What happens to DistroKid accounts when the owner dies

Not as a matter of right. The Terms of Service state "you may not rent, transfer, assign, resell or sublicense access to the Services to any third-party," and DistroKid's "Can I Transfer a Release Between DistroKid Accounts?" article states that "At this time, it is not possible to move releases between DistroKid accounts." The estate can still ask DistroKid to permit an executor or heir to take over the account, which DistroKid handles case-by-case with no published policy. The supported in-product route for handing a release to another person is a Split that routes 100 percent of the chosen tracks' earnings to the other DistroKid account, which DistroKid says leaves metadata, stats, playlist placements, and ISRCs unchanged on the original upload. Separately from the account question, the recordings themselves are inherited: the Distribution Agreement states in capitals that "DISTROKID DOESN'T TAKE ANY COPYRIGHT OR OTHER INTEREST IN ANY OF YOUR MUSIC, ONLY A LIMITED LICENSE TO DISTRIBUTE," so an heir who owns the copyrights can re-distribute them through DistroKid or another distributor.

Streaming services report earnings 1-2 months after the streaming period, so earnings from streams in a given month typically appear in the DistroKid Bank a few months later. DistroKid states it processes payout requests twice a week and that a submitted withdrawal can take up to 14 days from start to finish to reach the selected payout account via Tipalti (ACH, eCheck, local bank transfer or SEPA, paper check, wire, or PayPal). The minimum withdrawal is $6 USD, and the payout method must be set at distrokid.com/payouts before the withdraw button appears. Two points for an estate: DistroKid states earnings owed are still received after a lapsed subscription and that a deleted release still pays for the period it was live, so the balance does not evaporate; but DistroKid publishes no process for paying a balance to an estate, so the release of the balance is a case-by-case support request.

In the DistroKid Vault, if the artist uploaded through DistroKid. DistroKid states it automatically backs up every upload -- original master recordings, album artwork, and data including the DistroKid ISRCs and UPCs -- into a Vault at distrokid.com/vault, and that the Vault stays reachable by signing in without re-subscribing after a subscription is cancelled, although it notes that Vault access requires a valid credit card on file. For an estate this is the route to the underlying assets regardless of whether distribution continues, because an heir who owns the copyrights can re-distribute from the masters through DistroKid or any other distributor. Artists should still keep their own local copies rather than relying on it.