For independent musicians in the year 2025, the proliferation of digital music distribution has made it easier than ever for you to share your music with thousands (if not millions) of listeners around the world. Digital music distribution allows you to upload your music directly to distribution channels such as Spotify, Apple Music, and TikTok without the need for a record label.

By utilizing a digital music distribution company and service, you can release your tracks to thousands of listeners, earn royalties, and build an audience while maintaining creative control of the music you create. VIRPP clarifies the process of digital music distribution in a step-by-step guide tailored for independent artists, making complex steps more accessible and actionable. It is important to understand the steps to upload and learn what a digital music distribution company offers to you as an artist.

Step 1: Get Music Ready for Distribution

Before you even think about uploading your music, verify that you’re ready to share your music with the world. This means ensuring your music is recorded at a high quality—preferably mixed and mastered professionally.

You’ll want to have proper metadata ready to go as well: song title and names of your artist, genre of music, and release date. Album cover artwork is very important; most distribution channels require you to upload a square cover art piece that measures 3000 x 3000 pixels and meets other guidelines.

Finally, double-check your files for errors since the digital music distribution company that gets your music distributed, such as Spotify or Apple Music, may reject a file that has distorted audio or leads to a bad listening experience due to an error when you uploaded it. Spending time preparing your files to meet the guidelines will aid in having an easier distribution process, and help you to represent your music professionally.

Step 2: Choose a Music Distribution Service

When you are ready to start distributing music, choosing a music digital distribution service to partner with is a decision that should be researched and thought about carefully. There are some popular music distribution services that serve similar functions but have different benefits, such as DistroKid, TuneCore, CD Baby, and MusicAlligator.DistroKid offers unlimited uploads for a flat fee each year, which is beneficial for prolific artists.

• TuneCore charges by the release, but you’ll receive detailed analytics.

• CD Baby charges a commission to help with sync licensing.

• MusicAlligator, a newer distributor, boasts a user-friendly platform and lower pricing structure. MusicAlligator also services indie artists, whom may operate on a modest budget.

Be sure to research all of their fees, royalty splits, and whether they offer other features like playlist pitching, or promotional tools to determine what may serve you best.

Step 3: Upload and Customize Your Release

Once you’ve settled on a distribution platform, it’s time to get your music uploaded! Most services have created a simple dashboard where you can drag/drop your audio files and artwork to your release.

• Once you are set with your upload, be sure to double check your metadata! This is a helpful piece of information for the sites to categorize your music and suggest it to their users.

• Once you complete the drag/drop process, you will need to select which platforms you want your music released as well, ie. Spotify, Amazon Music, TikTok, etc. Many distributors will allow you to set a release date, with services like MusicAlligator providing a pre-save link to share with your audience and buzz for the upcoming launch.

Step 4: Promote Your Release

Distribution is only one part of the work – promotion is what you will be doing to make your music stand out and reach a wider audience.

You can, and should, be sharing your release on social media platforms such as Instagram, X, and TikTok, and even try creating short video snippets of your songs to take advantage of TikTok’s rapidly consumable platform.

• You may want to share your song with playlist curators on Spotify, as editors of playlists and algorithmic playlists can create massive streams for your song.

• Also mail a direct link to your fanbase, you can send them a mail page to an ad they are targeted towards, such as Meta, and sustain that excitement for your release on your own time.

• Whether sending emails to your fanbase or linking to user-generated playlists, you’ll increase the chances of sustaining your reach and not getting lost amongst thousands of releases each week.

Step 5: Track Your Performance and Collect Royalties

Once your song is out there in the world, you can perform based on the analytics each service offers. DistroKid and MusicAlligator provide stream counts, listener location, and playlists that include your song as part of the detailed analytics. Based on the performed data, you could plan tours in locations where multiple streams are coming from, or who likes your song the most. Once your music continues to get streamed at volume, royalty payments will come into on a monthly basis, and most distributors will offer to collect from the streaming services and process a payout check. It may take a few months for your songs to get processed and delivered, but be patient and watch to see what service and distributor seems to be working for you the best.

Final Thoughts: Building a Sustainable Career

If you are an independent artist – thank you for reading this, as digital music distribution has changed the landscape entirely, however only providing the means to begin growing your own music artist career in 2025. After you’ve though through these steps of releasing your music, choosing the distribution platform, uploading the music to the chosen space strategically, planning out your promo, and tracking student progress, and it is entirely the role of both artists and services like MusicAlligator, DistroKid, and TuneCore to make all of this accessible!

If you’re a creative person like many I know, and you follow these and similar steps, you can build a sustainable career. Just like with your audience and communication application in order to showcase your music, continue that excitement and engage with them, whether it is fully connected or not – experiment with new platforms to distribute and showcase your music, and continue to release your original music! Over time, you’d build a presence and some earnings that will lead to success as a new music artist – so close to saying you earned that as an independent artist!