CD Baby music publishing collections exceed $10m

 

By Emmanuel Legrand

 

CD Baby, the service company for independent musician, said it has collected over $10 million in music publishing royalties on behalf of its songwriters clients since it introduced the service a couple of years ago. CD Baby Pro Publishing manages over 1.7 million songs out of the 9 millions tracks from the 950,000 artists it represents.
 

  CD Baby Pro Publishing is powered by sister company Songtrust, both part of music group Downtown Holdings. CD Baby and Songtrust said they have tailored their services to provide independent and self-managed artists and songwriters "to collect all publishing revenues earned by their work, something remarkably difficult for a music creator in the past." Songtrust claims to collect from more than 215 countries and territories, making it the "largest open-access royalty collection network in the industry."
 

  “It is extremely important to be collecting all income sources as an independent artist, especially if you write or compose your own music,” explained Jon Bahr, VP of Business Development & 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.”

 

Collect what songwriters are owed

 

  Bahr added: “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.”
 

  Bahr said that in views of the changes in the music publishing landscape in the United States, with the launch of the Mechaical Licensing Collective in 2021, CD Baby’s expertise will ensure that independent songwriters will be able to colelct their mechanical royalties.
 

  “In 2021, with the launch of the MLC in the United States, CD Baby Publishing’s songs will already be registered and earning, as we continue educating the tens of thousands of unpublished songwriters on the value of collecting every penny of song royalties” said Bahr.