Planning ahead for your DistroKid accounts
DistroKid LLC accounts cannot be transferred and have no beneficiary option — here is what you can do while the account is active
DistroKid Support
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Transfer of accounts after death is not guaranteed under DistroKid LLC's terms. Lifetime planning offers a more reliable way to manage and share accounts while the account is active.
How to protect your DistroKid accounts
Here are 9 steps to protect and manage your DistroKid accounts while the account is active:
1
Add the "Leave a Legacy" album extra to releases worth keeping live. Leave a Legacy is a per-release upsell that keeps that release on streaming services even after a lapsed membership payment or a cancelled subscription. It must be added to each release individually (not all releases at once) and is not available for DistroVid uploads. Without it, releases are removed when the subscription lapses.
2
Configure Splits at distrokid.com/teams to route royalty percentages to family members or heirs. Splits send earnings directly to designated recipients. Non-DistroKid users need either their own subscription or the $10/year option you can pay on their behalf so they can collect and withdraw earnings.
3
Register the recorded music and underlying compositions with a performing rights organization (ASCAP, BMI, or SESAC) and the Mechanical Licensing Collective at themlc.com. These royalty streams are independent of DistroKid; PRO and MLC accounts pay out directly to the registered rights holder, which means the family can keep collecting performance and mechanical royalties even if the DistroKid subscription lapses.
4
Note that you hold a DistroKid account and which email it uses, so your executor can identify it. Since DistroKid has no formal estate process, account access is the most reliable path to managing the catalog and withdrawing earnings.
5
Keep the subscription payment method active. Set up auto-renewal and use a card or bank account the executor can monitor or replace. A rejected charge triggers takedowns for any release without Leave a Legacy.
6
Withdraw accumulated earnings regularly from distrokid.com/bank. Do not let a large balance sit in the DistroKid Bank -- the estate's ability to access it without account credentials is limited and undocumented.
7
Keep local master copies of all audio files, artwork, and metadata. If a release is ever taken down, having the originals lets an heir re-distribute through DistroKid or another distributor without rebuilding from scratch.
8
Document the catalog in your estate plan: number of releases, estimated monthly streaming revenue, which releases carry Leave a Legacy, Splits configurations, and PRO/MLC registrations. This lets the executor understand the asset's value and the recurring upkeep required to maintain it.
9
Plan around the no-release-transfer rule. DistroKid's "Can I Transfer a Release Between DistroKid Accounts?" article states it is not possible to move releases between accounts. If you want a specific track to belong to a different DistroKid account (e.g., the band's account vs. yours) after death, set up a Split now that routes 100% of that track's earnings to the intended successor account.
Family sharing
DistroKid accounts are tied to an email address and password with no formal account-transfer mechanism and no multi-user delegate or family-sharing feature. The "Splits" feature (managed at distrokid.com/teams) routes royalties automatically to collaborators, producers, or other named recipients based on configurable percentages -- each song or album can have its own Splits team, and collaborators only see their own percentage. When inviting a non-DistroKid user to a Split, the inviter can pay $10/year so the recipient can collect and withdraw without a full DistroKid subscription; otherwise the recipient needs their own subscription (a 50% first-year discount applies). Splits are the closest in-product mechanism to estate planning: configuring Splits to route a percentage of royalties to family members ensures earnings flow to the right people even if account access is lost.
Should you save your passwords for your family?
Some people store account passwords so a family member can sign in later. The practice has three practical limits:
- Two-factor authentication often blocks it. Most accounts require a second factor — a code sent to a phone, an authenticator app, a passkey, or a physical key. A saved password alone frequently does not grant access, and the recovery codes that would are easy to lose or let go stale.
- It usually conflicts with the platform's terms. Most operators prohibit account sharing and signing in as another person, including after a death. Stored credentials are not the operator's recognized access path, and using them can violate the terms of service.
- Operators provide other paths. Where an operator offers a designation tool — Apple's Legacy Contact, Google's Inactive Account Manager, a beneficiary designation — that mechanism grants access the operator recognizes. A password manager's own emergency-access or legacy feature passes credentials through a controlled process. Digital assets named in a will or trust give a fiduciary authority under each state's Revised Uniform Fiduciary Access to Digital Assets Act (RUFADAA).
Listing the DistroKid account in an estate inventory identifies it for a fiduciary, who works through the operator's official channels to manage or close it.
DistroKid does not support beneficiary designations. Unlike financial accounts, there is no way to name a beneficiary on this type of account.
Sources
Data sourced from DistroKid LLC primary sources (19 pages reviewed). How we research.
DistroKid Support
WebsiteSubmit claim online →
HoursEmail and help center only; no published phone support
(General customer service)
Verified Jun 2026
