Free music distribution has been contracting since 2024. Services have closed or moved to paid only, and artists who uploaded on a free tier years ago are discovering that the plan they signed up for no longer exists. The panic reaction is to take everything down and re-upload somewhere cheaper. That reaction is the one that actually costs you something.
The short answer
Your distributor does not own your recordings. It operates the pipe that delivers them to streaming services and collects the money back. Moving that pipe is routine. What is not routine is **taking the release down and uploading it again**, because in most cases the platforms treat the new upload as a different release: a new link, no stream history, no saves, and removal from every playlist that had added the old one.
Deliver through the new distributor with the same ISRC and UPC first, then take the old delivery down. Doing it in the other order is what turns a transfer into a relaunch.
What you own and what the distributor holds
Worth being precise, because the difference decides how much leverage you have.
| Thing | Who holds it | What happens if the distributor disappears |
|---|
| The master recordings | You, unless you signed them away | Unaffected, provided you kept the files |
| Your ISRC codes | Assigned by whoever registered them, often the distributor | They keep working, but you need a record of them |
| Your UPC / release codes | Usually assigned by the distributor | Same, and you need these written down too |
| The delivery to Spotify and Apple | The distributor | Stops when they stop, at a time you may not control |
| Unpaid royalties | The distributor, until paid out | This is the part that can genuinely be lost |
| Your artwork and metadata | You, if you kept the originals | Recoverable only if you saved it yourself |
Notice that almost every row says the same thing: you are fine if you kept your own records. The artists who get badly hurt when a service closes are the ones whose only copy of their release metadata lived inside that service's dashboard.
ISRC and UPC: the two numbers that decide everything
An **ISRC** identifies one specific recording. A **UPC** identifies the release it sits on. When a new distributor delivers your release carrying the same ISRC and UPC as the old one, streaming services can generally recognise it as the same product and keep the existing page, stream count and playlist adds. When the codes change, they have no reason to believe it is the same thing, and you get a second, empty copy of your own song.
Two practical consequences:
- **Write your codes down now,** before you need them. Every release, every track, ISRC and UPC, in a file you control. This takes twenty minutes and is the single highest value admin task in this whole article.
- **Ask the new distributor whether it accepts existing ISRCs and UPCs.** Most do. Some prefer to issue their own, which is exactly what you do not want when you are transferring rather than releasing.
The order of operations
- **Export everything first.** Release titles, exact artist name spellings, ISRCs, UPCs, release dates, genres, language, copyright and phonographic lines, credits, lyrics, and your full resolution artwork. Do this while you still have dashboard access.
- **Check what you are owed and how you get it.** Find the earnings threshold, the payout schedule, and whether leaving forfeits a pending balance. Withdraw what you can before you give notice.
- **Read the exit terms.** Some services keep a percentage of future earnings from releases delivered while you were a customer, or charge to release a catalogue. Know the number before you commit, not after.
- **Set up the new distributor and deliver the same releases with the same ISRCs and UPCs.** Match the metadata exactly, including how the artist name is spelled and punctuated. A mismatch here is what creates a duplicate artist profile.
- **Confirm the new delivery is live and attached to your existing artist page** before you touch the old one. Check Spotify, Apple Music and at least one other service you care about.
- **Only then take the old delivery down,** and tell both distributors in writing what you are doing so the takedown and the new delivery do not race each other.
- **Watch for duplicates for two weeks.** If a second copy of a release appears, report it to the new distributor immediately. It is much easier to merge in the first fortnight than after playlists start adding the wrong one.
If your distributor has already shut down without warning, steps one to three may be closed to you. Deliver through the new distributor with your recorded ISRCs and UPCs anyway. If you never recorded them, your ISRCs are still visible on most streaming service pages and in your Spotify for Artists catalogue, which is the fastest place to recover them.
What free distribution actually costs now
The economics behind the contraction are not mysterious. Spotify announced in September 2025 that it had removed more than 75 million spammy tracks in a single year as part of a broader set of AI policies. Unlimited free uploading was the mechanism that made that flood possible, and the services that offered it were carrying the cost of storing and delivering an enormous quantity of music that earned nothing.
So when you compare a free tier against a paid one, compare the real terms rather than the headline:
- **Revenue share.** A free tier that keeps a percentage of your earnings forever is not free, it is deferred and uncapped.
- **Exit terms.** Whether you can leave with your catalogue, and what it costs.
- **Payout threshold.** Money you cannot withdraw is not money you have.
- **ISRC ownership.** Whether the codes are yours to take with you.
- **Support response time.** This matters the day something goes wrong on a release week, and not before.
If you are weighing specific services, our DistroKid, TuneCore and CD Baby comparison goes through the trade-offs in detail.
How not to be in this position again
- **Keep a catalogue file you control.** One spreadsheet: release, tracks, ISRC, UPC, release date, credits, splits, distributor, delivery date. Update it on release day, every time.
- **Keep masters, stems and full resolution artwork in your own storage,** not only in a distributor's uploader.
- **Register with a collection society and your PRO in your own name.** Those registrations are yours and survive any distributor. They are also where a meaningful share of income goes uncollected, which we covered in collecting the royalties you are owed.
- **Own the audience relationship somewhere you control.** A distributor closing is survivable. Losing the only way you had to reach the people who listen to you is not. Email is the one channel nobody can switch off from the other side.
- **Re-read your distribution terms once a year.** Free tiers change quietly and the notice usually arrives by email you did not open.
- 75M+
- spammy tracks removed from Spotify in a year, the pressure behind the end of unlimited free uploading (Spotify, September 2025)
- ISRC + UPC
- the two identifiers that decide whether a move is a transfer or an accidental relaunch (IFPI ISRC standard)
- 20 min
- to record your entire catalogue's codes, which is the whole insurance policy (Stage)
Frequently asked
Do I lose my streams if I change music distributor?
Not if you transfer properly. Deliver through the new distributor using the same ISRC and UPC before taking the old delivery down, and streaming services can generally keep the existing release page, stream count and playlist placements. You lose that history when you take the release down and upload it again with new codes, because that is treated as a different release.
What happens to my music if my distributor shuts down?
Your recordings remain yours. The delivery to streaming services stops, which means your releases can eventually come down. The genuinely unrecoverable parts are unpaid royalties sitting in their account and any metadata you never saved yourself, which is why exporting your catalogue details early matters.
Can I keep my ISRC when I move to a new distributor?
In most cases yes, and you should. An ISRC identifies the recording rather than the distributor. Ask the new distributor whether it accepts existing codes before you deliver, because some prefer to issue their own, which would break the link to your existing release page.
Should I take my release down before uploading to the new distributor?
No. That is the order that costs you your stream history and playlist placements. Deliver through the new distributor first, confirm it is live and attached to your existing artist page, and only then request the takedown from the old one.
Where do I find my ISRC codes if I lost dashboard access?
Your ISRCs appear in your Spotify for Artists catalogue and on most streaming service track pages, and they are embedded in the release metadata. Recovering UPCs is harder, so check any distribution confirmation emails you still have before assuming they are gone.
Is free music distribution still worth it in 2026?
It depends entirely on the terms rather than the price. A free tier that takes a permanent percentage of earnings, holds your ISRCs, or charges to release your catalogue can cost far more over a few years than a flat annual fee. Compare revenue share, exit terms and payout thresholds, not the headline.
The honest summary
A distributor changing its pricing or closing its doors is an administrative problem, not an existential one, as long as you kept your own records. The catalogue file is the whole difference between an afternoon of admin and losing the stream history on every release you have ever put out.
If you do nothing else after reading this, open a spreadsheet and write down every ISRC and UPC you have. You will not need it this month. The point is that you will not get any warning about the month you do.