CD Baby’s music publishing service has announced it has collected more than $10 million (£7.6m) on behalf of its songwriters and performing artists.
Powered by sister company Songtrust, CD Baby Pro Publishing now manages 1.7 million songs and supports an increasing number of clients.
“It is extremely important to be collecting all income sources as an independent artist, especially if you write or compose your own music,” said Jon Bahr, VP of business development and licensing at CD Baby. “The time has come for all artists, no matter what their career stage, fanbase or geographic market, to get paid promptly and fairly for their work.
“When CD Baby Publishing launched a few years ago, we were the first music distributor to bring Publishing Administration directly into the distribution process,” said Bahr. “Publishing is complicated, fractured, granular and global. As our hundreds of thousands of songwriters from dozens of countries know, CD Baby Publishing allows them to focus on their music and career growth while we proactively collect what they’re owed.”
Songtrust’s publishing administration also analyses global pay source statements to ensure that all money is being properly collected and paid out to rights-holders, while its catalogue collects royalties from its pay source network spanning more than 215 countries and territories - the largest open-access royalty collection network in the industry.
Home to more than 950,000 artists, CD Baby is owned by Downtown Music Holdings and is the largest distributor and rights administrator of independent music in the world.
The US, meanwhile, is preparing for a major transformation of its music licensing and royalty distribution regulations with the implementation of the MLC.
“In 2021, with the launch of the MLC in the United States, CD Baby Publishing’s songs will already be registered and earning,” said Bahr. “As we continue educating the tens of thousands of unpublished songwriters on the value of collecting every penny of song royalties.”
