What Does Your DistroKid CSV Actually Mean? A Field-by-Field Breakdown
DistroKid's earnings CSV can look overwhelming at first glance. Here's exactly what each column means — and how to use the data to calculate what your collaborators are owed.
When you download your earnings from DistroKid's Bank page, you get a CSV file with a lot of columns. For most artists, the only one that matters immediately is Earnings (USD) — but understanding the rest of the file unlocks a much clearer picture of where your money is coming from.
How to Download Your DistroKid CSV
Log into DistroKid, go to your Bank page, and look for the “Download a CSV” link. You can filter by date range before exporting. The downloaded file is what you upload to the Song Royalty Calculator to calculate your splits.
The Key Columns Explained
Title
The name of the song or track this row relates to. DistroKid reports one row per song per store per reporting period, so a popular track will have many rows — one for Spotify, one for Apple Music, one for Amazon, and so on. The calculator automatically aggregates all rows for the same title into a single total.
Artist
The artist name associated with the release. If you release under multiple artist names, this helps identify which project each earning belongs to.
Album / Label
The album or release name and the label (usually your own name or your DistroKid team name). Useful for filtering if you have a large back catalogue.
UPC and ISRC
The UPC is the barcode identifier for the release (album or single). The ISRC is the unique identifier for the specific recording. You'll rarely need these for royalty splits, but they're useful if you're registering with a performing rights organisation or tracking a specific recording across platforms.
Store
Which platform the earnings came from — Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, TikTok, and so on. This is useful for understanding which platforms are driving your income, but for royalty split purposes, you typically want the total across all stores.
Sale Month
The month the streams or downloads occurred. Note that DistroKid pays out on a delay — earnings from one month may not appear in your CSV until several months later.
Earnings (USD)
This is the core figure — the amount DistroKid is paying you for that row (song + store + month). These are already converted to USD. When you upload your CSV to the Song Royalty Calculator, all Earnings (USD) values for the same song are summed together to give you a single total per track, ready for splitting.
Quantity
The number of streams or downloads that generated the earnings in that row. Useful context for understanding your per-stream rate, but not used in the royalty split calculation.
Why the Same Song Appears on Hundreds of Rows
A single song earning money across multiple platforms across multiple months will generate a large number of rows in your CSV. This is completely normal. The raw CSV is designed for accounting, not for human readability. The Song Royalty Calculator handles this by grouping all rows with the same title and summing the earnings — giving you one clean total per song.
DistroKid legacy format: Older DistroKid exports use a tab-separated (TSV) format with slightly different column names. The Song Royalty Calculator handles both formats automatically — no manual configuration needed.
From CSV to Collaborator Payouts
Once you understand what's in the file, the next step is turning the per-song totals into individual payouts for your co-writers, producers, and featured artists.
Upload your DistroKid CSV and see a breakdown of what each collaborator is owed — free, instant, and private.
Open the Free CalculatorFrequently Asked Questions
Why does DistroKid show the same song on many rows?
DistroKid reports one row per song per store per reporting month. A song earning across Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon over three months will have at least nine rows. The Song Royalty Calculator automatically aggregates these into a single total per song.
Why is my DistroKid CSV a TSV file?
Older DistroKid exports used tab-separated values (TSV) rather than comma-separated values (CSV). Both formats are supported by the Song Royalty Calculator and are detected automatically.
Why is there a delay between streams and payouts?
Streaming platforms report earnings to distributors on a delay, often two to three months after the streams occur. DistroKid then processes and pays these out, which is why your current CSV may not reflect recent streaming activity.
Does the calculator support multiple DistroKid formats?
Yes. The Song Royalty Calculator supports both the current comma-separated CSV format and the older legacy TSV format from DistroKid. The format is detected automatically when you upload.