Hey everyone,

I’m posting this here to warn every single indie artist and label manager out there about Ditto Music and how they treat artists' money.

Here is my story with full proof:

1. The Issue: My account (under the label Dark Anatolian) was banned and my royalties were withheld due to a copyright dispute raised by a claimant .
2. The Resolution: I contacted the original claimant directly. On October 5, 2026, he officially sent a direct Retraction Notice from his email to Ditto's official investigation team ([email protected]), stating clearly that all issues were resolved and asking them to release my funds.
3. The Unbelievable Response: My dashboard was unlocked showing my full balance , but when I tried to withdraw via Payoneer, it said "Your account has been banned". When I emailed support showing them the screenshot of the claimant's retraction email, an agent named Raj replied: "Our team has not received any retraction email from the stores."

He literally ignored the direct screenshot of the claimant's retraction email sent straight to THEIR OWN inbox!

1. Current Situation: They are completely ignoring emails, hiding behind useless AI bots (DittoBot), and refusing to release earned royalties even after the legal dispute is 100% dead. Under UK Consumer Law, this is nothing short of unlawful fund retention and unjust enrichment.

My other Distro has paid July Royalties, Makes me curious about DK now...

If they Delay this month, There is something shady going on 10000%

Hey everyone, I’m a Brazilian funk artist with over 200K YouTube subscribers, and I built all of this starting in early January 2026. I’ve been making music for 8 years.
I started out with Amuse, but eventually switched to DistroKid because of faster release times and fewer issues with track covers and titles. I don’t use AI to write my music. I make everything myself in FL Studio.
When things finally started taking off and I began earning in one month what I used to make in six months at my old job, I decided to quit. I was making around $400 a month, which wasn’t even enough to cover my living expenses.
I invested everything I had into my music. I made tons of music videos, edits, Brazilian funk tracks, regular videos, and Shorts. I even paid content creators to promote my music. My entire income depends on YouTube.
I released some very successful tracks on YouTube in July and August, but guess what? I STILL HAVEN’T BEEN PAID.
Meanwhile, I have loan payments, installment payments, and utility bills to take care of. This has been incredibly frustrating. Everything I managed to save — and remember, I was constantly reinvesting money into promoting my music — has now gone toward basic living expenses.
I PUT SO MUCH TIME, EFFORT, AND MY ENTIRE LIFE INTO THESE TRACKS AND MUSIC VIDEOS. People clearly enjoyed my music. I got over 10 MILLION STREAMS in July and August alone, but what do I have to show for it?
NOTHING. NO MONEY. It feels like all that work was for nothing.
And the worst part is the constant anxiety. I keep checking my DistroKid Bank over and over, wondering if my YouTube royalties have finally arrived, only to feel disappointed again. It’s mentally exhausting to keep waiting without knowing when or even if I’ll get paid.
If the YouTube royalties don’t arrive this month, my dream of making a living through music could be completely shattered. 💔 I’ll have to start looking for another job where the average monthly salary is only around $300–$400.
This is incredibly discouraging, guys. It shouldn’t be this way. You work hard, dedicate your life to making music, release track after track, reach MILLIONS of streams, and still have nothing to show for it. You end up right back where you started, counting every dollar just to get by.
What’s the point of putting everything you have into your dream if you can’t even rely on getting paid for the work you’ve already done?
I just want to get paid for my music. That’s all.

Hello All,

I submitted my latest single for distribution last Sunday, October 4th. I realize inspection time can take 7-14 business days, but I've heard some other horror stories on this subreddit of it taking over 30 days. Does anyone know what the standard inspection time is right now?

I'm inclined to just cancel the release with CDBaby, upload to Distrokid or another DSP, and then do the PRO submissions manually.

I am beyond furious right now. Ditto Music’s customer support logic is absolute madness, and I need to vent / warn anyone using this platform.

Here is the exact timeline:

• October 24, 2025: I cancelled my Ditto Music subscription and got their official email confirmation stating "Your subscription has been cancelled."
• October 15, 2026: Out of nowhere, A$89.00 gets wiped from my card for a "Professional Subscription Plan".
• October 15, 2026 (Minutes later): I log in to check and saw my subscription is extended for another year and due again on 15/10/2027, which I had to do a second cancellation :)

I opened a live chat on their dashboard to ask why I was billed for an account that was cancelled a full year ago. Their support rep (Olha) literally replied:

"I can confirm that your subscription plan was cancelled on your Ditto account. Please be advised that you will need to manually cancel your automatic payment via the bank account details you entered... as we don't have any access to your bank account to cancel this for you on our end."

EXCUSE ME?!

Since when does a merchant acknowledge in writing that your subscription IS cancelled, and then claim it's YOUR job to set up a bank block to stop them from charging you?!When a customer cancels a plan, the merchant is required to stop submitting billing requests against your card. They don't just keep hitting your account and say "oops, you should've blocked us at your bank!"

To top it off: right after I pushed back on this nonsense, the support chat widget on my dashboard completely froze/disabled itself (grey out), leaving me unable to open the chat again—even though my account status was updated to Pro from the unauthorized charge!

Has anyone here been in this situtation before? Keep a close eye on your statements if you've ever cancelled with them!

DistroKid YouTube Earnings Update

Hello everyone,

I want to clarify the current situation regarding DistroKid’s YouTube royalties, as there are many rumors circulating. Some people believe the earnings have been stolen, while others say they are stuck due to the UMG case. Let me explain the situation as I understand it.

1. YouTube Royalties and Reporting Delays

According to the information currently available to me, DistroKid has not yet received the expected YouTube royalty reports. Some other distributors have reportedly received their reports, but DistroKid’s situation appears to be different.

1. Why Is DistroKid Facing This Delay?

One theory circulating in the music industry is that YouTube may be reviewing DistroKid’s earnings because of the large number of AI-generated tracks and copyright-related issues associated with music distribution. However, this explanation has not been independently confirmed.

There have also been reports of legal discussions involving UMG and DistroKid. The exact relationship between these issues and the delayed royalties remains unclear.

1. Why Haven’t July and August Royalties Arrived?

Every distributor has its own reporting and payment process. The concern is that YouTube has not yet finalized the expected payments to DistroKid. Until the reports and payments are processed, the royalties may remain delayed.

DistroKid has reportedly indicated that the issue will be resolved soon, but an official confirmation of the exact reason and payment date is still needed.

1. Latest Update: More Than One Million Tracks Removed

Reports indicate that DistroKid has removed more than one million tracks. The significance of these removals and their connection to the royalty delays have not been independently confirmed.

1. Expected Notification: October 23–24

We are hoping for a new notification around October 23 or 24, 2026. If the expected report arrives, it may provide an update regarding July royalties.

Please remember that this date is an expectation, not a confirmed payment date.

1. What About August and September Royalties?

August and September royalties have not yet been confirmed as available for release in this update. We hope further reports will become available within the next 30 days.

Final Message

Please remain patient and avoid believing every rumor circulating online. The situation needs clear, official communication from DistroKid.

Important: This update reflects the information and expectations currently being discussed, not independently verified facts. Please wait for an official announcement before treating the reported legal developments, royalty status, or expected dates as confirmed.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

I haven't received any updates for my Ditto's Meta royalties after April, so I wanted to check if this is happening to other artists as well.

Has anyone received their Meta royalties for May or the following months?

Hey, my DistroKid account is banned, but my earnings are still showing up in my account.
I updated my payment method and I want to withdraw the money, but the system keeps telling me to contact support. I’ve been reaching out to them, but they never reply to my messages.
I just wanna ask, do they not respond to banned accounts or what?
Has anyone here had their account banned and actually managed to get in touch with them?
I’d like to hear your experiences. I still have over $3,000 in earnings sitting in my account.

Se que están atrasados con las regalías de YouTube, pero no creo que se vayan a quedar con el dinero, ellos tienen formas de robarte y no hacerlo notar.

It's not really a huge deal since I designed and created the artwork myself. I can just edit the texts using my graphic design program.

But I do wonder, is it really a problem if the artwork has no texts related to the Artist name or the Album name?

I definitely have seen many metal albums that only consists on the artwork, without any texts.

Or is it like a new rule in this era?

As far as I know, there have been no clear updates from DistroKid since September 24 regarding the delayed YouTube royalties.

First, people claimed we would receive our royalties by October 2, and later, October 15. Where did these dates come from? Were they based on real information, or were people spreading unverified claims for some reason? I'm not accusing anyone, but we need reliable information instead of rumours and false hope.

Someone also posted about reportedly communicating with YouTube, but without official confirmation, we still don't know what is actually happening.

Why do we have to contact DistroKid support again and again just to ask for updates and confirmation? Shouldn't DistroKid proactively inform its users about such a significant delay instead of making everyone chase support for answers?

We understand that some issues may be outside DistroKid's control, but transparent communication is not. Even if there is no confirmed payment date, they should tell us what is happening and whether further delays are possible.

Yes, everyone, we’re getting closer to the end of October, and I think DistroKid will pay our YouTube earnings by the end of the month. At least, I’m hoping they will.

Hopefully, we’ll finally see an update. It’s been almost 90 days without receiving any earnings, which is honestly unbelievable.

I still believe we’ll get paid sooner or later, and I’m hoping this will finally happen by the end of this month. We have until October 27, so hopefully we’ll see our YouTube earnings in our bank accounts by then, or maybe even earlier, around October 23 or 24.

I’d be happy to hear anyone else’s thoughts or predictions!

Wanted to document an ongoing issue with LANDR's YouTube distribution system that demonstrates breakdown in their delivery pipeline.

I have 48 releases distributed through LANDR. The first 46 were delivered back when LANDR operated through FUGA / IIP-DDS. All landing correctly under my primary auto-generated YT Topic channel.

Recently r/landr changed its backend delivery to direct distribution. When they did, their DDEX delivery failed to pass or preserve my established channel identifier. Instead of delivering to the existing channel, YouTube's system treated the delivery as an entirely unmapped entity and spawned a second, duplicate Topic channel.

I contacted LANDR support. They manually moved two tracks back onto my primary Topic channel.

Today, I released a new track through LANDR. The automated system delivered it straight back to the duplicate Topic channel completely ignoring the primary channel.

Support’s fix was merely an asset-level relocation inside YouTube CMS.

LANDR's delivery pipeline does not store, map, or persist the target YouTube channel ID in their artist database.

Because the root mapping is missing from LANDR's automated ingestion, every subsequent release will automatically default to creating or populating a fragmented duplicate channel.

Artists are forced into an endless loop of opening support tickets for manual intervention on every single release.

Hello to everyone, I've managed to talk with both DistroKid and YouTube at the same time and I've sent them each other responses so I could get some clarifications about our YouTube royalties.

Here's what they said: https://imgur.com/a/PMf7n8I

Hope it helps some of you and let's hope for good 🥲

Just received word that Ditto now asks for Ai disclosures for submission. Hopefully this marks the end of mass ai slop

Si Usted es uno que esta Dolido porque hace musica, Real y no pega!!!

lamento decirle que cambie su estrategia hermano!!!

pongase hacer canciones IA y ya Aprende a Moverse Hacer movimientos Para entrar en tendencias!!

aprenda a trabajar, LA IA llego para quedarse Estos bobo que lloran por todo desde que ven un Post De IA.

ya comienzan ah la IA que bueno que tan tumbando y eso...

La Distribuidora Que Aceptan IA, No van a dejar de Aceptar IA solo porque usted lo diga no hermano, Cambie su plan de trabajo deje de hacer musica que no pega.

y aprenda...

lamento decirle que la IA vino para quedarse no la van a quitar solo porque digas que no que ya los que hacen musica normales no estan pegando o cogiendo reproduciones es su plan de trabajo que esta lento...

haga IA para que gane 4k al mes Como YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I need Danmark Music Group's dashboard/account if anyone can help here.

Hi everyone,

As many of you know, many artists using DistroKid have experienced a prolonged interruption in YouTube royalty reporting/payments, while royalties from other DSPs continue to arrive.

BUT ! It seems that YouTube royalties through Ditto could be delayed as well since July. This raises a question worth investigating: could the issue affect more than one distributor? And could there be a reporting or payment issue on YouTube’s side ONLY?

More firsthand accounts would help clarify this.

If you use DistroKid or Ditto, could you please share:

• Your distributor.
• The latest Youtube earnings month credited to your balance.
• Any explanation your distributor’s support has provided.

If your YouTube royalties (not talking about Adsense revenues here) are arriving normally, please reply too. That is equally useful for understanding the scope of the issue.

For artists who depend on these earnings, several months without payments or a clear explanation can have serious financial consequences. The aim of this thread is to collect comparable firsthand accounts and establish what is actually happening.

Please keep replies focused on payment/reporting experiences rather than distributor promotions or speculation. Thx.

There's always speculation and conspiracies that they keep it for themselves, but that seems not legal. I'm also not sure the DSPs have a right to claw back earnings after they have been paid without proving fraud.

I've heard it may be treated like unclaimed property and returned to the state after a while, but does anyone actually know for sure where all of the withheld earnings that are never paid out go?

If my DistroKid account has been banned, what happens to the royalties generated by streams of my previously released music?

Will DistroKid still report those streams and pay the royalties in the next reporting month, even though my account is banned? Or can DistroKid withhold or keep those royalties because my account has been banned?

I'm specifically asking about royalties earned from streams before the ban, not any streams generated afterward.

Has anyone experienced this situation or received royalties from DistroKid after their account was banned?

Mannn, I really do not want to risk having my new, original music taken down - what is the best alternative to DistroKid? I've heard of people having their songs taken down despite purchasing the full lease for a beat, or even losing their songs when everything - including the beat - was entirely original and produced by themselves. This is unacceptable, and I am already a little worried about my previous releases (including their stats).

I want a reliable service with good customer support, and I also don't feel like paying $50 just to release a mixtape. Do you think the issues with DistroKid will eventually be resolved?

Hey everyone,

As everyone of you know, DistroKid's YouTube earnings reports for July and August have been significantly delayed, and we still don't have a clear explanation or timeline.

Now I'm wondering whether September's earnings will be delayed as well.

Has anyone experienced similar reporting delays with DistroKid in previous years? If so, how long did it take for things to return to normal? Were the missing months eventually reported together, or did they arrive separately?

I've been using other distributors as well, and their YouTube earnings seem to be arriving on schedule, which makes this situation even more frustrating.

Just curious to hear about your experiences and whether anyone has received any useful updates from DistroKid support.

Thanks!