TikTok fast-tracks artist account creation for DistroKid members

TikTok is partnering with the music distribution service DistroKid to fast-track the creation of artist accounts for members.

The ByteDance-owned short video platform introduced an Artist Account feature last year to let musicians showcase their new music along with their music catalog on the platform and behind-the-scenes footage. Typically, it takes up to 30 days for TikTok to process documents when an artist applies for this tag.

Now, TikTok is offering DistroKid Members — who are paying a $22.99 annual subscription fee — to get registered as an artist within hours.

“It’s now faster than ever for any artist to create their official TikTok Artist Account directly through DistroKid, reducing the process from weeks to just hours,” said Phil Bauer, president of DistroKid, in a statement.

“Building on our long history of collaboration, DistroKid members now have unique access to tools and features for promoting their music on TikTok’s leading discovery platform,” he added.

Last October, ByteDance partnered with DistroKid to allow independent artists to directly make their songs available on both TikTok Music and video editing app CapCut.

While TikTok and DistroKid have been long-term partners, ByteDance also runs a rival music distribution service called SoundOn, which launched in 2022.