Online music distribution startup Kid Distro Holdings LLC, best known as Distrokid, today said it has raised an undisclosed amount of new funding to fuel the continued development of its tools.

The funding came from Insight Partners and valued the company at $1.3 billion, giving Distrokid unicorn status for the first time.

Founded in 2003 as a spinoff from Fandalism, a social networking site for musicians, Distrokid is an online service for musicians that distribute their music into online stores so that people can buy it or listen to it. Pitched as the only service that allows people to upload unlimited music to stores for one low price, the service was designed for solo musicians, bands, DJs and producers who record music at home or in a studio.

Distrokid providers support for Spotify Technology SA, Apple Music, TikTok, Pandora Media Inc., Amazon.com Inc., YouTube, Tidal, iHeartRadio, Deezer and various other stores and streaming services. Those using the service keep 100% of their earnings, paid monthly, with Distrokid charging a flat rate of $19.99 per year to upload unlimited albums and songs.

The service also supports earning “splits” to automatically route any percentage of earnings, from any track to anyone. Features include the ability to distribute cover songs legally, get paid when other people use the creator’s music on YouTube, and unlimited backups.

Distrokid also provides management services including instant Spotify verified checkmark, management of Apple Music pages, credits and lyrics added to stores, a music video generator and a YouTube Official Artist Channel.

The company says its competitors change at least two times its flat annual fee just to upload one album. As such, Distrokid has found a willing audience and now claims to distribute more than a third of all new music globally.

“My goal since founding DistroKid was to build great things for musicians,” founder and Chief Executive Officer Philip Kaplan said in a statement. “Our growth has been wild, but the mission hasn’t changed.”

Kaplan is a regular startup founder. First known in the startup world as the founder of the now-defunct publication F**ked Company, he founded advertising service AdBrite and app incubator ADHD Labs.

Trying to get a solid figure for how much Distrokid has raised to date is impossible as the company never discloses the amount of its venture capital rounds — a bit ironic given that Kaplan has a history of exposing company information while authoring F**ked Company.

Known investors include Silversmith Capital Partners, the first outside company to invest in Distrokid in 2018, while Spotify also took a minority stake in the company the same year.

Image: Distrokid