Comparison
DistroKid vs Ditto Music vs Amuse
The short answer: all three collect your master streaming royalties, and that is roughly where the similarity ends. DistroKid, Ditto Music, Amuse differ on 7 of the 8 royalty streams a released song generates. The most consequential split is US mechanical royalties, where DistroKid paid add-on, Ditto Music paid add-on, Amuse not published.
Every cell below was read from that company's own published documentation on 2026-08-13. Where a company has not published an answer, this page says not published rather than guessing. Nothing here is affiliate-linked and no company paid to appear.
Side by side
What each one collects
Rows where the three companies disagree are marked. Those are the rows worth reading; the rest are industry-standard and would look the same whoever you signed with.
| Royalty stream | DistroKid | Ditto Music | Amuse |
|---|---|---|---|
| Master streaming royalties | CollectsCore service. DistroKid states artists keep 100% of the master streaming royalties it collects. | CollectsCore service. | Collects100% on all paid tiers — except YouTube Content ID. ⚠ If your subscription lapses, a 25% commission applies to keep releases live. |
| US mechanical royaltiesthey differ | Paid add-onNot included in standard distribution. Covered only by the separate paid DistroKid Publishing product. | Paid add-onThrough the separate publishing product. Whether that includes direct MLC registration is not documented. | Not publishedThe MLC is named nowhere in Amuse's published material. Its international partner's rollout is described as covering the world OUTSIDE the US, so the US gap appears unaddressed — but Amuse has not said so, and this dataset does not infer it. |
| International mechanical royaltiesthey differ | Paid add-onSame — publishing product only. | Paid add-onPublishing product; the specific societies are not named in its published material. | CollectsVia an announced partnership with the global digital collection society AMRA, covering 200+ territories. Commission rate and current live status are not published. |
| Performance royalties (songwriter)they differ | PartlyThe publishing add-on collects the PUBLISHER share only. The writer share is paid by your PRO directly to you, so with no PRO affiliation nobody collects it at all. | PartlyPublisher share only, stated plainly in Ditto's own documentation. | Does notStated outright: Amuse pays the artist, NOT the writers. Join your PRO directly. |
| Neighbouring rights / SoundExchangethey differ | Not publishedSoundExchange is not documented anywhere in DistroKid's published material. Treat your SoundExchange registration as your own job until they say otherwise. | Does notExplicitly disclaimed. Register with SoundExchange yourself. | Not publishedSoundExchange and neighbouring rights appear nowhere in Amuse's published material. |
| YouTube Content IDthey differ | CollectsOffered, with a revenue share taken on the Content ID income. | CollectsOffered; the commission rate is not clearly published. | PartlyIncluded at no cost on the two higher tiers; a 15% fee applies on the entry tier. The release must also be delivered to YouTube Music or nothing is collected. |
| YouTube publishingthey differ | Not publishedNot separately documented from the recording side. | Paid add-onPublishing product. | Not publishedNot separated from the recording side anywhere in its documentation. |
| Sync licensingthey differ | Contradicts self⚠ DistroKid's own materials both describe collecting sync income AND state the service does not include sync licensing. Their copy contradicts itself; do not rely on either sentence. | Paid add-onPublishing product. | Does notNot offered on self-serve plans. |
What to know about DistroKid
DistroKid collects your master streaming royalties from the DSPs. The table above shows where that stops.
- "Keep 100%" describes the MASTER side only. The publishing side is a separate paid product, and Content ID income is shared.
- With no PRO affiliation, your songwriter performance share is collected by nobody — not by DistroKid, and not automatically by anyone else.
What to know about Ditto Music
Ditto Music collects your master streaming royalties from the DSPs. The table above shows where that stops.
- ⚠ Ditto publishes TWO DIFFERENT commission rates on two different official pages (15% in one place, 10%/20% in another). When a company contradicts itself on price, get the rate in writing before signing.
What to know about Amuse
Amuse collects your master streaming royalties from the DSPs. The table above shows where that stops.
- "100% royalties" carries an admitted carve-out: Content ID ad revenue is cut 15% on the entry tier.
- The pricing page says music stays live with no extra payments when you downgrade. The support documentation says a 25% commission applies once a subscription lapses. The music stays up; a quarter of the money does not.
- ⚠ Tier names in nearly every comparison article are STALE. The older tier names are no longer purchasable, and existing subscribers on them cannot add new artists.
- Content ID is unavailable for exactly the artist most likely to buy the entry tier: non-exclusive beats, samples, toplines, remixes, mashups, stock and AI-generated music are all ineligible.
The thing none of these three do for you
Whichever of DistroKid, Ditto Music, Amuse you choose, the 45% featured-artist share of neighbouring rights is legally unreachable by any distributor. SoundExchange pays it directly to the performer, and no label, distributor or aggregator is permitted to claim it on your behalf. If you have never registered with SoundExchange yourself, that money is accruing to nobody.
The same is true in a softer way of US mechanical royalties: they flow through the blanket licence to The MLC, which is free to join and takes no commission, and a distributor deal does not register you there.