Top Reason to Choose Record Union

Customer support & Keeps your music in stores. Record Union has a live chat feature on its interface where you can communicate with support staff and speak to actual people. Your music doesn’t get removed if you discontinue payment, instead, they continue to collect your royalties and restrict payment until you reactivate your subscription.

Keeping Music in Stores

Record Union vs. Distrokid vs. CD Baby vs. Ditto vs. Too Lost Distribution

Record Union will keep your music in stores but claim 100% of the royalties until you reactivate your subscription which will also reactivate your percentage starting from the month after reactivation. This means you’d lose all royalties collected up to that point. Distrokid keeps you music in stores and allows you to buy out the royalties by paying $29 per single or $49 per album which also allows you to keep 100% of your royalties. CD Baby charges a one-time fee of $10 per release and keeps your music in stores by taking 9% of the royalties they collect longterm. Ditto keeps your music in stores but appears to operate the same as Record Union. Too Lost Distribution will keep your music in stores but take 15% of your royalties.

Top Features

Payouts

Record Union pays out directly to your bank account in a very long list of currencies allowing artists across the world to avoid hefty transaction fees. PayPal is an option as well, but why pay the fees if you don’t have to? The savings from transaction fees can make up from the losses in the areas we dive into below. Additionally, you’re not subject to a 30% tax withholding due to Record Union being based outside of the US which adds to your savings if your country doesn’t have a tax treaty with the US.

Things to Note

Stores

Record Union has a limited inventory of stores that pales in comparison to Tunecore, CD Baby, and even Distrokid. You’ll have to make concessions on discovery and exposure in exchange for their Customer support.

Pricing

You’re charged annual fees per release with Record Union. The rates are likely what allows them to provide a higher level of Customer support so it’s a trade-off and comes down to how much you value being able to get direct instant assistance. Additionally, they charge for UPC codes which is so outdated we don’t include them in the rundown of distributor details anymore. You must pay Record Union $10 per UPC. They also charge Content ID fees per release.

Caveat

Record Union is a non-US-based company that doesn’t pay in USD  so US-based artists may be subjected to stiffer transaction fees and currency conversion fees. Additionally, customer support hours could be an issue due to time zones.

Details