Distribution
JPay Music Distribution: How to Get Your Music on JPay
Done Deal Digital LLC · June 5, 2026
JPay is one of the biggest music stores almost no independent artist is using. It's the à-la-carte music download service available on prison tablets across the country — and the people inside buy a lot of music. If you've searched for JPay music distribution trying to figure out how to actually get your songs on it, here's the straight answer.
What is JPay?
JPay (owned by Securus / Aventiv Technologies) runs the tablets and kiosks that incarcerated people use inside many U.S. facilities. Music is one of the main things they spend on — buyers download individual tracks and full albums right to their device. It's a real storefront with a real, paying, captive audience, and it sits right alongside GTL/ViaPath and the federal TRULINCS system as the three big prison music networks.
How do you get your music on JPay?
You can't upload to JPay directly — there's no artist portal. JPay's catalog is fed by a behind-the-scenes pipeline called Neurotic Media (and, increasingly, Audible Magic / MediaNet). To get on JPay, you distribute through a service that delivers to that pipeline. Not every distributor does: DistroKid does not reach JPay, for example. The reliable routes are distributors carrying the Neurotic Media or Audible Magic / MediaNet pipeline — and getting the routing right is half the battle.
What do you get paid?
JPay pays out at iTunes-style rates — roughly $7 per album and $0.70 per track — and you keep 100%. The facility tacks its own fees on top, but the buyer pays those, not you. Reports come on a delay (often a couple of months), so think of it as a steady back-catalog earner rather than a launch-week spike.
The JPay content rules (this is where releases die)
JPay curates its catalog and runs a strict content filter. The key thing to understand: your audio can be explicit, but your metadata can't. Track titles, artist name, and cover art have to be clean — no profanity, no violence/gang/weapon references — and the artwork can't show the Parental Advisory logo. JPay rejects non-compliant releases silently, so if you get it wrong you often won't even know why. Get the metadata clean and the routing right, and you're in.
Want to get on JPay (and GTL) the right way?
Get the step-by-step playbook for $97 — or let Done Deal Digital handle your whole JPay distribution for you.
See How It Works →JPay distribution FAQ
Can you put your music on JPay?
Yes — through a distributor that delivers to the JPay pipeline. You can't upload directly.
Does DistroKid or TuneCore put music on JPay?
DistroKid doesn't. Reliable routes carry the Neurotic Media or Audible Magic / MediaNet pipeline (e.g. VerseOne; TuneCore lists Neurotic Media in its stores).
How much do you make from JPay?
About $7/album, $0.70/track, and you keep 100%.