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AppsMusic

DistroKid

iOSv3.9.1, 2026-11-04distrokid.com/appApp Store
JSON / MCP
What it is

Mobile app for independent musicians to upload songs to 150+ streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and TikTok, keep 100% of earnings, and release unlimited music on a yearly plan.

Maker
DistroKid Holdings, LLC
Launched
Mar 2023
Category
Music
Price
Free, subscriptions $24.99 to $269.99
US ratings
27K, 4.9 avg
Best rank
#19 grossing, US
  • DistroKid Holdings, LLC; founder Philip Kaplan; founded 2013, bootstrapped
  • Insight Partners says DistroKid distributes 30-40% of all new music in the world and serves more than 2 million artists
  • September 2026: Universal Music Group sued DistroKid over AI music, per X posts quoting MBW

How DistroKid got its users

Mostly organic growth, then an investor-guided focus on Google and Facebook; in 2026 it also runs Meta and TikTok video ads. Confidence: low

Main channel: Meta ads, as the reading above names it
Meta adsCreators and UGCYouTubePosts on XApp Store search and chartsPress and articles
Chartjump's reading of the evidence per channel, not install shares. Install-share estimate per channel with Pro
How it happened
  1. 2013-2018Organic / word of mouth: Bootstrapped, flat low annual fee, product-led growth among artists
  2. 2018Google and Facebook ads, landing pages: Investor-guided focus on high-impact platforms and landing page conversion
  3. 2022-04 to 2022-05Own X account, promo links, product...: Time-limited discount link ($4.20 on 4/20), existing-member discount for the DistroVid beta, public price talk
3 more steps:
Meta ads Top 3 Meta ads
of 18 active, by variants then days
Ad frame: DISTROKID#1
Source: Meta Ad Library
Mixed
“DISTROKID”
70 days16 variants
Teardown
Ad frame: DISTROKID#2
Source: Meta Ad Library
Voiceover b-roll
“DISTROKID”
65 days10 variants
Teardown
Ad frame: not visible (no text on first frame)#3
Source: Meta Ad Library
UGC talking head
“not visible (no text on first frame)”
38 days9 variants
Teardown
5 ads (18 active creatives), the longest running 70 daysAll 5 ads

Overview

Every channel we found, then the numbers behind it.

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How DistroKid gets users, channel by channel
Chartjump's reading of the evidence
Meta ads
5 ads (18 active creatives), the longest running 70 days
Shown at the top of the page.
Open the tab
Creators and UGC
102 creators, 47 tag or link the app; 615K likes on their best posts
Open the tab
YouTube
20 videos about DistroKid, 1.8M views
Posts on X
37 posts name DistroKid, 3.6K likes
The list:
App Store search and charts
43K ratings, 4.9 average; in a top 100 in 24 of 25 stores
  • United States 27K ratings, #17 grossing
  • United Kingdom 2.2K ratings, #30 grossing
  • Canada 1.7K ratings, #19 grossing
Open the tab
Press and articles
11 articles found
The list:
Open the tab
Podcasts and interviews
3 founder quotes
Open the tab
Bar length: how much evidence we found for the channel, on a log scale (ad-days for ads, likes for creator posts, views for own posts and YouTube, articles, episodes, ratings). It shows where the evidence is, not a measured install share.
Paid, Meta adsCreator posts
Category colors match on every tab
Creator posting patterns
posting patterns of 102 creators; 30 profiles checked so far
34 of 102 creator profiles checked: 17 with "one post", 6 with "2-3 posts, 30+ days apart", 6 with "several posts within a month", 4 with "4+ posts over 30+ days", 1 with "posts mostly about the app".
Posts mostly about the app 11%
4+ posts over 30+ days 44%
2-3 posts, 30+ days apart 66%
Several posts within a month 66%
One post 1717%
1 of 102 creators show a promo code (1%)Creator timeline
Ad category mix
5 Meta videos
Voiceover b-roll and mixed make up 60% of ads. Mixed ads run longest (median 70 days).
40%20%20%20%
CategoryAdsMedian days runningDays
Voiceover b-roll2 ads51.5 d
Mixed1 ads70 d
Testimonial1 ads65 d
UGC talking head1 ads38 d
Not seen: Creator partnership ads on Meta; TikTok ads (EU library); Google Ads; Apple Search Ads; Image or carousel ads on MetaAll categories
Survival
days since first seen, all still active
3 of 5 ads still run after 60 days, 0 after 120.
100%5 of 5
60%3 of 5
0%0 of 5
0%0 of 5
30+ days60+ days90+ days120+ days
Variants per category
39 variants on 5 videos
Mixed ads get the most variants: 16 per ad (16 across 1).
Mixed1616/ad
Voiceover b-roll116/ad
UGC talking head99/ad
Testimonial33/ad
Ad launches
Free account
Launch dates and batch sizes
Audience: ads per group
Free account
Who the ads speak to
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Winning ads

Ranked by variants, then days running. Star an ad to save it.

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18
active creatives
Meta Ad Library
74
ad variants
39 on the 5 videos
5
distinct videos
5 with an image
3 of 5
past 60 days
60% still running
70 days
longest running
1 ad
#265 days
“DISTROKID”
10 varSep 2
Voiceover b-roll
Source: Meta Ad Library
#338 days
“not visible (no text on first frame)”
9 varSep 29
UGC talking head
Source: Meta Ad Library
#465 days
“My name is Dr”
3 varSep 2
Testimonial
Source: Meta Ad Library
#538 days
“DISTROKID”
1 varSep 29
Voiceover b-roll
Source: Meta Ad Library

Ad images load directly from Meta. Every ad opens in the Meta Ad Library.

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Next: Top videos
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Top videos

What the top ads and own posts say, from their transcripts.

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What they say
top 5 ads by variants, then days running; top 0 own posts by views
Ad frame: DISTROKID
Source: Meta Ad Library
Meta ad #1Mixed
16 variants70 days running30.1s
“DISTROKID”
What they say
“Hey bro, I know you like to perform for the sunset but when you gonna give it to the people? Hey, I like that.”
The first lines of every top video:
Storyline
A cinematic skit in a field under a bridge: a man in a green tracksuit and bucket hat is told to put his music out, with comment-style pop-ups; the app UI is not shown

Transcripts: Whisper, first 60 seconds of each video, as heard (names can be misspelled). No speech means silent, music only or a slideshow; then the on-screen text is shown. Storylines are read by AI from the frames and the transcript.

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Teardowns

The top ads, beat by beat, ready to copy.

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Next: Ad categories

Ad categories

Which kinds of ads ran, how many, and how long they lasted.

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Categories ranked by median days running
Meta, 5 distinct videos
CategoryAdsShareVariantsVar / adMedian daysMax daysRunning 60d+Shows resultFace on cam
Mixed1 20%16167070 100%0%100%
Testimonial1 20%336565 100%100%100%
Voiceover b-roll2 40%11651.565 50%0%0%
UGC talking head1 20%993838 0%100%100%
New ads per month, by category
first-seen date
AugSep
Voiceover b-roll.2
Mixed1.
Testimonial.1
UGC talking head.1
Not seen
where we looked
Creator partnership ads on Meta0 found
TikTok ads (EU library)searched, see caveats
Google Adsnone
Apple Search Adsno public library
Image or carousel ads on Meta13 active, not dissected
Primary ad texts
Free account
The ad texts and how many variants use each
Ad facts
2 of 5
show a result on screen
0.3 s
median until the app appears
EU targeting and ad languages:
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Locales

Where it charts and how it rates, store by store.

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24 of 25
stores where it charts
top 100, category or overall
United States
biggest store by ratings
64% of the ratings in tracked stores
42.8K
ratings in tracked stores
25 App Store countries
4 of 25
stores in their main language
from the App Store listing languages
Free
ad languages
with a free account
Ratings by country
top 3 of 25 stores
United States holds 64% of the ratings in the 25 tracked stores.
United States US27.4K
United Kingdom GB2,151
Canada CA1,726
Best rank by country
category top 100, 2026-11-06
Best: #17 grossing in Music, United States.
United States US#17
Canada CA#19
United Kingdom GB#30
GrossingFreePaid
longer bar, higher rank
Store by store
3 of 25 stores, by ratings
CountryBest rankGrossingFreeRatingsAvgListing languageAds in it
United States US #17 grossing, Music #17#75 27,366 64% 4.86 English100%
United Kingdom GB #30 grossing, Music #30- 2,151 5% 4.81 English100%
Canada CA #19 grossing, Music #19- 1,726 4% 4.80 English100%
22 more countries
Every tracked store: ranks, ratings and language support.
Daily tracker, 2026-11-06: the rating count and average in each country's App Store, and the best position in Apple's top 100 for the category (overall when only that). A dash: not in that top 100. Listing language: whether the App Store listing is in the country's main language. Ads in it: share of the dissected ads in that language.
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Creative families

Repeated scripts and templates across the ads.

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Next: Creators and organic

Creators and organic

Creator posts, codes and the app's own accounts.

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Next: Audience

Audience

Who the ads speak to, with the evidence behind each group.

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Next: Psychology

Psychology

Why each ad works, who it brings in, the job of each beat.

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Next: Revenue and charts

Revenue and charts

Revenue the founder or press stated, then what moved the charts.

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Next: Sources

Sources

Where every number comes from, and what is missing.

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Collected by Chartjump
Meta Ad Library, logged out, 18 active creatives
TikTok Commercial Content Library, EU only
Google Ads Transparency Center, distrokid.com
TikTok organic: account pages, hashtag and code search
Daily tracker: ratings, App Store top charts per country
App Store listing and review feed
Apple charts, ratings, public pages: input to the Chartjump estimate
App Store listing
apps.apple.com
Podcasts
Free account
1 episodes with the founder or team
Press and founder posts
2
“Some discussion our new video service is pricey”
X, 2022-05-06
“Click this link for instant $4.20 discount on a new...”
X, 2022-04-21
11 press links
Every article and interview we read.
Data problems found
6
01First-frame thumbnails exist for 5 of 5 ads.
025 of 18 active creatives are distinct dissected videos; image and carousel ads are counted but not dissected.
031 collected ad shows no DistroKid content and is left out of every count.
04Creator types: 30 of 102 creator profiles opened; 68 creators stay "not checked yet" until checked.
05Creator post counts differ for 10 of 102 creators (search hits vs profile count). Tables use the profile count.
061 accounts found in searches are left out of the creator counts: 0 point at another app or are named like the app without being it, 1 never name, tag or link it.
Store data
secondary
27,371
ratings
4.86
average rating
- / #19
US free / grossing, 2026-07-30
24
countries charting
Caveats
10
Meta Ad Library counts are logged-out keyword searches; EU reach and spend were not read
Only 5 ads were used for the creative read
TikTok ads were collected from the EU/UK/CH commercial library only
Google Ads Transparency Center returned advertiser names but no ad count
Card counts on TikTok are the number shown on the card
Only instagram @distrokid is marked VERIFIED
0 App Store reviews and 0 Reddit threads were read
Founder statements are limited to 2022 X posts from the DistroKid account
The chart snapshot dates from 2026-07-30
The mix percentages are my estimate, not sourced data

Paid: every active ad found for the advertiser in the Meta Ad Library with start date and variant count as Meta publishes them; videos fetched for analysis only and deleted after frames, transcript and OCR were derived; one model read per creative into a fixed schema. Organic: public profile counts only. Creators count only when a caption tags, links or names the app (graded per creator). Founder statements quoted verbatim and checked by code. Estimates labelled and linked. Not affiliated with the app or its publisher.

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No ads in TikTok's ad library (EU, 2 searches). No Google ads for distrokid.com. Data as of 2026-11-06.

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