Prominent DIY distributor DistroKid is planning to lay off 37 employees at the beginning of November.
That’s according to the DistroKid Union, which announced via Instagram over the weekend that “DistroKid plans to lay off 50% of its unionized staff on Nov. 2nd.”
The statement added: “This decision impacts 37 dedicated employees, including 5 of the 7 bargaining committee members. No non-union staff have been placed on administrative leave.”
DistroKid has previously claimed to be the “world’s largest distributor of independent music” and estimates that it distributes 30-40% of all new music in the world.
The company says that its platform is used by more than 2 million artists.
News of the layoffs first appeared in Billboard, which reported that it’s DistroKid’s customer service teams who have been impacted by the move.
A DistroKid spokesperson told Billboard that the platform “is committed to continuously enhancing support for independent artists around the world by expanding to 24/7 customer service with faster response times”.
“We have identified solutions that allow us to deliver more scalable and exceptional service, ensuring that artists around the globe receive the high-quality support they deserve.”
DistroKid spokesperson
The statement added: “To achieve this, we have identified solutions that allow us to deliver more scalable and exceptional service, ensuring that artists around the globe receive the high-quality support they deserve. This includes considering difficult decisions that may affect valued team members as we continue our focus on providing the best artist experience possible.”
Citing the union, Billboard reports that the employees impacted will be “replace[d]…with overseas labor” and that the cuts have affected around a “fourth” of the company’s workforce, although a separate source told the publication that ‘the total is closer to 15%’ of workers impacted.
DistroKid employees appear to have joined the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-Communications Workers of America (NABET-CWA) union in April.
In a statement issued at the time, NABET-CWA claimed that “workers at the company were subjected to a ferocious anti-union campaign that included multiple, one-on-one anti-union meetings and near-constant anti-union propaganda” and that “the company president also sent several anti-union letters to workers”.
The statement added: “Despite attempts to dissuade workers, they returned a vote 45-28 in favor of joining NABET-CWA. This effort succeeded due to the unified efforts of the organizing committee, which kept the entire campaign hidden from management until it went public, a rare early coup for the team. They also give credit to President of NABET-CWA Local 51016 Bill Bores for his unfaltering support. Dunau specifically thanked CWA District 9 Assistant Director of Organizing Yonah Diamond for consistent guidance during the 18-month campaign.”
DistroKid workers all work remotely but joined the NABET-CWA’s Local 51016 office based in New York.
The statement issued by the DistroKid union via Instagram over the weekend claimed that “after previously agreeing to allow union members to observe bargaining, DistroKid now does not want to meet with us if viewers are present”.
It added: “These layoffs aim to save a few million dollars, less than 0.2% of its $1.3 billion valuation.”
DistroKid accepted an investment from Insight Partners in August 2021, which valued the distribution platform at USD $1.3 billion.
Following that transaction, Boston-based growth equity firm Silversmith Capital Partners, which led DistroKid’s first outside investment in 2018, retained “a meaningful ownership position” and remained on DistroKid’s board.
Spotify retained its minority stake in DistroKid when it received the Insight Partners investment; a few months later, SPOT offloaded two-thirds of its stake for $167 million.Music Business Worldwide