According to Luminate’s 2024 Midyear Music Report, 62.1% of tracks played between 1 million and 10 million times on streaming services in the US in H1 2024 were handled by indie distribution companies.
In the same period (H1 2024), indie distribution companies also handled 37.4% of tracks played between 10 million and 50 million times, and 22.1% of tracks played between 50 million and 100 million times.
Furthermore, the independent (i.e., non-major-distribution) sector grew its market share in each of those categories in H1 2024 versus the second half of 2023.
The traditional record industry is evidently taking notice. Warner Music Group confirmed in March that it was considering making an acquisition bid for TuneCore parent Believe, but on April 6, WMG announced that it had decided not to pursue a bid for the company.
In recent months, we’ve also seen major music company investment directed toward platforms providing distribution plus artist and label services in high-potential ’emerging markets’.
WMG, for example, snapped up a minority stake in Brazil’s Sua Musica last summer, while Universal acquired UAE-based Chabaka Music in August 2023.
“If you look at how the market has shifted, record labels are realizing they can’t sign as many artist deals. So they’re signing distribution deals,” says Ditto Music CEO Lee Parsons, commenting on the rise of the indie distribution sector.
“That just shows you where [the market] is going,” he adds. “It’s not going to go backward. The value of the digital distributor is very underappreciated.”
Founded 15 years ago by British musicians, brothers, and co-CEOs Matt and Lee Parsons, Ditto Music is a prominent player in the global indie distribution and services sector.
The company rivals the likes of TuneCore, UnitedMasters and DistroKid. But unlike its biggest competitors, Ditto is still 100% ownedby its founders — a unique model for a large-scale platform in this space.
Ditto hit the 1 million user mark in July 2023, and at the start of 2025, the company’s co-CEOs confirm that their distribution and services business has now surpassed the 2 million registered artists milestone.
Lee Parsons tells us the platform is experiencing “extraordinary growth for a distribution company.”
Ditto offers three subscription plans, with prices ranging from £19 per year for the DIY artist-focused Starter plan to £59 per year for the Pro plan, which offers additional services for self-releasing acts. The company offers a ‘Labels’ plan for independent labels with rosters of five artists (priced at £89 per month) to £319 per year for an indie label with a roster of 40 artists.
In addition to Ditto’s core distribution model, the company operates a Music Publishing administration and Sync Licensing service for Ditto Pro subscribers featuring a dashboard that lets users pitch their music for movies, TV, etc.
Established in 2021, Ditto Music Publishing already collects over $1 million per year in royalties for its artists, while Ditto Sync has secured syncs with major brands, broadcasters and streaming services including Netflix, HBO, EA Sports and the BBC among others.
Ditto also runs an artist management unit led by Head of Ditto MGMT Matt Dodds, and, what Parsons tells us, is an “organically growing” label services division headed by Global Head of Label Services Chris Mooney (an ex-Tunecore VP).
Ditto Plus Label Services offers licensing and distribution deals to promising acts discovered through the company’s subscription service and further afield.
“We’re growing something sustainable for the long term, which is what we set out to do.”
Lee Parsons, Ditto
The “extraordinary growth” Lee Parsons says Ditto has experienced coincides with an aggressive global expansion of the company’s services over the past year, focusing on key markets in Africa, Southeast Asia, India, and Latin America.
In two high-potential markets in the Americas, Mexico and Brazil, Ditto says it saw revenue growth of 121% YoY and 60% YoY, respectively, in 2024.
Further evidence of the company’s growing presence in the global Spanish-language music sector can be seen in its operations in Spain, where Ditto reports to have grown its revenues by 68%YoY in 2024.
Meanwhile, Parsons notes that Ditto is also “very well positioned” in India, a country expected to overtake the United States as the largest streaming territory by volume in 2024. Ditto saw 61% YoY revenue growth in India in 2024.
Plus, revenues generated by the company’s operations across the African continent grew 70% YoY in 2024. Ditto’s success on the African continent is significant given the wider region’s growing potential in the global music industry. Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was the fastest-growing music region in 2023. (It was also the fastest-growing music region in 2022.)
South Africa, the largest recorded music market within Sub-Saharan Africa in 2023 and the birthplace of the global Amapiano phenomenon, is Ditto’s third-largest market in terms of user numbers, after the United States and the UK, respectively.
“Africa is a big market for Ditto,” says Lee Parsons. “We’ve had huge growth [in Africa] on the subscription side.”
The company’s user growth and global expansion follow a series of recent artist success stories, like rising British superstar Myles Smith, who released tracks including Solo and My Home with Ditto. According to the company, Smith has achieved over 500 million streams to date across his Ditto releases.
Ditto has also seen a number of successes from artists in key emerging markets, from Southeast Asia to Sub-Saharan Africa.
Filipino indie band Sunkissed Lola, for example, who Ditto notes have worked with the company their entire career, hit No.1 on the Spotify Global Viral 50 chart with their hit Pasilyo – one of the most-streamed songs of all time by a Filipino artist
Canada-based Punjabi-language hiphop star KaranAujla achieved over 500million streams for music released via Ditto in 2024 with tracks like Winning Speech and the Four MeEP.
Nigerian Afrobeats star Darkoo has achieved over 200 million streams for her single Favourite Girl, which hit No.1 on the Global Afrobeats Shazam Chart, No.2 on the UK Afrobeats Chart, and No.8 on the US Billboard Afrobeats Chart.
On the Publishing side, Ditto also works with prominent artists such as Potter Payper, as well as clients who have cuts with household names like Doja Cat, Drake and Prince.
In addition to these recent successes, Ditto’s founders and co-CEOs point out that global superstars, including Chance the Rapper, Dave, Stormzy, and others, have previously released music through Ditto.
Beyond the company’s expansion in key global markets, Ditto pins its user growth on its tech investments in recent years.
“The whole team has been working really hard on making it a great user experience, right from signing up to getting royalties and doing split payments,” says Lee Parsons. “Everything an artist needs is now on the website.”
Ditto users also have access to music promotion services, from playlisting and press to social strategy and sponsored advertising. Other tech tools offered by Ditto include an AI-powered mastering tool, and the company’s founders have revealed that they will be launching a proprietary AI-powered tool to calculate artist advances in the coming weeks.
“We’ve been working very hard and very aggressively to position ourselves in all the different [sectors], from publishing to label services and management so that we have an all-round grasp of the music industry, beyond just music distribution,” says Lee Parsons.
“But actually, while we’ve been doing that, the distribution [side of the business] has grown so fast that it’s clearly going to go into another phase now. We’re seeing an explosion.”
Reflecting on the company’s growth to date and its positioning in the wider distribution sector, Parsons says: “We’re growing something sustainable for the long term, which is what we set out to do.”Music Business Worldwide
