The biggest issue with all major distributors at this point is customer service. In 2008 I could shoot CD Baby an email and expect a reply within a day. It can take months now, going by my recent experiences. Distrokid is no better. I realise that the business model has changed from a few thousand artists selling CDs, to more than 100k artists constantly releasing singles online.
Yes it’s an issue. However, with the race to the bottom from a price perspective, these distributors’ main expense is payroll, and if they want to stay in business they have to cut SOMEwhere… It’s unfortunate, but I don’t know if any distributor that actually offers responsive customer service.
Bingo! I have been with CD Baby for years. But I have really had TERRIBLE service from them the last year to year and a half. They don’t even respond to emails anymore basically. I was very loyal to them for years. And overall, pretty happy. But they have done some really unfriendly things to independent artists the last year. And now, I am looking for a new distribution for the first time in years.
@@tonyvv Australian distributors Gyrostream have impressed me, and quite a few instrumental music artists I know have switched to them in the last 2 years. Another option for artists is to find a good small label that handles the digital distribution (but I advise everyone to tread carefully, and only engage in contracts with people you trust implicitly). I have several single releases with Yellow Rose and Valley View Records, they are a dream to work with. Messages answered within an hour in most instances.
I have been using Discmakers to make records, cassettes, and then CDs since the 80s, and CD Baby as my distributor almost since they started. But I will probably use Distrokid to distribute my next release. Why? Because I've always released albums "all at once", and once streaming became inescapable I used Spotify's pre-save features and Release Radar. Because some Spotify playlist editors added a couple of tunes from one of the releases, we got over 500,000 streams on that album. The next one, which is (to me) a better album, didn't do anywhere near that, probably only around 40,000 streams. You know, almost enough to buy a Big Mac. But it occurred to me (I'm a bit slow, so it only took 30 years) that record companies don't release "all at once". They release a single, and then another, and then another, and THEN release the album. And if you do that with the streaming platforms, that should greatly increase your chances of getting some attention. So now it's economics. CD Baby wants $10 per release, whether single or album. Three singles, one album, that's $40. Plus 9%, which actually adds up. Distrokid wants $23, unlimited releases, I keep all of the massive $0.0044 payout per stream, or less depending on the platform. But I can stagger the individual releases and get at least 3 more opportunities to push a song. I've written to CD Baby about this, more than once, and the answer I got was "So go use Distrokid." Ok then. I'll give it a shot with this upcoming album and see what happens.
CD Baby wants to charge me $50 for the Pro Single Distribution (same as their current rate for a FULL PRO ALBUM!). I have emailed them, messaged them on their ads on Facebook over and over for moths to ask why they are changing the same crazy amount for a Pro Single as a Pro album. And nothing. Crickets. They also don’t respond to a couple other questions I have had for months. The customer service is garbage at CD Baby now. Yet they seem to have resources to sponsor all kinds of events. Pay for ads on Facebook. And run podcasts, ect.. I am pretty well over their crap service…
For my music cd baby. The reason why is because I am a part time musician, and all the extra charges from distrokid beside the yearly fee (one of them for check your music in UA-cam, 9.99.) doesn't work for me. Looking forward for part 2 and 3. Thanks Tony and like you say, see you next time.
Thank you so much! I’m so disconnected with latest marketing. The small distributor I had went bankrupt and kept almost 200 of my cd’s. Someone I don’t even know is selling them on Amazon cheeper than I can. Im fed up and set my Amazon site listed as cd’s out of stock because I can’t compete with their price. There is the hassle of Amazon returning broken Cd’s to me when I stocked their warehouses with perfectly new ones. I need help! I’m so excited for any opportunities to share my music. Looking forward to learn more be better.
There is a big difference and that is that DistroKid won’t touch your royalties and the others will. If you have a song that gets on a playlist or blows up you can lose a lot of money, so why risk it? DistroKid for the win!
DK is a good option. If it’s just about zero commissions there are others that also don’t charge a commission, for example Tunecore. However, they ding you every year for the annual fee. So it’s a bit of a math exercise of how many streams you’re likely to get year in and year out, and whether you’re better off paying a commission or a subscription fee. Yes, you COULD hit the lottery and get on a big playlist, but how likely is THAT, and should all your planning be driven by that low probability scenario?
I have learned allot from your series of digital distribution and fixed media. For digital distribution I would like to ask you to do a series on "BRAND". In my experience in the digital distribution platform I have seen many participants just completely convolute the artist brand. And getting through to the provider is like pulling nails.
@@tonyvv During my short time on subscription I had some of the major distributors "mislabel" my genre in 5 other different genre's. Other than my true genre' Rockabilly. I had one distributor take and use one of my songs in a Tik Tok clip with a popular Asian Boy Band mimicking the tune in a comical way. So essentially what I mean is that Apple, Spotify and others take actions that are in the Artist-Rapport realm which compromises the Artist "Brand" and they appear to have no experience in this crucial area. I believe you are the best individual to investigate these activities for your product that you produce for music artists' is very well branded for the Music Artist genre. Gretschkat
I have a question I have a spoken word album but I’ve been rejected by both tunecore and distrokid both told me they didn’t accept albums of my kind. It has more of me speaking than music so would you have an idea of which platform would be best for me and my work.
Hello, our friends at @CDbaby may be able to help. 👍 Reach out to them and see if they have any restrictions that may prevent them from distributing your album. www.cdbaby.com
😡😡😡CD Baby email I received on 05/22/2023, without any prior warning: "Today, we’re announcing that CD Baby will stop distributing physical products on June 22, 2023. We will discontinue physical sales and fulfilment and stop warehousing, shipping, or distributing physical products like CDs and vinyl on all channels (Alliance, Amazon Marketplace. If you have any remaining inventory [...] you will have up to 60 days to tell us to: - Remove and return your remaining inventory to you (you pay shipping fees) OR - Recycle your remaining inventory for you (no cost to you)" ...with no info on how to contact them within 60 days. Beware of a company that terminates a legally binding agreement by just sending an email that says, "we don't feel like doing our end of the deal anymore," and adds insult to injury by making you pay shipping charges to get your property back.
This is not helping me at all. I have my CDs made at DisMakers. I want to go digital, but I do covers. What do I do? What's the best service to use for paying the royalties on the music I record and getting it streamed?
Covers are fine for live gigs but selling CD's of covers does not really work. People always want to play the original when they get home--Unless of course you have an exceptional voice or have put your own twist on --you may have both of course!!
Gary I use Easy Song Licensing. Reference Roger's comments, "Yes" he's correct about releasing covers, but also right on that part about having a "twist" (or gimick). I released a Sinatra 100th Anniversary CD, which won a music award, but the twist was they were songs that Sinatra "Never Before" recorded. My twist (or gimmick) is that I sound similar to Sinatra. And with songs he did not record (which were hard to find) one couldn't compare. Good Luck.
Well, with covers that means you won’t need any mechanical royalty collection. But you’ll want to maximize your sound recording royalties. Plus, some integration with a cover song licensing service would be nice. Stay tuned for the next two videos. I talk about all the revenue and product options. But the simple answer is that there’s no simple answer…
@@louarmagno515 Thanks. My songs are all instrumental guitar. I'm looking for the best way to save on the licensing fees for electronic distribution. I've made 4 CDs with DiskMakers and used Affordable Song Licensing for that. But electronic fees seemed to be way too much money when I did the first CD 3 years ago.
If your smart and really want to put the large corporations in their place, don't release your music on any platforms that charge money. All you will do is give money to the corporations for the chance to have people listen to your music. Music is free now it must be accepted, only release your music on sites that are free.
Download Tony's 59-point checklist for how to find the digital distributor that’s just right for your music: bit.ly/3GCUPRG
Thank you for this!
The biggest issue with all major distributors at this point is customer service. In 2008 I could shoot CD Baby an email and expect a reply within a day. It can take months now, going by my recent experiences. Distrokid is no better. I realise that the business model has changed from a few thousand artists selling CDs, to more than 100k artists constantly releasing singles online.
Yes it’s an issue. However, with the race to the bottom from a price perspective, these distributors’ main expense is payroll, and if they want to stay in business they have to cut SOMEwhere… It’s unfortunate, but I don’t know if any distributor that actually offers responsive customer service.
Bingo! I have been with CD Baby for years. But I have really had TERRIBLE service from them the last year to year and a half. They don’t even respond to emails anymore basically. I was very loyal to them for years. And overall, pretty happy. But they have done some really unfriendly things to independent artists the last year. And now, I am looking for a new distribution for the first time in years.
@@tonyvv Australian distributors Gyrostream have impressed me, and quite a few instrumental music artists I know have switched to them in the last 2 years. Another option for artists is to find a good small label that handles the digital distribution (but I advise everyone to tread carefully, and only engage in contracts with people you trust implicitly). I have several single releases with Yellow Rose and Valley View Records, they are a dream to work with. Messages answered within an hour in most instances.
I have been using Discmakers to make records, cassettes, and then CDs since the 80s, and CD Baby as my distributor almost since they started. But I will probably use Distrokid to distribute my next release.
Why?
Because I've always released albums "all at once", and once streaming became inescapable I used Spotify's pre-save features and Release Radar. Because some Spotify playlist editors added a couple of tunes from one of the releases, we got over 500,000 streams on that album. The next one, which is (to me) a better album, didn't do anywhere near that, probably only around 40,000 streams. You know, almost enough to buy a Big Mac.
But it occurred to me (I'm a bit slow, so it only took 30 years) that record companies don't release "all at once". They release a single, and then another, and then another, and THEN release the album. And if you do that with the streaming platforms, that should greatly increase your chances of getting some attention.
So now it's economics. CD Baby wants $10 per release, whether single or album. Three singles, one album, that's $40. Plus 9%, which actually adds up.
Distrokid wants $23, unlimited releases, I keep all of the massive $0.0044 payout per stream, or less depending on the platform. But I can stagger the individual releases and get at least 3 more opportunities to push a song.
I've written to CD Baby about this, more than once, and the answer I got was "So go use Distrokid."
Ok then. I'll give it a shot with this upcoming album and see what happens.
CD Baby wants to charge me $50 for the Pro Single Distribution (same as their current rate for a FULL PRO ALBUM!). I have emailed them, messaged them on their ads on Facebook over and over for moths to ask why they are changing the same crazy amount for a Pro Single as a Pro album. And nothing. Crickets.
They also don’t respond to a couple other questions I have had for months. The customer service is garbage at CD Baby now. Yet they seem to have resources to sponsor all kinds of events. Pay for ads on Facebook. And run podcasts, ect.. I am pretty well over their crap service…
Great stuff, brother. Thanx for taking the time... it's much appreciated!
Fantastic! Simple, concise and illuminating.Thank You! 👏👏👏
Looking forward to parts 2 and 3.
For my music cd baby. The reason why is because I am a part time musician, and all the extra charges from distrokid beside the yearly fee (one of them for check your music in UA-cam, 9.99.) doesn't work for me. Looking forward for part 2 and 3. Thanks Tony and like you say, see you next time.
Very helpful explanation. thanks, Tony.
Thank you so much! I’m so disconnected with latest marketing. The small distributor I had went bankrupt and kept almost 200 of my cd’s. Someone I don’t even know is selling them on Amazon cheeper than I can. Im fed up and set my Amazon site listed as cd’s out of stock because I can’t compete with their price. There is the hassle of Amazon returning broken Cd’s to me when I stocked their warehouses with perfectly new ones. I need help! I’m so excited for any opportunities to share my music. Looking forward to learn more be better.
Thank you for the informations. Very helpful.
Thanks, Tony. Very helpful. I'm looking forward to the next 2 installments.
Great content.
There is a big difference and that is that DistroKid won’t touch your royalties and the others will. If you have a song that gets on a playlist or blows up you can lose a lot of money, so why risk it? DistroKid for the win!
DK is a good option. If it’s just about zero commissions there are others that also don’t charge a commission, for example Tunecore. However, they ding you every year for the annual fee. So it’s a bit of a math exercise of how many streams you’re likely to get year in and year out, and whether you’re better off paying a commission or a subscription fee. Yes, you COULD hit the lottery and get on a big playlist, but how likely is THAT, and should all your planning be driven by that low probability scenario?
You’re amazing, thanks a lot ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Very well, Tony. Brief, accurate, and relevant info. An overview so nitid-like crystal water. Nice Job. And thanks for the downloading gift.
I have learned allot from your series of digital distribution and fixed media. For digital distribution I would like to ask you to do a series on "BRAND". In my experience in the digital distribution platform I have seen many participants just completely convolute the artist brand. And getting through to the provider is like pulling nails.
What do you mean?
@@tonyvv During my short time on subscription I had some of the major distributors "mislabel" my genre in 5 other different genre's. Other than my true genre' Rockabilly. I had one distributor take and use one of my songs in a Tik Tok clip with a popular Asian Boy Band mimicking the tune in a comical way. So essentially what I mean is that Apple, Spotify and others take actions that are in the Artist-Rapport realm which compromises the Artist "Brand" and they appear to have no experience in this crucial area. I believe you are the best individual to investigate these activities for your product that you produce for music artists' is very well branded for the Music Artist genre.
Gretschkat
I have a question I have a spoken word album but I’ve been rejected by both tunecore and distrokid both told me they didn’t accept albums of my kind. It has more of me speaking than music so would you have an idea of which platform would be best for me and my work.
Hello, our friends at @CDbaby may be able to help. 👍
Reach out to them and see if they have any restrictions that may prevent them from distributing your album.
www.cdbaby.com
I had posted a sort of lengthy post and it appears to be gone… Lame. Why does UA-cam do that?
I saw your other comment. It was a response to someone else’s comment on this thread.
😡😡😡CD Baby email I received on 05/22/2023, without any prior warning: "Today, we’re announcing that CD Baby will stop distributing physical products on June 22, 2023. We will discontinue physical sales and fulfilment and stop warehousing, shipping, or distributing physical products like CDs and vinyl on all channels (Alliance, Amazon Marketplace.
If you have any remaining inventory [...] you will have up to 60 days to tell us to:
- Remove and return your remaining inventory to you (you pay shipping fees) OR
- Recycle your remaining inventory for you (no cost to you)"
...with no info on how to contact them within 60 days.
Beware of a company that terminates a legally binding agreement by just sending an email that says, "we don't feel like doing our end of the deal anymore," and adds insult to injury by making you pay shipping charges to get your property back.
This is not helping me at all. I have my CDs made at DisMakers. I want to go digital, but I do covers. What do I do? What's the best service to use for paying the royalties on the music I record and getting it streamed?
Covers are fine for live gigs but selling CD's of covers does not really work. People always want to play the original when they get home--Unless of course you have an exceptional voice or have put your own twist on --you may have both of course!!
Gary I use Easy Song Licensing. Reference Roger's comments, "Yes" he's correct about releasing covers, but also right on that part about having a "twist" (or gimick). I released a Sinatra 100th Anniversary CD, which won a music award, but the twist was they were songs that Sinatra "Never Before" recorded. My twist (or gimmick) is that I sound similar to Sinatra. And with songs he did not record (which were hard to find) one couldn't compare. Good Luck.
Well, with covers that means you won’t need any mechanical royalty collection. But you’ll want to maximize your sound recording royalties. Plus, some integration with a cover song licensing service would be nice. Stay tuned for the next two videos. I talk about all the revenue and product options. But the simple answer is that there’s no simple answer…
@@louarmagno515 Thanks. My songs are all instrumental guitar. I'm looking for the best way to save on the licensing fees for electronic distribution. I've made 4 CDs with DiskMakers and used Affordable Song Licensing for that. But electronic fees seemed to be way too much money when I did the first CD 3 years ago.
If your smart and really want to put the large corporations in their place, don't release your music on any platforms that charge money. All you will do is give money to the corporations for the chance to have people listen to your music. Music is free now it must be accepted, only release your music on sites that are free.