ONE of these distributors is ripping you off... (CD Baby vs Distrokid)
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 14 ต.ค. 2024
- Who has more straightforward pricing, CD Baby or Distrokid? Let's compare! We unpack 6 scenarios and discover which distributor is the best price (and which is ripping you off). CD Baby just announced a MAJOR price change and is currently offering 50% off for viewers. Click the link below to save on your next release!
►► Get 50% OFF CD Baby Single or Album Distribution: cdbaby.cc/INDIE...
Get 50% OFF: using promo code IMA23SINGLE for a single - or IMA23ALBUM for an album/EP.
Resources and Links:
►► Distribution Comparison Chart: www.indiemusic...
►► Spotify Royalty Calculator: www.indiemusic...
►► Distrokid Add-on Costs: support.distro...
►► Distrokid Banned me for Life: • DISTROKID BANNED ME FO...
Ways We Can Work Together:
►► The Spotify Growth Formula Course: learn.indiemus...
►► My 100% Organic Spotify Promotion Service: www.indiemusic...
►► Join the totally free music promotion workshop: learn.indiemus...
-----------------------
Connect with Ryan on Instagram & Twitter:
IG: / ryanwaczek
Twitter: / ryanwaczek
TH-cam: / @indiemusicacademy
Website: www.indiemusic...
-----------------------
This video is about:
#musicmarketing #applemusic #musicpromotion #distrokid #cdbaby #musicdistribution #spotify
I switched from distrokid for my main band. Heres what i utilize now. CD Baby for all originals. Then I use the cd baby sister company Soundrop for cover songs. Same kind of format as cd baby but the cost is different. 99 cents per song and 15% commission to keep your song up like cd baby and to manage your cover song license. So utilize covers which you're not meant to make much off of and then use then to promote your songs through cd baby essentially.
That’s a cool combo! Thanks for sharing!
Soundrop dropped me and all my music without any reason last year. I would avoid them at all costs. If its the same company, I would say avoid CD baby too.
didn't they give you a reason for dropping you ? @@vxd
@@mitsostzatziki8727 no
@@mitsostzatziki8727 Look up Soundrop issues online via google or the like. Their support basically ENTIRELY stopped working a few months ago and there's 0 support at all. So no, they don't tell you jack all. Stick to CD Baby and Distrokid and the like. Soundrop seems to be a scam.
Distrokid gives TH-cam influencers money to promote their platform. That’s why so many people are being misguided. CD Baby is the clear choice for small independent artists. That could change in the future, but not as of today. Good luck out there y’all 🎶
yes. they also have a priority program for them. one of the youtubers showed his dash and it said priority artist🙃i asked DK how to enter that program and they lied and said it didnt exist when i saw it with my own eyes. they are shady AF
@@PSYB3RMOTH mind sharing that video link? Thanks
I highly recommend utilizing CD Baby for your music distribution needs! It's crucial to ensure that all your information is thoroughly finalized before proceeding. Additionally, when uploading an album, be cautious if you include samples from platforms like Splice or other stock sound banks. If someone has already used a sample you include, there's a risk of your entire album being flagged and taken down from social media platforms due to just one song.
I hire ghostwriters I have quite a few albums out and yeah I had one album it was one song that was flagged so I never used that producer again. I am glad they actually scan the entire album or song ahead of release at least it lets me know! versus what I heard from distrokid which is a nightmare they can take your album down after release with a quickness.
Somebody need a blast United masters they stole all of our money promoted it as free then steal all our royalties w millions of users they stole over 20 million shaddddy game they said it was freee bruhhh 😢
Thats why its good to alter loops you may want to use 🙌🏽🙌🏽
This happend all the time specialy on royality free vocals !! They get content ID over Royality free Vocals of course you have buy this vocals like ohters to use them but here comes the mistake !!The Distributer ask you what you have done on the tune and if the lyrics is written by you and then this frauders say yes i have written the lyrics !! I have find a solution every distributer use the content ID of TH-cam !! I have make a channel on youtube and and everytime i get ot upload a song i upload it on this channel privatly so i can see if someone have put copyrights on the vocals if yes immediately i make a dispute on TH-cam put all the evidence bying number where to buy and so on and put the song now on public until TH-cam remove the copyrights !! Only once a Distributer have don't remove the copyrithgs and this is Believe Music so you have find the artist and say to him to remove the copyrights !! This hapend to me once but if Beleive music do this another timeI ι will take legal action against them !! And keep in mind that Believe Music belongs to Sony Music !!
CDbaby pays faster too.
CD Baby don't take down your songs, one off fee + 9 percent from sales. Diskokid take your songs down if you cannot afford the yearly subscription. That is so bad. CD Baby has no other hidden fees, cheaper than Diskokid.
Thank you for making this video. I think Nick D and Conner Price need to switch Distributers. Having lived through recessions I would not want my family to have all their songs taken down because we could not afford that yearly subscription fees etc.
Bravo. Excellent content. 🦋👍😊
haha it's only cheaper if you plan that nobody buys your music
Excellent, as always. I'm signing up with CD Baby today . . . and will use a great deal of your advice in this video and others to help me make the most of my first-ever release. Thanks so much.
I realize you don't have the best relation with Distrokid, but this is painting a very wrong picture depending on your scenario.
"Leave a Legacy" is worthless, as long as you are able to earn the subscription fee every year so it gets paid internally. I use musician +, which is 40 usd per year
Future DSP's is worthless too - you can manually add them yourself for zero dollars. You want the discovery part though, and potentially ContentID
I had 5M yearly streams 2 years ago, and I'd release up to 5 singles in a year.
For me that makes the costs:
Distrokid: $ 70
CD Baby: $ 1764
The real costs of CD Baby would be even higher though, as this only takes into account the spotify streams, and not the 9% cut from all other services
Interesting
Hey man! 🤘🏻 Yeah, it's like talking to a brick wall, honestly. We've commented about the 9% cut (that very few artists are actually even aware of) many times, and no one cares about that. Most people prefer to give up 9%, cause 9% of $0 is, well... $0. In your case it would be $1800 a year in royalties alone, which is crazy to give away for literally nothing. In my opinion that's exactly the definition of a rip off. Ryan is super-biased, and for whatever reason leaves out TuneCore out of comparison?
How to blow up like that fam?
@@scoop964 there’s no magic pill, just years of grind, a lot of time and money invested. many sacrifices, 80-hour work weeks, missed friends’ parties and many many hours of watching and learning from other people.
Distrokid is the best and I have a lot of friends who uses distrokid and cd baby be ripping off artist cause I heard many creators how they got screwed over and although distro might’ve happen partially when starting but now that they are pretty much big and succeeding. I hear it’s fair now and it depends more on the effor you put in into distro and personally few friends of mines are happy
Did this video address publishing royalties? The CD Baby Pro option where they become your publisher and submit everything to ASCAP or BMI for you. CDB takes 50% of your publishing, Distrokid takes nothing and you set up your own music pro account for a one time fee and you are your own 100% owned publisher of your own music.
Thank you SO much for this video, and your service! Essential viewing to the community. Regardless of choices and reasons, this is an awesome layout of hard facts and real world scenarios. REALLY good to know and really well presented!
Mahla Sangeet Distribution
Is the best, 😱
free unlimited releases, approval time 1 hour 😍
Thank you for explaining that i used CD Baby first for my stuff right off the hope but this was also my first release so experimental but from this chart, you see who is the lead winner
I went from Distrokid to CdBaby when I found this out years ago. Distrokid is ripping off their customers that don`t have a lot of streams 🤬
Thanks for doing this vid. I've been with CDbaby since the Derick Severs days (2003). Recently some marketing gurus have made Distrokid seem appealing, so I've comparing, just about to release a new song, considering checking out Distrokid. NOT NOW!!! My current numbers would never justify it. Plus, long term, I'd rather pay as I go rather than all that money up front. If I was to multiply that over all my assets that haven't performed that well yet (lack of promotion) I would have been out a TON of money. Man, I'm really glad you did this. Thank you!!!
Don’t forget the end goal if you plan to make it big. 9% from 100M stream equates to $21,420. And this is for Spotify alone
yeah but overall you earned 238,000$ (100%), so that $21,420 (9%) is not big deal. you sound like we have to take pay it from our own wallet / bank account. But it is different- you wake up one day and see that you will GET 216,580$ from cdbaby (238,000-21,420). You don't have to pay anything. And this is from Spotify ALONE 🙂
thats like saying u dont wanna win the lottery cuz u dont wanna pay taxes
@@SinisterJr If CD Baby did something to spike your streams that Distrokid doesnt than you would be right, but they dont. your streams come from you and CD baby gets a 9% sweat equity stake as a reward for distributing your music. Just like a major distributor. In contrast Distrokid charges you a few hundred extra up front in exchange for not taking a cut.
So the question is, would you give up 9% of your music revenue for life to avoid paying $400? I wouldnt.
@@mallhits I’m good. Distrokid is preying on people who don’t understand long term numbers. I’d rather not have services remove my music cuz I didn’t pay a yearly subscription fee that ends up costing more in the long run compared to 9% and having your music up without worrying about it getting taken down.
this is my thought, Im in an established band who generates to much to give away 9% I'd rather pay upfront for a service @@mallhits
Something you didn't mention and is the reason I stopped using Distro kid THE SECOND I REALISED THIS is that even if you pay the leave a legacy fee , IF you stop paying the annual fee they WONT PAY YOU ROYALTIES , DISTRO KID is a massive scam for anyone really trying to build their music career and some point or later you will move your music to another Distro so why even start there ? complete scam
Bro That’s 100% Cap ‼️ and at the same time Register your song to a Publishing Administrator How You’re Supposed too. Learn the industry bro
@@capobeatz5912 BMI also works in EUROPE? or it's just for US?
That’s not true at all.
Man, I feel like I have literally no idea what I am doing in this space! Great video, opened my eyes to the true costs, and that "low cost" of entry lure with DK is really deceptive.
Mahla Sangeet Distribution
Is the best, 😱
free unlimited releases, approval time 1 hour 😍
@@ajit2581 dude man stop the spam
As someone as myself who is about to venture into one of these outlets, im leaning towards CDBaby and let me tell you why..
Someone mentioned in the comments that if they were streaming 100 million streams, cd baby would be taking tons of their money and they dont like that. But realistically, if youre streaming 100 million, chances are youve "Made it" and in regards to music and distribution, ANY of these platforms will probably be useless. Hell, chances are, youll probably be big in the industry to manage your own music or have a label or management to manage it.
Realistically, most of us are just trying to make it to a fair level with our music. So throwing tons of money up front may not be the smartest move. Id rather start paying AFTER my music is making the money for me than using my OWN money (that can actually be going towards my actual music) and having to pay all these crazy charges up front which can hurt you at first if your music doesnt grow at first. Then if my music "Makes it" then figure money making/money saving tactics in the future.
Because lets be real, if youre streaming 100 million, chances are you are touring, selling merch, and probably making money off social media.
Agree, I am not fussy, its an endeavor to distribute to potential listeners. All the distributer does is put music and noise into another large popular storage space, which people glom onto and sometimes buy or save.
I have no issue with distributors taking a small cut for the work if it makes any money
As some commenters note, yeh its an issue including samples. Over 50 percent of my cues are not worthy of TH-cam contentID and blocked. I have no idea why I get flagged, I generally do my own sound design. Its a mystery
Thanks for your chart. I did a similar chart as you few years ago, which is why I stayed with CDBaby!
A great video, thank you! As far as TH-cam monetization comparisons, I believe Distrokid takes 20% (in addition to the $7.75 you pay yearly for the service) while CDBaby takes 30% (no extra service cost, but you have to opt-in to add the service to your digital distribution release).
Amazing video...Excellent production and so informative...Saved me a ton of analysis and research! I had chosen CD Baby because of another one of your videos, and now I'm really glad that I did given Distrokid's economic model. Thank you!
I was all set and geared up for a Distrokid release this year. Having second thoughts! Many thanks for this video!
Always go Distrokid thats what all the main artist use.
@@GothDaddyMusic I’m still not sure, DK seems to get the lions share of complaints!
Mahla Sangeet Distribution
Total free
Approval time 1 hour
@@GothDaddyMusicno, and all the artist using distrokid are now screwed royalty
So what u go with
CD Baby, unbeknownst to me at the time, named themselves PUBLISHER for the songs on my CD, with BMI. I don't know how to get that changed!!
They ARE the one Publishing the music on the DSP. You are giving up Publishing, Distribution and Sound Master Royalties by using these services. Just like a record label.
@bigdogmurphy during the setup process with CDB there is a section asking if you have a publisher. If you don't then they will automatically list themselves as the pub. If you signed up for the pub plan then they will act on your behalf and collection your quarterly royalties from the PRO (BMI/ASCAP/SESAC). You can avoid that happening if you go and setup your own publishing company, pay the fee and operate on collecting the royalties yourself. At the time I did my Pub company it was $300 with BMI. Lastly, get your own ISRC codes too because if you don't, they will give you theirs which will register sales to them when streams/plays happen digitally. Peace.
@@frankflowersmke Thanks for the explanation.
@@bigdogmurphy if you are not with ASCAP, they have their publisher/writer membership free right now.
@@frankflowersmkeI also appreciate the explaination. How do you get your own isrc codes?
So Good to see this. I've been with CD Baby since 1996... this is the main reason I got out of Tune Core in 2000. Dereck Sivers set something up for his friends.. and it continues to be friendly. :)
I use Distrokid because they have the superior cover song license program. This is very important for an a cappella artist like me that does lots of covers.
Can you say why their licensing is superior?
Not a fan of Distrokid’s licensing. My cover song release was delayed for an undetermined amount of time only to pop up over a week later than my set release date. Hard to promote a release when it doesn’t show up when it’s supposed to.
Cover licensing via DistroKid is very expensive. LandR offer a better service with a one time fee. Soundrop is even cheaper if you don't mind them taking a 15% commission.
So if i produce a cover, I can distribute it through DK's licensing system? Hows the review process look like and is there any documents to be sent over to them for the review?
Imani, Soundrop takes 15% of all sales, including cover songs but only charges a one time fee of 99 cents per song! Distrokid is charging you about $13 per year per song ($130 per year per every 10 songs etc..).
Powerful ….”A shot heard around the world “…
I’m getting ready to release my first single, and have been deliberating, and praying, for guidance… Thank you
Mahla Sangeet Distribution
Is the best, 😱
free unlimited releases, approval time 1 hour 😍
The CD Baby other options (formerly Pro, now the new CD Boost, which works somewhat differently), there is a bit more up-front cost again, but those are extremely valuable services.
Mahla Sangeet Distribution
Total free
Approval time 1 hour
Side note if you are a artist that doesn’t release a lot I say cdbaby, if your like me I released 74 singles so distrokid is best for me. Only you know how much your going to release
I hope you deny all those additional features cuz Distrokid be taxin. You should try out Symphonic
@@ralphhughes_nah I’m good where I’m at I don’t use them for any extras and I mean none. 40 a yr 2 artist it’s a win they don’t even have my package available anymore
hey i have a question? so i uploaded 2 of my songs to distro kid but it gave me 2 different youtube pages for each song . how can i make it to where all my music is on one page ?
if you can help i just wanted to ask.
@@ebbluu5139contact the support
WOW! I've been combing the net for this kind of clarity... Incredible video and SOOO helpful!!! Excellent content guys.
Hey we have distributed our music video on distrokid on June 12 but still don't recieve any earning and reports can you please tell me when does distrokid provide us earnings and reports
I love the video! The only thing I would say is that this doesn’t take into account other revenue platforms for streams and just Spotify which doesn’t really pay out much. I would imagine if those 2 million were distributed across other platforms instead especially TH-cam that 9% would show its fangs more and end up being drastically worse financially. Though I suppose for the majority of people that’s a price they would be willing to pay to not have to worry about annual payments and just do everything one time.
Thanks for posting. It’s all much more complex than I anticipated, but I’m going to put out an album soon - my first one so I can’t count on huge sales and so keeping cost low is important.
I like this channel but guys be careful with trusting opinions on anything. He has a gripe with Distrokid which should be considered when watching this channel as his view on them in every video is slanted.
I’m not with either of these distributors, but just be mindful of the advice you take and the persons motivation
Thanks for the info! But what do you recommend if you only publish covers?
Distro
If you don't use optionnal purpose of Distrokid, Distrokid is less than CDBaby.
Yeah, but if you want to scale up you career, and you would like to Pat those optional Distrokid services.
Btw, I’m using Distrokid as my distributor, but looking to move on…
@noiszif I've signed up for Distrokid but haven't released any music through them yet, because of the recent controversy with them and Spotify removing artists music with essentially no recourse. Have you found a more appealing option?
I just asked Chat GPT what is best for small Artists and after a few questons it was CD Baby which is the clear choice. So yes, for today 2024, you should go for CD Baby
GREAT eye opener! thanks so much! now the big question? how do you move to a different distributor smoothly? do you lose streams?
CD Baby outside of the USA charges a fairly large commission just for being outside of the USA, and I find that quite problematic.
What still makes me doubt is the annual payment and the fact that they download the music if you stop paying, but it is still better than a 30% commission just for not being from the USA.
Even so, it does not mean that you can upload it from another place with the same ISCR the day you no longer want to pay Distrokid.
I live in Australia. Distrokid won't accept my tax details (I don't have a social security number, for example) So, I can't get paid. I'm looking to move to another distribution Co. Check out Space Engineer, To Be Loved, Coming Down, Belong, Lost in Time.
Thank you so much Ryan! I appreciate your dedication and honesty, that will save me a lot of time thank you again :)
Bro... what about CD Baby vs. TuneCore then? Thank you. Is it similar? ❤
No. Just look up the latest tunecore horror stories!!
the spotify calculator you are using is inaccurate. i have have 100k stream on a couple of track as a indie artist but have never been close to the number you are using. its more like 30 dollar for 100k stream. on top of that spotify can do whatever they want, if they want to scam you, they just do it and you cant do anything about it. the Music industri is dead, spotify killed it. you make more money being a tiktoker or a streamar. it sucks.
I understand the benefit in showing all expenses included from DK to make it even with what you'd get from CDB, but most of them are just so worthless. DK was costing me under $100/yr when I was dropping songs every week. All I used was the Shazam add on. I feel most people won't need the rest.
Shazam has it without paying an extra for $0.99.
Hi, can you review LANDR Distribution? They’re similar to CD Baby but they allow you to do split pay and if you don’t renew your subscription, your music will still stay live but the artist will only keep 85% of the royalties instead of 100%.
Awesome video! Thank you for breaking this down! So much clarity now!
Hi Ryan. Great video! CDBaby is definitely my option as a distributor!
I’m just starting out as an artist and I have a question that might sound weird, but I don’t have the experience to know if this is anything to worry about:
If I sign up for a Spotify For Artists account before signing up to a distributor and then
Sign up to a distributor and decide to put my music on Spotify through through the distributor, will Spotify For Artists stop the distribution of my music from the distributor’s end? Or will they let the distributor through? Be
Thanking all answers in advance.
They will let the distributor through… Especially when your Artist name etc is the exact same Everywhere.
Also you get the option to choose your Spotify Account or input your Spotify URL. when uploading your songs.
Distrokid is in my mind for a while now but after seen this video 😮, CDbaby is a better choice for me 9.99 usd is 828 rs its really good that this video pop up, and thanks for sharing your knowledge
Mahla Sangeet Distribution
Total free
Approval time 1 hour
Am I missing something? Wouldn’t the column that says “5 singles 3 albums over 5 years” actually be $399.6 ($79.2 x 5)?? You wouldn’t only pay $79.92 over 5 years. Unless you mean someone who only released 5 singles and 3 albums over the course of 5 years and not each of those 5 years. Not sure which one you meant
if you don't choose Leave a Legacy, but you have your ISRC codes, can't you theoretically upload them to different distributors down the road if you wanna ditch distrokid?
wondering this too...
Hmm… Good question 🤔
i know bandcamp is separate from DK and i did use my isrc codes when uploading to bandcamp
@@seanyoungman Yeah, because I didn't
Yes, you can, but you'll have to pay the costs regardless. But the $9.99 CdBaby fee is still cheaper than the Leave a Legacy fee
Wow! I had no idea!! Thanks so much, CDBaby for the Win! ♥
Video sponsored by CD Baby. Take with a grain of salt.
New to all this so all advice and comments are good. Do you have to set up an artists profile on all the streaming services separately E.g iTunes, Spotify, Amazon etc before you use a distribution service or can you do them all in one hit through the distribution service?
If you've never released before it will create a new artist as you distribute for the first time. (Unless they accidentally add your track to another artist's but not usual)
I'm so clueless with this side of things -- thanks so much!
Enjoyed the video, but CD Baby doesn't allow you to edit your release info anytime like Distrokid. I uploaded some placeholder art on my CD Baby release because I saw a "edit" button, but that goes away after a couple days and my placeholder art got locked in permanently even though my song isn't being released for another 5 days. Now that my artist has finished my art, I can't use it. The animation for Spotify Canvas won't match the image art either. I prefer to setup the release so I can get things moving and upload the art when the artist finishes instead of waiting a long time (I have a backlog of old tunes I'm trying to release and ad campaigns I want to get setup).
So are you switching to Discokid or will you be staying with CD baby ? I suppose they both have their pros and cons, i'm a very small new content creator so i think i'm leaning more toward CD baby.
@@Waybackwhennn I'm not sure yet. I may use distrokid for releases I'm trying to rush release, part way I can edit the release later if I need to. And then I'll use CD baby for releases that I already have everything ready for. It also takes CD baby longer to process the release so if you submit it a week before the release date, it might not go through until the day before and by then you only have one day to prepare everything on Spotify for artists, ads, etc.
ThunderFoxMusic, for future reference, you can skip the cover art part in Cdbaby until final art is ready. In the View/Edit button to right of the album title in dashboard, it brings you to a page where section by section including cover art you can complete steps until ready to pay for distribution.
You just completely contradicted yourself , you said CD Baby reached out to you and gave you a discount code which means you are getting paid to say this !
Exactly I was wondering
I assume they reached out after he released the video. He then added the code
it's some afiliate code probably. no matter, ma men did the math, showed his sources, even if cd baby told him to do it, it's math that can be verified. on another note seems to me like these distributors overstep quite a bit. is it really that difficult to just distribute our own?
Mahla Sangeet Distribution
Is the best, 😱
free unlimited releases, approval time 1 hour 😍
Do you know what affiliate program is? If not google it
hi, i just read this today,is it true? As you know by now - all well-known distros like (Tunecore, DistroKid, CD Baby, Audiam, RouteNote etc.) will ban you as soon as you hit ~$1k
My dilemma-I do like CD Baby. But I’m debating Landr because mastering is included. Yeah, it’s subscription. But if you cancel, your music stays up forever… (But then they do take 15% commission.)
If I pay $143 for a year w/ Landr, as of this writing, I can “waterfall” release singles, then the whole album, plus mastering- unlimited releases, singles, and mastering. Zero commission. From what I can see, all those add ons are included.
If I did the same thing with CD baby (who I do like and I am with currently), the waterfall release would be $10 per single (let’s say $70), then the album would be another $10. Then I would have to pay to master all of those songs. I wish CD baby had a package that included mastering. Then it would be a no-brainer. (Edit: I release children’s music, so albums can have 15 songs or more. Mastering gets pretty pricey.)
Thanks for sharing , any other pros or cons you can share about Landr?
I did just sign up. I really like the 36 wav masters with the studio plan (and obviously the unlimited uploads)...and just as I was on the fence, they started a sale for the studio plan, so I went with it. I've put out 2 releases with them so far. No problems, but the few times I had a question about something (nothing relating to my releases), it took over a week to hear back--but that seems to be the case with all of them, tbh. So far, so good.@@SplashSisterscml
i feel like this is all pretty anecdotal evidence tbh. there's plenty of people who get far more than 2M streaming in 5 years of doing music, especially if they're playing their cards right. 2M seems like hella lowball of a number for 5 whole years, there are plenty of artists who get those numbers in 2 years, and even 10M streams would cost over $3400 in royalties alone if we're going off of your math here. the costs of royalty fees with CD Baby for someone who gets larger in their music career would be far larger than the fees of someone who went with Distrokid in that example. there's too many factors to consider for this to really be a solid argument imo.
I thought the same thing, 2M streams lol there's artists who get 10's of millions of streams in just one year
hmm interesting! indeed I was wondering where it can come to in few years. just releasing my 1st song which we made with a friend, however having doubts :)). also wonder, is it even good to release on so many platforms? and somehow I thought that youtube identifying use of the song IS included without an extra charge.
You didn’t mention the $39.99 CD BABY BOOST fee for total distribution, which brings their fees up to $50 a release. That’s unfair and inaccurate BUDDY! Not kool
I'm not sure what you mean.. I haven't paid for the Boost and my songs are on all streaming platforms. I'm getting royalties from platforms I didn't even know existed.
@@therealajnelson that fee for boost is only great for people who own 100% of the song and want to get more out of the collections.
Hello sir. I was doing some research came across your channel and found out you need a SSN for BMI. Is there a work around this or am I dommed?
Thanks very much for sharing this intel! Aspiring musicians hate getting ripped off!
The best way to not get ripped off is have your music on TH-cam only. It is not only a leading model of consumption, but it is free. Once you get big the labels find you, I guarantee it.
@@nathanielbenford7928some of us don’t want a label to sign us lol. That’s slave mentality to wanna be signed 😂
Idk how it happened. I have 1 song on CD Baby / Distrokid and 5 songs on Tunecore. How do I fix it?
Hmmm. I've never uploaded before to Spotify. I'm definitely a hobbyist. I'm consider CD Baby now.
IMHO avoid both of them. I have been with CD Baby since 2007, and their service has gone to shit in the last 5 years. They will not reply quickly or advocate on the artist's behalf if things go wrong. I'm in the process of moving my entire CD Baby catalogue to Gyrostream - a distributor that actually still answers your messages.
This was so informative!
Im with Distrokid right now and I’ve already released 3 singles with them so far without the ad ons.
Do you know if I can cancel with them and take my songs off so I can switch to CD Baby?
I’d love to take on this offer!
Yes, but keep in mind that you'd need to pay the $9.99 fee for each single you upload to CD Baby.
So these benefits that you can book extra in DK are automatically provided with CDB?
And also, just in theory, if one streams over 2mil, lets say 5 or even 10, would DK not be the more interesting choice here if he focus is to make profit? (Sure, to even get there is a different thing, I am just trying to understand all this.)
SHAZAM is owned by Apple.
As long as you deliver a track or album to Apple, Shazam will work to identify those tracks, regardless of whether or not you pay Distrokid for the discovery pack.
Yes! This has always been the case for me as a Distrokid user.
Cool video bro 😎
Whats your opinion on tunecore?
Tunecore is shit
which one gets you on Tidal?
Thanks for this video, really useful
distrokid
CDBaby as well
I've been using CD Baby for a couple of years now and have no issues with them. I've seen to many videos explaining why DistroKid sucks and have decided to never do business with them. Not only the exorbitant fees but DK also has a habit of pulling music arbitrarily for alleged "false plays" and refusing to republish even after evidence proving the plays were legit. CD Baby's 9% really isn't that bad when you consider how the labels do their signed artists.
Thanks for sharing this information and the Discount!! ✊🏾🤘🏾
How does cd baby handle accounting? I like how distrokid distributes money automatically and I don’t have hire an accountant to track everything
Are the 50% codes avaible for limited time or one use for one user?
Excellent evaluation! Made my decision for distribution very easy.
Great video! Just a heads up, the end screen distrokid video is not displaying, only see the link in the description.
This was very helpful and informative, thank you
I am a small independent artist. I have uploaded a single last year on streaming services with distrokid. Is it possible to keep the artist profile on streaming services, remove the songs from the distrokid account and re-release the music with cd baby?
iMusician is fierce competition for CDBaby and Distrokid. Ive been looking at them because they don't take a percent, but it costs more to upload
I think one thing you are leaving out is the commissions are different on the additional services by cd baby, for instance TH-cam Content ID they take 30%.
Exactly, this information is very relevant. Seemed to me he left it out on purpose to make CDBaby look more attractive. I definitely think 30% on TH-cam is a lot, taking into account that TH-cam already takes a percentage of ad revenue...
Does your discount code also work on pro releases or just on the lower tier release?
Wow I don't even care if this video was sponsored by CDbaby, that math does add up as a win. This is the kind of sponsored/affiliated content that is actually useful information. Very nicely done.
For how long? One release? Or for as long as your with them? In regards to the coupon code
Thanks so much for breaking this down! My band The Electric Splash is about to release an EP and we're deciding which way to go. Our recording engineer said he uses CD Baby and told us a horror story that one of his clients used Distrokid and had their music taken down from all the platforms because their debit card was compromised, thus canceled, and when the automatic payment didn't go through. Thanks for helping us decide!
Extremely helpful, thank you!
If you go with CD Baby, do they care about pusing your music? Seeing that if you get paid so do they?
What is Session Studio? How does it factor into this conversation?
👏🏻Thank you! Distro Kid does seem sketchy. I think DK also charges for some extra analytics too.
I pay $40 a year to Distrokid, for 10 years I'll pay $400.
I release 15 singles a year.
In CD Baby this will cost me $1500 over 10 ten years.
Shazam has it without paying an extra for $0.99.
For content ID, I use Identifyy, there are no fees, the commission is 30%.
That's how I decided things.
Distrokid their support is super bad until you get to a real person for an answer it takes weeks but for the money it is.
I was with LANDR 4 years before that, the only thing better with them was the support.
Some unreal situations are explained above in the clip.
great comparision. I still don't trust CD Baby. Distrokid without the extra fluff is my choice so far. BUt I'm still lookinginto the hidden fees no one else is mentioning between these two... ie. when you withdrawal your earning, there's another cut.
If you want to release an album with 16 tracks, will that cost more?
Is there any way to transfer my tracks from DistroKid to CD Baby?
yea man it's super easy. just make sure you got all the metadata.
I’m trying to find a distribution app for my music and I want to make sure that I can get it to be copyrighted for TH-cam so other people won’t upload my music does anyone know of a good one?
how many distributors did you switch ?
Thank you for your precise and diligent studies!!! 🎉😅
What is the best????
So what you're saying is, United Masters is a better choice? Great video!!
What about TUNECORE? Would like to hear your input on TUNECORE against the competition.
i have distrokid ...43,99€ per year...so 4400€for 100yeaers...my lifetime xD 43€/year thats it...and if u have 5 songs at cd baby...u pay 9%times5 right? like in this video 600*5=3000 fee!...=more than me on distrokid: 43€*5years=215€ soo... if u upload more songs that go viral u pay more money at cd baby!!!!!????right??
All depends on your "what ifs". What if you release a single every month for a few years, not bothering with any of the totally unecessary Distrokid extras. You don't need to pay the Legacy fee as long as your paying your annual fee. So I suspect you've got some double accounting right there. The lifetime legacy is for if you DON'T pay the annual fee.
Then suppose they don't pay your Distrokid annual fee, so they take down your music. For one, you could just redistribute using another distributer. For two, you could just pay for the best songs anyway, Spotify royalties being mostly useless for most of us.
Maybe CD Baby seems best for those who release a few songs (or 1 or 2 albums) per year, and get a lot more streams from them? If you're prolific and releasing far more, while only in the 10's of thousands of streams level, Distrokid will work out cheaper. Once you're streaming millions a month, then wouldn't you move on from either of these DIY , Indie distributors?
Great breakdown. I appreciate it.
Once again, everybody makes money before you do. There are over 2 million artists out there competing for consumer money with more coming on line every day. If you are making money, you're working your butt off and have exceptional music. That said, any business you have will require spending money to make money, just be wise and have a great product. Good luck everyone.