DistroKid launches music publishing service powered by Kobalt

DistroKid has launched DistroKid Publishing, a publishing administration service for independent songwriters, in partnership with Kobalt.

The service, announced on Wednesday (November 11), lets eligible DistroKid users collect publishing royalties through their DistroKid accounts.

Songwriters pay a one-time setup fee of USD $75 and receive 80% of the publishing royalties collected on their behalf.

To qualify, songwriters and artists need at least one release on DistroKid and more than $50 in streaming revenue over the past 12 months.

Only original songs, including co-writes, are eligible for the service, which means covers, remixes, and mash-ups are excluded.

Fully AI-generated tracks don’t qualify either, DistroKid says on its website.

Songwriters face no long-term commitment and can leave the service at any time, according to DistroKid.

Kobalt, which DistroKid describes as “the world’s largest independent music publisher”, is powering the service.

“Through this partnership with Kobalt, we’re making it easier than ever for songwriters to collect the royalties they’ve earned, with just a few clicks from their DistroKid dashboard.”

Phil Bauer, DistroKid

“The top request we’ve been getting from DistroKid members is for help collecting the music publishing revenue generated by their songs, something that has historically been very difficult for independent artists,” said Phil Bauer, President of DistroKid.

“Through this partnership with Kobalt, we’re making it easier than ever for songwriters to collect the royalties they’ve earned, with just a few clicks from their DistroKid dashboard.”

DistroKid first unveiled DistroKid Publishing in a blog post on October 5, saying at the time that it was rolling out eligibility gradually.

The service collects mechanical and public performance royalties, with payouts sent to artists’ DistroKid Bank accounts, according to the company’s website.

“Original songs you wrote or co-wrote qualify, even if you only own a share,” DistroKid said in its October 5 post. “Covers, mash-ups, remixes, and fully AI-generated tracks don’t.”

The company says a songwriter’s first royalty payment arrives roughly six to nine months after their publishing earnings exceed $10, with quarterly payments after that.

The service joins other DistroKid products that sit outside distribution, including DistroKid Direct, through which artists can sell music and merchandise to fans.

The company also runs DistroVid, a service that delivers music videos to platforms including Spotify.

The launch comes four months after CVC Capital Partners agreed to acquire a majority stake in DistroKid.

That deal closed in Q3, with Insight Partners, which invested in DistroKid in 2021, retaining a “significant minority stake” in the company.

Create Music Group also holds a minority stake in DistroKid, MBW revealed in October.

MBW reported in January that DistroKid was exploring a sale, with a figure of around $2 billion under discussion at the time.

Kobalt is now owned by Primary Wave, which completed its acquisition of the company on July 7 in a deal worth around $1.5 billion.

Under the deal, Kobalt continues to operate as a standalone company led by CEO Laurent Hubert.

In February 2025, Kobalt launched KOSIGN, a publishing platform aimed at emerging artists and songwriters.

Kobalt estimated at the time that more than $1 billion in publishing royalties go uncollected every year.

DistroKid cites the same estimate in its October 5 blog post, linking to MBW‘s report on KOSIGN’s launch.

At launch, KOSIGN offered members an 80/20 royalty split in their favor, according to its website at the time.

DistroKid is currently being sued by Universal Music Group.

In a complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Delaware on September 15, UMG alleges deceptive trade practices and copyright infringement, claiming that DistroKid “is flooding platforms with AI-generated ‘slop’ that siphons revenue and listeners from the legitimate artists and rightsholders”.

In October, DistroKid confirmed to The Verge that “a very small number of recordings” had been removed from streaming services in response to claims made by UMG, after independent artists said their music had been taken down without notice.

“We strongly dispute the allegations underlying UMG’s lawsuit,” Amanda Ferri, DistroKid’s VP of Artist Services, added at the time.

DistroKid, which was founded in 2013, says it distributes between 30% and 40% of all new music in the world.

The company says more than 4 million artists use its services.Music Business Worldwide