DistroKid vs CD Baby - An Honest Comparison

When you're looking to choose a music distributor to release your music online, who is better when we review and compare DistroKid vs CD Baby?
🔥⬇️Get 7% Discount with DistroKid ⬇️🔥
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🔥⬇️Get 20% Discount with TuneCore ⬇️🔥
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Sorry no discount for CD Baby.
Unfortunately, it's not that easy of a question which music distributor you should go with. In some cases CD Baby will be better for you but in others DistroKid will be the right fit. I'll go over some of these cases in this comparison review on both to help you decide between DistroKid vs CD Baby.
Would you choose DistroKid or CD Baby? Let me know in a comment 🎵
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• Charles Cleyn - Nothin...
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#distrokid #cdbaby #distrokidvscdbaby

[@CharlesCleyn]

Would you choose DistroKid or CD Baby? Why?

[@MrBigo27]

That is the reason I chose CD Baby. This was our first project and being able to have live customer service was important.

[@CharlesCleyn]

thanks for your thoughts

[@richardalberts737]

Distrokid..owes me TONS of money in royalties..one song..I did the math..should have netted me $200..I got $2..honest truth//RUN RUN RUN AWAY from Distrokid!

[@Sherifsound.]

@@richardalberts737 I was almost made my decision as a distrokid 🤣 now I might think of Awal more seriously

[@richardalberts737]

CD Baby..try them..DIstrokid wouldn't even answer my emails ..I tried FOUR months to get help..forget it..they are not interested..

[@mellythegr8366]

This helped soooooo much!! I just released my song with CD Baby. Kinda sucks that they take 9% out but honestly I’m just starting out and I like the organization and help

[@BrianPatrick650]

Thanks Charles, nice video. If we're only considering one album, then there's almost a crossover, where the annual fees to distrokid are about the same as the 9% going to cdbaby. That probably happens at around 4K streams/month (50K streams/year -> $200/year to the artist and 9% of that would be almost the 20/year that distrokid gets from everyone). Below that, and assuming you want your music up "forever", paying (cdbaby) once might be a little cheaper. And above that, you probably save money with a fixed 20/year fee (to distrokid). And obviously below 5K streams/year, the streaming doesn't cover the ongoing fees to distrokid. So: (1) if I pay cdbaby once, I can forget about it, but with an ongoing subscription at distrokid, I'll need to keep checking to make sure that it makes sense to keep it around; and (2) distrokid saves money for more popular artists. But since we don't know how popular a release is going to be, we need an initial release to guess at that. If we want the initial release to last without having to pay an ongoing fee, then cdbaby might make more sense to start. And if that does well, and we're pretty sure the next album will be above 50K streams/year, or we're pretty sure we're going to be doing a lot of releases, then we might move to distrokid. Lotsa ifs, and no real money here for individual artists. Only fees that generate money for companies in aggregate.

[@44x2TV]

I just saved your comment in my notes because it makes so much sense. which one did you end up choosing after all the research ?

[@brian3762]

​@@44x2TV CD Baby for this one. It's depressing to me how much work all this is, and how little money there is, even for really good / somewhat popular musicians. Sadly, for me it's more of a marketing expense (to help get gigs) and less of an investment (to help generate revenue).

[@joeferris5086]

The thing about paying once and forgetting about it is key for me. I'd like my music to exist beyond my death, and if I have to pay an annual subscription my music will disappear at my death. That's something I don't see a lot of people thinking about. I just want it to exist forever is all. Side note about your math, While distrokid is $20/year, that's just the first year. After that it goes up to $50/year. Imagine if you had 60 albums like Frank Zappa, there's no way that'd be economical.

[@asurxh4247]

@@joeferris5086 wrong I've been on distro since 2016 I've been paying $20 a year

[@icyyyunginn5490]

God bless everyone and protect everyone y’all be safe blessed and safe Amen 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@terrencechakanyuka5359]

Love

[@navaneethshettyb9312]

Yea it's war

[@nickfranco7977]

Appreciate the video. Observing my parents success over the years with their business, I can say customer service is crucial. Choose the distributor that cares the most about their customers.

[@CharlesCleyn]

Good point, customer service is key

[@thunder____]

That's exactly what has recently pushed me away from Distrokid and to CD Baby; one of my bands ran into an issue with running Facebook/Instagram ads using our own music, and the Distrokid customer support didn't understand what the issue was even after like a dozen emails back and forth. I hit up CD Baby without even being a customer of theirs and in only one reply, their support agent gave me much better clarity into the situation than Distrokid did in that whole back-and-forth. And CD Baby currently has much lower prices than this video indicates, idk how long that'll last but they're currently only charging $5 for a release (doesn't matter if it's a single or an album); they still have the Pro version, but it's completely useless bc you can get the exact same benefits by joining BMI free of charge as a songwriter. So I'm a massive advocate of avoiding Distrokid bc their customer support left an extremely bad taste in my mouth.

[@morten1]

DistroKid seems best for indie/hobby musicians/artists etc. wanting to test their music and puts something out constantly. CDbaby seems to be for more "serious official releases", where you actually mean to release something permanently.

[@CharlesCleyn]

I can see how you can get that vibe from the companies but just to play devil's advocate I know some really serious musicians releasing music on distro

[@Katzarecoolz]

For anyone who wants to use distrokid keep in mind that you also would have to pay for KZbin monetization (if you want that), Shazam Recognition and a bunch of other things, your cost could be up to $60 a year for one album and $30 one year for one single.

[@JohnEamon]

Great video. Very informative. Re: Your comments at (4:02) A few years ago, out of the blue, I got an email from CD Baby saying “ Hello, we have just placed your song in the HBO series with Sarah Jessica Parker called “The Divorce”…you will be receiving $3000”….. and I did! ….and it was a cover song too! So you never know. CD Baby came through big time on that one for me.

[@Isaacelijahmusic]

They also took 9 percent from you? 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@jacksith1133]

@@Isaacelijahmusic No, they didn’t… because it came straight from HBO as a license fee. I got the full amount.

[@Savannahwellman]

How much was your $ amount set for when you get paid when you reach that amount? I don’t know what to make my payout amount for my first single

[@jacksith1133]

@@Savannahwellman Set your payout amount low at first…I’d suggest setting it to Cd Baby’s minimum amount. You can always adjust it later to a higher amount if you see your royalties coming in at larger increments.

[@therealboomshlamian700]

I’m very broke and want to make music so I might use cd baby to release my songs after I’m done

[@EYMmusic]

For a record label would Distrokid be best? I like that you can have up to 100 artists. Although CDbaby sounds appealing I have to pay min 10$ for a song for each artist which is 1000$ for a basic plan. Does CDbaby have a plan for record labels

[@movierecap911]

Good question. I would love to know this myself

[@joonxciv]

You will have to do all the Publishing yourself because Distro doesnt collect Publishing. They collect Mechanical though.

[@CharlesCleyn]

I think it's definitely the best option if what you want to do is start a label considering most of these other distributors don't have this label package or at least they don't really advertise it on their sites.

[@dannygarcia9345]

Wouldn’t be better to connect with high echelon of indie distributors, like The Orchard (SME), ADA (WMG), AWAL (WMG), Ingrooves (UMG), Virgin MLAS (UMG)? Or even better, do a self-distribution?

[@RoomAtTheTopStudio]

I've been using CDBaby since Derek Sivers owned the company. Back then that was good because if I ever had a problem I would just email him and he would make sure it was sorted out. Where as there is customer support at CDBaby they don't help as much as Derek did back in the days. The advantage that CDBaby has over DistroKid is once you pay for your catalogue to be distributed by them you don't need to pay anything else again. Most people won't look at this advantage unless they are very forward thinking but seeing as I'm old and I've lost quite a few of my colleagues over the last 5 years mortality comes into it and leaving a legacy for my children and grandchildren. Once I leave the passwords for my children to get into the account they can continue it without having to pay annual fees or the government stepping in to add inheritance tax. I'm still feeling the loss of my friends and I know someday (hopefully a long long time away) I will go too so getting a quick cheap deal that is okay now for me but could be lost when I pass away and the distributor then takes over the rights if it's not claimed is a definite no for me so even though CDBaby isn't perfect I won't be leaving them any time soon just because DistroKid seems to be saving me money because in the long run they aren't.

[@CharlesCleyn]

Hey Luke, thanks for this context and sharing your experience, really valuable and proactive thoughts here, lots to think about.

[@oneplus113T]

But CD baby takes share of your earnings 🤔

[@RoomAtTheTopStudio]

@@oneplus113T CDBaby is a business. If you have a Publisher they also take a share of your publishing as pay for doing admin and for placing your music in projects to earn money. With Distrokid if you don't continue to pay your annual fee they keep 100% of your music income. Quite handy for them as everyone eventually dies. With CDBaby they still pay out to your account so as long as your estate has access to it there is no problem. Is that hard for you to understand? 🤔

[@seneq58]

Hey can you explain "but could be lost when I pass away and the distributor then takes over the rights if it's not claimed" Does this refer to distrokid?

[@RoomAtTheTopStudio]

@@seneq58 yes it does refer to distrokid. You have to pay an annual fee to keep your distrokid account. Should you not pay then distrokid continue to collect on your catalogue until you pay for it. If you are no longer about to pay for it they could take over your account if your family don't have a way to take over the account. With CDBaby once you have paid for your tracks to be uploaded that is it. You don't pay again and as long as you leave the password for your family to access the CDBaby account the money will continue to go to your estate after you have gone.

[@EYMmusic]

Does the KZbin money addon for distrokid apply to all artists and songs if I get the label plan? For example will it add all songs for the 100 artists to youtubes content id database?

[@CharlesCleyn]

The youtube add on is song specific so when you upload a song you will choose if you want the youtube add on for that song

[@dreamsofzephyrus9562]

Thank you! I’m so excited to start releasing music and these videos really help. There are so many different options, which is great but also confusing sometimes 😅

[@CharlesCleyn]

Hey Josefina, totally understand. It can be overwhelming at the beginning. It sounds like this channel is for you then. I do weekly music marketing live QansAs so come with your questions next time.

[@Jon77777]

That leave a legacy is only if you die. Once you’re signed up to them it’s for life!

[@CharlesCleyn]

there's a lot of comment on this vid about leave a legacy that you can check out as well

[@jebatman756]

If you keep paying the yearly plan..

[@Paigeturnernyc]

Thank you. Releasing my first album. This was really helpful!

[@CharlesCleyn]

Glad to help! When will you release your first album?

[@beetlejuicex3334]

lemme know when u release it i wanna hear it

[@PritomAhad]

I submitted my band’s first song to Cdbaby. Waiting for the inspection to end. I hope our song gets approved. Fingers crossed.

[@CharlesCleyn]

I’m sure it will Nasif! Good luck with the release.

[@PritomAhad]

@@CharlesCleyn my song got approved! Can u advice me on how to market the song? It releases on the tenth on all streaming platforms. I’ll be over the moon if you listen to it!

[@Jacks.Outback]

@@PritomAhad how that’s exiting! What your band called? I’d like to check it out!

[@PritomAhad]

@@Jacks.Outback open.spotify.com/artist/7wKPBIbqmfrJbX3BIXzWHQ?si=00yPW9KFQ3CwP8Z89AVHVA thats the link. Its out first song. We study at York University so we dnt get time to jam

[@RanchoPistoPesca]

How long did it take for the approval brother? Thanks!

[@RanchoPistoPesca]

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on CD Baby for my new single release. In 2011 I released a full album with CD Baby, there was an artist ID mix up with Spotify and Apple both. 20yrs is a long time and a lot has evolved. What convinced me was the stability of the company and the tools to cover a singer songwriter like myself. Hope this helps and thanks tho Charles for the information. Best of luck to you all!

[@CharlesCleyn]

Thanks Rancho. Really appreciate sharing your experience.

[@TommyLellan]

DistroKid doesn't have anyone actually there to help answer your questions. Big no-no for me. Also, a year on and they still haven't synced my lyrics. What can I do? There's no one there to speak to.

[@CharlesCleyn]

Ah sorry to hear Tommy. That sucks. Have they really not got back to you on support? Maybe keep trying with requests?0

[@gameshakers8730]

if i want to switch from distrokid to cd baby can i still maintain the same profile on spotify,apple music, so i dont loose my followers from distrokid

[@CharlesCleyn]

Yes, you definitely can. Keep an eye out I have a video coming in the next few days on how to switch music distributors while keeping all your followers and streams.

[@dylanlockemp3]

one thing i really don't like about distrokid is that you can't see the individual track payments. all you get is a total number.

[@sombody5534]

yeah its so annoying

[@dylanlockemp3]

Sombody 553 actually there is. on the bank you can see it u just have to look for it.

[@CharlesCleyn]

ya, you can expand it to see a detailed view of where your money is coming from.

[@dylanlockemp3]

Charles Cleyn yeah recently figured it out, thx tho!

[@CharlesCleyn]

@@dylanlockemp3 cool!

[@iamjustrobert]

Great high quality video! Thank you for going into depth and providing further knowledge! God bless your channel and continue rocking out!

[@CharlesCleyn]

Thanks for watching!

[@willetteballard3031]

Distrokid allows payment splits, cdbaby doesn't even if you have shared publishing agreements. But cdbaby provides itemized breakdowns of your payments and collects money from more sources.

[@roccoelliot]

Distrokid gives you itemized breakdowns as well. You have to hit "see excruciating detail" and it will pull up where all the money comes from

[@vinniesings]

After some months of Distrokid and a few releases I'd like to say that DISTROKID has some bugs which really annoyed me: 1) My songs show up in the wrong KZbin Artist page. I complaint a few times already and they never got it fixed. 2) Hyperfollow is quite bugged. I couldn not embed an KZbin video to my latest release and had to manually edit the page on the release date to make the link work, even with a pre-save planned. 3) The lyrics don't seem to work on Spotify. My first release was on November 13th and still, no lyrics. Even though I've pre-configured this WAAAAAY in advance. I'm now considering switch over to CD Baby.

[@victorvitamusic]

Did you finally switch?

[@vinniesings]

@@victorvitamusic I switched over to OneRPM in the end and so far no issues.

[@MrBigo27]

The pricing really balance itself out. My only issue with CD Baby is they are slow. However, I can talk to an actual person if there is an issue, which is important for me.

[@CharlesCleyn]

good to know cd baby has a good support, thanks for adding in your experience!

[@Koridai011]

If I used someone’s song in my video for background music, will it get blocked off or just copyright Claim

[@AmanBhauOfficial]

Hey buddy , great explanation Just wanted to ask something important distrokid seems more appealing to me cuz I'm someone who produces like 10 songs a month. But where i have to spend most of my money is copyrighting work with lawyer as they charge me around 35-40 dollars per song :( I wanted to know if i distribute with distrokid , will i get my content id for claiming youtube videos that use my work? And is my original work safe cuz here in india many songs are stolen and used for their benefit by many people. What i want is to immediately have my work copyright protected for my name as soon as i upload it. I'm a new artist about to release my first single soon♥

[@CharlesCleyn]

Hey man, distrokid can help you with KZbin content id. It’s about 5 bucks extra per song. as for copyright, I think this is still up to the artist if they want to buy their own copyright or not.

[@AmanBhauOfficial]

Thanks for the reply bro ♥ So if i get the content id , the song is basically registered and my topic channel (where auto generated YT songs are uploaded) is made?

[@chippero]

@@AmanBhauOfficial it’s $5 per song per year on Distrokid for the KZbin feature.

[@AmanBhauOfficial]

@@chippero got it bro :)

[@baxterks6892]

I recently quit DistroKid, I had an easily fixable problem with my artist name. I uploaded a mixtape and when it got to the stores it had the wrong formatting due to their uppercase - lowercase correction. I tried my very best to get a real person to make this complaint to but all they have on their website is a chatbot. Customer service used to be great years ago, but now you are on your own. Trust me they are pretty shady, they even charge you 30% off your revenue but claim that you will receive 100% income when you sign up. Good luck explaining that to a chatbot. I will try CD baby next

[@sombody5534]

yeah i left them too

[@CharlesCleyn]

ya, it's not for evereyone

[@BStarBayu]

I was use distrokid, if i not pay again for the next year, what will happend ?

[@CharlesCleyn]

@@BStarBayu if you stop paying they will just take your music down

[@baxterks6892]

@@BStarBayu They will probably delete your music from all stores, this is how most subscription based sites work not just Distrokid

[@AdamRigby]

I was deciding between the two for a LONG time before I released my first EP in June, and I ultimately decided on CD Baby. I’m happy with my choice for many reasons and I’m gunna address all the complaints about how CD Baby takes a long time to approve the release. You can either see it as a pro OR a con. Pro being, you now have a month to buckle down and decided how you’re going to market the shit out of your project. Contact the paper, submit to blogs through submit hub, update your website, get channel banners ready, record an acoustic version of your song to upload, create social media ads, etc. Etc. (Even get going on the next project!!) And quite honestly, this will take a long time. If you really believe in your release and want to create a worthy campaign for a project you worked so hard on, you WILL need this time. So, if you are willing to put the work into promoting your release then the extra time at CD Baby really shouldn’t phase you. However, if you are throwing up a project for fun and don’t care about traction or putting in more work, then choose distrokid! Just my thoughts though!

[@CharlesCleyn]

thanks for your thoughts Adam

[@oneplus113T]

Could you please tell me the best way to make an acoustic version of your song neither I play guitar nor I'm a producer!

[@AdamRigby]

@@oneplus113T If you have the instrumental of the track you want to do you could just record a video of you singing over it! No crazy equipment needed

[@oneplus113T]

@@AdamRigby I'm talking about the process to create acoustic version bro , I have the instrumental and everything but I don't know how will I create the acoustic Verizon of it!

[@ginob615]

CDBaby for the win! 9% is nothing when you add up all the annual fees of both distro and/or tunecore.

[@CharlesCleyn]

it’s true but it is significant when you get a lot of streams.

[@alexzehnmusik]

You're right

[@semenfroloff]

Кроме PayPal, который перестал работать в России из-за санкций, куда можно вывести деньги с CDbaby?

[@far3i]

You killed it👍🏼

[@CharlesCleyn]

thanks for watching

[@D2theGRecords]

As an Independent Label I let my artists choose how they distribute their music. I always had success as an artist with CD Baby. I have looked into Distrokid , but as an artist I can honestly say I have never committed based on the reoccurring fees. Just doesn't make sense to me. To each is own but thanks for the review!!

[@alexsmothers72]

Just FYI if your a hip hop artist Distrokid doesnt really look out for you. Do your own research.

[@TalhaAlali]

I am a hip hop artists, I have about 20 songs i want to put online, do you think CD Baby is better?

[@daneliciousss]

I was leaning towards distrokid, but after watching a lot of videos and doing my research about them I am going to CdBaby. According to others distrokid is horrible when you run into problems... I dont care about the 9% taken away, no way i will be using distrokid!!

[@CharlesCleyn]

ya there's been pros and cons distrokid but to be honest i think their getting more bad press than what they actually are. good luck with your releasee.

[@daneliciousss]

Charles Cleyn thanks mate 🙌🏻

[@misslemondropmusic]

Thank you, that was really helpful and very well explained!

[@CharlesCleyn]

Happy to help!

[@PolymerJones]

How is distro kid versus CD baby with customer service? Tune core screwed me over and uploaded my song to the wrong artist page and they never were able to fix it.

[@JohnNoirSmith]

My main problem with the pricing CD Baby use is that it doesn't make you want to be more productive, but rather less productive. I feel like the way DistroKid works on the other hand makes it so that the more music you make a year, the more you benefit from being there. (Which might show from my discography, where I released three albums last year, and two so far this year)

[@Vairiyah]

But then u also have ppl that say tho they guarantee 100% of their royalties they never received them or only received way less than they should have received

[@JohnNoirSmith]

@@Vairiyah I'm not in it for the money, but I do prefer NOT having to pay per release

[@JohnNoirSmith]

Like: there's NO WAY I'd release three albums a year like I have done these two past years if I'd have to pay per album to be released

[@JohnNoirSmith]

@@user-dl2cd6wc6g Indeed! And sometimes it's nice just to have a single out to tease an album in advance of its release, only to remove it a bit after the album's out to clean up your catalogue. Then that's like 10 bucks out the window!

[@robertojefferson3428]

@@JohnNoirSmith the thing is you are paying for it though. It's just on the back end. If you don't keep renewing the yearly service your release comes down or you can pay more money than your yearly service to keep it up forever. All they are really doing is taking their commission up front disguised as yearly fees and holding the threat of removing your projects over your head so that you're forced to stay with them. It's actually putting artists in a chokehold.

[@ehgore1978]

so for 30 dollars you can upload and album forever on cdbaby but you have to pay 20 dollars a year too keep it up on spotify with distrokid?

[@CharlesCleyn]

CD is taking a % of your streaming royalties. That's the difference in the business model. And I think there's an annual fee too

[@gohardorgohome2938]

@@CharlesCleyn there’s not an annual fee

[@CharlesCleyn]

@@gohardorgohome2938 thanks for sharing

[@Djpaulyt]

If you pay for an album on cd baby can you still control the single releases? Like when each song from it drops? Might be a dumb question.

[@CharlesCleyn]

yes, you can control the releases no problem

[@chibuezedikesongs]

​@@CharlesCleyn how do you do that pls???

[@jiggylifestyle]

This was very informative man thanks i really have to get my music out there!

[@CharlesCleyn]

Yes, get it out there!

[@granttakemoto9999]

LEAVE A LEGACY DOES NO LONGER COVER IF YOU LEAVE THE COMPANY,. ALSO, it's not really "20 dollars for unlimited releases" because they charge you PER song PER year for youtube monetization.

[@CharlesCleyn]

That's true about youtube monetization but it's also true that you don't have to use DistroKid for YT monetization. You can use another service.

[@oneplus113T]

@@CharlesCleyn which service should we use for it?

[@AtlasNebula]

I really can't stand that you got paid to do this, an affiliate code, and had the nerve to call this an 'honest' comparison. Sorry to be like this although the title is just not cool. So many people are out here promoting distrokid for a check. It's just the new industry crook, buying up everyone's opinions and selling artists short. Musicians run by business man...not much has changed. You may want to remove 'honest' out of the title when you get paid by one of them. You seem quite nice, your title on the other hand, is deceptive.

[@Hide_and_Tweak]

I don't know about the 9% commission on CD Baby cause sometimes I got 3c per play. But I don't really have precise infos on plays. Some plays are almost 0...

[@Savannahwellman]

What was your payout amount?! I’m curious cause I was gonna set up my first single on cd baby but don’t know what my payout amount should be that’s best

[@Hide_and_Tweak]

@@Savannahwellman payout amount ?

[@officialleog1394]

When I'm on instagram, and want to use my music on my story, it finds the song but without my album art. Its just blank with a music note on it. Not my album art. Does anyone know how to fix this?? I'm with CDBaby

[@CharlesCleyn]

That’s odd, I’m not sure why, I would touch base with CD baby

[@sanketmusiclive]

That exactly happened with me too. I am also with CD Baby.Any updates till now?

[@officialleog1394]

@@sanketmusiclive yes contact CD Baby. I contacted them with all my info and artist info and made it a point that I needed that done asap for professionalism. Just reach out to them and they should fix it, mine has been fixed since then.

[@sanketmusiclive]

@@officialleog1394 thanks mate. Appreciate your response

[@tarfact]

seemed like distrokid was the winner at the start but shifted to cd baby by the end of the video

[@richardalberts737]

DISTROKID..pays about 2 to 5%..of what you should receive..complain?..forget it..takes FOUR months to get a reply..

[@CharlesCleyn]

what was the section or factors that made you think CD Baby was better?

[@CharlesCleyn]

Are you saying if you make $100.00 that distrok kid pays you $2-5? That seems like highway robbery. Did that happen do you?

[@richardalberts737]

I did the math on one song..i graduated 3rd at ODU in Business School..I can do some math..my calculations said I should have earned $200 on this one song..I got $2...I had over 1,000,000 plays (with 52 songs) or streams my first year..I made LESS than $300..on 18 different platforms..am I HAPPY?..of course not..so I spoke to ASCAP...REGISTER your songs first with them..before putting them anywhere..they assured me they will go looking for me..in this business..they are your only friend..(BMI or ASCAP)..sad...I started reading about other people's mechanical royalties..MANY people..complaining..much worse than my situation.....all I can say..best of luck to you!

[@richardalberts737]

yea..and my 52 songs were liked to the tune of 1,000+ positives..only 3 negatives..so..it kinda hurts they could care less about you..all they want is that yearly subscription..and then..you are on your own..

[@sgl3163]

Who's more honest? Does CD Baby make sure artists don't have previous copyrights that were granted to others or are they willfully blind? IMO, the feds should be investigating them. Either they are willfully blind or have artists change just enough of a song where they can get a new copyright and still trigger KZbin's algorithm to make a copyright claim for the older version. I am sick of paying money for licenses to uses music, or getting music with CC copyright only to have a copyright claim filed by CD Baby. A CC license is for LIFE. I've won all my appeals, but why does KZbin still accept copyright claims from CD Baby?

[@oneplus113T]

So what should one do? Not let them monitize your music on KZbin?

[@nk39234]

are the songs on CD Baby lifetime online?

[@alexzehnmusik]

Yes bro one time pay for lifetime unlike distro

[@100lastgoodnerves8]

thank you for the comparison. i have been on cd baby for years and will likely stay.

[@SGEBari]

Been issuing CD Baby for years. They were great then, today they still are 💯

[@CharlesCleyn]

whats your fav part of cd baby? Have you tried distrokid?

[@yomama503]

@@CharlesCleyn its better that he doesn't try distrokid. even if its just one song he has to pay the fee for his entire lifetime. the "leave legacy fee" only works if you literally die...therefore their company is literally worthless. I will be switching to cd baby soon.

[@BStarBayu]

@@yomama503 whatttt ? Seriously ?

[@Hide_and_Tweak]

@@yomama503 that's what I was wondering. what happens if you stop paying your distrokid account? are your tracks gonna disappear from streaming services instantly lol? That's kinda weird. But I'm not totally sure about the CD baby terms on the "durability" of tracks. I've old tracks that have lots of inactive status on old streaming platforms. So for example, I have no idea what happens if CD baby stop activities or things like that...

[@chippero]

@@CharlesCleyn I’ve used CD Baby, Tune Core and Distrokid. Cd Baby is by far my choice. Having to pay $5 per year per song for KZbin through Distrokid was an automatic deal breaker for me. Plus I prefer CD Baby’s reporting to Distrokid and Tunecore, no legacy fees, etc. When you start really digging in deep and breaking down the costs, I lean CD Baby. I can see where amateur musicians may like the ease and simplicity of Distrokid but it lacked too many of the features I use with CD Baby.

[@mellowlove7130]

Cd baby is starting to sound really good🤔

[@harabloom]

Informative, clear and helpfkl. Thank you Charles ❤

[@HondEpic]

02:50 Do I have to pay for these add-ons everytime I release a single or does this apply to all singles Iplan to release with Distrokid? For example, do I have to pay $5 for every single I release with Disrokid to get the KZbin Money benefit?

[@HondEpic]

@@user-dl2cd6wc6g Thanks for anaswering xD

[@davecerv]

Great video and info! So, I released an album via Distro 4 months ago. I'm wanting to release another album in May, but I'm thinking about using Cdbaby. If I use Cdbaby, will this 2nd album still show up under my already existing name on streaming platforms? I hope my question makes sense and thanks in advance.

[@victorvitamusic]

Hi! Did you get an answer?

[@JhonnattanGonzalez]

The best people are here, thanks because your comments helped me choose.

[@sahilkhan1332]

Hey Charles, thanks for sharing. May i know what run time we get for standard album in cdbaby? Is it depends on number of songs or the play time ?

[@CharlesCleyn]

To Sahil do you mean the time it takes for the song to get on Spotify?

[@sahilkhan1332]

@@CharlesCleyn No, i mean what can be the length of our songs in one Album, and length of one song as well?

[@CharlesCleyn]

@@sahilkhan1332 that's a really good question so here I am actually not sure if there is a limit to the length of a song. However I do believe they Albums at about 32 songs. Does anyone else know the answer to this?

[@amorislokerse]

Different stories, different opinions, different youtubers and one says this and the other that. This way I can't make the right choice lol

[@victorvitamusic]

Hey! What did you finally decide? How did it go?

[@MrBassmann15]

Is it okay if I release a single on CD Baby and hold off on an album for another time if I do one? Right now I only have one song ready to be released very shortly.

[@livinpool]

Absolutely man hold off on the album take your time an craft your master piece but still give your audience some music at the same time just be prepared to have totwo separate payments 1 payment for the single and when ever you ready to release the album another payment will be for that 👍🏼 great job thou brother keep rocking 💪🏽

[@EllencyOfficial]

4.95 dollars extra for KZbin monetization a year for EACH single is a fucking lot. If you have 10 tracks out, that's 50 dollars a year extra EACH YEAR. I think I'll stick to the old good CDbaby

[@dumbhat8786]

a very calm, symphatic and helpful comparison, thank you. greetings from vienna

[@CharlesCleyn]

thanks for your kind words :)

[@Jacks.Outback]

Thanks a lot for the info! I think I’ll be going with CDbaby cause I don’t think I’d like knowing I owe 20 bucks to distorkid a month

[@CharlesCleyn]

You’re welcome. It’s 20 bucks a year though.

[@jleenofficial]

@@CharlesCleyn 20 a year? They were charging me money monthly. I canceled my account. I spent more money than I made smh

[@AbsoluteAbsurd]

@@jleenofficial Huh really?

[@EllencyOfficial]

Hi, Charles. Thanks for this video. My question is, doesn't the PRO with which we subscribed to pay already the KZbin Royalties? Why would we need to select KZbin money as an option? Thank you. Hope to hear from you asap

[@t3reeproduction314]

I'm planning in releasing some music in 2021 and I've got it narrowed down to these 2 companies.. but I keep hearing some bad stories about Distrokid when you start making some good money they won't pay you and give you the runaround or drop you you when it's time for payout.. what is your experience with this..thanks in advance.

[@CharlesCleyn]

Hey, I’ve heard some horror stories about this too but to be honest I’ve been quite happy with them and haven’t experienced any of this. I do think it’s important to look if your native country has a tax treaty with the US. Most countries have some type of treaty but there are a few countries that do not.

[@KYRUTI]

@@CharlesCleyn I just purchased distrokid a couple minutes ago ngl but Im kind of scared now- but should I keep using it? I dont have that many songs to be honest, I just wanted to get them onto spotify. I have more that I want to come out and stuff but im really new to all of this.

[@CharlesCleyn]

@@KYRUTI don't feel scared at all. It's a legit company and you should be completely fine. Can I ask what country you reside in? I'd still look into the tax treaty benefits with the US if I were you.

[@KYRUTI]

@@CharlesCleyn Sorry, I just saw this- I reside in the US so I am assuming it's okay.

[@CharlesCleyn]

@@KYRUTI then you're good :)

[@eltonwild5648]

Can I upload my music to a distributor like CD baby and upload to bandcamp too? How do you sign your music to be a copyright holder?

[@CharlesCleyn]

Yes you can do that. Bandcamp is a separate thing. Your music distributor doesn't own any copyright they just act as a middle man.

[@BStarBayu]

I was use distrokid, if i not pay again for the next year, what will happend ?

[@CharlesCleyn]

they will take your music down

[@BayuYuliantoo]

@@CharlesCleyn whats mean ? Music down ? U mean is they will block / delete my music on Spotify ? And how About with my badge ?

[@BayuYuliantoo]

@@CharlesCleyn its permanent or must pay 20$ per year ?

[@oneplus113T]

@@BayuYuliantoo your batch will always be there , it's just that you will have to reupload the song

[@skallmusic]

Distrokid is crap they just deleted all my songs with thousands of streams and they didn't even notice me..i email them and they said this👇 Hi, Hope you are well. We've been notified by stores and streaming services that one or more of your releases has been rejected due to editorial discretion. Unfortunately, stores are no longer accepting releases from you via DistroKid. You’ll need to try another distributor for future releases. Please understand that DistroKid is unable to assist with reversing this and many DistroKid features have also been restricted as a result of this. We have no other information or context, and we are unable to get involved or take sides when this occurs. We’re just the messenger, passing along this info to you in hopes you find it helpful. We understand that this email is probably frustrating to you, and we regret having to be the messenger of bad news. However, we hope this email is helpful, and we thank you for your understanding. Best, Chavo DistroKid Support

[@Tritonprince]

What about Tunecore? Are they as good or better than CD Baby and Distrokid.

[@CharlesCleyn]

I have a video that's perfect for you here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y17WfJmaZZyibpo

[@CCPotato]

CD Baby's inspection/time review period has been ABYSMAL as of late, which they claim has been due to COVID-19. They are routinely taking over a month now to approve songs, which is absurd and makes it impossible to appropriately plan a release. We already had to push a release back a month because of their ridiculously slow inspection process. Switching to Distrokid and seriously considering pulling our existing catalog from CD Baby.

[@CharlesCleyn]

Thanks for this, didn't know Cd Baby has been this slow. Ya that's really hard to plan any sort of release.

[@CCPotato]

@@CharlesCleyn Distrokid emailed us within an hour of uploading letting us know our song had been approved and was being sent to streaming platforms. I don't know how the approval process works or differs between the two, but there has to be something going on at CD Baby. If you look them up on Trustpilot, there are tons of similar complaints over the last month, which is what finally motivated us to jump ship. Distrokid all the way!

[@delvallo9652]

@@CCPotato I submitted my first song to CDBaby over 2 weeks ago and it has been dead silent. The irony is I get spammed by them a least once per day trying to convince me to take advantage of their "additional services". Seriously? You think you can up sell me when it takes forever to inspect/approve songs? Never again....

[@MCrelationz]

Gosh I'm so anxious now because while you're switching to distrokid I'm reading lots of bad things on them saying cdbaby or tunecore is better and I just want to figure out the best service 😤

[@LBVocals]

I had / have the same problem with CdBaby, that’s why I’m thinking about switching. It took them 5 weeks to upload one of my singles... Now on their website it says that you should give them at least SIX WEEKS to release something. That’s ridiculous

[@adamrosefire]

Good information here. I just took a bunch of material off cd baby so I could re-release it. I'll have to pay to put it back up again, but may go with distrokid this time so I don't have to worry about additional fees for more updated versions.

[@CharlesCleyn]

Glad to help Adam. Ya if you’re releasing a bunch of songs then distro kid might be good.

[@marlanekelly170]

Great video. thank you for the info but I need to know what plugins and what DAW you edit your audio on. Sounds amazing.

[@CharlesCleyn]

Thanks Marlane, I'm using logic. I actually teach logic as well and have lots of tutorial videos if you're interested here: kzbin.info/aero/PLAfO6q4HOv5nwqAGmk7lmxEPc3plLf2A-

[@marlanekelly170]

@@CharlesCleyn I most definitely will check that out. I use logic myself just learning how this stuff.

[@Willardboogurb]

Do you have to have a paid spotify account and your own youtube befoes distributing through cd baby?

[@CharlesCleyn]

No you don’t, you can distribute as an independent right away through indie

[@adrianvlogz159]

I made 50k streams on Distrokid for a single and I only got back $1.03 lol

[@Supastackman]

Crooks they never cash me out at my amount I agreed on.

[@HowardCharlesUK]

It's also worth thinking about if you were going to do collabs. With Distrokid, it would count as another artist slot - and thus an extra yearly subscription cost. I use distrokid for my own releases, but I think I would use CDbaby for collabs.

[@TheLithGH]

Thanks for posting!! My question is, and pardon my ignorance, as this will be my first song to release - is do we get paid per stream, or only if the person downloads the song?

[@tastefulsubstance]

Most services pay per stream, or purchase if bought on iTunes.

[@ladegn5161]

Very helpful video. Thank you! Do you recommend having a Sound Exchange account if you are using one of these services? Just starting out, and I am finishing production on an EP that I plan to release. There is an overwhelming amount of information out there, but I really appreciate your video.

[@CharlesCleyn]

You're welcome, i have a video on sound exchange here that might be helpful to you: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rGa3oKSNZ7uAnsk

[@montez1292]

thank you this really helped me decide!

[@CharlesCleyn]

you're welcome :)

[@RRRSoulEvan]

Which one did you choose

[@debarshidas9427]

Hello ... I have a question ... Which is do we have to pay every time we release a song in CD baby .... Like tune core ..... Or we can post unlimited songs and give an amount annually in cd baby

[@UCCAWiditha]

You have to pay everytime you release a song with cdbaby

[@satishwarang7276]

If I want to distribute duet song via distrokid then which type of plan I have to buy?

[@AntDubi1130]

Is the check from cdbaby or d kid for royalties every month or every year let me know please thanks 🙏🏾

[@alandangelaalways]

Thank you ...very informative

[@CharlesCleyn]

You're welcome :)

[@englishmusic6182]

did you forget to mention about how you DONT KEEP 100percent of your royalties? lol

[@CharlesCleyn]

i forgot to mention the paypal fees, you're right

[@englishmusic6182]

@@CharlesCleyn Not everyone is American here. so.... you will be hit with TAX, Foreign Tax = to 30% of your earnings.

[@CharlesCleyn]

@@englishmusic6182 only if your country of residence does not have a tax treaty in the US which will affect the minority, not the majority.

[@englishmusic6182]

​@@CharlesCleyn I see... Thanks Charles. Appreciate that info. @Charles Cleyne - #BUMP #KeepIt100

[@richardalberts737]

50% to composer..50% to publisher..ok..start thinking..

[@capri-sungod2919]

Hey, I was trying to submit my music through CdBaby until I came across a thing called Partner Artist ID. It wants you to link your name as well as your band to Spotify and iTunes. Our first release is not live yet (done it through Distrokid) but it’s sent everywhere, I can access Spotify for artists. But since it’s not live yet, if I link the band with Spotify, will it put our release on a different, newly created Spotify profile? (Because our profile is not live/visible yet) It also put our producer’s name there too to link it for some weird reason. Anyone know anything about this?

[@CharlesCleyn]

Hey, what does partner artist ID do and why do you need it?

[@capri-sungod2919]

​@@CharlesCleyn It wants you to add the partner artist id when submitting new music. This wasn't a thing before, and just saw it. I have no idea what it is and cdbaby's support is being extremely unhelpful about this so thought I'd ask it here if anyone knows.

[@CharlesCleyn]

@@capri-sungod2919 Ya, interesting never heard of that before. Would the be rerferring to the Spotify Artist URI code?

[@SorayasFierceCookingShow]

This was really helpful. I've been with CD Baby for a long time. I have received an offer for music licensing to a movie documentary. It was a very nice payment! What I wish I could do is have an three of my artists names ( I am the songwriter and producer for all on my indie dance label) connected to my main KZbin account. Other than that, CD Baby had been good. Yes, the sign up is cumbersome. Thanks!

[@passion.mp3211]

2:43 on the point leave a legacy it's not only on Spotify available is it? Is it also on every other platform you've uploaded available?

[@CharlesCleyn]

Yes, it’s on every platform.

[@passion.mp3211]

@@CharlesCleyn okay thank you :))

[@scarlettstar]

Might be smart to put albums on CD Baby and Singles on distrokid. But then I may just change it all over to CD baby

[@jeremyferrickmusic]

Probably how often you release stuff would be part of the decision.

[@CharlesCleyn]

definitely a big parrt

[@lilskeeter5757]

I'm releasing my first EP and I'm leaning towards CD baby. Any advice?

[@CharlesCleyn]

Ya good be good for you, if you’re going to release a lot of songs maybe distro is better for you though

[@AdelSweezy]

If u read this comment just RUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN from DISTROKIDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

[@aarongrubbmusic]

On distrokid, cover song licensing is v also yearly, which can pose a problem

[@CharlesCleyn]

You pay yearly you mean?

[@aarongrubbmusic]

@@CharlesCleyn yes, the cover song fee is also yearly

[@BlueFlame_l.o.g]

Can you upload a song that has an instrumental from KZbin? A beat that's possibly free to use?

[@yannylovemusic3754]

Thanx a lot! Very clear and useful! All the best! )

[@CharlesCleyn]

All the best with your music releases as well

[@NAIRxtc]

CD BABY IS THE WAY

[@CharlesCleyn]

What’s your fav CD baby feature?

[@NAIRxtc]

@@CharlesCleyn that j won't be charged 30% for tax and get an auto mated useless rply when I mail

[@CharlesCleyn]

@@NAIRxtc cool, thanks.

[@mrvron]

All distributor collects a potions of your stream money. None of them are better For me I think CD baby and Tune core with one rpm are better than distrokid

[@BAESZMUSIC]

Seriously? Using Distrokid for the past 2 years. Stole my money, paid more than 10 dollars per song (Even after buying a Pro Musician subscription). They also always charge me some amounts of "random" fee without even informing me about it, saying, they're distributing it to stores. But I don't get notified about any of it. Distrokid is a SCAM! That's bad you're promoting them. Obviously you got paid for it too, so why won't you?

[@CharlesCleyn]

actually I didn’t get paid for this video but I do have a referral link in the description. Can you tell us more about how they stole from you so it’s beneficial to my audience? It could be possible you signed up to pay for new store releases.

[@BAESZMUSIC]

@@CharlesCleyn hahah my bad then. Sorry. Well, I've got about more than 26k streams something on Spotify. My tracks of course were added to playlists and it's 100% organic. But all they offer is $11.00. Seriously? Where's the rest of the money then? I can't even withdraw that 11 dollars lol. Their website shoots an error when I try to even withdraw that. Funny. I'm switching to CDBaby.

[@CharlesCleyn]

@@BAESZMUSIC Sorry to hear about your bad experience, I've also heard more people talk about their poor experiences with distro kid, i got my music on tunecore and distro kid but i haven't had any major difficulties yet.

[@BAESZMUSIC]

@@CharlesCleyn well, I would suggest you to switch haha. Prevention is always better than cure lol! 😂

[@kayemxkhepri88]

That Annual Feature is Pretty Good. I Wonder What Marketing Tools Distro Kid Has 🤔

[@100lastgoodnerves8]

are you allowed to have some songs on distrokid and other different songs on cd baby at same time? somehow i recall you can only use one digital distributor.

[@UCCAWiditha]

You can't upload the same song twice on different distributors but if it's different songs then it's fine. Good luck!

[@100lastgoodnerves8]

@@UCCAWiditha thank you

[@UCCAWiditha]

@@100lastgoodnerves8 no worries, what kind of song are you planning to release?

[@100lastgoodnerves8]

@@UCCAWiditha kzbin.info/www/bejne/pHqnfYewhsx4pK8

[@jakpodcast]

Does CDBaby do the Apple Music Lyrics? That’s another main thing I wanted to compare.

[@CharlesCleyn]

I believe so yes, anyone else can confirm?

[@Savannahwellman]

@@CharlesCleyn they do I read

[@الحياة-ي3ج]

Hello , I am pleased to share with you what happened to me with CD Baby and I hope you can help me Two weeks ago, a copyright complaint was sent against my song, which is Cover CD baby deleted all my albums and pages on all platforms I tried to talk to CD Baby, but they told me that I had to talk to the artist via his e-mail, and when I spoke to him, he refused to return the song or even remove the copyright. And I can't do anything So my question is, can I open a new account in CD baby And the new account is made up of another email And completely different Not the same artist name can I??? I hope for a reply and thank you The same artist name that you put in the ****previous account …….

[@herogodsgeneral5863]

Kindly send me your discount link for cd baby? Thanks

[@TheSunnySlimEffect]

hey charley...i use cdbaby and i prefer them than any other DSP

[@NoRiceNoLife_]

Is cdbaby can claim content id on youtube?