Landr vs. Tunecore, what does one of these music distributors give you over the other? Let’s compare Prices, Fees, Terms, and Features to see which of these distributors will best fit your needs. Note, there are aspects of each distributor we cannot account for such as customer service and the user experience. Our reviews are based on our expert knowledge of distribution and analysis of each distributor’s offer and terms.
Landr Exclusives
The core service of Landr is online audio mastering. Distribution is a secondary service used to sell their audio mastering service. As a result of the core business of Landr, they’re able to offer bundles that are unique to their service. What you get:
Landr Studio
- Unlimited Mastering – MP3s
- Advanced Mastering Features – Album, Reference, Preference
- Unlimited Mastering Revisions
- 2 Million Royalty Free Samples
- DAW plugins for access
- Weekly Pack Giveaway
- Courses
- DAW Live Streaming
Landr Studio Pro
Landr Studio Pro adds Unlimited WAV and HDWAV masters. Note, you need WAV files in order to distribute a release with Landr. The MP3 Masters you get with the standard Studio service are practically useless.
Landr vs. Tunecore Content ID
Both Landr and Tunecore take 20% – 30% of Content Id revenue so it’s seemingly a wash. The fact that Landr uses Fuga as an aggregator changes things because Fuga charges a fee to provide their service. It’s unclear if there’s a double fee with Landr where you’re paying both Landr and Fuga. In Landr’s terms, they state they’re only responsible for paying you from their net revenue after they pay companies like Fuga. Tunecore has stated that they have direct deals so far as we know, their 20% is all you pay.
Release Approval
Landr sells audio samples so they have advanced technology that’s very effective at spotting the usage of samples. Once Landr spots the usage of samples, they’ll require you to provide proof that you’re authorized to use the samples. If you can’t provide proof, you’ll be restricted from distributing the release. This is unlikely to happen with Tunecore.
Landr vs. Tunecore Takedowns
A major concern with paying an annual fee for distribution is what happens if you can no longer pay? For Tunecore, the answer to that question is that your releases will be removed from stores. Things are different for Landr, they state that they’ll keep your releases in stores even if you cancel your subscription with them. It sounds good to know your release will stay in stores but Landr provides zero details on how this happens. Most times, distributors will take a percentage of revenue, but Landr doesn’t specify whether they do. In any event, the release won’t come down so that much we know.
Royalty Reports and Stats
I can’t speak on Landr’s royalty reports because I haven’t seen one – if you can to donate one to science hit us up @payusnomind. I’ve seen Tunecore’s royalty reports but it wouldn’t be fair to highlight here. What state is what your royalty report should show. What they should show is your streams and sales with the ability to segment that performance by location and service provider. You should be able to answer this question “How many streams did you get from Apple Music in the UK in November?”
Terms of Agreement
Both Tunecore and Landr have harmless terms. There’s really only one thing that sends off alarm bells with Landr. I’ll highlight the next section.
Lump Sum Payouts
You may not know, but if you don’t know, I’m gonna let you know. Sometimes DSPs and platforms like Facebook pay bonuses and lump sums to distributors for various reasons. These payments are meant to be split between the artists represented by the distributors but not all distributors pay them out. Landr states:
If LANDR receives a lump-sum payment from a Digital Store that is not attributable to any particular artist account(s) or specific Musical Recordings from any particular artist account(s), LANDR will, in its sole discretion, determine if, and to what extent, any portion of such monies shall be payable hereunder. Without limiting the immediately preceding sentence, LANDR may determine to distribute such monies (i) on a pro-rata basis based on the number of artists with whom LANDR has distribution agreements; (ii) in its discretion among artists based on historical earnings and/or proxy formula determined solely by LANDR; or (iii) based upon the amount the Digital Store credits LANDR for your Recordings subsequent to the payment to LANDR.
They grant themselves the ability to pocket the money and not pay their artists anything. It’s entirely at their discretion. When you see a passage like this, it’s basically them confessing that they’ll only pay what artists make a fuss about getting. Tunecore distributed payments from a lump sum delivered by Facebook without artists knowing they were entitled to anything. That decision earned a lot of respect from me and I cringe whenever I see a distributor have a passage like this.
Advances
Getting advanced payments is something offered by both Landr and Tunecore but facilitated differently. Tunecore has clear terms, you earn over $850 in 12 months, you qualify for an advance. Landr just states that they’ll let you know when you qualify with no details on what qualifies you.
Payout and Transaction Fees
Transaction fees are capped by Landr where you’ll never pay more than $1 per transaction. Tunecore caps transaction fees at 25¢. Note, that fees are higher for non-US residents.
Direct Deals
Third party aggregators like Fuga charge distributors to encode and send their releases to DSPs. Landr makes it clear they’ll pay what’s left after they pay Fuga’s fees. This means you don’t truly get to keep 100% of what you’ve earned. Adding to it, you’re not informed of how much of your revenue is going to Fuga. Tunecore has direct deals so 100% of revenue means you get to keep 100% of revenue.
Deciding Factors
Landr charges about $100 annually for Studio and $150 annually for Studio Pro vs. Tunecore providing the same service for as little as $20 annually. If you don’t end up using the mastering service, plugins, etc. provided by Landr you just end up paying 4 times more for the same service.
| Tunecore 20% Discount | Landr $50 Discount | |
| Price | As low as $20 Annually | As low as $24 Annually |
| Percentage | Keep 100% across all plans | Keep 100% across all plans |
| Releases | Unlimited across all plans | Unlimited across all plans |
| Stores | Unlimited across all plans | Unlimited across all plans |
| New Stores | +Store Automator: Free but has to be added manually. Automatic for the $35 plan. | Unspecified |
| Release Date | Yes starting at $20 across all plans | Yes for $45 & $144. No for $24. |
| Transaction Fees | 2.9% 25¢ Cap per withdrawal across all plans | 2.9% $1 Cap per withdrawal across all plans |
| Payment Threshold | None | None |
| Artists | 1 Requires an upgrade to the $50 annual tier plus $14.99 annually per additional artist. | 1 for $24 and $45. Up to 5 for $144. |
| Content ID | 20% across all plans | 30% for Basic & Pro | 20% for Studio |
| Whitelisting | Yes across all plans | No across all plans |
| Split Pay | Requires an $8 annual subscription for receivers across all plans | Free across all plans |
| UPC | Free can bring your own at the $50 plan. Not allowed for lower plans. | Free, can’t bring your own across all plans |
| ISRC | Free, Bring your own across all plans | Free, Bring your own across all plans |
| Influence | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️ |
| Stability | ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ | ⭐️⭐️ |
| Cancel | Removed from stores | Stays in stores forever across all plans |
| Taxes | 30% Tax Treaty | 30% Tax Treaty |
| Custom Label Name | Requires $50 plan. | Requires $45 plan |
| Red Flags | None | None |