How Does it Work?
1. Sign up for DistroKid
Pick your plan, all of which offer unlimited uploads, 100% of royalties, & cover song licenses.
2. Upload your cover song
On the upload form, you’ll see an option for “Songwriter” and from there select “another artist wrote it."
3. We’ll handle the rest
No need to stress about the licenses or accounting.
Why choose DistroKid?
If you release your cover with DistroKid, you'll pay $12/yr per cover song.
Other distributors charge anywhere from $17 to $70 for this, if they allow cover songs at all.
“I am very grateful to DistroKid for the very affordable plans and for all the features they offer. From the nitty gritty of featured artists selections to synched lyrics, you can't go wrong with it.“
- Carlos T
DistroKid member
Frequently asked questions
A cover song is any song that you perform and record yourself using music originally released by someone else. You can easily (and legally) release your cover songs through DistroKid.
We handle the paperwork and automatically deduct the legally mandated fee from your earnings—12.7¢ per song sold in the U.S.—and send it to the Harry Fox Agency, who gives it to the original songwriter. You keep the rest of your earnings.
You need a license—specifically, a compulsory mechanical license—because U.S. law dictates how earnings from cover songs need to be shared with the original songwriter.
You can learn more here, but we’ll handle the legal stuff automatically when you tell us the song is a cover during the upload process.
You have to opt into DistroKid’s license anyway. If we’re not the ones paying them, we have no way to verify the original songwriter is getting their legally-mandated share.
Not opting into DistroKid’s cover song licensing program could lead to streaming services removing your content, or worse, songwriters taking legal action. And you probably wanna avoid that.
Release your Cover Song on DistroKid
We make it super simple to release your cover song legally.
Musicians, sign up now.
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