How to make a release budget for an indie single or EP, in INR and USD

What you get: a one-page budget for a single or a four-track EP, with a low, mid and high figure for every line, so you know before you start what the release will cost and where the money goes.

What it costs: about an hour to fill in, and nothing to make. The numbers below are what the release itself costs.

The one rule: decide the total first, then split it. A budget built line by line always grows.

The price lines

All dollar prices are as listed on 28 Oct 2026. Rupee figures are our own conversion at ₹88 to the dollar, rounded; check the day's rate before you pay.

• Mixing. Freelance engineers on SoundBetter set their own "average price" per song. Of two profiles we opened, one lists $100 per song (SoundBetter) and another $400 per song (SoundBetter). That spread, roughly ₹8,800 to ₹35,000 a song, is the realistic range for a hired mix. Mixing it yourself costs time, not money.
• Mastering. LANDR says it costs $10 to master a single track online, and its subscription tiers include unlimited online mastering with MP3 downloads (LANDR). A human mastering engineer usually costs more; we treat that as the high column, not a requirement.
• Artwork. Spotify asks for square cover art between 640 and 10,000 pixels a side, as TIFF, PNG or JPG (Spotify). A photo you took and a free design tool meet that at no cost; paying a designer or photographer is the mid and high column.
• Distribution. DistroKid lists Musician at $24.99 a year, Musician Plus at $44.99 and Ultimate at $89.99 (DistroKid). It is a yearly fee, so it belongs in next year's budget too.
• Ads. There is no list price; you set the spend. We put it last on purpose, because it is the only line you can cut to zero without hurting the record.

A sample budget

The mastering and distribution rows use the listed prices. The mid mixing figure uses the lower SoundBetter profile per song; the artwork and ads figures are our own suggestions, not quoted prices.

The steps

1. Set the ceiling (10 minutes, free). Write one number: what you can lose without regret. Treat any income as a bonus.
2. Fill the fixed lines (10 minutes, free). Distribution and mastering have list prices; copy them in.
3. Get two mix quotes (30 minutes, free). Ask for a per-song price, how many revisions it includes and whether tuning and editing cost extra.
4. Choose artwork (10 minutes, free). Check the brief against Spotify's size and format rules before anyone starts.
5. Give ads whatever is left (5 minutes, free). If nothing is left, that is the answer.
6. Add a 10% buffer (5 minutes, free). Re-mixes and re-uploads happen.

Total: about an hour and ten minutes.

What we think

Most first releases overspend on ads and underspend on the mix, which is backwards: an ad can't fix a song that sounds thin, and a good mix keeps working on every play for free. If the money is tight, we would pay for one properly mixed single before an EP mixed in a hurry, put the ad line last, and remember that distribution is a yearly cost, not a one-off.