Lay vs DistroKid: a yearly fee or a share of your royalties
Lay’s numbers come from the plans and payouts on this site. DistroKid’s were checked on at the pages listed underSources.
The short answer
DistroKid sells a yearly plan: from 23.99 euro a year for Musician to 81.99 euro a year for Ultimate, billed in advance and renewed automatically, and it keeps none of your royalties. Lay Free takes no fee at all and keeps about 30 percent of what your music earns. That is the whole trade: Lay costs less while a release is small, DistroKid costs less once a release earns more than roughly 80 euro a year.
Two differences sit outside the price. Every Lay account starts with an application a person reads; DistroKid opens a self-signup where a card pays the annual fee. And DistroKid removes your releases from the stores when a term ends without renewal, because the agreement has the stores take the recordings down; a cancelled Lay account comes down the same way, and in both cases what the releases earned until then is still paid out.
The two offers, row by row
Every DistroKid cell comes from DistroKid’s own pricing page or distribution agreement, read on 25 October 2026. Where DistroKid documents nothing, the row is missing rather than guessed.
| What the row compares | Lay | DistroKid |
|---|---|---|
| What you pay | $0 on Free, after we read your application. Pro is coming soon with no published price; Partner is agreed with you directly and has no public price. | 23.99 euro a year for Musician, 42.99 for Musician Plus, 81.99 for Ultimate. Billed annually in advance and renewed automatically until you cancel.12 |
| How you open an account | Every account starts with an application. Self-registration is closed and a person sets the account up by hand. | Self-signup with an email address, Google or Apple, and a card for the annual fee. No application and no review.1 |
| Your share of the royalties | On Free you keep about 70 percent of your royalties and Lay keeps about 30. On Partner the share is agreed with you individually. | 100 percent of the money the stores send, minus PayPal or payment processing fees. DistroKid takes no percentage of streaming or download royalties.2 |
| Content ID and user videos | Not part of the plans we publish today. Ask us before you count on it. | Optional Content ID service (YouTube Money): 20 percent of the money earned from videos that use your recordings is deducted before the rest is credited to you.2 |
| Stores and platforms | Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, TikTok, Instagram, Deezer, Tidal and the other major stores. We publish no store count. | 150+ stores and platforms, with synced lyrics in Apple Music and daily streaming stats from Musician Plus up.1 |
| When the money reaches you | Your share is credited in US dollars to your Lay Credit Account once the stores pay us. PayPal payouts run monthly from a $20 balance. | Money is credited to your DistroKid account and you accept and withdraw it yourself; PayPal is the default route and other methods need approval first.2 |
| If you cancel or stop paying | Cancel in your dashboard or by email and we have the stores take your releases down. You are still paid for what they earned before. | The term runs a year and renews itself. When it ends without renewal, DistroKid notifies the stores to remove your recordings and still pays what they earned during the term.2 |
| What the price includes | The stores, the delivery, the royalty collection and the monthly payout are the plan. Recordings, songs and artwork stay yours. | Unlimited uploads and lyrics, royalty splits with collaborators, a registered Spotify artist profile and free promo tools; Musician Plus adds a second artist name and a custom label name, Ultimate up to 100 artist names and advanced analytics.1 |
What the two prices mean in money
A fixed fee and a revenue share only compare at a royalty figure. Here is the line where they cross, with the numbers above and nothing else.
The fee
DistroKid’s cheapest plan is 23.99 euro a year, billed annually.
The share
On Lay Free you keep about 70 percent, so Lay keeps about 30 percent of what a release earns. There is no fee to earn back.
Where they meet
At 80 euro a year of royalties you keep about 56 euro either way: 70 percent of 80 is 56, and 80 minus 23.99 is about 56. Below 80 euro Lay leaves you more, above it DistroKid does. At 300 euro a year Lay leaves about 210 and DistroKid about 276, which is where the 0 percent starts to show.
Our arithmetic, not a DistroKid statement. It counts one artist on one plan, ignores currency conversion (DistroKid quotes the fee in euro for visitors in Germany, the stores report royalties in their own currencies) and leaves taxes and payment fees out. Your own numbers move the crossing point.
Where DistroKid is the better answer
- A predictable bill: one fee a year, and every euro of royalty stays yours.
- No application: an account exists minutes after you decide, not days.
- A big tool box from the first plan up: unlimited uploads, splits, a registered Spotify profile.
- Up to 100 artist names on Ultimate, which suits small rosters.
- 150+ stores and platforms, with a store count we can quote.
Where Lay is the better answer
- Nothing to pay before your music earns, and no renewal date to remember.
- A person reads your application and sets the account up by hand.
- One support inbox that answers: Free typically within 48 to 72 hours, Partner within 24.
- Leave any time, with no annual fee to cancel and no term to sit out.
- A German company in Karlsruhe, with the German terms prevailing.
Questions artists ask about DistroKid
Is Lay cheaper than DistroKid?
Only on one side of a line. Lay is cheaper while a release earns less than about 80 euro a year, because Lay takes a share of a small number instead of a fixed fee. Above that DistroKid is cheaper, because a fee stops growing and a 30 percent share does not.
Does DistroKid take a cut of my royalties?
No. Its distribution agreement pays you 100 percent of what the stores send, less PayPal or payment fees. The one deduction is optional Content ID money from videos that use your recordings, where 20 percent is taken before the rest reaches you.
Do my releases stay online if I stop paying DistroKid?
No. The plan runs a year and renews itself; when it ends without renewal, DistroKid tells the stores to remove your recordings. What they earned during the term is still accounted for and paid.
Does Lay include Content ID?
Not in the plans we publish today. If Content ID money matters to you, ask us before you decide: we would rather say this now than have you find out later.
Can I release AI-generated music?
Not on Lay Free: our Free plan does not accept AI-generated tracks. Pro, which is coming soon, will allow AI tracks you disclose. DistroKid’s AI policy is not on this page because we could not read it at the source on 25 October 2026.
Sources
Every DistroKid statement above comes from one of these pages, read on the date shown. Where DistroKid documents nothing, the table has no row rather than a guess.
Keep reading
Ready to start? Apply for a Lay account and we will read it ourselves. Theplans and prices are on the home page.