How to Switch from DISCO to DropCue: Migration Guide
How to Switch from DISCO to DropCue: A Step-by-Step Migration Guide
So you opened the DISCO renewal email, did the small math in your head, and quietly thought "this is too much." You're not alone. We hear from people in your exact situation every week. The real monthly cost has crept past $50, the interface feels like the SaaS equivalent of a cluttered garage, and you're tired of paying extra for features that should be standard.
Switching feels like a bigger lift than it actually is. The catalog feels too large. The contact list feels too important. The playlists feel too sacred to recreate. None of those fears survive contact with reality. The whole migration is a one-day project for most working composers, and an afternoon for solo pros with cleaner catalogs.
This is the full playbook. Every step, in order, with the actual time it takes.
Disclosure: I'm the founder of DropCue. I've tried to keep this guide useful even if you decide to switch to a different platform, but DropCue is the one I built and the one I think is the strongest fit for most working composers and sync teams.
Quick note before we start: keep your remaining DISCO months
The biggest reason people put off switching is the math. You renewed DISCO for the year in March. It's August. You don't want to switch and lose seven months of DISCO that you already paid for. Fair.
So we built a way around it. If you sign up for an annual DropCue plan and send us your DISCO receipt with your renewal date, we add the months you have left on DISCO to the end of your DropCue subscription. Up to 6 months. Free. No double-paying for the overlap.
In practice it looks like this. Pay for a year of DropCue today. Tell us your DISCO doesn't renew until next March. We push your DropCue renewal date back seven months. You get nineteen months of DropCue for the price of twelve, and the months you already paid DISCO don't go to waste.
You can finish reading this guide first, or start the switch here and finish the migration steps after. Either order works. The offer just makes the cancellation math less painful.
What You Can Move (And How)
Here's what typically needs to migrate:
1. Your audio files — The tracks themselves 2. Track metadata — Titles, BPM, key, genre, mood, credits 3. Playlists — Your curated pitching playlists 4. Contacts — Your music supervisor and industry contacts
Let's go through each one.
Step 1: Export Your Metadata from DISCO
DISCO lets you export your catalog metadata as a CSV file. This is the fastest way to preserve all your track information without manually re-entering it.
In DISCO, go to your catalog → Export → CSV. The exported file will include track titles, metadata fields, and file references.
You can use this CSV as a reference when tagging your tracks in DropCue, or import it directly to pre-populate track fields during upload.
Step 2: Download Your Audio Files
Your audio files live in DISCO's storage. Before canceling your subscription, download everything.
In DISCO, go to your library and select all tracks → Download. Depending on the size of your catalog, this may take a while. Start it overnight.
Download everything, even tracks you're not currently pitching — it's much easier to download now than to recreate later.
Organize as you download: Create folders by genre or category on your local drive before starting the download. It will save time when you're uploading to DropCue.
Step 3: Set Up Your DropCue Account
Start a free trial at dropcue.app/signup. No credit card required.
During setup: - Upload your profile photo and business logo - Write your professional bio (visible on your portfolio page and shared playlists) - Set your default track metadata (artist name, standard writer splits) in Settings → Track Defaults — this saves time if you're uploading a lot of tracks with the same credits
Step 4: Upload Your Catalog
DropCue supports batch upload — select multiple files at once and upload them together. You can add up to 50 files per upload session.
During upload, DropCue auto-reads embedded metadata from your audio files (ID3 tags for MP3, metadata chunks for WAV and AIFF). If your files were properly tagged in DISCO, much of your metadata will populate automatically.
Review each track after upload to confirm: - Title (correct format, not a filename) - BPM and key (use the auto-detect button if needed) - Genre and mood (3–4 mood tags recommended) - Description (1–2 sentences on character and ideal use) - Writer credits and splits
For a catalog of 500 tracks, budget a full day for this step. For smaller catalogs, it's a few hours. Either way, queue up a podcast and treat it as a one-time tax for never paying $50 a month again.
Step 5: Recreate Your Key Playlists
You don't need to recreate every playlist you ever had in DISCO — just the ones you actively use for pitching.
Identify your 5–10 most-used pitch playlists and rebuild those first. In DropCue, you can: - Add sections with titles and descriptions (e.g., "Action / Tension," "Emotional Underscore") - Drag-and-drop tracks within and across sections - Add pitch notes (visible to recipients on shared links) - Set access controls (password, expiration, download permissions)
Tip: Use this as an opportunity to update your playlists. If some of the tracks haven't been getting plays on the old links, replace them with newer work.
Step 6: Import Your Contacts
DropCue supports contact import from CSV, Excel (.xlsx), and vCard files.
If your contacts are in DISCO, export them as a CSV first. Then in DropCue → Contacts → Import, upload the file. DropCue maps standard fields (name, email, company, role) automatically.
Once your contacts are imported, you can use the contact picker when creating shared playlist links — type a name and their email auto-fills. No more looking up email addresses manually.
Step 7: Send Updated Links to Your Key Contacts
Don't just silently switch platforms — make it a touchpoint with your most important relationships.
A short email like this works well:
"Hi [Name], just letting you know I've updated my music sharing setup — here's a link to my current catalog organized by mood/style: [DropCue playlist link]. Everything is 100% cleared and I've added some new material in the [genre] section you might find interesting for [type of project]."
This accomplishes two things: it gets your new link in front of the people who matter, and it creates a natural opening for a follow-up conversation.
Step 8: Cancel Your DISCO Subscription
Once everything is migrated and your active contacts have your new links, cancel DISCO.
In DISCO: Account Settings → Subscription → Cancel. Make sure you do this before your next billing date — DISCO typically doesn't offer refunds for the current billing period.
Before you cancel: Double-check that you've downloaded everything you need. Once the account closes, access is gone.
What You'll Miss (And What You Won't)
What you might miss: - DISCO's Discovery Suite marketplace — if supervisors were finding you through search, you'll lose that passive channel. DropCue is an active pitching tool.
What you won't miss: - $35–$50/month bills that include features you don't use - Navigating a cluttered interface to do simple tasks - Vague play data that doesn't tell you which track a supervisor spent time on - Chat support that takes 48 hours to respond
How Long Does Migration Take?
- Small catalog (under 200 tracks): 3 to 5 hours
- Medium catalog (200 to 1,000 tracks): 1 day
- Large catalog (1,000+ tracks): 2 to 3 days
Most of the time is in the upload and metadata review. The playlist recreation and contact import are fast. Compared to the years some people spend half-heartedly thinking about leaving DISCO, this is nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can DropCue import directly from DISCO?
Not in one click. DISCO doesn't expose a clean export API, so the migration is a bulk download from DISCO followed by a bulk upload to DropCue. The good news: DropCue auto-reads embedded metadata from your audio files (ID3 for MP3, metadata chunks for WAV and AIFF), so most of your tagging carries over without manual entry. CSV-based metadata import is also supported on Pro plans.
How long until my old DISCO links stop working?
Old DISCO share links keep working as long as your DISCO subscription is active. Most people keep DISCO running for 30 to 60 days while they migrate active supervisor relationships to DropCue links, then cancel.
What if I have over 1,000 tracks?
DropCue's Pro 1K, 3K, 5K, 10K, and 20K plans cover catalogs up to 20,000 tracks. Bulk upload handles large catalogs in the background while you do other work. There's no per-feature add-on layered on top of the plan price.
Will my supervisors know I switched?
Only if you tell them. The cleanest move is a short email to your top 20 contacts: "Hey, I've moved my catalog to a new tool. Future playlists will come from this link. Let me know if anything looks off." That doubles as a relationship touchpoint and a chance to share fresh material.
Is there a free trial so I can try it before committing?
Yes. 7 days, no credit card required. You can complete the entire migration during the trial and decide whether to subscribe at the end. Most people finish the migration in a single afternoon.
What happens to my analytics history from DISCO?
Stays on DISCO. DropCue starts collecting fresh data from day one, and within 30 to 60 days your DropCue analytics will be richer than what DISCO showed you, since DropCue includes per-track listening time, geo data, and timestamped engagement on every plan.
What if I decide to switch back?
You can. Your audio files stay on your hard drive. Your contacts are exportable as CSV. There's no lock-in. But if the math worked enough to leave DISCO in the first place, the math probably keeps working.
Bottom Line
The migration is the easy part. The hard part was deciding to switch, and you've already done that or you wouldn't be reading this guide. One afternoon of work saves you $40 to $60 a month for as long as you stay on DropCue. Annualized, that's $480 to $720 back in your pocket every year. That's a few writing camps, a new mic, or an actual vacation. If you want to verify the savings, see the full DISCO vs DropCue feature comparison or check what DISCO actually costs in 2026.