Sign the petition! Stop union busting by Distrokid

For a long time, the digital music distributor Distrokid was the young upstart disrupter who gave independent and DIY artists the ability to get their music onto all the major streaming platforms for an affordable price. I remember when they first came on the scene, and their service was truly revolutionary for its time.

In the early 2000’s, prior to Distrokid, larger corporations like CDBaby and TuneCore would charge musicians per release for the digital distribution of their music. Sometimes, this could cost as much as $40+ per album!

So, Distrokid’s flat rate as low as $20/year for unlimited releases of your music really did a lot to open up and democratize the digital streaming music ecosystem for everyone, and especially smaller artists.

Unfortunately, it now appears Distrokid is eating its own tail and becoming the very thing it succeeded in disrupting. Enshittification has struck again.

Multiple outlets now report that Distrokid has placed 37 union affiliated workers on administrative leave just an hour before their newly formed union was set to meet with the company for new contract negotiations. This marks a disappointing day for both unionized workers and independent artists.

United Musicians and Allied Workers has started a petition protesting this behavior, and here at DIY Music Guide we encourage its signing by any artist or fan of independent music.

More detailed information about the petition can be found at UMAW’s informational page here, and the original story published by Billboard can be referenced here.