Lol. Hey Damian, I'm trying to build a musical library of my own. Think Spotify but with just my music. Free account to listen and some premium songs for premium users. Do you think that can be successful? I have close to a hundred songs ready for deployment but I don't know how or if I should go about this. I'd really appreciate your feedback on this.
To anyone that is planning on using any of these distributors and you are a Non- US citizen remember to fill in the Tax Treaty with all your information. If you don’t do this you could be subject to 30% of your income being held for tax. So if you don’t fill the form in and you earn £10,000 the distributor will keep £3,000 and pay it to the IRS you can claim it back when you file your tax return in your own country but it’s best filling it in soon as possible so you can keep all 100% royalties and sales. Good video bud keep it up👏🏻
I have been using CDbaby for years.No Problem. I wait till I get about 12 tunes like the L.P days. I don't do commercial music anymore like when I was in my 20s. I compose and do what I like for a change. The music business has always been hard as a profession unless you are lucky with a talent to be spotted. You truly have to love making music to have a career in it. Failure can not compete with persistence, Have fun!
As far as I'm concerned Distro Kid is THE WORST. They dropped my account,telling me there were too many R&B artists. Then they won't let me access my account,but my music is still playing on the streaming services,and I have NO IDEA how much I've made,and they haven't paid me ONE DAMN DIME. After they dropped me,they had the nerve to put a claim on two new jazz songs I uploaded to You Tube. I'm going to sue them.
I've already decided I'm going with CD Baby for my upcoming single and album release. Your songs stay on platforms forever after you pay them once, and CD Baby colloects 9% but this makes them incentivized to see your music succeed. Plus for a not-beginner artist which is myself who is also with BMI and Sound Exchange, they have many other useful features.
I also use cd baby but i notice regarding TH-cam content id . If you take license from cd baby an after 2/3 week you get content id from cd baby on TH-cam an some one copy your song at starting of few days they put automatic revenue calim and on that but after few days it stop claiming auto maticaly then you have to mail cd baby team an they take approx of 3 week to calim it on manually .😢any solution for this problem?
CDBaby for years baby. See what I did there. CDBaby allows multiple "collecting songwriters" which I think is similar in concept as the Distrokid's separate payment to each songwriter. Also never had a customer service issue with CDBaby, in fact they seem to respond within 24 hours, and have been helpful. That said, service is relative to one's issue and expectation of resolution of that issue. I uploaded a video to TH-cam with one of my songs which CDBaby had in an album, and it got a copyright strike - I contacted TH-cam and CDBaby, and within 48 it was resolved. A bit of a hassle... yes. But I sure felt protected that CDBaby had my back against potential uses of my music.
I have used CDBaby for 14 years. There are some issues like quick customer service and not allowing songwriters to split their payments. Yes they allow separate payments for each songwriter, but if you want to add a non-songwriter who you may have made a deal with to receive part of your publishing, it is rejected. Whereas with Distrokid, they don't regulate who you want to split your payments with and don't care. But still I would not leave CDBaby. I don't have to worry about subscribing every year, they add new streaming sources as they are created, and collect from sources all over the world, including Sound Exchange. Very efficient. Well worth it.
I allowed a friend to use some of my songs in their TH-cam video. They were distributed by CDBaby as part of an album and an EP. The video was completely blocked from uploading and the only way to release the block was to release the claim for that video. CDBaby’s customer service was pretty vague about explaining the reasons. They said TH-cam had a new law about not allowing entire Albums to be uploaded to videos, but only sections of a few songs were used for that video. I would be curious to know how to prevent that problem in the future. It would destroy the whole purpose of paying that extra fee for publishing royalties if those songs weren’t able to be used for a TH-cam video or if the claim had to be released. Especially if the video happened to get more views. Any ideas/advice..?
@@nikolaiteich I believe on CDBabay you can disable tracking in TH-cam, but that could also potentially leave your songs open to exploitation there. I am not aware of any new "law" but TH-cam does and can often change their rules overnight. Also, if you are a registered with BMIA (as I am) or ASCAP or other, they also have their own set of rules for tracking things. Ultimately they are doing what they think is best for the artist to insure you don't get your songs illegally used and that you make royalties on them. It's just a matter of coordinating with your CDBaby account, YT, and BMI/ASCAP (if that applies to you). All the best.
We have distrokid and we've never really had a problem with the royalty bit. It's rare for people to use our music and it's really only 4 cents anyways. We just take it as free promotion
@@DamianKeyes i can't text my friend my demo I'm a begginner but i started writing i was 14 stopped 17 i started back writing speech is bad when i try to Spit i wonna go up like my favorite artists wish charts come back
Ignoring that annual fees add up overtime, is totally misleading. One off is cheaper. After 5 years cdbaby turns out to be cheaper. Cdbaby also adds to everyone old and new worldwide.
Great video. Appreciate your insight. I have worked with all except Ditto, but heard bad things. One reason to consider Tunecore over Distrokid is album titling, particularly if you’re releasing tribute or cover song albums. DK will not let you use the original artist name in your title anywhere - no exceptions. This is madness. How are you supposed to tell people what your album is? (e.g. piano renditions of Coldplay, etc) When I asked them, they were uncooperative and claimed the stores reject them. This is not true because I have done this through Tunecore for years. Something to consider if you’re releasing a tribute album. DK is completely wrong on that one, and with not being able to title it for what it is, you’ll be less searchable.
I use Songtradr and think they're the best. Would love to hear what Damien thinks about them. They deal with publishing, sync licensing, distribution and don't pull your music. After all don't we wanna leave something behind? With Distro Kid, if you die and therefore stop paying them, your music dies too. Unless you pay yet another extra fee, per song 👎
The artist I work with has songs on 3 different dist. CD Baby (10 or so) OneRPM (1) and DistKid (8 or so). Damian is correct IMO - I will never use CDBB again as they make releases late ALL THE TIME with weeks of delay to just get things through their system. I honestly don't understand how DK can do the same thing in 90 minutes that takes CD 3 weeks to do.. 1rpm is quicker, like DK but they are all about their YT channel and getting your songs and vids into their managed network of thousands of YT channels. My artist is Mia Morris and she has around 45k subs on YT so taking that over to 1rpm doesn't make sense for her. DK does one thing, quickly, simply and so far for us is the best option by far that we've utilized.
@@DamianKeyes 1rpm has one of their offices here in Nashville and they reached out directly to Mia, which is cool and unique but visiting the offices gave me the impression that their sweet spot and influence is in the Latin American markets. They might be the first choice it those are key markets for your music.
I’m still mixing and mastering my songs and researching distributors. I personally have heard the most complaints about DK and practically none from CD baby. I think that’s the direction I’m headed unless I’m convinced otherwise
@@rebelneycha I also use cd baby but i notice regarding TH-cam content id . If you take license from cd baby an after 2/3 week you get content id from cd baby on TH-cam an some one copy your song at starting of few days they put automatic revenue calim and on that but after few days it stop claiming auto maticaly then you have to mail cd baby team an they take approx of 3 week to calim it on manually .😢any solution for this problem?
@@niteshtripvlog2536 oh wow! That sucks if I’m understanding you correctly…. I only signed up for their pro publishing on earlier releases which I’ve continue to allow them to collect on my behalf so I don’t think I’ve run into what you are describing if you revoke. Is that where you ran into the problem? I did have a scenario where they put a claim on a song that I had never signed up for pro I email them and it was resolved in about 48 hours. Let me know if I’m understanding the problem you ran into correctly?
You forgot to mention that CD Baby is a one-off fee, rather than annual like DistroKid, BUT they force you to buy a barcode for $20, which almost doubles the cost of the $29 you're quoting to upload an album.
Unrelated but we got our music on a New Music Friday Latin on Spotify this week. Your videos have turned our life around. Take care Damian! :) Best wishes from Puerto Rico! :)
Great breakdown. I will choose CD Baby since they have the one time fee and the music lives forever. Also, I released an actual CD back in 2010, and one day magically, that CD was on all the platforms. This was before having music on streaming platforms was an option.
I also use cd baby but i notice regarding TH-cam content id . If you take license from cd baby an after 2/3 week you get content id from cd baby on TH-cam an some one copy your song at starting of few days they put automatic revenue calim and on that but after few days it stop claiming auto maticaly then you have to mail cd baby team an they take approx of 3 week to calim it on manually .😢any solution for this problem?
Thanks for breaking all of this down into a digestible format. I'm new to all this and still a few months from releasing anything, but your video helped take the mystery out of the process.
Hi! Does genre make a difference in which of these services serve you best? If you write Folk, or Rock, or Gospel, does it make a difference as to which one provides the best service for each genre?
OMG im an autistic idiot who gets so confused so easily and have struggled to do any thing with my music, discovering this channel has literally made me tear up, tytyty 1000 times ty, im going to watch all ur videos.
Love your content Damian, thanks for all the great tips and inspiration! I've used ditto music, distro kid and orchard music in the past and had nothing but problems with their customer service and consistency in communication. I moved to CD baby two years ago and haven't looked back since - I've always received above average customer service :)
What happends to music you have uploaded via the other platforms? Do they take it down and can you re-upload via CDbaby or do they take it over? Do you lose views? Do they own any rights? How important is it to make the right call in the beginning
I use CD Baby since even before digital distribution was around. I released many albums with them with different bands. It always went perfectly smooth except for on one occasion when my artwork did not have the right ratio. Instead of warning me they added some white space to the artwork to make it fit which looked horrible. On the proofs it wasn’t even clear to me and all my band mates that white space was added. It was an album we had recorded in the 90s. Since the cover art looked terrible we did not promote the digital release. Other than that one bad experience over the course of many years I never had a bad experience. They always pay on time. Overall I highly recommend CD Baby.
Great review, thanks. Just want to share, I've been with CDBaby for over a decade and released 10 albums; I've always had amazing customer service from CDBaby whenever I've needed to speak to someone.
Since the distributors take your content down when you stop paying, what is the proper way of switching distributors without having to release the song again nor losing stream counts?
You upload to your newly decided distributor and wait until you have a double upload on every platform you would like it on. Once that is done, you take it down on your old distributor.
@@christiannoring no, take note of the song’s ISRC code and put that code to the corresponding’s song on your new distributor. This will sync up your streams.
Just found your video today...I found it very informative, and gave me a start on the information I've been searching for to get started, and the direction I want go with my music. Thanks!
Just had a quick look at your channel! Love the track... and with you a lot of success! It's definitively worth being heard by others... and being paid for! 👍
@@haylinicole7358 THAT is totally normal! Lean back and relax. Finish some stuff... Turn down perfectionism a bit ... and release stuff. There are always too many ideas and too few hours of the days! 😉
This was a very helpful video, would love to see an ultimate guide to FREE music distributors for people who have no money but still want to know what percentages each free service takes etc.
There are some free ones that you could try: OneRPM, RouteNote, Amuse, Unitedmasters, Soundrop, and Indiefy. I'm sure there are many more, but for now here is a list. Of course, always review them before you use them. Good luck!
For me, DistroKid was the best distributor I've ever used. But now, unfortunately, they updated their payment (Tipalti) settings, and because I'm not from the US, they take an unacceptable 30% of my royalties. So I'm probably switching to Ditto...
Thank you for this bro! I'm gonna release music next year as I'll have money to then. For the time being I'm doing covers and originals on my youtube channel! I'll save all your tips from all your videos for sure so I can look at them nearer the time next year also :)
My band was implementing Promotion strategies on the $20 Distrokid plan. It was stressful uploading the song two days before the release and crossing our fingers it would come out on time. We Just upgraded and are excited to be setting the release date and submitting to playlists. Great content as always, stay safe!
This was the video where I first heard of you. I have since watched a number of your other videos and they are GREAT! Thank you for helping to explain how the current system works!
I've used Tunecore for my last two productions. They are great in service, royalty, and distribution, but what I don't like now is that starting this year 2021, they don't sell hard copy CDs anymore throught Amazon; only digital. I'm thinking on moving to CDbaby because they sell hard copies as well. Believe it or not, a lot of people don't use cellphones for their music, they like to collect CDs.
Distrokid has great features but the biggest issue with DK is that they DO NOT allow you to deliver your own UPC codes. That's like Kellloggs Cornflakes delivering 1000's of boxes of Cornflakes to Walmart or Tescos and then Walmart and Tescos place their barcode on the box. What's even more strange is that DK tells you on their website that you cannot deliver your own UPC code as they will issue one for you and you will see "DK UPC" on the backend. This is a MAJOR problem that every artist need to take note of. Essentially, you should be able to deliver your own ISRC's AND UPC's as this reflects or establishes ownership of your music!
I prefer DITTO based on them being able to put music videos on VEVO, I am more worried about promotion of the band , especially the first single release and single video for that song. Then for rest of the songs in the same album albums I prefer to use CD BABY to avoid renewals. but music video is the best way to promote new unkown artist or new albums. I see on social media, its easy to scroll up CD cover posts , but a music video , you want to listen
Hi mate, great video really informative! So if an artist wanted to transfer from Distrokid to Ditto for example, would the music still stay on the platforms with the same amount of streams etc? Or, if they ended their term with one distributor and moved to another would they lose the streams and have to upload all over again?
This is really great stuff!!! But I wonder in case of that you have any kind of trouble with these distribution companies where you can be potentially losing money, is there a way to protect yourself with like an insurance specifically design for this, that maybe will pay a compensation for any trouble caused?
Hey, Damian. I love your videos and I like the way how you explain. Could you also please handle the topic of distribution and publishing for cover/performer artists?
His video are good but mostly he talks about big distributors and they tend to scam you all the time......some time ago I came in contact with Tune Vortex ..... have not been disappointed yet
@@kineticenergy9613 Definitely do not use Ditto Music. I did a take down on an album with them about 5 years ago and they still have my music up and I contacted them and they still haven't respond to me.
I had issues uploading classical content. It has to be labeled very specifically. But once I learned what I needed to do it was easy. I have used CD Baby and I'm happy with the results
Great video Damien. I'm looking to release my material this year. Two very quick questions: do I need to register with the PRS (I'm in the UK), and how do I get mt official digital code for my music?
Can a music already released on my TH-cam as a music video be licensed/distributed to music global platforms? If yes, please explain and any relation with the views on TH-cam to the royalty money?
HI Sanath if it's already been released personally then you should be able to collect any royalties direct and if you are worried about your music being used and not getting the royalties SongTrust is a good option. I wouldn't re-release it via a platform when it's already out though 😊
@@DamianKeyes Thank you. My main concern is of my audience wanting to repeatedly listen to my music on audio only platforms after watching my music video on TH-cam. So what can I do? Put it on distrokid and then upload music video?
Thank you for making the video. I've used local music distributor/aggregator in my country and I didn't get my royalty report. They used Believe Music as their partner but now they use Fuga, I still don't understand how it works. Please make video about Believe Music and Fuga. How to join to them. Thank you!
Same here. I was using TuneCore for my first single then my label went through The Orchard for my EP. I'm really really struggling to see the benefit of The Orchard. Particularly since they wouldn't allow me upload my own songs to SoundCloud (Sony hate Soundlcoud, I guess??). I also got more money paid to me through one single on TuneCore than I've seen for a full EP. I'm really scratching my head on where to go for this next album...
I use Record Union, and so far I'm happy with them. Would be interesting to see them in a part 2! Especially with being able to use their label profile as a Trance producer to get in places like Beatport.
Just looked them up, based on their pricing, they sound a lot like Tunecore to me, which I've used, except they actually charge more for more platforms? Nah, I don't think so....I think you're better off going with CDBaby pro
Im with ditto for 3 years and i havent had one release go well they've either taken two weeks to send to stores or take long to get back to me so im looking to go with someone else right now
THANK YOU FOR THIS VERY INFORMATIVE AND THOROUGH CONTENT!! As a startup talent manager, this gives me vital information how I can help my artists make money. Appreciate you!
@@omnipossum92 i dont know yet. For me atleast right now, it is convenient because I dont earn money yet I still can upload my songs to the appropriate stores.
DITTO IS AWFUL! DO NOT USE DITTO!!!! DO NOT USE DITTO!!! A song of ours was accidentally made live, separate from the rest of the EP. It took more than 1 and a half years to get it removed from Spotify!!! And it is probably still on other platforms. Since there is no phone number at Ditto to speak to an actual human, we probably sent 30 plus emails. And Spotify was actually the one who got it done after we filed a "Claim of Infringement", which is essentially legal action against Ditto. And ps. THEY DIDN'T PAY US OUR ROYALTIES! As little as they were, every dollar counts! @Damian Keyes, thank you very much for always providing great info. Please place this horror story into your pile of considerations for your next Digital Distributor review vid.
Hi Damien, Well you said to “smash“ the like button, so I did. Unfortunately I smashed my phone as well, so now I can neither see nor hear you !!!! 🤪🤪🤪 Just a little humor there. Thanks for a great video, I’m making a massive study of all of the different possibilities then I will boil it down and make my decision. LOTS of options 😊
Just want to say Distrokids customer service is terrible. Once my yearly subscription ended they wouldn't accept the same card for the auto-payment - I even tried other cards and they still didn't accept them. When I asked them for other options to pay they pretty much said its not their problem. Because of this I literally can't pay and my music is probably going to get taken down unless I leave as legacy. So wouldn't recommend.
![TEEDEE TADA - DIAMOND NARAKORN X LEGO LYKN [Special Dance Performance]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QgtZedFeumA/mqdefault.jpg)
Roses are red, violets are blue. Scroll up and smash the like button and I'll really like you too :)
Haha.
With CD Baby Pro, you’ll be paying publishing admin per release. SongTrust is a one-time-lifetime-fee of $95.
Lol. Hey Damian, I'm trying to build a musical library of my own. Think Spotify but with just my music. Free account to listen and some premium songs for premium users. Do you think that can be successful? I have close to a hundred songs ready for deployment but I don't know how or if I should go about this. I'd really appreciate your feedback on this.
Roses are red... or blue or pink?
I can’t rhyme anything
Done!
Thank you so much damian! This video couldnt have come at a better time for me and my band!
To anyone that is planning on using any of these distributors and you are a Non- US citizen remember to fill in the Tax Treaty with all your information. If you don’t do this you could be subject to 30% of your income being held for tax. So if you don’t fill the form in and you earn £10,000 the distributor will keep £3,000 and pay it to the IRS you can claim it back when you file your tax return in your own country but it’s best filling it in soon as possible so you can keep all 100% royalties and sales. Good video bud keep it up👏🏻
That's a great point that no one seems to mention for some unknown reason. Thanks 👍
Can you explain howw to fill it in?
the confusing part is that if you live in United States, but not a citizen and have a daca, is form W8BEN the correct one for DACA or W9
Hey William, needed some help on this regard man. Would really appreciate if you could share your socials here. Facebook id will be great.
Hello
How can I meet with distributor
I have been using CDbaby for years.No Problem. I wait till I get about 12 tunes like the L.P days. I don't do commercial music anymore like when I was in my 20s. I compose and do what I like for a change. The music business has always been hard as a profession unless you are lucky with a talent to be spotted. You truly have to love making music to have a career in it. Failure can not compete with persistence, Have fun!
So encouraging, I really appreciate you
As far as I'm concerned Distro Kid is THE WORST. They dropped my account,telling me there were too many R&B artists. Then they won't let me access my account,but my music is still playing on the streaming services,and I have NO IDEA how much I've made,and they haven't paid me ONE DAMN DIME. After they dropped me,they had the nerve to put a claim on two new jazz songs I uploaded to You Tube. I'm going to sue them.
Do you have any updates with this issue?
@@roccox2845 I went back to Tunecore.
Yeah sue them
I've already decided I'm going with CD Baby for my upcoming single and album release. Your songs stay on platforms forever after you pay them once, and CD Baby colloects 9% but this makes them incentivized to see your music succeed. Plus for a not-beginner artist which is myself who is also with BMI and Sound Exchange, they have many other useful features.
9 percent of what? How does your release process look like?
What does Sound Exchange do? Is it the same as Song Trust?
I also use cd baby but i notice regarding TH-cam content id . If you take license from cd baby an after 2/3 week you get content id from cd baby on TH-cam an some one copy your song at starting of few days they put automatic revenue calim and on that but after few days it stop claiming auto maticaly then you have to mail cd baby team an they take approx of 3 week to calim it on manually .😢any solution for this problem?
Thnx for the info!
@@niteshtripvlog2536 did you find an answer
CDBaby for years baby. See what I did there. CDBaby allows multiple "collecting songwriters" which I think is similar in concept as the Distrokid's separate payment to each songwriter. Also never had a customer service issue with CDBaby, in fact they seem to respond within 24 hours, and have been helpful. That said, service is relative to one's issue and expectation of resolution of that issue. I uploaded a video to TH-cam with one of my songs which CDBaby had in an album, and it got a copyright strike - I contacted TH-cam and CDBaby, and within 48 it was resolved. A bit of a hassle... yes. But I sure felt protected that CDBaby had my back against potential uses of my music.
I have used CDBaby for 14 years. There are some issues like quick customer service and not allowing songwriters to split their payments. Yes they allow separate payments for each songwriter, but if you want to add a non-songwriter who you may have made a deal with to receive part of your publishing, it is rejected. Whereas with Distrokid, they don't regulate who you want to split your payments with and don't care. But still I would not leave CDBaby. I don't have to worry about subscribing every year, they add new streaming sources as they are created, and collect from sources all over the world, including Sound Exchange. Very efficient. Well worth it.
I allowed a friend to use some of my songs in their TH-cam video. They were distributed by CDBaby as part of an album and an EP. The video was completely blocked from uploading and the only way to release the block was to release the claim for that video. CDBaby’s customer service was pretty vague about explaining the reasons. They said TH-cam had a new law about not allowing entire Albums to be uploaded to videos, but only sections of a few songs were used for that video. I would be curious to know how to prevent that problem in the future. It would destroy the whole purpose of paying that extra fee for publishing royalties if those songs weren’t able to be used for a TH-cam video or if the claim had to be released. Especially if the video happened to get more views.
Any ideas/advice..?
@@nikolaiteich I believe on CDBabay you can disable tracking in TH-cam, but that could also potentially leave your songs open to exploitation there. I am not aware of any new "law" but TH-cam does and can often change their rules overnight. Also, if you are a registered with BMIA (as I am) or ASCAP or other, they also have their own set of rules for tracking things. Ultimately they are doing what they think is best for the artist to insure you don't get your songs illegally used and that you make royalties on them. It's just a matter of coordinating with your CDBaby account, YT, and BMI/ASCAP (if that applies to you). All the best.
I use CDBaby and started releasing music last year. No problems. About to put out my 6th single pretty soon
@HOW TO FIND YOUR VOICE *eR thanks!
Hi, sorry my ignorancy. In that way you startign t get money with yours songs? its few money or its usefull? thanks a lot!
@@leonardoyanez5699 you can and you probably will but you need a LOTTA streams to earn enough money to do much with. Definitely possible though!
@@JACKSONPRYORBENNETT thanks for your answer.. I got it!
@@leonardoyanez5699 anytime
i’m starting a career and you are basically the man who threw me into the music industry, thanks for your videos!!
We have distrokid and we've never really had a problem with the royalty bit. It's rare for people to use our music and it's really only 4 cents anyways. We just take it as free promotion
Great point! Very important to use the aggregator which suits your needs and this is defo something artists needs to take into consideration! 😊😊😊
Damian Keyes hey do you know how to Start a Distribution like cdbaby distrokid..?
@@reys3627 am also interested in knowing how
I say the same thing, I haven’t released any music tho but I see ur point
@@DamianKeyes i can't text my friend my demo I'm a begginner but i started writing i was 14 stopped 17 i started back writing speech is bad when i try to Spit i wonna go up like my favorite artists wish charts come back
CD baby for me, no annual fees to keep the music up is a winner for me.
Ignoring that annual fees add up overtime, is totally misleading. One off is cheaper. After 5 years cdbaby turns out to be cheaper. Cdbaby also adds to everyone old and new worldwide.
Great video. Appreciate your insight. I have worked with all except Ditto, but heard bad things. One reason to consider Tunecore over Distrokid is album titling, particularly if you’re releasing tribute or cover song albums. DK will not let you use the original artist name in your title anywhere - no exceptions. This is madness. How are you supposed to tell people what your album is? (e.g. piano renditions of Coldplay, etc) When I asked them, they were uncooperative and claimed the stores reject them. This is not true because I have done this through Tunecore for years. Something to consider if you’re releasing a tribute album. DK is completely wrong on that one, and with not being able to title it for what it is, you’ll be less searchable.
thanks for advice !
Good to know, thanks. May be Tunecore has negotiated better deal with spotify.
I feel like as a artist you had to think of a creative way to say it E.g "Letter to the Rocket" -(S.M.E original) but that's just me bro don't trip
I use Songtradr and think they're the best.
Would love to hear what Damien thinks about them.
They deal with publishing, sync licensing, distribution and don't pull your music.
After all don't we wanna leave something behind? With Distro Kid, if you die and therefore stop paying them, your music dies too. Unless you pay yet another extra fee, per song 👎
so songtradr is not taking down releases when you stop paying them?
Any more info about soundtradr
@@valchuckofficial2191 No. You can get a free account, although with limited release capability.
They're as bad!
Can you give more info about them please?
The artist I work with has songs on 3 different dist. CD Baby (10 or so) OneRPM (1) and DistKid (8 or so). Damian is correct IMO - I will never use CDBB again as they make releases late ALL THE TIME with weeks of delay to just get things through their system. I honestly don't understand how DK can do the same thing in 90 minutes that takes CD 3 weeks to do.. 1rpm is quicker, like DK but they are all about their YT channel and getting your songs and vids into their managed network of thousands of YT channels. My artist is Mia Morris and she has around 45k subs on YT so taking that over to 1rpm doesn't make sense for her. DK does one thing, quickly, simply and so far for us is the best option by far that we've utilized.
Great advice and experience, thanks dude 😊😊😊
@@DamianKeyes 1rpm has one of their offices here in Nashville and they reached out directly to Mia, which is cool and unique but visiting the offices gave me the impression that their sweet spot and influence is in the Latin American markets. They might be the first choice it those are key markets for your music.
I’m still mixing and mastering my songs and researching distributors. I personally have heard the most complaints about DK and practically none from CD baby. I think that’s the direction I’m headed unless I’m convinced otherwise
I'm here for research too. I'm working on setting myself up for the future. Good luck with everything! 🤞🏻
How’s cd baby man I’m thinking of using it too
@@chaunceyharris5993 love them. Used for over a decade multiple releases. No issues whatsoever. Cheers!
@@rebelneycha I also use cd baby but i notice regarding TH-cam content id . If you take license from cd baby an after 2/3 week you get content id from cd baby on TH-cam an some one copy your song at starting of few days they put automatic revenue calim and on that but after few days it stop claiming auto maticaly then you have to mail cd baby team an they take approx of 3 week to calim it on manually .😢any solution for this problem?
@@niteshtripvlog2536 oh wow! That sucks if I’m understanding you correctly…. I only signed up for their pro publishing on earlier releases which I’ve continue to allow them to collect on my behalf so I don’t think I’ve run into what you are describing if you revoke. Is that where you ran into the problem?
I did have a scenario where they put a claim on a song that I had never signed up for pro I email them and it was resolved in about 48 hours.
Let me know if I’m understanding the problem you ran into correctly?
will distrokid distributes on wynk music and gaana music
I've been using CD Baby Since 2007 and i have no problem with them at all.. Now my question is how can i start my own distribution Company?
This is the real deal
You forgot to mention that CD Baby is a one-off fee, rather than annual like DistroKid, BUT they force you to buy a barcode for $20, which almost doubles the cost of the $29 you're quoting to upload an album.
@@drinkinslim vinyl
Haven't experience that, only paid 9.99 without the $20 for the release of a song of mine
Unrelated but we got our music on a New Music Friday Latin on Spotify this week. Your videos have turned our life around. Take care Damian! :) Best wishes from Puerto Rico! :)
Great breakdown. I will choose CD Baby since they have the one time fee and the music lives forever. Also, I released an actual CD back in 2010, and one day magically, that CD was on all the platforms. This was before having music on streaming platforms was an option.
I also use cd baby but i notice regarding TH-cam content id . If you take license from cd baby an after 2/3 week you get content id from cd baby on TH-cam an some one copy your song at starting of few days they put automatic revenue calim and on that but after few days it stop claiming auto maticaly then you have to mail cd baby team an they take approx of 3 week to calim it on manually .😢any solution for this problem?
Thanks for breaking all of this down into a digestible format. I'm new to all this and still a few months from releasing anything, but your video helped take the mystery out of the process.
Tune Vortex helped me a lot as a new artist
Hi! Does genre make a difference in which of these services serve you best? If you write Folk, or Rock, or Gospel, does it make a difference as to which one provides the best service for each genre?
I'd like to know this too.
great question
OMG im an autistic idiot who gets so confused so easily and have struggled to do any thing with my music, discovering this channel has literally made me tear up, tytyty 1000 times ty, im going to watch all ur videos.
wtf
Heyyy could you please veiw my distributed songs? I'll veiw yours.
Love your content Damian, thanks for all the great tips and inspiration! I've used ditto music, distro kid and orchard music in the past and had nothing but problems with their customer service and consistency in communication. I moved to CD baby two years ago and haven't looked back since - I've always received above average customer service :)
yeah I've had the same thing with The Orchard.....lots of radio silence according to my label
What happends to music you have uploaded via the other platforms? Do they take it down and can you re-upload via CDbaby or do they take it over? Do you lose views? Do they own any rights? How important is it to make the right call in the beginning
Thank you JOEY C. Good to know about CDbaby
Stop scamming people by false comments.....CD baby is totally scam....they eat out money up .......if I were you I would suggest Tune Vortex
I use CD Baby since even before digital distribution was around. I released many albums with them with different bands. It always went perfectly smooth except for on one occasion when my artwork did not have the right ratio. Instead of warning me they added some white space to the artwork to make it fit which looked horrible. On the proofs it wasn’t even clear to me and all my band mates that white space was added. It was an album we had recorded in the 90s. Since the cover art looked terrible we did not promote the digital release. Other than that one bad experience over the course of many years I never had a bad experience. They always pay on time. Overall I highly recommend CD Baby.
Great review, thanks. Just want to share, I've been with CDBaby for over a decade and released 10 albums; I've always had amazing customer service from CDBaby whenever I've needed to speak to someone.
Since the distributors take your content down when you stop paying, what is the proper way of switching distributors without having to release the song again nor losing stream counts?
I was actually just wondering about this as well.
Exactly what I was thinking.
You upload to your newly decided distributor and wait until you have a double upload on every platform you would like it on. Once that is done, you take it down on your old distributor.
@@Uforicmusic won't you lose all your current streams?
@@christiannoring no, take note of the song’s ISRC code and put that code to the corresponding’s song on your new distributor. This will sync up your streams.
Just found your video today...I found it very informative, and gave me a start on the information I've been searching for to get started, and the direction I want go with my music. Thanks!
I really appreciate that, thank you so much 🙂🙂
🎶🎶 Thanks for this, it will help me out through my journey as a Female producer 🎤
@Dukhi Haiwan lol
yeah like it´s so fucking important to have any gender to make music lol
This was a really helpful video for me, as someone literally just starting my music journey and trying to get it out on different platforms!
Just had a quick look at your channel! Love the track... and with you a lot of success! It's definitively worth being heard by others... and being paid for! 👍
@@sdwarfs Thank you so much! I haven't had a lot of time lately to work on new tracks, but I have so many ideas in the works! 😭
@@haylinicole7358 THAT is totally normal! Lean back and relax. Finish some stuff... Turn down perfectionism a bit ... and release stuff. There are always too many ideas and too few hours of the days! 😉
Tune Core's Customer Service is really good, haven't gotten any problem working with them.
This was a very helpful video, would love to see an ultimate guide to FREE music distributors for people who have no money but still want to know what percentages each free service takes etc.
There are some free ones that you could try: OneRPM, RouteNote, Amuse, Unitedmasters, Soundrop, and Indiefy. I'm sure there are many more, but for now here is a list. Of course, always review them before you use them. Good luck!
I actually use routenote, it’s simple and quick
You said I pay 15% of royalties collected....did you mean I make 15%? You are a wealth of info! Thank you!
What do you think about Amuse? Curious to know your opinion.
We're debating how to release our album next year and this was a lot of of help. Really appreciate this.
Brilliant info , I'm on TH-cam but have no experience whatsoever on a platform to launch my music . Thank you , very insightful 👏
Started with CD baby but switched to distrokid when we decided to start releasing singles instead of LPs
For me, DistroKid was the best distributor I've ever used. But now, unfortunately, they updated their payment (Tipalti) settings, and because I'm not from the US, they take an unacceptable 30% of my royalties. So I'm probably switching to Ditto...
Thank you so much for your videos! It’s so inspiring and motivating! Wishing you all the best!
Thanks so much David that really means a lot to me, I very much appreciate the comment and your support 😊😊😊
Been with Symphonic, still enjoying their services.
Thank you for this bro! I'm gonna release music next year as I'll have money to then. For the time being I'm doing covers and originals on my youtube channel! I'll save all your tips from all your videos for sure so I can look at them nearer the time next year also :)
Thanks Tom, keep me posted on how it's all going and good luck with the releases! 😊😊😊
@@DamianKeyes yeah will do man! It's a slow process but we will get there!
Little help note for people in the US: the royalty collection service is called “publishing administration” or “pub admin”
Great job at explaining! Very clear and easy to understand. Thank you
As I'm new on music production, I don't have much experience of distributors but think I'm going for Amuse.
My band was implementing Promotion strategies on the $20 Distrokid plan. It was stressful uploading the song two days before the release and crossing our fingers it would come out on time. We Just upgraded and are excited to be setting the release date and submitting to playlists. Great content as always, stay safe!
What's your band's name?
This was the video where I first heard of you. I have since watched a number of your other videos and they are GREAT! Thank you for helping to explain how the current system works!
Kycker have been really good for my band! Free uploads and they take 20%
I just found your channel today and thank you SO MUCH for this video!! Going to watch your 20 day plan next
This was super useful to me, thank you! I've been looking for an in-depth video on this and I'm glad I found this!
Thank you for this my man. Very useful. And I'm hooked.
I've used Tunecore for my last two productions. They are great in service, royalty, and distribution, but what I don't like now is that starting this year 2021, they don't sell hard copy CDs anymore throught Amazon; only digital. I'm thinking on moving to CDbaby because they sell hard copies as well. Believe it or not, a lot of people don't use cellphones for their music, they like to collect CDs.
Do you know if cdbaby can also do LP's?
@@REAL6 yes the do vinyl
Bro get ready to get scammed.........😂
title says 2022 but it was uploaded in 2020.. magic
Damian, could you please make a video looking into Soundcloud's Repost platform?
This is exactly the video that I needed to watch thank you🙏
Thanks for this in-depth comparison. I'll go with first one.
Distrokid has great features but the biggest issue with DK is that they DO NOT allow you to deliver your own UPC codes. That's like Kellloggs Cornflakes delivering 1000's of boxes of Cornflakes to Walmart or Tescos and then Walmart and Tescos place their barcode on the box. What's even more strange is that DK tells you on their website that you cannot deliver your own UPC code as they will issue one for you and you will see "DK UPC" on the backend. This is a MAJOR problem that every artist need to take note of. Essentially, you should be able to deliver your own ISRC's AND UPC's as this reflects or establishes ownership of your music!
I prefer DITTO based on them being able to put music videos on VEVO, I am more worried about promotion of the band , especially the first single release and single video for that song. Then for rest of the songs in the same album albums I prefer to use CD BABY to avoid renewals. but music video is the best way to promote new unkown artist or new albums. I see on social media, its easy to scroll up CD cover posts , but a music video , you want to listen
Whattttt❤ im doing this whoop whoop mojothepirate salutes you sir , ohhhh its the pirate life for meeee
Thanks so much for this! I am just getting into the music-producing world...very helpful and informative video.
Your Videos are a god send. Thanks a lot buddy!
Hi mate, great video really informative! So if an artist wanted to transfer from Distrokid to Ditto for example, would the music still stay on the platforms with the same amount of streams etc? Or, if they ended their term with one distributor and moved to another would they lose the streams and have to upload all over again?
You can use I believe UPC codes or something like that to send them over between services
I’d love an update on this, now tunecore has remodelled itself. Love all your vids, thanks Damo.
This is really great stuff!!! But I wonder in case of that you have any kind of trouble with these distribution companies where you can be potentially losing money, is there a way to protect yourself with like an insurance specifically design for this, that maybe will pay a compensation for any trouble caused?
So glad you covered this. I was on trustpilot the other day trying to get to understand strengths & weaknesses.
Hey, Damian. I love your videos and I like the way how you explain. Could you also please handle the topic of distribution and publishing for cover/performer artists?
His video are good but mostly he talks about big distributors and they tend to scam you all the time......some time ago I came in contact with Tune Vortex ..... have not been disappointed yet
Another great video. Thanks for making this for us all!! Cheers, Andy
Distro kid and Ditto both are stealing from artist look at other people's videos and know about their horrific experience
True!!! They scame me for 10k in 1year period! When its time to pay they block u never again DITTO SCAME.
Ditto Music is bad bad
Strikes me as a predatory business model holding your distro ransom every single year for life. No thanks.
Which platform to use, I had distrokid but hated their “customer service” or LACK OF.... was thinking to try ditto.... but if not which platform?
@@kineticenergy9613 Definitely do not use Ditto Music. I did a take down on an album with them about 5 years ago and they still have my music up and I contacted them and they still haven't respond to me.
thanks man, excellent video for navigating the turbulent and murky music business waters
So glad to help 🙏😊
I had issues uploading classical content. It has to be labeled very specifically. But once I learned what I needed to do it was easy. I have used CD Baby and I'm happy with the results
Excellent clip, really simply explained, many thanks
“cdbaby is the big boy”
me: baby, big boy, *doesn’t add up*
I m an mba student i write a startup marketing plan for a similar business . This video helped me. Thanks .
Great video Damien. I'm looking to release my material this year. Two very quick questions: do I need to register with the PRS (I'm in the UK), and how do I get mt official digital code for my music?
Hey Jack! Did you find answers to this question? I’m in a similar situation now and wondering whether I need to sign up to PRS.
I am using DistroKid and I am darn happy with it. :D
Can a music already released on my TH-cam as a music video be licensed/distributed to music global platforms? If yes, please explain and any relation with the views on TH-cam to the royalty money?
HI Sanath if it's already been released personally then you should be able to collect any royalties direct and if you are worried about your music being used and not getting the royalties SongTrust is a good option. I wouldn't re-release it via a platform when it's already out though 😊
@@DamianKeyes Thank you. My main concern is of my audience wanting to repeatedly listen to my music on audio only platforms after watching my music video on TH-cam. So what can I do? Put it on distrokid and then upload music video?
Yeah, I think a music video is a good starter for people to start listening on your Spotify. So definitely upload them there too afterwards.
@@DamianKeyes please does distrokid upload to Facebook, Instagram and tiktok ?
I am a budding artist, and coming across your video was extremely helpful! Thank you so much!
.°|i think im going with ditto #100% royalties....thanks your video really helped.....❤️
Thanks for the video it helped me. Just got a lot to think about now lol
Distrokid, they want to delete my songs, because I don't want to pay $ 20 this year. do i have to pay them for life?
Solution Onerpm no fees but 15% of ur sales
Thank you for making the video. I've used local music distributor/aggregator in my country and I didn't get my royalty report. They used Believe Music as their partner but now they use Fuga, I still don't understand how it works. Please make video about Believe Music and Fuga. How to join to them. Thank you!
Great video! Thank you. Would be interesting to hear your thoughts on The Orchard also.
I'm thinking of doing another video with the best of the rest so will defo look into Orchard 😊😊😊
Same here. I was using TuneCore for my first single then my label went through The Orchard for my EP. I'm really really struggling to see the benefit of The Orchard. Particularly since they wouldn't allow me upload my own songs to SoundCloud (Sony hate Soundlcoud, I guess??). I also got more money paid to me through one single on TuneCore than I've seen for a full EP. I'm really scratching my head on where to go for this next album...
Brilliant advice, just what I was looking for and well presented. 👍👍👍
As far as I know, CDBaby collects TH-cam royalties via ContentID even without pro.
Does distrokid do this too?
Knowledge Baby
I use Record Union, and so far I'm happy with them. Would be interesting to see them in a part 2! Especially with being able to use their label profile as a Trance producer to get in places like Beatport.
Just looked them up, based on their pricing, they sound a lot like Tunecore to me, which I've used, except they actually charge more for more platforms? Nah, I don't think so....I think you're better off going with CDBaby pro
Great video dude this has helped a lot !
Im with ditto for 3 years and i havent had one release go well they've either taken two weeks to send to stores or take long to get back to me so im looking to go with someone else right now
I recommend CD Baby.
THANK YOU FOR THIS VERY INFORMATIVE AND THOROUGH CONTENT!! As a startup talent manager, this gives me vital information how I can help my artists make money. Appreciate you!
Have any of y'all ever heard of or used Amuse? If so, how did your experience with that music distributer work out?
I just used amuse a few weeks ago, my single is currently previewing, how was your experience?
@@munibasadiq9698 I've not had an opportunity to use it yet. But it'll probably be the one I use when I release my single
@@thompsonproductions8075 oh ok remind me to tell u about my experience in like half a month :}
Please ma'am, whats your experience on it
Very good at explaining glad I came here
I use Amuse :)
How has that been working for you? If they wanted to sign you up, would you be up for it?
@@omnipossum92 you mean label?
@@madfuryofficial Yeah. From what I understand, their main purpose is to find artists to sign up to their label.
@@omnipossum92 i dont know yet. For me atleast right now, it is convenient because I dont earn money yet I still can upload my songs to the appropriate stores.
@@madfuryofficial Fair enough!
Thank you so much for this video. Extremely helpful in my decision making ! You rock!
HOW DO U REMOVE SOMEONE FROM YOUR ARTIST PAGE, IF THEY HAVE THE SAME ARTIST NAME
Same issue
Damien Keys you the mannnn 🔥 🔥
POV:vienes de la lista de reproducción de lenay
Xd
DITTO IS AWFUL! DO NOT USE DITTO!!!! DO NOT USE DITTO!!!
A song of ours was accidentally made live, separate from the rest of the EP. It took more than 1 and a half years to get it removed from Spotify!!! And it is probably still on other platforms.
Since there is no phone number at Ditto to speak to an actual human, we probably sent 30 plus emails. And Spotify was actually the one who got it done after we filed a "Claim of Infringement", which is essentially legal action against Ditto.
And ps. THEY DIDN'T PAY US OUR ROYALTIES! As little as they were, every dollar counts!
@Damian Keyes, thank you very much for always providing great info. Please place this horror story into your pile of considerations for your next Digital Distributor review vid.
Awesome Damien thank you, what about North America/ Canada ?
i was waiting for this videooooo !! thank you so much loved it. ♥
Hi Damien,
Well you said to “smash“ the like button, so I did. Unfortunately I smashed my phone as well, so now I can neither see nor hear you !!!! 🤪🤪🤪
Just a little humor there.
Thanks for a great video, I’m making a massive study of all of the different possibilities then I will boil it down and make my decision.
LOTS of options 😊
Wow that's a lot of information haha. Good video.
Just want to say Distrokids customer service is terrible. Once my yearly subscription ended they wouldn't accept the same card for the auto-payment - I even tried other cards and they still didn't accept them. When I asked them for other options to pay they pretty much said its not their problem. Because of this I literally can't pay and my music is probably going to get taken down unless I leave as legacy. So wouldn't recommend.