Is my distributor paying me correctly, and what can I do if it won't pay me?

Usually yes. Most missing royalties are a reporting delay, so match your distributor’s statements against your streams before assuming you’ve been shorted.

Spotify doesn’t pay you directly. Its royalties explainer says recording royalties go to “the licensor that delivered the music,” usually your distributor, which pays you under its own terms. So Spotify can’t explain a payment. Your distributor can.

Timing trips most people up. DistroKid’s help page on getting paid says stores report every 1 to 2 months, covering streams from a few months earlier. Some report only once or twice a year. Expect about 3 months before most stores show up.

Two rules shrink small payouts. Spotify only pays on tracks with at least 1,000 streams in the past 12 months, plus a listener minimum it doesn’t publish. Withdrawal minimums can hold the rest, like DistroKid’s $6.

To check, export your statement as a spreadsheet and compare each month’s Spotify streams with Spotify for Artists for that month. Our royalty calculator gives a rough range for the total.

If money is really missing, open a support ticket and keep everything in writing. Ask directly whether streams were flagged as artificial, since that can mean fees or withheld earnings. Our distributor trust scorecard shows what each distributor’s terms say about disputes. If support stalls, invoke the dispute clause in your agreement by name before you pay for a lawyer.