Solo
Basic
Pro 
Custom 
Starter API
Growth API
Scale API
Custom API COMMON QUESTIONS
Frequently Asked Questions About Distribution
How much does LabelGrid cost?
LabelGrid uses flat annual pricing. Distribution plans are Solo $99/year (up to 100 tracks), Basic $199/year (up to 200 tracks, 3 labels), Pro $499/year (500 tracks included, 5 labels), and Custom from $999/year (2,000 tracks included, up to 50 labels). Above the included tracks, Pro adds $0.15 per track per year, and Custom $0.25 per track per year up to 10,000 tracks. API plans for platform builders are Starter $1,668/year, Growth $4,668/year, and Scale $10,548/year. Custom and API plans are billed yearly in advance on a 2-year commitment, and there are no per-release fees on any plan. Solo, Basic and Pro include a 7-day free trial.
Does LabelGrid publish its pricing?
Yes, all of it. Every distribution plan and API tier is listed on this page with its real price, including the Custom and API starting prices. There is no sales-call gate to learn what LabelGrid costs, and price changes are published here first.
Is there a free trial?
Solo, Basic and Pro include a 7-day free trial to explore the dashboard and set up your catalog. You enter payment details at signup, but nothing is charged until the trial ends, and if you cancel during the trial you will not be billed at all. Submitting releases for delivery needs a paid plan and completed KYC identity verification.
Are there per-release fees?
No. LabelGrid charges a flat annual fee per plan, not a fee per release. Unlimited releases are included within your plan’s track limit. The Pro plan adds tracks beyond its limit at $0.15 per track/year, and the Custom plan at $0.25 per track/year, so you only pay more if your catalog grows past the included allowance.
Is flat annual pricing cheaper than per-release pricing?
Yes, once you release regularly. Per-release pricing charges again for every single and album you put out; a LabelGrid plan covers the whole catalog for one annual fee. Solo is $99/year for up to 100 tracks, whether you release once or every month. There are no per-release fees, and the price only changes if you outgrow the plan.
What does royalty retention mean?
Royalty retention is the share of streaming and download royalties you keep after LabelGrid's distribution and management fees. On Solo and Basic you keep 85%. On Pro you keep 90%.
On Custom Distribution and API plans you keep 95% of standard DSP earnings through LabelGrid's own deals, and 100% when you distribute on your own direct DSP deals (SOBO) or under your own Merlin Network membership, where LabelGrid handles technical delivery only. On every distribution plan, you keep 80% of UGC and Content ID earnings through LabelGrid's deals.
What are the API plans?
The API plans let platforms and distributors build their own branded distribution on LabelGrid’s backend. Starter API is $1,668/year (up to 3,000 active tracks, 5 labels), Growth API is $4,668/year (up to 10,000 tracks, 25 labels), and Scale API is $10,548/year (up to 25,000 tracks, 100 labels). All include the full REST API and a sandbox environment, and all are billed yearly in advance on a 2-year commitment. Custom Distribution and API plans include a release review SLA of 5 business days for compliant releases. See the API documentation for details.
How does the 7-day trial work?
Signing up for Solo, Basic or Pro gives you 7 days to explore the dashboard and manage your catalog. Payment details are entered at signup, but nothing is charged until the trial ends, and if you cancel during the trial you will not be billed. Store delivery is different. Submitting releases needs a paid plan and completed KYC verification.
Do I need my own distributor?
With LabelGrid, you can rely on us for distribution, or if you have your direct contracts or other distribution solution, you can use just the catalog manager and other parts of the system to fit within your existing workflow.
Where is my data stored?
Your data is hosted on EU and US infrastructure. Stored data is encrypted, access is role-based and limited to authorised personnel on a need-to-know basis, and backups run nightly.
Do I need to download any software?
LabelGrid runs in any modern browser. No software download, and nothing to install.
Where are you based?
LabelGrid is registered as Label Grid LLC in Denver, Colorado. The team works remotely.
LabelGrid is a digital music distribution and royalty accounting platform for record labels and distributors, and for artists releasing on their own.
What if I have my own direct deals?
If you have a direct relationship with a particular DSP, we can accommodate your needs and become your delivery solution, also known as a digital supply chain provider. This allows you to maintain the contractual direct relationship and collect royalties directly from those DSPs. Additionally, if there are any DSPs for which you do not hold a contract, you can use our direct deals to get your content delivered there.
Direct deals and SOBO sit on the Custom and API plans, which are built for labels and distributors that hold their own DSP contracts or their own Merlin Network membership. On Solo, Basic and Pro, LabelGrid’s own deals cover delivery to all major DSPs, so getting your music into stores never depends on holding a contract yourself.
Do you work with Merlin Network members?
Yes. LabelGrid is a Merlin Network member, and we work with Merlin Network members who use LabelGrid as their delivery solution. If you hold your own Merlin Network membership, those royalties are paid to you directly, not through LabelGrid. You keep 100% of those royalties, with no LabelGrid distribution fee taken from them. DSPs outside your Merlin licenses go out under our deals at your plan's retention, or under your own direct deal at 100%.
Direct deals and SOBO sit on the Custom and API plans, which are built for labels and distributors that hold their own DSP contracts or their own Merlin Network membership. On Solo, Basic and Pro, LabelGrid’s own deals cover delivery to all major DSPs, so getting your music into stores never depends on holding a contract yourself.
What about UGC?
For optional UGC / Content-ID monetization (such as on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, etc.) through LabelGrid's deals, we retain 20% on every distribution plan to cover Content ID monitoring, claim management and UGC platform administration. On your own direct (SOBO) deals, no UGC or Content ID fee applies.
Does AI-generated music cost extra to distribute?
No. AI-generated music is distributed at the same cost as any other release. The only requirement is accurate disclosure of AI involvement during upload.
CUSTOM & API
Custom Accounts & API Services
When do I keep 100% of royalties?
Retention depends on your plan and channel. You keep 85% on Solo and Basic and 90% on Pro on LabelGrid's DSP deals. On Custom and API plans you keep 95% on LabelGrid deals, and 100% when you distribute on your own direct deals (SOBO) or through your Merlin Network membership. UGC and Content ID monetization collected through LabelGrid's deals carries a 20% fee on every distribution plan; on your own direct (SOBO) deals, no UGC or Content ID fee applies.
Can I use my own DSP contracts?
On Custom and API plans, you can use the BYO-Deals option: we configure our system to deliver content on your behalf to Spotify, Apple, Deezer, or regional platforms, with revenue routed directly to you per your agreements. As part of our aggregation services, we can set up your account to use your direct deals where you have them and our deals where you don't, giving you the best of both worlds.
What happens if I outgrow the plan limits?
Plan limit behavior depends on your plan type. On standard plans (Solo, Basic, Pro), you upgrade to the next tier when you reach your limits. On the Custom plan, an overage is applied automatically to your next invoice. On API plans (Starter API, Growth API, Scale API), you upgrade to the next API tier. On Custom API, overages are handled flexibly based on your agreement. The monthly royalty figure on each API tier works the same way: it is the volume that tier is sized for, and passing it moves you to the next tier. It is not a ceiling on what you can earn. Cleared royalties are paid out monthly by bank transfer or wire. Our terms allow a minimum payout threshold; if one applies to your account we will let you know, and a balance below it carries forward to a later cycle.
How do label-portal add-on packs work?
Each plan bundles a set number of active label portals. Need more? Contact our support team and we will add a pack (5, 10 or 25) to your account. Packs activate instantly and can be removed at the next billing cycle if your roster shrinks.
How much does Imprint, the white-label portal, cost?
Imprint, the LabelGrid white-label portal, has custom pricing scoped at onboarding and sized to your roster, catalog volume and payout needs. Join the waiting list and pricing for your setup is part of the onboarding conversation.
Do the addons cost extra?
Three addons are optional and priced separately: LabelGrid Gate at $39/year as a standalone WordPress-integration plan (its features are already included with every standard and API plan), plus Preflight QC and Stream Radar, both priced on request. Everything else on this page is included in the plan price.
How do I import an existing catalogue?
Two routes, depending on how you work. On a standard plan, migration is handled with our team: contact us and we move your existing catalog across, including metadata, ISRCs and release history, and the bulk upload guide in the help center covers importing many releases in a single pass. No code and no XML on your side. For platforms building on Engine, there is also an Import endpoint in the API and an S3 endpoint for DDEX XML feeds, with import errors returned inline with XPath references so fixes take minutes. Either way, we generate ISRCs where they are missing and validate the metadata against DSP rules before anything ships.
What support and SLA do I get?
Every LabelGrid plan includes support: the help center, plus support tickets answered by our team, on Solo, Basic, Pro and Custom Distribution alike. The API plans add a contractual first-response service level on top. Starter API and Growth API target a first response within 2 business days. That is the target we hold ourselves to, not a queue you sit in. In practice the average response time is under 2 hours during business hours. Both figures are targets rather than per-ticket promises, and the two business days is the one we publish. Support runs on business days in working hours, and a person on our team writes the reply rather than a chatbot. Scale API adds a dedicated account manager under the same 2-business-day target. Custom API also includes a dedicated account manager, with support on terms agreed with you.
What royalty reporting and statements do I get?
Every statement carries DSP-level detail: which platform, how many streams, what rate, and what each party earned, broken down by release and track. You configure royalty splits once, per release or per track, and each party is credited automatically every cycle; committed expenses then reduce that balance until recoupment clears. Royalties are calculated in each platform's own currency and converted to your payout currency, so multi-currency earnings stay accurate. Export a statement as a PDF to send to the artist, or pull the transactions as CSV for your own books. Automated royalty splits are included on the Basic, Pro and Custom plans; the artist statements, expense ledger and recoupment that make up Artist Payouts are a separate feature on Basic and above, and white-label reporting carrying your own label's identity starts at Pro. LabelGrid pays your own cleared royalties out monthly by bank transfer or wire. Our terms allow a minimum payout threshold; if one applies to your account we will let you know.
How deep is the analytics, and can I get the data out?
Advanced analytics is included on every standard plan. Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, Deezer, Audiomack, Boomplay, AWA, KuGou, KuWo and QQ Music report into one set of views scoped to your labels, with forty-seven metric sections across streaming and social: plays, listeners and saves, streams by country with Apple city and storefront breakdowns, age and gender, completion and skip behaviour, device, OS and stream source, and the playlists a track landed in for Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer. Where a store does not report a metric, the dashboard marks it unavailable rather than printing a zero, weekly-reporting stores stay weekly instead of being spread across seven invented days, and partially reported days are marked partial. You can read it in the dashboard, query it from your own code through the public API, or ask an MCP-compatible AI assistant such as Claude or Cursor through the official open-source MCP server, which is on every API tier.
What support do I get on a standard plan?
Every plan, from Solo at $99/year up, includes the help center and support tickets answered by our team. The help center walks through common solutions first and then connects you with us. Replies come from our team during working hours on business days, so there is no chatbot and no overnight desk. Premium Support on Custom Distribution is a higher tier of that, not the only tier of it. Every plan also gets the two release checks: an automated validation that runs the moment you save and names the exact field and track when something fails, and a manual review by our team before the release reaches a store.
Is white-label branding available today?
Yes, two ways. White-label distribution is live now on every Engine API plan: you build your own front end on the REST API and your customers never see LabelGrid. Imprint is the no-code version of the same engine: your domain, your logo, your exact brand colours and fonts, layouts you choose rather than a fixed skin, your own subscription plans and prices, and billing on your own Stripe account with the money going straight to you. Imprint resellers are onboarded in order from the waiting list, and every new portal gets hands-on setup help. Pricing is scoped during that onboarding conversation.