We’re on a mission to discover the best music distribution platform available to musicians.
Today we’re going to discuss LANDR – Giving you all the details you need to know when selecting the right distribution service for your music.
What Is LANDR?
Unlike other distribution companies throughout our distribution guide, LANDR’s primary focus is online A.I. mastering, however, they’ve expanded their business, allowing users to distribute their music.
We’re not going to review their AI mastering, that’s not our focus. Instead we’re going to go in-depth on what they offer musicians through their distribution services.
Do You Have To Pay To Use LANDR?
Yes, to use their distribution services there’s a yearly fee, with Basic, Pro, or Studio; all of which we will cover.
When LANDR initially rolled out this service, it was extremely cheap. So cheap that I actually had to reach out beforehand to see if they were going to maintain the pricing structure in the foreseeable future.
It was $1 per month for artists and $4 per month for record labels. Or, if you already used their mastering services, distribution was free. Although I was assured they have no plans to alter anything – It was changed to it’s current pricing within a few months. When companies change pricing, it makes me feel uncomfortable but in all fairness I didn’t see the previous offers working long term if they were to provide a good service, with proper support.
These are the plans you can now choose from:
Basic (£23.99): Unlimited releases, 100% of royalties, 150+ stores alongside YouTube Content ID!
Pro (£44.99): Unlimited releases, 100% of royalties, 150+ stores, YouTube Content ID! Additionally, you get advanced reporting, features, faster releases, and premium support. I’m not a fan of ‘premium support’ – I feel all support should feel premium when using any paid service no matter what tier.
Studio (£119.42): All of the above + Mastering, samples, plugins, collaboration tools, and premium tools.
Now that we’ve established what each plan costs, there’s certain things you need to take note of.
- Basic takes 7 days to get releases approved, pro takes 2, and studio takes 5. So if this is extremely important to you, we’d recommend using their pro subscription.
- Support is set up as such: Basic (72 hours), Pro (12 hours), Studio (48 hours). If support is important to you, we’d recommend using their pro subscription.
- Only Pro and Studio allow you to set custom release dates!
- Apparently they are removing YouTube Content ID from their Basic plan, although it’s had *Limited Time* placed next to it for a long time now. I feel it’s just there to give potential customers the push to pick a more expensive plan.
- Cover song licensing is an additional $15 no matter what plan you choose.
- All plans allow you to monetise your music on SoundCloud and take advantage of YouTube Content ID – This is something they’ve recently added which adds a lot of value to their service.
- They take 20% commission from YouTube Content ID no matter what plan you choose!
- All plans allow you to distribute your music to over 150 stores.
- They have self-serve take-down functionality so you don’t have to contact support to have any music removed from stores.
What We Love About LANDR:
Although they did change their pricing, and distribution is not their primary focus they do offer decent customer support and their user interface is super easy to navigate. They also allow users to create promo-links which is a nice added benefit.
When we checked out LANDR in the past we noticed a few issues, but most of them have been resolved, fixed and worked upon. For instance, they’ve added SoundCloud Monetisation and YouTube content ID.
They’ve also changed what happens if you don’t pay your yearly subscription. Before, your songs would be frozen/taken down from stores but now you will, instead, be transferred to their free plan where they take 15% of your royalties.
This is still a huge issue with Distrokid. So we have to applaud LANDR for recognising that taking down songs from artists who are unable to pay is extremely poor in terms of customer care.
We can see that LANDR are continuously trying to update what they currently offer, implementing new features whilst also offering good support for it’s users.
What We Don’t Like About LANDR:
We would like to to see them implement split-pay functionality – Making it easier for labels and artists to pay collaborates easily, without manual account management. Again, this could be something they’re currently working on. It’s still a relatively new company where music distribution is concerned.
UPDATE – Split-Pay is now available. Wahoo!
Does LANDR Promote Your Music?
No. LANDR does not offer external features such as music pitching or in-house promotion.
LANDR Customer Support:
In all honesty I expected their customer support to be lacking, especially when their initial pricing was available. I was pleasantly surprised with how quick their team responded to each query.
Great customer support is vital when selecting your distributor, and LANDR surpassed our expectations.
Final Notes on LANDR:
It’s a great option for independent musicians, as it allows you to keep 100% of your royalties alongside unlimited releases. You can be rest assured your music will not be taken down from stores if you struggle financially and can’t pay your subscription in the future.
They offer good support, analytics, over 150 stores to distribute your music to, and they’re continuously improving their service.
If you’re looking for similar features, with unlimited release you can check out Ditto – Which is £19 per year but unfortunately does not offer YouTube Content ID. If you’re an established artist – YouTube Content ID can earn you a decent portion of your royalties. UPDATE – Ditto now offer YouTube Content ID!
► Full comparison of all distribution companies 🔥
You can reach out to me anytime on Instagram – Just send me a message if you have any questions and I’ll do my best to help!