A common point of confusion is why a stream that happened this week isn't reflected in your wallet balance yet. Here's how the timeline actually works.
The reporting cycle
Digital service providers (Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and the rest) don't report royalty data in real time — they batch it and report to distributors on a monthly cycle, typically with a 45–60 day delay. For example, streams that happened throughout January are usually reported to us and credited to your DistroVibe wallet in late March, not in February.
This delay is standard across the entire streaming industry — it isn't specific to DistroVibe, and no distributor can report royalties faster than the store itself makes the data available.
Available vs. pending balance
Your wallet shows two figures:
- Pending balance — royalties we've been told about but that are still working through final reconciliation with the store.
- Available balance — royalties that have completed reporting and reconciliation and are ready to withdraw.
Once a royalty amount moves into your available balance, it's yours to withdraw immediately — there's no additional waiting period beyond that point.
Why your analytics numbers and wallet numbers can look different
Your Music analytics dashboard shows near-real-time stream counts (with a 24–48 hour lag) so you can track performance quickly. Your wallet balance lags much further behind, because it reflects actual confirmed royalty payments, not raw stream counts. A track can show thousands of fresh streams in analytics while its corresponding royalty hasn't reached your wallet yet — that's expected, not an error.