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👏🏻
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.
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
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!
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?
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.
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
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 :)
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...
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.
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.
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.
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 👎
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?
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
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.
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!
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.
I had an issue with using an existing IPO number with a new release on CD Baby. They called me back but the issue wasn't clearly resolved. Still not sure if it ever was....that's why I wanted to watch tis and I'm glad I did. VERY helpful, thanks a ton!!!
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?
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?
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! :)
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.
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.
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've been using CDbaby ever since I decided to release my music but currently am looking to change my distributor because they kept uploading my music to the wrong TH-cam channel. A lot of the times people would struggle finding my music which is the LAST thing you want as an artist. Either way, I tried reaching out to them but the problem never got fixed.
Hi! I am currently facing this problem, too, and it's a real bummer. I am just uploading visualizers of my video to my channel and hoping to address it that way, but it's not the same, and it feels like there's practically zero customer service to be had.
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! 😉
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?
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 😊
How do we feel at tunecore is trying to undercut distro kids now offering one year for $14.99 unlimited songs. After they were asking for many years I think it was $10 or $20 a release.
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.
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.
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!
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
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!
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?
I have been using Distrokid for the past year now and I got the $35 option cause I split it with someone else and we would both be releasing. So now the year is over and we have to pay the money but now apparently I am the only one who has to pay for it. I have been okay with the service that Distrokid has been offering me but I am considering moving to Ditto just because I want to be able to pick my release date while only paying for one person. So I am currently trying to figure out the whole process of moving my music.
@@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.
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!
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?
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
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
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...
How does a publisher like Songtrust work? Does it force stuff like Content ID onto my music and send out copyright claims to everyone who uses the track in their monetized videos?
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 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?
@@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.
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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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!
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 😊😊😊
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’m starting a career and you are basically the man who threw me into the music industry, thanks for your videos!!
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!
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.
Been with Symphonic, still enjoying their services.
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.
Grateful I found You. Brilliant!! And You just saved Me a lot of Time.. Thank You from Texas! M-DSR
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?
I am using DistroKid and I am darn happy with it. :D
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?
I think am choosing CD baby because I've not heard any complain doing my research which distributor to switch to 😉
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.
Hmmm … Cd baby is super easy to talk to - online chat with a customer representative. They were very helpful
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
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 🙂🙂
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.
I had an issue with using an existing IPO number with a new release on CD Baby. They called me back but the issue wasn't clearly resolved. Still not sure if it ever was....that's why I wanted to watch tis and I'm glad I did. VERY helpful, thanks a ton!!!
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
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?
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! :)
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.
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.
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've been using CDbaby ever since I decided to release my music but currently am looking to change my distributor because they kept uploading my music to the wrong TH-cam channel. A lot of the times people would struggle finding my music which is the LAST thing you want as an artist. Either way, I tried reaching out to them but the problem never got fixed.
Hi! I am currently facing this problem, too, and it's a real bummer. I am just uploading visualizers of my video to my channel and hoping to address it that way, but it's not the same, and it feels like there's practically zero customer service to be had.
Great job at explaining! Very clear and easy to understand. Thank you
for Ditto, can you upload Dolby Atmos ADM files for Apple Music Spatial Audio feature?
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! 😉
your videos are fantastic. thanks
What do you think about Amuse? Curious to know your opinion.
Very informative. Thanks Damian
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 ?
Can u make a video about AWAL? I’ve been considering them lately but I’m not really sure how much they help
i was waiting for this videooooo !! thank you so much loved it. ♥
Damian, could you please make a video looking into Soundcloud's Repost platform?
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 😊
I just found your channel today and thank you SO MUCH for this video!! Going to watch your 20 day plan next
As always!! Great info!!
Thank You!!
🎶🎶 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
Thank you for this xx
Glad to help!
Thanks so much for this! I am just getting into the music-producing world...very helpful and informative video.
I think every bit is important!
We're debating how to release our album next year and this was a lot of of help. Really appreciate this.
How do we feel at tunecore is trying to undercut distro kids now offering one year for $14.99 unlimited songs. After they were asking for many years I think it was $10 or $20 a release.
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.........😂
I really enjoy your content
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
Hi do you have details on how to upload to jpay? Please advise. Thank you
Kycker have been really good for my band! Free uploads and they take 20%
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.
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
I loved this information....
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
will distrokid distributes on wynk music and gaana music
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?
Informative and useful for the musicians regarding distribution and publishing.
I think i would like to go with ditto
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
Can you be on Ditto an Distro kid at the same time?..sorry if I missed it
I have been using Distrokid for the past year now and I got the $35 option cause I split it with someone else and we would both be releasing. So now the year is over and we have to pay the money but now apparently I am the only one who has to pay for it. I have been okay with the service that Distrokid has been offering me but I am considering moving to Ditto just because I want to be able to pick my release date while only paying for one person. So I am currently trying to figure out the whole process of moving my music.
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.
Tune Core's Customer Service is really good, haven't gotten any problem working with them.
.°|i think im going with ditto #100% royalties....thanks your video really helped.....❤️
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!
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?
Brilliant info , I'm on TH-cam but have no experience whatsoever on a platform to launch my music . Thank you , very insightful 👏
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
thank you @damiankeys for keeping the explanations simple and accessible. Big help!!
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
As I'm new on music production, I don't have much experience of distributors but think I'm going for Amuse.
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
Awesome Damien thank you, what about North America/ Canada ?
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...
How does a publisher like Songtrust work? Does it force stuff like Content ID onto my music and send out copyright claims to everyone who uses the track in their monetized videos?
“cdbaby is the big boy”
me: baby, big boy, *doesn’t add up*
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 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.
HOW DO U REMOVE SOMEONE FROM YOUR ARTIST PAGE, IF THEY HAVE THE SAME ARTIST NAME
Same issue
I am a budding artist, and coming across your video was extremely helpful! Thank you so much!
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!
Big Help!!!!!
As far as I know, CDBaby collects TH-cam royalties via ContentID even without pro.
Does distrokid do this too?
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
Thanks for this in-depth comparison. I'll go with first one.
POV:vienes de la lista de reproducción de lenay
Xd
Very good at explaining glad I came here
Thank you so much for this video. Extremely helpful in my decision making ! You rock!