Lay vs LabelGrid: a catalog platform against an artist account
Lay’s numbers come from the plans and payouts on this site. LabelGrid’s were checked on at the pages listed underSources.
The short answer
LabelGrid is built for catalogs and prices like it: flat annual plans from $99 a year for up to 100 tracks with 85 percent of your royalties, up to $499 for 500 tracks with 90 percent, and a custom plan from $999 that pays 95 percent on standard store earnings through LabelGrid. Lay Free is a single artist account: $0, about 70 percent, one application and no track ceiling we publish.
The two cross at about $660 a year of royalties on the cheapest plan: above that, LabelGrid’s 85 percent minus the $99 fee leaves you more than Lay’s 70 percent, and below it Lay costs nothing while LabelGrid still has to earn its fee back. What LabelGrid adds on top of the share is catalog machinery: several label portals, Dolby Atmos delivery, royalty splits across artists and a white-label API for distributors.
The two offers, row by row
Every LabelGrid cell comes from LabelGrid’s own pricing page, read on 25 October 2026; LabelGrid states its prices are current as of July 2026. What LabelGrid does not document is missing here rather than guessed.
| What the row compares | Lay | LabelGrid |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Flat annual plans, no per-release fees: $99 Solo, $199 Basic, $499 Pro, custom from $999. The custom and API plans are billed a year in advance on a two-year commitment.1 |
| 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 a 7-day free trial on Solo, Basic and Pro; the custom and API tiers go through a sales contact.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. | 85 percent of royalties on Solo and Basic, 90 percent on Pro with $0.15 per track a year for tracks beyond 500, and 95 percent on the custom plan for standard store earnings through LabelGrid (100 percent on your own direct deals).1 |
| Content ID and user videos | Not part of the plans we publish today. Ask us before you count on it. | You keep 80 percent of UGC and Content ID earnings on every distribution plan, through LabelGrid’s own deals; LabelGrid keeps 20 percent.1 |
| Stores and platforms | Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, TikTok, Instagram, Deezer, Tidal and the other major stores. We publish no store count. | Standard store delivery with Dolby Atmos deliveries included; the page publishes no store count.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. | Royalty reporting and artist royalty management are part of the platform; automated splits across artists start on Basic. Payout timing is not published on the pricing page.1 |
| Support | One inbox, support@laydistribution.com. Free typically hears back within 48 to 72 hours, Partner within 24. No guaranteed response time. | Support on every plan, answered by LabelGrid’s own team, with an average response time under 2 hours during business hours; the custom plan carries premium support.1 |
| What the price includes | The stores, the delivery, the royalty collection and the monthly payout are the plan. Recordings, songs and artwork stay yours. | Up to 100 tracks on Solo, 200 on Basic, 500 on Pro and 2,000 on custom, with 1, 3, 5 and 50 label portals; every plan includes the WordPress plugin, your own label name on releases and release scheduling.1 |
What the two prices mean in money
LabelGrid sells a retention rate plus a track ceiling; Lay takes a share of everything. Here is the royalty figure where the cheapest plan and Lay Free meet.
The fee
The Solo plan costs $99 a year and pays you 85 percent, so LabelGrid keeps 15 percent of the royalties plus the fee.
The share
Lay Free keeps about 70 percent, so Lay keeps about 30 percent, with no fee.
Where they meet
At $660 a year of royalties both leave you about $462: 70 percent of 660 is 462, and 85 percent of 660 minus 99 is 462. Below that Lay leaves you more; above it LabelGrid does, and the Pro plan moves the same line to about $2,495 a year of royalties.
Our arithmetic, not a LabelGrid statement. It compares one catalog on one plan in one currency, ignores overage charges above the track ceiling, taxes and payment fees. Catalog size matters more than the rate once a label grows past 500 tracks, which is where the custom plan starts.
Where LabelGrid is the better answer
- A catalog platform, not a single-artist account: several label portals and up to 2,000 tracks on the custom plan.
- 85 to 95 percent retention, which beats a 70/30 split once a catalog earns enough to pay the annual fee.
- Dolby Atmos delivery, a WordPress plugin and your own label name on every plan.
- Royalty splits across artists from Basic up, and an API for distributors who want distribution inside their own product.
- Support answered in under 2 hours on average during business hours.
Where Lay is the better answer
- No annual fee and no two-year commitment: a catalog that earns nothing costs nothing.
- An application a person reads, and an account set up by hand instead of a self-serve trial.
- Support windows we publish, 48 to 72 hours on Free and 24 hours on Partner, in one inbox.
- The Partner plan for labels and artist teams, where share and terms are agreed directly with us.
- A German company in Karlsruhe, with the German terms prevailing.
Questions labels ask about LabelGrid
Is LabelGrid a distributor for artists or only for labels?
Both. Its own pricing page offers the plans to labels, artists and distributors releasing their own catalog, from the $99 Solo plan with up to 100 tracks upwards.
Is Lay cheaper than LabelGrid?
Below about $660 a year of royalties, yes: Lay takes 30 percent of a small number and charges nothing, while LabelGrid has to earn back $99 at a 15 percent cut. Above that, LabelGrid leaves you more of every dollar.
What does LabelGrid keep?
15 percent of royalties on Solo and Basic, 10 percent on Pro, and 5 percent on the custom plan for standard store earnings through LabelGrid. Separately it keeps 20 percent of UGC and Content ID money on every distribution plan, so you keep 80.
Does Lay work with labels?
Yes, on the Partner plan: the revenue share, the terms and AI use are agreed with you directly, and we publish no price for it. If you run a label with a large catalog, ask us and we will put the numbers next to LabelGrid’s ourselves.
Which one handles Content ID?
LabelGrid keeps 20 percent of UGC and Content ID earnings and you keep 80, on every distribution plan. Lay’s published plans do not include Content ID today, so this is a real advantage for LabelGrid, not a rounding difference.
Sources
Every LabelGrid statement above comes from one of these pages, read on the date shown. Where LabelGrid documents nothing, the table has no row rather than a guess.
- LabelGrid: Pricingread on
Keep reading
- Switching distributors: how to move your catalog to Lay
- Spotify’s 2026 rules for artists: 1,000 streams and fake streams
Ready to start? Apply for a Lay account and we will read it ourselves. Theplans and prices are on the home page.