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Landr Music Distribution: Comprehensive Review and Guide

Making music is a complex process, from writing to distribution. If you’re new in the industry, it’s heartbreaking when you pour all your effort into making good music, and it never reaches enough audience to gain traction.

Novice artists often think of YouTube or Soundcloud to try and deliver their music to a big audience. However, you need a prominent following first; otherwise, you won’t find the success you’re seeking on these platforms.

In our modern era, the best way to get your piece heard by the masses is by investing in music distribution services. And one of the most popular distribution services is Landr, which aims to help amateur and small creators unlock their full potential as professional artists.

So if you’re unaware of Landr, follow along in this article as we review it in detail to help you decide if it’s the solution for you.

Landr Distribution Review

Landr Distribution is an online platform that publishes and distributes your music on all major music streaming and downloading platforms. Due to Landr’s excellent interface, which includes a handy release builder, publishing your music on all of these platforms is a breeze, straight from your studio. Even after you’ve released your song, Landr’s UI makes it simple to track how it’s doing on each platform.

In short, Landr Distribution allows you to focus solely on writing and production, leaving the boring bits of your work to this AI-powered platform.

How Does Landr Work?

Releasing your music through Landr Distribution is a very straightforward process, and we’ll walk you through it here.

  1. Open the Landr web app or desktop app.
  2. If you don’t already have an account, sign up and choose your pricing plan.
  3. Log into your account.
  4. Go to your track library by clicking on the Library tab.
  5. Click on the master button on the top left corner to reveal all the mastering options.
  6. Click on tracks, and select the track from your computer.

Alternatively, you can drag and drop the track from your computer to the library, and the app will start mastering and building automatically.

Key Features Explained in Detail

When a platform stands out in any industry, it’s usually because it provides key features that make the life of its users simpler. 

This is the case with Landr Distribution – it’s so popular among amateur and small music creators because it offers several features that make it stand out among music distribution platforms. Now let’s look at some of the prominent ones.

Selective Worldwide Distribution

No matter where you’re based, what language your lyrics are in, or what culture your music caters to, Landr will distribute your music to all the relevant music streaming platforms worldwide. But, of course, you need to have the full rights to the music first so that Landr can distribute your release.

We’re all accustomed to Spotify, Apple Music, and the like in the west. But Landr gives you more options – you can release on platforms like Tencent, QQMusic, KuGou, and Kuwo, which are popular in China; Yandex, popular in Russia; Anghami, popular in the Middle East, and more. 

Keep in mind that worldwide releasing is automatic. This means that you may need to tweak the settings if you want to restrict your music to a few countries or don’t want your music on some of the platforms that Landr offers. You can do so in the release builder.

AI Mastering

If you don’t master your music manually or through another platform, Landr has that area covered as well, so you don’t need to worry!

Landr was initially founded in 2014 as an automated mastering platform. And the mastering engine itself took years to develop before it was launched.

After Landr Mastering was launched, it earned a good reputation as an AI-powered online instant mastering service, so you can rely on it to perfect your music’s sound.

However, the mastering tool isn’t part of the distribution’s subscription plans – you’d have to pay another subscription fee for it. So the question here is, is it worth it?

Well, it depends. If you manually master your music, the process usually takes a few hours of fine-tuning until you reach a good result. On the other hand, automated mastering is instant, so you’d be saving a ton of time with Landr’s mastering tool – time that you can dedicate to other work.

But then again, if you don’t need to master frequently, you might be better off doing it manually and saving the subscription fee.

A third option is to buy a mastering subscription plan that suits your needs. And just like its distribution plans, Landr offers varied mastering plans to accommodate different users.

The most basic mastering plan gives you two masters a month and costs $79 per year, while the most advanced one is $299 a year and gives you unlimited masters. So you’re most likely going to find your match somewhere between those two.

Either way, Landr’s mastering plans are less expensive than paying someone else to do it for you. But if you’re already subscribed to a third-party mastering tool, you can stick with it for now.

Networking

Networking is a relatively new feature in Landr, and as the name suggests, it’s a tool that helps you build networks. Now, why is that useful?

As an artist, it’s helpful to have other artists, producers, writers, designers, or others, only a phone call away since you can always hire their services when you need them, and they can also hire you if you opt-in.

In all fairness, the Landr Network has many creative minds in the community. So if you’re an already established musician, you can find some nice gigs on the Landr Network. Even if you’re a beginner, you’ll find someone to hire at a bargain price here and there.

However, it’s usually better to build your network independently so that your supply doesn’t depend on one platform, especially when there are already other tools that may help you.

We’re not trying to tell you not to use Landr Network, but keep the other services in mind and consider branching out.

Remember what they say, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Sessions

In any creative field, working with someone else is sometimes the most efficient way to draw some inspiration and achieve quality work that benefits both parties.

For many people, the ideal way to collaborate is to meet up and do your work in person. But sometimes, that’s not an option, especially with the ongoing pandemic. And that’s where Landr Sessions comes in.

Landr Sessions allows you to seamlessly stream high-quality audio right from your Digital Audio Workstation to your collaborators. It works similar to online meeting platforms such as Zoom or Google Meet but is optimized for remote music collaboration.

Also, Sessions work both ways – you can both stream and send audio to each other any time during a project, provided you both have the plugin connected in your master output.

And the best part is, Landr Sessions are entirely free. So whenever you’re collaborating with another creator, you don’t need to bother yourself setting up the audio output in platforms like Zoom, Skype, or others, as you already have this free handy tool at your disposal. 

Projects

Landr Projects is another helpful collaboration tool. It gives artists access to a shared library to modify the tracks, listen to them, leave comments, or keep track of any changes.

It works like Google Docs or GitHub, but for musicians.

As a project owner, you can invite others either as viewers or collaborators through the “Share” button. Of course, you can also manage their permissions individually. But generally, viewers can view, listen to, and comment on files, while collaborators can add, edit, or delete project files, plus whatever viewers can do.

When you’re done with a project, you can archive it as it is, and your collaborators won’t be able to modify it. Just be careful because once a project is archived, it can’t be re-opened.

Plugins

This is another new feature in Landr. Plugins add some spice to your music-making adventure.

Currently, the plugins market is a little dry, but it’s been growing steadily since its introduction, and we expect that it won’t be long until there’s a plugin for most people’s needs.

Plugins aren’t free, though. Instead, they work as a subscription-based or rent-to-own service. Once you buy them, you can use them actively or deactivate them if you’re working on another project any time through the dashboard.

If you’d like to cancel your plugin plan, contact the Landr support team, and they’ll do it for you.

Soundcloud Distribution

Many music distribution platforms tend to ignore Soundcloud. But Landr is different – different to the extent that it formed a partnership with Soundcloud.

What does this mean for artists?

It means that you can distribute and monetize your music on Soundcloud using a unique Content ID with zero commission going to Landr. Plus, you get specialized Landr mastering fine-tuned for Soundcloud.

Although, to be honest, this “mastering to Soundcloud” thing isn’t that big a deal as most sites’ standards are close enough to each other. Still, it’s nice to have it at your disposal.

Keep in mind that “mastering to Soundcloud” isn’t free, you’ll need a mastering plan for that, and honestly, it’s not worth it to buy one just for Soundcloud.

Samples

If your inspiration is running thin and you’re at a loss, perhaps you need to listen to someone else for a change.

That’s precisely how Landr Samples can help you with its extensive royalty-free library of over a million production-quality samples.

You can find samples of one-shots, loops, chords, and more, all that you can use for inspiration.

And using the power of artificial intelligence, Landr Samples recommends specific bits that match what you’re looking for, and you can tweak that through a selection tool as well.

Bear in mind that Samples isn’t free. You have to buy credits from Landr to spend on samples.

And while you can work with the samples you get and integrate them in your commercial projects, you can’t use them as raw bits for your monetary gain. So keep that in mind if you’re considering Landr Samples.

Social Media Monetization

Last but not least, monetization on social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Soundcloud, and Instagram is a great feature to increase your passive income. In addition, you can opt-in to allow Landr to monetize your tracks, if eligible, at no extra charge.

However, for all platforms except Soundcloud, Landr will collect a commission based on your subscription plan.

Also, checkout our post on Songtradr review

Landr Pricing

The most confusing feature in Landr is arguably its pricing plans.

For starters, you can sign up on Landr and explode the app for free, and you also have two free low-quality MP3 masters per month. But for everything else, you’ll be prompted to pick an annual subscription plan.

There are three subscription plans to pick from: Lite, Complete, and Unlimited.

Before we get into the gist of plans, we need to define some terms to ensure we’re all on the same page.

By Landr’s definition, a single release is 1-3 songs, each less than 10 minutes in length. Meanwhile, an EP is either 1-3 songs, one of which is 10 minutes or more, with an overall length of 30 minutes or less, or 4-6 songs less than 30 minutes long in total. Finally, an album is any number of songs that are more than 30 minutes in length.

Next up, when we say “commission,” we’re referring to the percentage of income you make through distribution that goes to Landr’s pockets.

Alright, now let’s talk about each plan in detail.

The Lite plan isn’t subscription-based since this plan’s annual fee is a meager $0. However, you still pay for each release—specifically, $9 per single release and $29 per EP or album. On top of that, Landr collects a handsome 15% commission on your streaming income.

Many people find the Lite plan attractive at first because you pay on demand instead of a fee, but it’s not that simple. Generally, we’d recommend the Lite plan for those who don’t release very often. But for everyone else, you should explore other options.

For most artists, the Complete plan is their cup of tea because, for $20 a year, your upload costs are reduced substantially, compared to Lite, to $5 per single release and $19 per EP or album. Besides, Landr’s commission off your streaming income goes down to 9%.

Additionally, the Complete plan accommodates up to three artists, so you could end up paying under $7 a year – a no-brainer in our books!

Lastly, we have the Unlimited plan. At $89 per year, Unlimited costs about 4.5 times as much as Complete.

Yet, we’d argue that the Unlimited plan is worth it for specific artists or teams of artists. You probably would agree, too, when you consider the unlimited free uploads on single releases, EPs, and albums, as well as the zero Landr commission.

Moreover, Unlimited accommodates up to seven artists, so you could end up paying a bit under $13 a year for unlimited releases and 0% commission.

How Long Does It Take Landr to Release Your Music?

On Landr’s end, regardless of your plan, it takes two business days to review your release.

However, that’s not accounting for the time it takes each platform to process the release on their end. As you might expect, this processing time is varied and is out of the distributor’s control, so we shouldn’t judge Landr or any other distribution platform for this.

And to be fair, two business days is a very competitive review time in this industry, so we’ll pat Landr on the back for that.

How Do Payouts Work With Landr?

Landr takes a percentage commission of your streaming income based on your plan, and the rest goes to you. As we previously mentioned, this commission is either 15%, 9%, or 0% for the Lite, Complete, and Unlimited plans, respectively.

You receive your money through PayPal at a 2% fee. However, the fee can’t be higher than $25 or lower than 25 cents. Either way, we’d recommend you withdraw your money in bulks to save a bit on fees.

Furthermore, the minimum payout threshold is just $1! This is amazingly low, considering most music distributors set it at around $50, which sometimes means small creators will have some change frozen in their accounts.

Landr Pros

  • Music distribution to all the popular music streaming and downloading platforms.
  • Sampling from other creators can help you get inspired. 
  • Fully optimized Soundcloud distribution through a partnership.
  • Easy-to-use interface on the web app and desktop app.
  • Affordable plans with fair commissions each.
  • Available and responsive customer service.

Landr Cons

  • Confusing pricing plans.
  • No publishing administration.
  • No cover song licensing.

Landr Review Bottom Line: Is Landr Worth It?

In our opinion, the variety between Landr Distribution’s three plans can definitely help you whether you’re a beginner looking to gain some traction, an amateur musician willing to expand, or a professional seeking easier distribution.

Landr releases your music on virtually all the relevant music streaming and downloading platforms you can think of and allows you to track your progress on each of them individually, effectively taking a load of tedious work off your shoulders.

Moreover, the partnership between Landr and Soundcloud, which allows Landr to master your track to Soundcloud’s settings, is handy for expanding on a vast platform that other distributors often neglect.

Besides, Landr Distribution is pretty affordable, so you should give it a shot and see how it works out for you.