# Music distributor

Also known as: Digital distributor, Music aggregator

> A music distributor, or aggregator, delivers an artist's or label's releases to streaming services and download stores, and collects the master-side income those services pay, returning it with a statement. Digital distributors typically assign ISRCs and UPCs if the artist has none, and charge either a subscription fee or a percentage of royalties.

Source: https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/music-distributor · Category: Releases and distribution · Last reviewed: 2026-10-02 · License: CC BY 4.0

## Key facts

- **Delivers to:** Streaming services and download stores
- **Collects:** [Master-side income from those services](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/master-recording)
- **Delivery format:** [DDEX ERN](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/ddex)
- **Business models:** Flat fee, subscription or revenue share

## Role

Streaming services do not accept uploads from individual artists; they take deliveries from distributors they have contracts with. A distributor takes the audio, artwork and metadata, assigns any missing identifiers — an [ISRC](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/isrc) per track and a UPC per release — and delivers the release in the [DDEX](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/ddex) formats each store requires.[1]

## What a distributor pays, and what it does not

A distributor collects only the **recording's** income from the services it delivers to and passes it on, less its fee. It does not collect the **composition's** income: performance royalties, which go through [PROs](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/performing-rights-organization), and mechanical royalties, which in the United States go through [The MLC](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/mechanical-licensing-collective). Nor does it collect [SoundExchange](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/soundexchange) digital performance royalties. An artist relying on a distributor alone is usually leaving those streams uncollected.

## Working with more than one distributor

Artists and labels often have catalog spread across several distributors over time, each with its own statement format, currency, reporting period and payment threshold. Consolidating those statements into one view, matched by ISRC, is a common accounting problem for independent catalogs.

## In practice at SNVRKOTICS

SNVRKOTICS is not a distributor. It imports the statements an artist already receives from every distributor they use and matches them to the catalog by ISRC.

## Questions

### Does a distributor collect publishing royalties?

Not as part of distribution. Distributors collect master-side income. Publishing royalties are collected by PROs, mechanical collectives and publishers, though some distributors also sell a separate publishing administration service.

### Can I keep my ISRCs if I change distributor?

Yes, and you should. An ISRC identifies the recording; moving it to a new distributor with the same ISRC keeps its play history and royalty matching intact.

## References

1. DDEX. "DDEX — Digital Data Exchange." https://ddex.net/

## Related

- [International Standard Recording Code](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/isrc): The ISRC is a 12-character code, defined by ISO 3901, that identifies one specific sound recording or music video recording.
- [DDEX](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/ddex): DDEX is the music industry's standards body for the data exchanged in the digital supply chain, best known for the ERN release-delivery format.
- [Master recording](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/master-recording): A master recording is the original fixed recording of a performance, and the separate copyright that protects that recording.
- [Music royalties](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/music-royalties): Music royalties are payments to rights holders each time a song or recording is sold, streamed, performed, licensed or broadcast.
- [Smart link](https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/smart-link): A smart link is one shareable URL for a release that sends each listener to the right streaming service, store or region.

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Cite as: "Music distributor." SNVRKOTICS Wiki, 2026-10-02. https://wiki.snvrkotics.com/music-distributor