KVR Audio

PatchAdamz · Post by **PatchAdamz** » Mon Oct 02, 2023 12:01 am

Distrokid Yikes!!

Just used Distrokid for 3 releases.
Without going into a rant I'm just gonna say multiple screw ups on their side.
Ok, I can deal with mistakes but.....Their support (AI named "Dave") is dysfunctional to nonexistent, mostly nonexistent.

Wasn't able to get any human support to solve any of the problems.

Had to completely remove one of the releases as they didn't know how to fix their errors.
The other releases were setup in some other artist pages (and still are, after reporting this some time ago).

What has your experience been?
Any better?

Frantz · Post by **Frantz** » Mon Oct 02, 2023 12:14 am

I have had no issues with DistroKid but don't release a lot of music. My current album went out very smoothly.

The owner of DistroKid is Phil Kaplan. I would try tweeting at him to bypass support: https://twitter.com/DistroKid

foosnark · Post by **foosnark** » Mon Oct 02, 2023 1:22 am

Distrokid never managed to get my stuff onto Pandora.

Two years on Distrokid got me less than one year's fees in subscription income, and it also complicated doing my taxes, so I cancelled.

EdwardGivens · Post by **EdwardGivens** » Mon Oct 02, 2023 5:51 am

I had something similar happen with a release - went out to another artist with a similar name on iTunes. I contacted both Apple and my distributor and it got fixed pronto. (whew!)
Pretty sure it was on Apple's end.
I like Bandcamp

DjSzabi · Post by **DjSzabi** » Mon Oct 30, 2023 4:01 pm

Distrokid had ups and downs with their support but looking at the big picture they are a solid distribution system. Yes you can find cheaper and no-fee/no hidden costs features in others but in the end I always made back to Distrokid.

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Tue Oct 31, 2023 8:18 pm

I used them and Apple was the thorn. Apple doesn't like names with random capital letters. Then it was all included until it wasn't. Extra $10 to go on Beatport.

Jorchime · Post by **Jorchime** » Tue Oct 31, 2023 9:10 pm

PatchAdamz wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2023 12:01 am Without going into a rant I'm just gonna say multiple screw ups on their side.
Ok, I can deal with mistakes but.....Their support (AI named "Dave") is dysfunctional to nonexistent, mostly nonexistent.

Wasn't able to get any human support to solve any of the problems.

Had to completely remove one of the releases as they didn't know how to fix their errors.
The other releases were setup in some other artist pages (and still are, after reporting this some time ago).

Could you comment on what kind of screw up we are talking about?

PatchAdamz · Post by **PatchAdamz** » Fri Nov 03, 2023 2:05 pm

Jorchime wrote: Tue Oct 31, 2023 9:10 pm
PatchAdamz wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2023 12:01 am Without going into a rant I'm just gonna say multiple screw ups on their side.
Ok, I can deal with mistakes but.....Their support (AI named "Dave") is dysfunctional to nonexistent, mostly nonexistent.

Wasn't able to get any human support to solve any of the problems.

Had to completely remove one of the releases as they didn't know how to fix their errors.
The other releases were setup in some other artist pages (and still are, after reporting this some time ago).
Could you comment on what kind of screw up we are talking about?

Sure....

Released a 35 tune CD, Distrokid said that one of the tunes was less then 5 seconds and couldn't be released and I had re-upload all 35 tunes to fix the one track issue.

First thing I did was re-download the track in issue from Distrokid to check it, turned out it was fine (over 4 mins), no issues.

I contacted Distrokid, no help.
Contacted them again, only canned responses to re-upload all 35 tunes.
After a couple weeks and no useful support (keep in mind, there wasn't an issue with the tune at all)......The CD was abandoned due to not being able to resolve this issues which was on the Distrokid side and not the track in question.

Thats pathetic support (nonexistent).

SirkusPi · Post by **SirkusPi** » Fri Nov 03, 2023 5:02 pm

I'm not clear from the above whether you actually did reupload the entire 35 track album. Which I fully acknowledge is a huge pain, and something you shouldn't have to do. But upload glitches happen (and seems to have happened, given that the 4 min. track was registered as 5 sec), and while I would like for Distrokid to have better customer service, we all know the low rates stem in part from not having such personalized service.

If you reuploaded everything and it still didn't work (and you couldn't get human help), then my sympathies are fully with you. But if you refused to reupload the album because you shouldn't have to (and again, I completely acknowledge it is a huge chore) and because at most you "should" only have to reupload the track in question, then I think we have to acknowledge that low-cost services come with low-cost support.

(Full disclosure: I use Distrokid too, and have been generally happy. However, while I've never had a particular issue myself, I've read the various complaints online, often believe them to be true and valid, and am in no way a Distrokid apologist.)

PatchAdamz · Post by **PatchAdamz** » Sun Nov 05, 2023 1:28 am

SirkusPi wrote: Fri Nov 03, 2023 5:02 pm Which I fully acknowledge is a huge pain, and something you shouldn't have to do.

Exactly my point.

If Distrokid had even basic tech staff then they could fix simple issues.

Most of Distrokid's operations are automated including "Dave", their AI tech support so as long as there are no issues that require human assistance, then things should be OK.

When Derek Sivers ran CD Baby, they were the best music distribution company.

Any music distributor that uses "canned" or "AI" tech support will be sub par when the customer needs assistance.

BertKoor · Post by **BertKoor** » Sun Nov 05, 2023 7:19 am

> they could fix simple issues.

It is an economical choice to let customers do as much as possible and staff as little as possible.

This is not unique to distrokid, it's fabric of the modern world. Started with supermarkets, now it's also banks, postal and civil services, anything and everything.

With so much automated and hardly any staff employed, one wonders there still are jobs for us left. And sadly customers don't get much help. Apparently the business owners think they found the right balance.

But what can you do... If you have the choice, don't shop at such shops. I still go to my local butcher every week for instance.

PatchAdamz · Post by **PatchAdamz** » Sun Nov 05, 2023 9:26 am

BertKoor wrote: Sun Nov 05, 2023 7:19 am
But what can you do... If you have the choice, don't shop at such shops. I still go to my local butcher every week for instance.

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Sun Nov 05, 2023 11:55 am

It's true. It seems more companies are using AI and most of the AI is entirely clueless.

Touch The Universe · Post by **Touch The Universe** » Wed Nov 15, 2023 6:26 am

They all of a sudden seem to be trying to auto enroll me into a subscription I never heard of and tried to automatically just start charging the credit card they have access to in my account.

I thought the whole point of distrokid was pay once and never have to pay again. All of a sudden they are subscription??

There is no contact email. The support@distrokid isn't even monitored. The ai is useless. It gives me an option to delete my account, but I just want to remove the subscription. There isn't any info on the subscription anywhere on site.

This has to be illegal. Total scam like imo.

Bet they sold out then new accountants come in to squeeze the play dry.