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How Clearlane stacks up.
The same money, fewer surprises. Competitor figures are as published in September 2026 and should be re-checked before you quote them.
| Feature | clearlane | DistroKid | CD Baby | Clearlane's advantage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $29 per year, unlimited releases. Artist Plus $19/month adds Enrich and a fan hub. | From about $23 per year for unlimited uploads, with add-ons priced per release. | Pay per release: $9.99 per single, $29.99 per album, plus annual fees for add-ons. | One flat plan with codes, verification and green-lane delivery included. No per-release add-ons. |
| Royalty share | 100% of master royalties on direct plans. Tenant labels set their own split, shown on every statement. | 100% of royalties kept by the artist. | Takes a 9% commission on streaming and sales revenue. | Keep everything, and see exactly where each dollar goes, including sample owners. |
| Verification | Identity and rights checked before delivery. Every release carries a Human Creator Certificate. | Open upload. Content filtered after submission, which is where false positives and holds come from. | Open upload with review on flagged content. | Verified releases skip the review queue. Holds always name the reason and the fix. |
| Sample clearance | Built in. Registered samples are detected at ingest and licensed in minutes with preset terms. | Not offered. Uncleared samples lead to takedowns. | Not offered. Artists clear samples themselves. | The only distributor where a sample match is a license offer, not a takedown. |
| UPC / ISRC codes | Free and automatic, exportable if you ever leave. | Included. | Must purchase UPCs, around $20 each. | Codes are yours, assigned on save, and travel with the catalog. |
| Direct-to-fan | Fan hub, merch, presales and fan capture on every release. 8% platform fee on sales. | Limited storefront features. | Separate store products at extra cost. | A release is a storefront on day one, not a separate product to set up. |
| Advances | $500 to $20,000 against your own streaming history, full cost shown before you accept. | Not offered. | Not offered. | Cash flow for marketing and touring without leaving the platform. |
| Support | Human review queue with SLAs. Every hold has an appeal path. | Email support; holds often resolved without a stated reason. | Long-standing brand; support speed is a common complaint. | You never see "flagged for review" without the reason next to it. |
DistroKid and CD Baby are trademarks of their owners. Clearlane is not affiliated with either.