{"id":2295,"slug":"kenya-music-distributor-pricing","title":"What music distribution companies serving Kenyan artists actually charge, 2026","source":"Own pricing and policy pages of DistroKid, TuneCore, RouteNote and ONErpm, plus Mdundo's head of licensing operations quoted by TechTrends Kenya, checked 23 August 2026","source_url":"https:\/\/routenote.com\/pricing","source_type":"official","method":"Six self-serve or invite-free options a Kenyan artist can realistically use, checked 23 August 2026 against each company's own pricing or policy page. Kenya has no local self-serve flat-fee distributor with a published rate card: Dapstrem Entertainment, the most visible Kenya-based name, quotes package pricing on request rather than publishing self-serve tiers, so it is not in this table. Mdundo, the only Kenyan-founded platform in the set, does not publish a rate card either; its 50 per cent artist share is stated on the record by its own head of licensing operations, Muriuki Kiai, quoted in TechTrends Kenya on 10 September 2025 (techtrendske.co.ke), and corroborated by the same figure from Mdundo executives in Digital Music News and Music In Africa coverage. artist_keeps_pct is only populated where a company states an explicit revenue percentage; DistroKid's and RouteNote Premium's 'keep 100% of earnings' claims are stated as percentages and are counted, but TuneCore's 'you keep 100% ownership and control of your music' is an ownership claim, not a revenue share, and is left blank, matching the same distinction this desk drew in nigeria-distributor-disclosure. headline_price_kes converts headline_price_usd at 129.422589 KES per USD, the open.er-api.com mid rate retrieved 23 August 2026; it is not a bank or mobile-money rate and does not include any card or transfer fee a Kenyan artist would actually pay to send a US-dollar payment. Sources: distrokid.com\/pricing, tunecore.com\/pricing, routenote.com\/pricing and support.routenote.com\/kb-article\/how-much-does-routenote-cost, onerpm.com\/distribution-partners, techtrendske.co.ke\/2025\/09\/10\/kenyan-musicians-mdundo-earnings-sh64-million.","unit":"usd_and_kes","license":"Afrobeats Wire's compilation and analysis are licensed CC BY 4.0. Rights in the underlying source data remain with the source named above.","confidence":"high","retrieved":"2026-08-23 04:42:53","n":6,"first_party":0,"columns":[{"key":"company","label":"Company","type":"text"},{"key":"kenya_founded","label":"Kenya-founded","type":"text"},{"key":"pricing_model","label":"Pricing model","type":"text"},{"key":"headline_price_usd","label":"Headline price, US$","type":"number"},{"key":"headline_price_kes","label":"Headline price, KES","type":"number"},{"key":"artist_keeps_pct","label":"Artist keeps, % (where a rate is stated)","type":"number"},{"key":"what_it_says","label":"What the company's own page says","type":"text"}],"rows":[{"company":"Mdundo","kenya_founded":"Yes","pricing_model":"Revenue share, free to join","headline_price_usd":0,"headline_price_kes":0,"artist_keeps_pct":50,"what_it_says":"No published rate card; head of licensing operations states on the record that artists take home 50 per cent of what Mdundo generates, split by each artist's share of downloads"},{"company":"DistroKid","kenya_founded":"No","pricing_model":"Flat annual subscription, unlimited releases","headline_price_usd":24.99,"headline_price_kes":3234.27,"artist_keeps_pct":100,"what_it_says":"Musician plan, billed annually: keep 100% of earnings"},{"company":"TuneCore","kenya_founded":"No","pricing_model":"Flat annual subscription, unlimited releases","headline_price_usd":24.99,"headline_price_kes":3234.27,"artist_keeps_pct":null,"what_it_says":"Rising Artist plan: 100% ownership and control, an ownership claim rather than a stated revenue percentage"},{"company":"RouteNote (Free plan)","kenya_founded":"No","pricing_model":"Revenue share, free to join","headline_price_usd":0,"headline_price_kes":0,"artist_keeps_pct":85,"what_it_says":"Free to use: 85% of the net revenue RouteNote receives from usage of your music"},{"company":"RouteNote (Premium, single)","kenya_founded":"No","pricing_model":"Pay-per-release, then keep everything","headline_price_usd":10,"headline_price_kes":1294.23,"artist_keeps_pct":100,"what_it_says":"One-off fee per single, then 100% of streaming and download revenue; $9.99 a year to keep the release on Premium after year one"},{"company":"ONErpm","kenya_founded":"No","pricing_model":"Revenue share, free upfront","headline_price_usd":0,"headline_price_kes":0,"artist_keeps_pct":85,"what_it_says":"We always deliver your music to our distribution partners for free; you keep 85% of the royalties on every track you distribute"}]}