Comparing The WORST Music Distributor Terms | Distrokid, Too Lost, TuneCore, Landr, Symphonic + More

0:00This is my no BS review of these music

0:02distributors. The three worst terms that

0:05you just need to know. Their

0:06responsibility is to be honest with you

0:07about what they're doing. I do not

0:09believe that these companies are allowed

0:11to keep your royalties just because they

0:13all put it in their contracts. Once you

0:15opt in, it's over. I'm saying that I do

0:17not believe that's lawful. You clicked

0:20on this video because maybe you're

0:21thinking of changing music distributors.

0:23Maybe you're trying to select a music

0:25distributor. And if that's you, I have a

0:27switching music distributors free PDF.

0:29And this is kind of like my hit list,

0:31checklist, the things you need to know

0:32in order to transition between music

0:35distributors. I do this all the time.

0:37I'm a musician myself, so totally free.

0:40That'll be linked for you down in the

0:42description below. So, which music

0:43distributor is going to be better for

0:45your release? I wanted to do this

0:48through the lens of what I have seen as

0:50a music attorney are the worst music

0:52distributor terms. Now, having done the

0:54actual deep dive, I thought I could

0:56synthesize the information into

0:59essentially the three worst terms that

1:01you just need to know. It might be the

1:02distributor that you're with right now,

1:04someone you're thinking of changing to.

1:05Now, the good news is that having worked

1:08with these distributors myself or most

1:10of them because I am a creative. I have

1:12distributed my music over a long period

1:14of time, never worked with a lot of

1:15these companies, but then as a lawyer, I

1:17have fought these companies. I kind of

1:20am bringing that perspective. So the

1:21good news is that these companies all

1:23pretty much do the same thing. A big

1:24question will be who's the best

1:26distributor and looking through the

1:28metric that you care about in that

1:30decision. One of which is going to be

1:31just money. How much money are you going

1:33to spend or lose in a profit share kind

1:36of thing? But then also it's from a

1:38contractual obligation standpoint. What

1:41is this company going to do for you?

1:43That's a big piece of what we're talking

1:44about today. So good news, these

1:46companies pretty much do the same thing.

1:48Bad news is that they are in charge of

1:50your money. So, aka your royalties. What

1:53the company says in their contract

1:55really matters. Now, if you think this

1:57is helpful information, please make sure

1:58to subscribe right now because this

2:00channel is dedicated solely to you and

2:02your music career and helping you. All

2:04right, so where I started with this in

2:06prepping is I was looking at some of the

2:08other music creators, particularly on

2:11YouTube, who have done videos promoting

2:13some of these companies. I got to be

2:15honest, I'm not biased in any kind of

2:17way. And when I like would see someone

2:19saying, "No, this is the company and

2:21here's why." And singing their praises

2:23and then I would go to one of these

2:25distributor websites and lo and behold,

2:26I would see this creator on the website.

2:29It's so important that if someone has a

2:31relationship with a music distributor,

2:32they're getting paid as this kind of

2:34sponsorship thing. That's all fine, but

2:36that really needs to be disclosed. So,

2:38I'm telling you right now, I do not have

2:40a relationship with any of these

2:41distributors. I have zero bias. So, this

2:44is my no BS review of these music

2:47distributors. All right, with that being

2:49said, I took the time to actually go

2:52through the different terms. So, the

2:53terms of service is the contract that

2:55you have to sign in order to use a music

2:59distributor. In order to have a company

3:00that is in charge of your royalties and

3:03putting your music on music platforms,

3:05you need to actually sign a contract.

3:07And in that contract, you give a lot of

3:09rights. So, we care very much about what

3:11it says. Now, I'm going to go through a

3:13list of different music distributors.

3:16More than likely, you have your music

3:18distributed with at least one of them.

3:20We are starting with Lander. So, on our

3:24top three worst music distributor terms

3:26for Lander, number one, they can seize

3:29and keep your music royalty for alleged

3:32wrongdoing. So, this is under their

3:33claims of infringement and take down

3:36notices sections. And specifically it

3:38says if we lander receive a notice that

3:41we consider in our discretion in regards

3:43to your music to be infringing the

3:46rights of others. It's so important guys

3:48when we're talking about your money and

3:51your royalties that we look at this

3:52language and it's like it that we

3:54consider what does that mean? So

3:56whatever Lander considers, but it says

3:58if we determine using our reasonable

4:00judgment that your recordings or any of

4:02the metadata or materials are

4:04infringing, we can deduct any amount

4:07that is payable to you, including to pay

4:10for our legal fees and expenses. So this

4:12is the forfeite of your royalties. When

4:14I see this language, no good. Because

4:16this is your property, your money, your

4:19royalties. So that's number one. Number

4:22two, they promise to pay you 100% of

4:25your royalties. I was like, "Okay, so

4:27all you have to do is pay a

4:29subscription." Dot dot dot sort of. All

4:31right. So, this is under digital release

4:33services and payments we will transfer

4:35to you 100% of the net income we receive

4:39from digital stores. Net income means

4:41the actual amounts received, less

4:43refunds, taxes, tariffs, fees,

4:45royalties. Okay? But they do say right

4:46there, they go 100%. So, think about

4:48this. If at some point you're using

4:50Lander and then you're not using Lander

4:52anymore, you become inactive for some

4:54reason. Well, what happens at that

4:56point? Well, it says you're not only

4:58going to be charged a $3 monthly fee,

5:01but they actually are going to be taking

5:03from your music earnings in an amount of

5:0515%. I represent such a wide variety of

5:09music creators, and a lot of you are

5:12making great money from your streaming

5:14royalties. So, if you have a

5:16relationship with a company and it goes,

5:18"No, no, no. You're going to keep 100%.

5:20You're just paying us a subscription."

5:22If something happens with your account,

5:23you guys get locked out of your

5:24accounts. You forget your email

5:26password. You can't get in. There's all

5:28kinds of things. It does say here that

5:30they're going to take 15% of your

5:32royalties. And I didn't see that

5:34disclosed somewhere clearly on their

5:36website. This is in their terms of

5:37service. So, that's number two. If

5:40you're needing legal help, feel free to

5:42reach out to Delgato Entertainment Law,

5:44which is my firm. We offer free case

5:46evaluations with our case managers. So,

5:48just meaning you don't have to make any

5:49kind of commitment. We'll just see how

5:51we can help you. Feel free to call us,

5:52you can text, you can email. We look

5:55forward to hearing from you. Number

5:56three, when it comes to Lander's worst

5:59music distributor terms has to do with

6:01their AI opt-in program. This is

6:04something that you have to actually opt

6:06into. But I did a deep dive on this

6:09because I go I'm on their website and

6:10they're like you get monetary

6:12compensation if you opt in your music to

6:15be a part of their data set training and

6:18if they go and make money by licensing

6:21the data set of the AI to some other

6:24company they go you get a financial

6:26incentive and we read what that is right

6:28there's a big pool and then there's a

6:29tiny little 20% of the net profits and

6:32from that you would get a pro ratish

6:34share which is just like ridiculous but

6:36setting that aside. The biggest thing we

6:38had a problem with is that they go if

6:40you opt in and any derivatives that are

6:42made, any new songs that are made, they

6:44say over and over that you are not going

6:46to get paid anything. And so for me, I

6:48go just remember once you opt in for AI

6:51training, it's over. You cannot claw

6:53back your music. So for me, the third is

6:56going to be their AI opt-in because if

6:59you have a music distributor and the

7:00distributor is now giving you an option

7:03to opt in so that it can take advantage

7:06of your intellectual property, your

7:08music and being like, well, you might

7:10get paid a little something. It's

7:12confusing. It's not clear and I

7:14certainly wouldn't do this. So that's

7:16Lander. If you are interested in using

7:18Lander or you are using Lander, I've

7:20done a deep dive in their full terms of

7:22service. That's a separate video on this

7:23channel. Go check that out. And PS on

7:26the video I did, new music industry

7:28scam. That's where I go real deep into

7:30their fair trade AI program. Moving on,

7:33we have Drokit. For those of you who use

7:35Drokid, drop a comment down below. Let

7:38me know your experience. Number one on

7:41our list of worst music distributor

7:43terms as it relates to Drokid. This is

7:45pursuant to section 5A, little three,

7:48and this has to do with remix rights.

7:50So, Drokid has the right to authorize

7:53thirdparty partners or licenses of

7:55Drokid to offer, permit, and create

7:58remixes of your music. I will just stop

8:01there. All right. So, I've been talking

8:03about this Spotify thing when it comes

8:05to Spotify rolling out this new tier

8:07later this year and being like allegedly

8:10it's going to give the right for users

8:12on Spotify to remix our music as

8:15creatives without our permission,

8:16without our authorization. The

8:17permission is going to be given by the

8:20music distributor that you're with. This

8:21agreement, I really need to be clear

8:23about this. The terms for DroKid have

8:25not changed since 2021. So, when we

8:27originally used to read this language on

8:29being like Drokid can let some third

8:31party remix your music, we never really

8:34paid too much attention to it because

8:36this wasn't being used in practice. It

8:38was like your music distributor would

8:39send your track to iTunes and iTunes

8:42would need to cut out the little 30

8:43seconds preview and so they would remix

8:46and create a new version for purposes of

8:48like letting people preview your song.

8:51But now that language has evolved so

8:53dramatically and so me as a lawyer I can

8:55look at that and be like the reason why

8:57Spotify could do this and just have this

9:00free reign of remixing is because in the

9:03music distributor terms there's this and

9:05it goes the remix rights have already

9:07been given and that is terrifying.

9:10Number two on the worst terms for Drokid

9:14this is pursuant to section 7B and so

9:17this has to do with auditing rights.

9:18Okay. So, you don't have any auditing

9:20rights. It's a common term in contracts.

9:22And it says, "Hey, if we ever need to

9:24look at the books, this is our right to

9:25be able to ask to see the numbers for

9:28what I do on a day-to-day basis." Even

9:30with these companies like Drokid where

9:32you pay them a subscription, and you're

9:34just paying monthly, so there isn't

9:35really royalties. At some point though,

9:37there'll be a problem with a DSP, right?

9:39A digital service provider. And so we

9:41go, "Hey, we see on Spotify that our

9:44client got 100,000 streams and you guys

9:46are reporting and you only paid for like

9:48500. There's some massive discrepancy.

9:51So we need to audit the books and

9:53records, okay, for the DSP. But then

9:55also, we need to make sure that our

9:56client was paid properly by you. So when

9:59it comes to that specific term, you

10:02shall have no right to inspect or audit

10:04our books and records or for the digital

10:07stores. So you just do not have any

10:09auditing rights. Number three of the

10:11worst terms for drokit. This is pursuant

10:14to section 4C. They can keep your

10:17royalties

10:19posttermination. All right. So what do

10:20we mean by that? So if you have to

10:23terminate your agreement with Droid at

10:26some point they do have language and

10:28their agreement as far as what happens

10:30to any royalties that are collected

10:33after the fact. And what they say

10:35pursuant to this language in 4C it says

10:40that they will have the ability to just

10:42never pay you. So we may terminate and

10:44if that happens we're not going to pay

10:46you for any royalties that were received

10:49posttermination. Not so good. All right.

10:51And again when it comes to Drokid I've

10:53already done the full review of their

10:55terms of service. That video is here on

10:57the channel. And I'll just do a quick

10:58add-on. Here's the thing. I know a lot

11:00of you are using Drokid. My quick add-on

11:02is in the forfeite of royalties. They in

11:04fact do have that language as well,

11:06which is in our sole discretion as a

11:08company. If we decide because there was

11:10a claim of some kind, we think that you

11:12juiced the numbers on your track,

11:14whether you did or not, that we reserve

11:17the right to withhold your royalties.

11:20That brings us to Tounecore. Are we

11:23having fun yet? Be sure to give this

11:24video a big thumbs up. Okay, we're

11:26starting with section 1E through F.

11:29Here's the thing. in my deep dive that I

11:31also did for Touncor. The way that this

11:33contract is structured is so

11:35aggressively one-sided. It was really

11:38hard to pick out the three worst terms,

11:40but I'm going to do my best. Touncor

11:42terms of service. So, this is again one

11:45E through F. So it goes in the event

11:47that the company so touncor has in its

11:50good faith discretion reason to suspect

11:52that your account your music have been

11:54subject to and then it gives a nice long

11:56list and it goes you've allegedly

11:58engaged in improper conduct and what

12:00does that mean? You have boosted your

12:02plays. There's a claim for copyright

12:03infringement. There's a claim of

12:05publicity rights. If we just get a claim

12:07then and it lists out the big thing. We

12:09not only have the right to forfeit your

12:12royalties meaning we will just take them

12:14but this is the kicker. So touncor shall

12:16also have the right to not only retain

12:18and redistribute the funds, right? But

12:21they say that we can distribute to third

12:24parties. Let me say that again. We can

12:26forfeit your royalties and pay them to

12:29any third party, any person, any

12:31company, just if there's a claim related

12:35to any of the things that I just said.

12:36So that's number one at the very top of

12:38my list when it comes to the worst terms

12:41for music distributor Touncor. Number

12:43two, this is in section 3D. This has to

12:46do with interest. And this was like one

12:48of the most amazing things that I saw.

12:50Touncor says in this portion of the

12:52contract that the income from your

12:55account will be put into an

12:57interestbearing bank account. And with

12:59the interestbearing bank account, you

13:01agree that you will not receive the

13:03interest earned on net income. Aka that

13:07they're going to make and earn interest

13:09on your money and they're going to keep

13:11it for themselves. And so they say here,

13:13you wave any right to the interest that

13:17was earned off of your royalties, your

13:20money. So that's going to be the second

13:22worst term in the tounor's terms of

13:24service. Bringing us to number three,

13:26which is in section 11. It talks about

13:28the waiver of moral rights and the right

13:31to remix. And you agree the company

13:33shall have the authorization to exploit

13:36and embody within your music. So that's

13:38with the recordings, cover art. So

13:39that's artwork and other material

13:42provided by you in the music. Okay. But

13:45it goes on to talk specifically about

13:47syncing, mixing, remixing, editing,

13:50mashing up. You have permitted and given

13:53these rights. Again, I just go for this

13:55thing that's about to happen at the end

13:57of this year with Spotify, which is

13:59where obviously a whole lot of our music

14:02is at. And it's such a big deal even for

14:04me that I'm looking at this now and for

14:06really the first time being like I may

14:09pull my music off of Spotify. Okay,

14:11that's a different conversation. We've

14:13covered it in another video. But in any

14:15case, if you distribute through Touncor,

14:17those are some things to keep in mind if

14:19you want to do the deep dive. I got that

14:20for you as well on this channel. Up

14:23next, two lost. Number one on the two

14:26lost terms in section 4.2, two, it says

14:30that they can hold payments to you for

14:32up to two years if there's an allegation

14:34of fraud. So guys, we're starting to get

14:36kind of a common denominator between

14:39these distributors in that there are

14:42instances that the distributor will say,

14:45well, if there's a claim in regards to

14:47something that you are doing, we reserve

14:50the right to hold payment in this case

14:52for up to 24 months. And that makes it

14:55really challenging. That's where you

14:56guys tap me in where there's been some

14:57kind of allegation and someone like to

15:00loss, let's say, is holding your

15:02royalties and we need to now go to get a

15:05meaningful response. Explain the

15:07situation and this really does matter

15:09because these are your royalties. Number

15:12two on the two lost worst terms. This is

15:15in section 9.6 which is lo and behold

15:19the language and the forfeite of your

15:21royalties. We shall have the right in

15:23our discretion to withhold from monies

15:25otherwise payable to you a reasonable

15:28amount of your potential liability

15:30related expenses for a breach of the

15:32terms of use. Now here's the thing I

15:34like that they said a reasonable amount.

15:37You see the difference of with a tonor

15:40kind of situation. We're going to take

15:42everything. We're going to even then

15:44they do say this in the terms. We can

15:46even go back retroactively to royalties

15:49that were paid to you already in the

15:52past. So that's number two. Number three

15:54on the two lost worst terms is section

15:584.1. By using the service, you shall pay

16:02a fee. And this again they are similar

16:04to one of the last distributors where we

16:06say you will receive 100% of net income.

16:08This was Lander. So 100% of netcome

16:10unless otherwise mutually agreed. and

16:13net income shall be defined as income

16:16received after deducting licensing fees,

16:19administration fees, deductions from

16:21stores and service partners. Now, this

16:23is more of a question mark. So, my

16:25question mark here is it goes well it's

16:27100% but it's less and I'm fine with

16:29this where it's less like store fees.

16:32So, Spotify's taking a portion that

16:34stuff happens before the money even hits

16:36the distributor. I'm fine with that. Or

16:38it goes administration fees. I don't

16:40know what that means. And I know when I

16:42negotiate these contracts, I go, "What

16:43does that mean? Is that your overhead?

16:45Is that your accounting lady?" I don't

16:47know what that means. So, that's why I

16:49add it into this list. I have not done a

16:52full review of the terms of service for

16:54Too Lost on this channel just yet. If

16:56that's something that you guys would

16:57like me to do, drop a comment down below

16:59right now. Moving on to CD Baby. Here's

17:02the thing. I used CD Baby for a really

17:04long time. I've already talked about a

17:06few distributors that I've personally

17:07used. CD Baby is certainly one of them.

17:10So number one on the worst terms for CD

17:13Baby, we have section 2D, which is CDBA

17:16has the right to place or embed your

17:18music into magazines, websites, CDB

17:22advertisements, and any and all other

17:25media whether now known or after

17:27developed aka you give permission to CDB

17:30to use your music in their advertising.

17:32No, but yes. So that's number one. And

17:36number two, section 10B. This has to do

17:38with the withholding of royalties. Okay,

17:41so more than anything, let's just see

17:43how aggressive they are with it. CDAB

17:45reserves the right to suspend the

17:47payment of any funds payable to you here

17:49and to block your ability to otherwise

17:50withdraw your royalties until

17:52satisfactory resolution and or

17:54explanation of any suspected activities.

17:57It's just so open-ended, but this is

17:59like this is what I mean. This is why

18:01you guys have to come and hire me. It's

18:02because it's all loosey goosey in the

18:05language of we reserve the rights, we

18:07make the final decisions. And I'm saying

18:09that I do not believe that's lawful.

18:11That I do not believe that these

18:12companies are allowed to keep your

18:14royalties just because they all put it

18:16in their contracts. All right, moving

18:18on. So then the third worst term for CD

18:21Baby music distributor section 4E, which

18:23has to do with a statute of limitations.

18:25And then even if you're not with CD

18:27Baby, please listen to what I'm about to

18:29say. So it basically says that each

18:31statement that you get when rendered or

18:34given to you, you have 18 months. That's

18:37really important. Most of these

18:38distributors, they'll say 12 months,

18:40maybe a little bit longer. This is

18:42definitely a little bit longer. So they

18:43go from the time that we make it

18:45available to you, we just post it in

18:46your account. You have a certain amount

18:48of time to make a stink about it. If you

18:50don't make a stink about it, you wave

18:52any right to object to it later on. And

18:55it's totally legally enforcable. So,

18:57it's kind of uh what we call a statute

18:58of limitations. You're going to get cut

19:00off. So, that's why you have to pay

19:01attention. Remember how this all plays

19:03together where I'm like sometimes we

19:04need to go and audit the books because

19:06we have inconsistent royalties,

19:08inconsistent payments, you haven't been

19:10paid correctly. So, paying attention

19:12where we need to at least start. And you

19:15guessed it, I in fact did a full deep

19:17dive for CDBaby's terms of service. If

19:19you want to watch that, it is on this

19:21channel. All right, guys. We're heading

19:23into the last distributor. If you

19:26haven't, please give this video a big

19:28thumbs up. It'll help me out a ton.

19:30Symphonic. Number one, when it comes to

19:32the worst terms for symphonic, section

19:353.3 C. Further, you represent and

19:37warrant that you have not done all the

19:40bad things. And if you have done all the

19:42bad things, then guess what? And this

19:44includes illegal boosting, fraudulent

19:46streaming, juicing the number. I love

19:48that they actually use the word juicing.

19:51If you have done the bad things, you

19:53forfeit your royalties. That's number

19:56one. Number two on our worst terms for

19:58symphonic section

20:003.2, and this has to do with

20:02derivatives. You hereby grant us the

20:06irrevocable royalty-free, meaning we're

20:08not going to pay you fully paid

20:11worldwide license to prepare derivative

20:16works. This is the same language. They

20:18don't say remix. They don't use those

20:20buzzwords that we're paying attention

20:22to, but that is the language that would

20:24make it so that a music distributor

20:26could send your music, let's say, to one

20:29of these platforms to remix your stuff.

20:32And that's why I go, look, at the end of

20:33the day, these music distributors, their

20:35responsibility is to be honest with you

20:37about what they're doing and then you

20:38can just decide if you want to be a part

20:40of it. when they don't tell you that

20:42they are, for example, sending your

20:44music to a platform to be remixed or

20:47conversely, Spotify makes a decision to

20:51allow users to remix your stuff without

20:53your authorization. And then it just so

20:55happens that in the contracts that you

20:56are already signing that your music is

20:58subject to, they have the right to do

21:00these things. That's why I'm pointing

21:02this out to you. So on number two, on

21:05the symphonic worst terms, we have

21:07section 3.2, to which is for the

21:08creation of derivative works which is a

21:11permission you're already giving which

21:13gives us number three section number

21:15seven limitation of liability to the

21:17maximum extent permitted by law

21:21symphonic shall not be liable for

21:24anything more than $50. So, what this

21:27means is that you have agreed by using

21:29this platform that the total maximum

21:33damages that you're going to be able to

21:35seek if something bad happens, if you

21:38lose money, if your music gets taken

21:39down, it results in you losing

21:41royalties, whatever it is that if you

21:43sue, let's say, Symphonic, the very most

21:45amount of money that you can get is $50.

21:48So, that definitely goes to number three

21:50on our list of the worst terms for a

21:52music distributor. Now, here's the

21:55thing. We covered the worst music

21:57distributor terms. This is for 2025 for

22:00you music creators and representatives.

22:03If you want me to review what the best

22:05terms are, drop a comment down below.

22:08And then also just remember I did that

22:10free PDF for transitioning between music

22:13distributors if that's something that

22:15you're looking to do. I'll see you guys

22:16on the next one. I'm Tom Music attorney.

22:20[Music]