addendum lets it and its licensees “modify, alter, adapt, transform, remix and otherwise create derivative works of Your Content,” down to “changing the tempos, melodies, rhythm, lyrics and harmonies thereof,” and licenses your artwork, liner notes and metadata “in perpetuity.” None of that is a transfer of the copyright — a licence is defined by the statute as not one — and every word of it is a thing you have agreed, for the term, not to refuse. The list of what an owner may say no to is a list of what this clause says yes to on your behalf.

Then the territory. DistroKid’s: “The ‘Territory’ of this Agreement is the universe, except where noted with respect to certain territories outside of the United States,” and “you can’t specify only certain countries or territories for particular Recordings.” CD Baby’s Authorized Territory is “the universe, or more limited territories, to the extent so limited by you, during the CD Baby registration process.” Alexander wept for less.

How long does it run, and how does it end?

DistroKid’s term is one year and renews automatically; TuneCore’s applies while you use the service; CD Baby’s ends on 24 hours’ written notice. Three shapes, and the shape decides what a lapsed card does.

DistroKid’s term “will continue for one (1) year, unless renewed or terminated earlier,” and “will renew automatically at the end of each annual contract period.” DistroKid “may terminate the Term for any reason,” including “if the credit or debit card that you provided to us expires, is cancelled, if our attempts to charge your Service fee are declined for any reason” — and, in the same paragraph, the alternative: “At our sole option, we may nevertheless elect to renew the Term and to deduct the applicable renewal fee from any and all sums payable to you hereunder.” So a dead card is either the end of the term or a renewal paid out of your balance, at their choice.

What the end of the term does — the stores told to remove, the duty to account and pay for what was earned — is quoted whole on the page about a distributor closing, because a closure is that clause arriving for everyone at once. What survives it is stated beside it: “Customers who downloaded or otherwise accessed your Recordings may be able to retain and continue listening to your Recordings even after the Term of this Agreement is over.” The exception to a subscription ending is a purchase: Leave a Legacy is a per-release extra so that a release “won’t be removed by DistroKid after a lapsed membership payment,” and “each release must have this album extra included if you wish to cancel your subscription and keep your releases listed.” Without it, a lapse may remove the releases, you keep the login and the earnings owed, and the releases are restored when the charge succeeds. How long a store takes once it is told is a different clock, with its own page.

TuneCore’s term is the shortest sentence in the document: the terms “shall apply at all times while you utilize the Site or the Services.” The subscription is where the mechanics live. Terminate a subscription for a recording and “all terminated Recordings will be removed from their respective Consumer Stores”; miss a payment and the company “will be entitled to recoup, at its sole discretion, the subscription fee, by any means necessary, including the right to keep your account active and collect any resulting royalties until the subscription fee is fully recouped.” Two companies, one instinct, and neither of them is hiding it.

CD Baby’s Artist Agreement runs “unless and until terminated by either you or us, upon twenty-four (24) hours written notice,” and your notice “shall be permanent and irreversible.” On a withdrawal notice the company removes the content from its own site within five business days and sends a takedown notice to its licensees in the same window — and then: “CD Baby is not responsible for, and has no liability for, any delays of our Licensees in removing Your Content.” One more thing outlives your leaving, and it is the one people forget they opted into. Under the Sync Distribution Addendum, which applies only to recordings “that you elect in your CD Baby Account to make available,” any licence issued during the term “shall continue and remain in full force and effect” after it, “it being agreed that the term of any such licenses shall be separate and apart.” The film keeps the song. You keep your share of the fee. What ended was your say.

And the whole document moves. DistroKid: “We may amend the terms of this Agreement from time to time, in which case we will notify you by changing the date at the top of this Agreement (so please be sure to check back often),” and “your continued use of the Site or Service … will be deemed your acceptance.” CD Baby: “we will notify you by changing the date at the top of this Agreement and through notice on your Account dashboard,” and continued use “will constitute your binding acceptance.” TuneCore reserves the right to “modify the Terms of Service without notice.” The version that binds you is the one you accepted. Save it, with its date, the day you click — the site’s copy is not going to wait around to be read later.

Whose codes and names go on the record?

The distributor assigns the ISRCs and the UPC unless you supply your own; all three accept your ISRCs, and only TuneCore accepts your UPC. DistroKid’s box is on its two upper plans, and the clause is one line that decides whose prefix sits on every recording you release.

DistroKid: “If you have a ‘Musician Plus’ or ‘Label’ account you can choose to specify your own ISRC codes, but not UPC codes,” and its help centre names the plans as Musician Plus and Ultimate today. TuneCore accepts your own ISRC at upload and your own UPC on pay-per-release and the Professional plan, and its terms say what its own UPCs are: “for your use only and may not be transferred or resold,” at twenty-five dollars a code if you do. CD Baby assigns ISRCs at inspection “unless you already have your own codes.” The name is a code too, in DistroKid’s reading: “The artist name(s) you choose will last for the duration of the term of your Agreement with us, and can’t be changed.” Whether to buy your own prefix, what happens on the day the distributor’s prefix is no longer yours, what a UPC can and cannot do, and what one wrong character in the name field costs — each has its own page. This one only says: the box exists, and a code typed into it at upload is the cheapest decision in the whole agreement.

What comes out of the money, and can you check it?

All three pay 100 per cent of receipts less defined deductions, and DistroKid’s and TuneCore’s terms say you have no right to audit their books. The hundred is real. The definitions are the deal.

DistroKid posts to your account “one hundred percent (100%) of any and all monies that we actually earn and receive in U.S. Dollars in the U.S.A. from your selected Digital Stores which are directly attributable to their exploitation of your Recordings,” after PayPal or processing fees, and after “20% from monies paid to us attributable to videos that exploit your Recordings” if you opted into Content ID. Money a store pays “that is not attributable to any particular artist account(s)” is DistroKid’s to allocate “in its sole discretion,” and one of the three methods it names is “on a pro-rata basis based on the number of artists with whom DistroKid has distribution agreements.” Foreign currency is converted “at either the same rate received by us, or current spot exchange rate.” You must then “affirmatively accept and withdraw the payment,” above a six-dollar minimum, less a fee per method and an FX fee of up to 3 per cent.

TuneCore pays 100 per cent of Net Income, which is “actual receipts from Consumer Stores less (i) any applicable taxes, fees, charges and/or expenses paid or incurred by Company that are attributable to the Sale, marketing, advertising, promotion, distribution, delivery, and licensing of Recordings.” Offsets “may create a negative balance.” The money waiting in your account is “pooled in an interest-bearing bank account,” and “you irrevocably transfer and assign to Company any ownership right that you may have in any interest that may accrue.” CD Baby’s addendum pays “ninety-one percent (91%) of the net wholesale price actually received by us,” weekly, once your balance clears the Pay Point you set, within fifteen business days — and withholds “24% for US persons and 30% for non-US persons” if the tax form is missing. The form a Canadian files is the W-8; DistroKid’s agreement names it too. Why the number on the statement is smaller than you expected has six causes and its own page; this is the contract the statement is calculated under, and it is one of seven streams, the only one that passes through this account at all.

Now the sentence that decides whether any of the above is checkable. DistroKid: “You shall have no right to inspect or audit our books and records, or those of Digital Stores.” Any objection to a statement “must be made (and/or lawsuit commenced) no later than one (1) year after the date the statement is rendered, and you waive any longer statute of limitation that may be permitted by law.” TuneCore, in the same words: “You shall have no right to inspect or audit Company’s books and records or the books and records of any Consumer Store,” one year, and “each statement shall become conclusively binding on You at the end of that one (1) year period.” CD Baby is the exception, and it is worth reading because it shows what the clause looks like when it exists: “You may, but not more than once a year, at your own expense, engage a Certified Public Accountant (‘CPA’) to examine those books and records,” within a year of the statement, never “on a contingent fee basis”; objections within eighteen months; underpaid royalties carry “one-half percent (0.5%)” a month, and recovery of royalties plus interest is “the sole remedy.” Two of these companies wrote a clause about the number and one wrote a clause about the books. You have one year to object to a number you are not allowed to check.

What happens when a store says the streams were fake?

Spotify charges labels and distributors per track for flagrant artificial streaming, and the distributor’s terms pass the fee, the freeze and the takedown to you. The finding is the store’s. The consequences are in your agreement.

Spotify’s own page lists what a confirmed artificial stream does: “Those streams do not earn royalties,” they “do not count toward public stream numbers or charts,” and, depending on severity, “The distributor of the track, after being informed of the artificial streaming by Spotify, may issue warnings, charge a penalty fee, suspend the user’s account, or remove the music from Spotify.” On the fee itself: “We charge labels and distributors per track when flagrant artificial streaming is detected on their content.” Spotify names no amount. TuneCore’s help centre does: “Spotify currently charges a monthly €10 penalty to labels and distributors for each track deemed to have high levels of artificial streaming activity,” and “any fee will be passed to the account holder by TuneCore by charging account balance and/or the payment method on file.” Tracks removed for it: “You will not be able to reupload or redistribute.” A promo company that sells you streams is selling counterfeit, and the invoice for the counterfeit arrives in your account, not theirs.

The terms are where the machinery is, and TuneCore’s are the most explicit. “Streaming Manipulation” is defined as plays that “do not represent bona fide end-user listening,” and “you may be liable for Streaming Manipulation perpetrated by a third party on your behalf.” On suspicion of what the terms call Improper Conduct, the company may “discontinue the posting of income,” “block your ability to otherwise withdraw funds therefrom until resolution of the suspect activities to the satisfaction of Company,” and “remove any or all of your Recordings.” Then the sentences to read twice. A store’s notice “will serve as sufficient evidence.” “Company has no duty to investigate Improper Conduct unless and until it freezes revenues in your account.” On a finding, “all revenue in your account that has been frozen by Company is forfeited, regardless of whether it was generated from any specific Recording(s) or Consumer Store.” And if the company engages an attorney to review an allegation, it may deduct the cost from your account, “at a minimum Three Hundred Dollars ($300).” Your first legal bill in this business may be for a lawyer you did not hire, reading a complaint you have not seen.

DistroKid’s version is shorter and reaches the same places: on a claim, a dispute or a reasonable suspicion of “misrepresentation, misconduct, deception, fraud, or other inappropriate conduct,” it may suspend distribution, terminate the term, “withhold payment of monies to you in an amount reasonably attributable in our discretion,” deduct “our related attorneys’ fees and legal costs,” and “You will forfeit any monies that are attributable to your fraud, infringement or other illegal activity.” So the three questions to put to any agreement’s fraud clause are these. Whose finding triggers it — the store’s notice, or the company’s own belief? How far does the forfeiture reach — the flagged track, or the whole balance? And whose lawyer are you paying? Every one of those clauses was written for the account that bought the streams. Every one of them is enforced against the account, which is the only party the store can see.

What do you promise, and what do you pay for if it is wrong?

You warrant that everything in the upload is yours or cleared, samples and covers included, and you indemnify the distributor against any claim otherwise. The promise covers every contributor’s rights too. The bill for a broken one is yours.

DistroKid puts it in capitals on the first screen: “YOU MUST OWN OR OTHERWISE HAVE THE LEGAL RIGHT TO REPRODUCE AND DISTRIBUTE 100% OF THE RECORDINGS, MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS … AND ANY OTHER MATERIAL THAT YOU INTEND TO UPLOAD,” and “YOU CANNOT DELIVER TO US ANY REMIXES, OR RECORDINGS THAT INCLUDE SAMPLES UNLESS YOU HAVE ALL NECESSARY WRITTEN PERMISSION.” A cover “WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE IN ANY DIGITAL STORE UNTIL DISTROKID RECEIVES NOTICE THAT THE APPROPRIATE LICENSES HAVE BEEN CLEARED.” TuneCore’s warranty names the same thing in lower case: “all of the Recordings, including, without limitation, any sampled third party material embodied therein … are owned or controlled by you.” Both have you waive moral rights, DistroKid’s “on your behalf as well as on behalf of any and all contributors.” One of DistroKid’s warranties reaches past the upload: “you covenant and agree not [to] make any claim or bring any legal action related to this Agreement, against any Digital Store or UGC Service.” What a sample actually costs, what a cover licence is and whether the master is yours to warrant at all are three pages this clause assumes you have read. It does not check. It makes you promise.

The indemnity is what the promise costs. DistroKid: “You shall indemnify and hold harmless, and upon our request, defend, DistroKid and our affiliates, sublicensees (including your selected Digital Stores and their Customers)” against “any and all claims … (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs)” resulting from a breach “or alleged breach” of the warranties — and while a claim is open the company may “withhold from any payments otherwise due to you an amount reasonably related thereto until the claim, proceeding or circumstance has been finally resolved.” TuneCore’s runs the same way and adds who picks the lawyer: “you shall defend Company at your expense with counsel approved by Company.” In the other direction, DistroKid’s aggregate liability to you is capped at the sums due to you under the payment clause. A claim against the recording is a claim you defend, with your money, for their benefit, and the balance is held while you do. That is what an indemnity is: the clause that covers their ass with your money.

Where is a dispute heard, and by whom?

DistroKid’s and TuneCore’s terms choose New York courts and waive a jury; CD Baby’s requires arbitration under Oregon law and bars class actions. A claim filed anywhere else can cost up to $5,000 in CD Baby’s fees, and for a Toronto artist every one of those rooms is in another country.

DistroKid: the agreement is “construed and enforced exclusively in accordance with the laws of the State of New York,” and any action “shall be brought only in a state or federal court of competent jurisdiction located in New York County, New York.” TuneCore’s distribution terms: New York law, actions “brought exclusively in courts located in the State and County of New York,” and “The parties to this agreement waive their respective rights to a trial by jury.” CD Baby: “AGREE TO ARBITRATION (EXCEPT FOR MATTERS THAT MAY BE TAKEN TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT), AS THE EXCLUSIVE FORM OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION,” administered by the American Arbitration Association, under Oregon law, and “ONLY IN YOUR OR ITS INDIVIDUAL CAPACITY AND NOT AS A PLAINTIFF OR CLASS MEMBER IN ANY PURPORTED CLASS OR REPRESENTATIVE PROCEEDING.” Its site terms add the clock and the penalty: any claim “must commence within one year after the cause of action accrues,” and for a claim filed contrary to the dispute clause “CD Baby may recover attorneys’ fees and costs up to $5,000.” The small-claims carve-out is the only door in that clause a self-releasing artist will ever use. Know it is there.

Then the clause that decides who is on the other side of the table in five years. All three may assign the agreement: DistroKid “may assign, delegate, pledge, encumber, sublicense and otherwise transfer” it, TuneCore “may assign the Terms of Service or any rights or obligations hereunder without your consent,” CD Baby “may assign its rights and obligations under this Agreement at any time to any party” — and in all three you may not, without written consent. What a buyer steps into when it does is on the closure page. Here it is one line: the company you chose is not a term of the deal.

So read the document in this order, and read the version with today’s date on it: the grant and the word before it, the term and what ends it, the codes box, the money clause and the audit sentence under it, the fraud clause and its three questions, the warranty and its indemnity, and the forum. Seven clauses. None of them is on the pricing page. If the recording has a sample in it, a co-owner, or a producer with paper, that is the hour a music lawyer is for — DistroKid’s own agreement says “PLEASE CONSULT A QUALIFIED LAWYER BEFORE ENTERING INTO THIS AGREEMENT,” in capitals — and what the hour buys is these seven questions asked by somebody who has read the answers before. Then file the saved version with the rest of the paper, because the date at the top is the only witness that will not change its story.

FAQ

Can I use two distributors for the same release if the grant is non-exclusive?

Not in practice: DistroKid’s agreement warns that sending a recording to the same store through DistroKid and a separate service “may cause complications and/or problems,” and CD Baby’s addendum makes its grant exclusive for store delivery for exactly that reason — stores refuse a recording delivered by two parties. Non-exclusive means you may leave, and it means you may sell direct; it does not mean two deliveries to one store.

Can the distributor change the agreement after I sign?

Yes; all three agreements reserve the right to amend their terms, DistroKid and CD Baby say notice is the date at the top of the document, and every one of them treats your continued use as acceptance. The version that binds you is the one you accepted, so save that one, with its date, the day you click.

What happens to my balance if I stop paying the subscription?

You keep it: DistroKid’s help centre says you can still log in and will still receive earnings owed, while releases without Leave a Legacy may be removed, and TuneCore’s terms let the company keep the account active and collect royalties until an unpaid subscription fee is recouped. Neither agreement forfeits earnings for a lapse; a fraud finding is what forfeits them.

Is my money safe while it sits in the distributor’s account?

It is a debt the distributor owes you, not a deposit: TuneCore’s terms pool it in an interest-bearing account and assign the interest to the company, DistroKid pays only what you affirmatively withdraw, and if the company becomes insolvent you are an unsecured creditor. Withdraw on a schedule, and keep every statement, because the statements are the proof of the debt.

Sources

  • DistroKid, Distribution Agreement (as of 2021-06-08) — the capitalised ownership warning and the sample, remix and cover conditions; § 1.e own ISRCs but not UPCs; § 2.a the non-exclusive grant and the double-listing warning; § 2.d the Territory; § 3.c artist names fixed for the term; § 4 the one-year term, automatic renewal, termination for any reason, renewal from your balance, and the end-of-Term duties; § 5.a the sub-licensable grant and § 5.a.iii the UGC Services, Mix Content and AudioSwap; § 6 the moral-rights waiver and the third-party payments; § 7.a the 100 per cent, the deductions, the 20 per cent on Content ID, lump sums and currency; § 7.b no audit right and the one-year objection; § 7.d affirmative withdrawal; § 7.e Accelerated Payments; § 7.f Form W-8; § 7.g withholding and forfeiture; § 8 the warranties and the indemnity; § 9.b the liability cap; § 10.a amendment by date; § 10.e assignment; § 10.h New York law. Quoted as read on the date at the top of this piece; yours is the version you accepted.
  • TuneCore, Terms of Service — Music Distribution (last updated 2026-07-31) — the non-exclusive grant for the Term and Territory; Streaming Manipulation and third-party liability; the Improper Conduct remedies, the store’s notice as sufficient evidence, no duty to investigate until a freeze, forfeiture of frozen revenue, and the $300 minimum for attorney review; Net Income and its deductions, negative balances, the one-year objection and conclusively binding statements, no audit right, the pooled interest-bearing account; subscription fees and recoupment by keeping the account active; the Term; UPCs for your use only at $25 if resold; User Generated Content and the droit moral waiver; the warranty naming sampled material, the indemnity and counsel approved by the company; New York law, jury waiver and assignment without consent. The page loads these terms in the browser under its Music Distribution tab.
  • CD Baby, Artist Agreement (last updated 2024-08-14) — § 2 the nonexclusive grant; § 3 the 24-hour notice and the permanent, irreversible termination notice; § 4(c) offsets; § 4(d) the CPA audit; § 4(e) the eighteen-month objection, the 0.5 per cent and the sole remedy; § 4(h) fifteen business days and the one-year objection; § 6 withdrawal, five business days and licensee delays; § 8 ownership; § 9(a) amendment by date and dashboard notice; § 19 arbitration, small claims, no class actions, Oregon law; § 20(i) assignment; § 21(a) the Authorized Territory.
  • CD Baby, Digital Distribution Addendum (last updated 2023-08-05) — § 1 the exclusive grant for delivery to third-party stores and the reason; § 2(f) derivative works, § 2(i) artwork and metadata in perpetuity, § 2(j) sublicensing; § 3(a) 91 per cent of net wholesale.
  • CD Baby, Sync Distribution Addendum (last updated 2023-08-05) — the opt-in by election in the account; the universe as territory; § 4 licences issued during the term surviving its end; § 5 sixty per cent of gross less costs.
  • CD Baby, Terms of Service (last updated 2024-03-08) — § 9(h) the one-year limit on claims; § 9(i) up to $5,000 for an improperly filed claim.
  • Spotify for Artists, Artificial Streaming — what a confirmed artificial stream does, the distributor’s possible actions, and the per-track charge to labels and distributors, with no amount stated.
  • TuneCore Help Center, Fees & Penalties for Artificial Streaming (updated 2026-09-20) — the €10 per track per month, passed to the account holder; removed tracks cannot be re-uploaded.
  • TuneCore Help Center, TuneCore UPCs and ISRCs (updated 2026-09-15) — your own ISRC at upload; your own UPC on pay-per-release or the Professional plan.
  • DistroKid Help Center, Using Existing ISRCs or UPCs for New DistroKid Uploads (updated 2026-08-03) — own ISRCs on Musician Plus or Ultimate; no custom UPCs.
  • DistroKid Help Center, The Leave a Legacy Album Extra (updated 2026-06-29) and What Happens If I Stop Paying the Annual Fee? (updated 2026-09-02) — the per-release extra; removal on a lapse, continued access and earnings, restoration when the charge succeeds.
  • DistroKid Help Center, Is There a Fee When I Withdraw My Earnings? (updated 2026-06-29) — the $6 minimum, per-method fees and the FX fee of up to 3 per cent.
  • CD Baby Help Center, How do I get paid from CD Baby? (updated 2026-09-19) — weekly payouts, the Pay Point, and the 24 and 30 per cent withholding without a tax ID.
  • CD Baby Help Center, Can I get ISRCs from CD Baby? (updated 2026-07-09) — ISRCs assigned at inspection unless you have your own.

Every page cited here was read on the date at the top of this piece. Each agreement is quoted from the version its company published that day, by section where the document numbers them; the version that binds you is the one you accepted, and all three say they may change. TuneCore’s terms page carries two governing-law clauses — its site terms name Luxembourg, its Music Distribution terms name New York — and this piece cites the distribution terms, which are the ones a recording is delivered under. The €10 figure is TuneCore’s statement of Spotify’s charge; Spotify’s own page names none. The help-centre articles were read through each help centre’s article service, because the pages refuse automated reads. None of this is legal advice about an agreement in front of you: the clauses are quoted in their own words, and a lawyer in your territory is the person who says what one of them does to your recording.

Keeping the register

Every clause on this page is in a document that will not look the same next year, and the only proof of what you agreed to is the copy you kept. CatalogTracker keeps it: the agreement uploaded as a document with a content hash and the date, beside the releases it covers, each release with its distributor reference and its territories, and a history of who changed what. It reads no clause and models no fee. It holds the version with the date on it, which is the thing you need to find the day the date at the top has moved. In development for iPhone.