You finally got your music on Spotify, Apple Music, and 150+ other stores. Streams are coming in. Fans are finding you. Then life happens — maybe money's tight, maybe you want to switch distributors, maybe you just need a break.
So you cancel your subscription. And then what?
For most distributors, the answer might surprise you — and not in a good way.
DistroKid: Your Music Gets Taken Down
DistroKid is one of the most popular distributors for independent artists, and for good reason — unlimited uploads for a flat annual fee is a great deal while you're paying.
But the moment you stop paying? Your music gets removed from every streaming platform.
Every single, every album, every EP — gone from Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, Tidal, all of it. Your streams, your playlist placements, your listeners — all disappear because you missed a $22.99 renewal.
DistroKid does offer an add-on called "Leave a Legacy" that keeps individual releases live after cancellation. But here's the catch: you have to pay extra for it on each release, and it has to be purchased while your subscription is still active. If you forget or can't afford it, you're out of luck.
TuneCore: Pay Per Release, Every Year
TuneCore works differently — they charge per release rather than a flat subscription. But those charges aren't one-time. You pay annually to keep each release in stores.
Miss a renewal on a specific release? It gets taken down. If you have 10 releases and can't afford to renew all of them, you're forced to choose which ones stay live and which ones disappear.
For artists who release frequently, those per-release annual fees add up fast.
CD Baby: One-Time Fee, But There's a Commission
CD Baby is the exception when it comes to takedowns — they charge a one-time fee per release and your music stays in stores permanently. That's genuinely good.
The trade-off? CD Baby takes a 9% commission on all your streaming royalties, forever. On every stream, every download, every sale — 9% goes to CD Baby. For an artist generating serious revenue, that adds up to far more than a subscription fee over time.
Why This Matters More Than You Think
Here's what most artists don't consider when choosing a distributor: your music's value compounds over time.
A song you release today might not get much traction for months. Algorithmic playlists, Discover Weekly, Release Radar — these systems reward consistency and catalog depth. The longer your music stays live, the more chances it has to be discovered.
When a distributor removes your music because you missed a payment, you don't just lose current streams. You lose all the momentum that was building. Playlist placements vanish. Algorithmic recommendations reset. Fans who saved your songs find them greyed out.
And if you re-upload later with a new distributor? Different ISRCs, different UPCs, a brand new release with zero stream history. You're starting from scratch.
A Different Approach: Own the Relationship, Not Just the Listing
A distributor controls delivery to streaming services, so its cancellation terms matter. But the larger risk is depending on streaming listings as your only connection to listeners.
ALERA is a direct-to-fan platform, not a distributor. It works alongside the distributor you choose and gives listeners a direct place to buy music and merch, subscribe, join your list, and become part of an audience you can reach.
- Your distributor: manages DSP delivery, ISRC/UPC data, takedowns, and streaming royalties.
- ALERA: manages direct commerce, fan records, campaigns, and audience intelligence.
- Your strategy: use streaming for reach while building a direct audience that is not erased by a distributor policy change.
No direct-to-fan platform can override a distributor's takedown policy. What it can do is make sure losing a listing does not also mean losing every relationship around your music.
The Bottom Line
Before you sign up with any distributor, ask one question: what happens to my music if I stop paying?
If the answer is "it gets removed," you're renting shelf space, not distributing your music. And renting means someone else controls whether your art stays available to the world.
Your music deserves better than that.
Already switching distributors? Start with ALERA for free — set up your Smart Bio, build your Fan CRM, and sell music directly to fans. ALERA is a direct-to-fan platform that works alongside any distributor you choose.