How Many DSPs Are There and Which Ones Actually Matter

There are more than 200 digital service providers (DSPs) that a distributor can, in theory, push your music to. Most labels and artists will never sell a single stream on the vast majority of them. The real question isn’t “how do I get on all of them” – it’s which handful actually reach the listeners who matter for your genre and your market, and which distributor gets you there without wasting money on coverage you’ll never use.

What Counts as a DSP, Exactly?

A DSP is any platform that streams or sells your music to listeners and reports back usage for royalty purposes – Spotify, Apple Music, Beatport, and the rest. A distributor (DistroKid, TuneCore, FUGA, and so on) is the company that delivers your files to those DSPs in the first place. People use the two terms loosely, and this guide does too where it doesn’t change the point, but it’s worth keeping straight when you’re comparing services.

How Many DSPs Are There, Really?

Industry roundups of the global DSP landscape put the total at over 200 platforms once you count every regional and niche service – the usual global names (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, Pandora, SoundCloud), plus region-specific players like Boomplay, Audiomack, and Mdundo in Africa, Anghami in the Middle East and North Africa, and JioSaavn, NetEase Cloud Music, KuGou, QQ Music, KKBOX, Line Music, Melon, Joox, and Zing MP3 across Asia, on top of specialty services like Beatport, Bandcamp, and Equinox+.

Most distributors deliver to somewhere between 150 and 200+ of these automatically as part of a standard release. That sounds generous until you realize that for the overwhelming majority of artists, fewer than ten of those platforms will ever register a meaningful stream.

Which Ones Actually Move Revenue

Globally, a small set of platforms does most of the heavy lifting, and which one leads depends heavily on where your listeners are:

• Spotify is the dominant platform across most Western and Latin American markets, but it’s notably weak in Japan and South Korea.
• Apple Music punches well above Spotify in the US, Japan, and Germany specifically.
• YouTube Music is, in the words of one industry roundup, “structurally massive” in Brazil, with Deezer also holding a meaningful share there.
• Boomplay has the largest user base across Africa, especially in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Tanzania.
• NetEase Cloud Music and KuGou dominate mainland China; JioSaavn dominates Indian-language listening.

If your audience is concentrated in one or two of these regions, that short list – not the full 200+ – is what should drive your distribution decisions.

Why Beatport and Proton Still Matter for Electronic Music

None of the platforms above will ever report meaningful numbers for a house or techno release the way Spotify does for pop. Beatport’s total listenership is tiny next to Spotify’s. And yet, inside the DJ and club world, getting picked up on Beatport (or its sister platform Beatsource, and the boutique electronic specialist Proton) still carries weight that a Spotify playlist add doesn’t – it’s the platform DJs actually dig through when they’re buying tracks to play out. Revenue share and cultural relevance aren’t the same thing, and for a genre-specific label, chasing the wrong one is a common, expensive mistake. Beatport doubled down on that role in 2022, acquiring AmpSuite outright and folding it into its own suite of label and distribution tools – the platform 989 Records itself uses to get releases out.

DSPs at a Glance: Global, Regional, and Genre-Specific

Find Your Best Distributor

Which distributor actually makes sense depends on where you’re based and what you make. The tool below uses Beatport’s own published list of trusted delivery providers to give you a starting point for labels and independent artists alike – not an endorsement, just a place to start asking questions.

Based on Beatport’s own published list of trusted label, artist, and LATAM delivery providers. It’s a starting point for your own research, not an endorsement of any single distributor.

My Take

Beatport is the DSP I watch most closely for whether a track gets picked up by DJs, and it’s not close. I could get a release onto every one of the 200-plus platforms out there and it wouldn’t move a single booking or sale if it never shows up in a Beatport search for the right sub-genre. The “which ones actually matter” question is really a question about your own audience, not about chasing coverage. Figure out where your listeners already are, and let that – not the size of the DSP list a distributor advertises – decide where you spend your attention.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many DSPs are there in total?

Industry roundups count more than 200 once every regional and specialty platform is included, though most distributors deliver automatically to somewhere between 150 and 200+ of them as part of a standard release.

Do I need to be on every DSP?

No. For most artists and labels, fewer than ten platforms will ever generate a meaningful stream. The rest are coverage you’re unlikely to use.

Does Beatport count as a DSP?

Yes – it streams and sells music to listeners and reports usage back for royalties, the same as Spotify or Apple Music. Its audience is far smaller, but for house, techno, and other club genres it carries outsized weight with DJs.

What’s the difference between a DSP and a distributor?

A DSP is the platform a listener actually uses (Spotify, Beatport, YouTube Music). A distributor is the company that delivers your music to those platforms in the first place (DistroKid, TuneCore, FUGA). We cover this distinction in more detail in a companion piece on what a DSP actually is.

Which distributor should a label use for electronic music?

It depends on where your artists and listeners are based. Beatport’s own published provider list separates options for labels, independent artists, and Latin America specifically – use the tool above to narrow it down, or treat Beatport’s provider list itself as a starting point. Worth calling out separately: Beatport itself acquired AmpSuite outright in 2022, so it is now Beatport’s own in-house distribution option – the one 989 Records actually uses.

About the Author: Max Porcelli is a DJ, producer, remixer, and the founder of 989 Records, as well as a Steinberg Certified Trainer. He has been active in the industry since 1989, with more than 150 releases across originals, EPs, albums, and remixes, including remix work for Jocelyn Brown and Inaya Day. In 2018, he directed a DJ school in Ibiza and hosted a show on Mambo Radio. He teaches production and DJing through 989 Academy, Udemy, and Skillshare. Read more about Max →