This article was written in collaboration with LANDR, a company that Ari’s Take is proud to be partnering with.
LANDR Distribution: Everything an Artist Needs
When it comes to music distribution, LANDR stands out as a service designed to deliver music to streaming platforms and fully streamline the modern independent artist’s workflow. Known originally for its AI-driven mastering tools, LANDR has steadily built a broader ecosystem that now includes distribution, collaboration, promotional resources, and music production tools. We’ll focus on LANDR’s distribution offering, looking at its strengths, limitations, and overall user experience.
Getting Started
One of LANDR’s standout strengths is its straightforward onboarding process. Signing up and preparing a release is surprisingly simple, even for those who are unfamiliar with digital music distribution. The platform offers an easy-to-follow release wizard that guides artists through each necessary step, so whether you’re uploading your first single or your fifteenth album, the intuitive interface ensures that you won’t miss crucial details like metadata, territories, or collaborator credits.
For artists coming from other distribution services, LANDR also includes a release importer tool, which allows you to transfer metadata from your back catalog without starting from scratch and without losing your stream counts. This is super helpful for those with extensive libraries. The tool simplifies a process that can otherwise be time-consuming and prone to errors.
Pricing and Value
LANDR’s pricing structure is very competitive, and it makes their offering accessible to musicians of all experience levels. For as little as $23.99 per year, artists can release an unlimited number of tracks and keep 100% of their streaming revenue, and of course retain the full ownership rights of their music. This makes LANDR especially appealing to prolific musicians and producers who release music frequently throughout the year. They do note on their site that they want to keep the focus on human artistry and avoid sending fully AI-generated music to their partner platforms, which is understandable. We’d expect that those who want to upload bulk amounts of AI music probably won’t get very far before quality control measures kick in.
Unlike some distributors that require you to pay per release or take a cut of royalties, LANDR keeps things easy and fair with a flat annual fee. If cover songs are your thing, you can license them with a one-time fee of $15 per track. This is a solid deal and is more than reasonable when it comes to industry standards. Some other distributors will actually charge recurring cover song fees per track per year rather than on a one-time basis. No thanks.
Another thing we really appreciate is that if you cancel or pause your subscription at some point in the future, LANDR will not charge extra to keep your music on platforms. Instead, they’ll collect a pretty standard 15% commission on royalties they take in for you. LANDR also does not charge extra to use your own ISRC codes, which is a plus for those managing their own catalogs or working with external mastering and publishing systems.
Platform Reach and Monetization
LANDR distributes to more than 150 digital music stores and streaming platforms, including major names like Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, and Deezer. It also supports monetization on platforms like YouTube Content ID, TikTok, and Meta (Facebook and Instagram), providing additional income streams. On top of this, LANDR integrates with Musixmatch, allowing artists to manage lyrics across supported streaming platforms.
Artists should know that those monetization options (YouTube Content ID, TikTok, and Meta) are more curated services, so they’re only available through LANDR’s Distribution Pro tier. But fortunately, they’re included in that tier at no additional cost. Some distributors charge additional fees in this category, especially for Content ID, so this is another plus.
One especially useful feature is instant Spotify artist verification. Artists can quickly gain access to Spotify for Artists, which opens up features like playlist pitching, profile customization, and real-time analytics. LANDR’s position as a Spotify Preferred Partner not only makes this process faster, but allows them to deliver your music to their system faster than other distributors.
LANDR also runs a pretty innovative program called Fair Trade AI, which is fully optional for artists using their distribution system. You can give permission for your music to be used in the training of AI music production tools and earn money from that training. To be clear, no one is obligated to submit their music to the program and everyone is opted out by default when submitting music for distribution. But if you’re excited about AI in music and want to explore additional monetization avenues, LANDR’s Fair Trade AI program represents a unique and interesting opportunity.
Tools for Collaboration and Tracking
LANDR’s built-in royalty split feature is one of its most valuable tools for those with collaborators. Artists can assign earnings percentages to collaborators during the setup process, making sure that everyone involved in a track receives their share of the revenue. This can help prevent disputes and reduce administrative overhead down the road.
Another key strength is the platform’s analytics dashboard. LANDR provides insights into streaming trends, territory-based performance, and overall earnings. While the data is not as granular as that offered by some specialized analytics tools, it is more than adequate for most independent artists who need a general overview of their music’s performance.
The mobile app is a nice addition for those who want to monitor their releases on the go. The app’s Trends feature summarizes streaming data, downloads, and sales activity in a clean and digestible format.
Support and Service
It’s always a relief when you can get actual support when managing your music releases, and it’s unfortunate that so many platforms rely so heavily on automated chatbots. LANDR’s approach gets a lot of points in this department, as they offer an overall positive and comprehensive support experience from a team of agents who are artists themselves. This includes help with technical issues, catalog migration, and even guidance on promotion strategy. For artists new to digital distribution or facing tight release schedules, this can be a lifesaver.
The availability of customer service varies depending on the plan, and while LANDR does not currently offer 24/7 support, response times are generally prompt and helpful.
Promotion and Artist Tools
LANDR includes a set of promotional tools designed to help artists drive traffic to their releases. One of the more notable offerings is the shareable promolink, which functions as a smart URL directing fans to multiple streaming platforms where the release is available. While not as advanced as standalone smart link services, the inclusion of this tool within the platform helps consolidate key tasks into one place, and it’s little things like this that can make a big difference. You can also easily set up pre-saves to maximize streams on release day.
For artists who want to go further with marketing, LANDR’s Network platform connects artists with freelance professionals offering services like PR and social media strategy. These services come at an additional cost and vary in quality, so artists should evaluate carefully.
Cover Song Licensing
LANDR’s cover song licensing system is pleasantly straightforward. For a one-time fee of $15 per track, artists can legally distribute cover songs without needing to navigate complex licensing arrangements themselves. The platform handles the required agreements, which simplifies the process significantly.
This feature is limited to the United States and Canada, which is fairly standard among distribution services. Still, international artists looking to release covers may need to seek additional licensing assistance. If you happen to have secured a cover song license on your own, adding proof of rights during the release building process is very easy.
Limitations and Considerations
While LANDR’s offering is strong overall, it may not meet the needs of every artist. For example, those seeking out physical releases, specialized distribution arrangements to more obscure digital stores, or complex royalty accounting features may need to pair LANDR with other tools or services.
Additionally, there are certain features that some modern producers might be looking for in the changing music environment that LANDR doesn’t provide, like music video distribution, playlist pitching services, and music generation tools. That being said, they mentioned that updates are coming later this year, so their feature set will continue to grow.
Final Thoughts
LANDR Distribution is a well-rounded platform that succeeds in balancing simplicity, affordability, and functionality. It caters especially well to independent musicians and producers who want to release music frequently without overcomplicating the process. With tools for distribution, analytics, licensing, and promotion all under one roof, LANDR offers a cohesive experience that fits into a broader ecosystem of music production and mastering.
Speaking of which, for those who want a more comprehensive setup for music production and releasing, they include distribution in their more fully-fledged LANDR Studio subscription, which also offers their famous assistive mastering engine, a royalty-free sample library with over 3 million sounds, and over $2,000’s worth of studio-grade music software including Ableton Live Lite and Cubase LE.
