Fair is not a feeling.
It is seven checkable terms.

Why “fair” became a question in the first place

On 17 January 2024 the European Parliament adopted a resolution on cultural diversity and the conditions for authors in the European music streaming market, with 532 votes in favour, 61 against and 33 abstentions. MEPs called for “pre-digital royalty rates” to be revised, condemned “payola schemes” that trade lower pay for visibility, asked platforms to make their algorithms transparent, and wanted listeners told when a song was generated by AI.

The resolution is non-binding and aimed at streaming platforms, not distributors. It does not set a per-stream rate, and no EU law has followed from it so far. But it names the problem every independent artist knows: most authors and performers earn very little from streaming.

Distributors cannot change what Spotify pays per stream. They do decide the terms you live with every year: whether you pay rent on your catalogue, how much of each payout you keep, and what happens when you stop. That is where fairness can be checked.

The seven criteria

1. 01

   1. Your music stays online if you stop paying

   A release should not disappear because a card expired. Check the provider’s help center for what happens after a missed renewal.

2. 02

   2. No recurring fee while your music earns nothing

   A one-time fee or a commission means you pay in proportion to what you release or earn. A yearly fee is due even in a year with zero streams.

3. 03

   3. Costs and revenue share are published upfront

   Fees, commission and any channel-specific cuts (YouTube, social platforms) should be on the pricing page, not discovered on your first statement.

4. 04

   4. You keep 100% of your masters

   Distribution should be a license to deliver your recordings, never a transfer of ownership.

5. 05

   5. Your songwriting stays untouched

   Publishing income belongs to you and your collecting society. A distributor should not take a share of it by default.

6. 06

   6. You can leave without losing rights

   Ownership should be non-exclusive: you can license, sample or move your music without penalty.

7. 07

   7. Someone protects the catalogue you share

   Fake streams and mass-uploaded AI tracks dilute payouts and trigger platform penalties. Curation keeps real artists out of that crossfire — but it also means some music gets rejected.

Scorecard: seven distributors, seven criteria

Facts from each provider’s own pricing page or help center, as of October 2026. Prices in the currency each provider shows. Check before you decide — terms change.

Criteria 4 to 6 are table stakes: every distributor here passes them, which is good news for artists. Some providers sell optional publishing administration as a separate service; it is opt-in, not part of distribution.

Where Artyfile is not the fairest choice

• ✓Revenue share: Artyfile keeps 15% of the revenue it generates. DistroKid, TuneCore, Amuse and iMusician Rockstar keep 0% on streaming, CD Baby keeps 9%. If your music already earns well, that difference adds up.
• ✓Price: CD Baby’s $9.99 single is in the same price bracket as our €9.90, and its $14.99 album is cheaper than our €39. iMusician Starter costs €9 per release.
• ✓Exclusivity: streaming distribution runs exclusively through Artyfile while a track is active. You keep ownership and can license your music elsewhere, but you cannot deliver the same track to Spotify through a second distributor at the same time.
• ✓Curation cuts both ways: we reject AI-generated music and music that does not fit. Self-service distributors release almost anything that passes their technical checks.

What Artyfile adds: one payment that keeps your music online for good, a commission that is only due when we earn money for you, a sync marketplace for film, TV and advertising, Artyfile Stream payouts of €0.03–€0.20 per stream, and optional Fan Limited Editions. Whether that is the fairer trade depends on your catalogue — see pricing and the best distributors by use case.

How to check your own distributor in ten minutes

1. 1.Search the help center for “stop paying” or “cancel”. Note whether releases are removed and how long the grace period is.
2. 2.Add up five years of fees for the way you actually release — singles, albums, how many per year.
3. 3.Find every commission, including YouTube Content ID and social-platform cuts.
4. 4.Read the distribution agreement for the words “assign” or “transfer”. A license is fine; an assignment of your masters is not.
5. 5.Check whether publishing administration is opt-in or bundled.
6. 6.Ask what happens to fake streams on your releases: who pays the platform penalty, and whether your account can be suspended.

If you want to move, read how to switch distributors without losing your streams. If you want to own your work outright, start with owning your masters.