News: ChaseLawyers On Breaking Into The Music Industry: Aggregators
Today’s Topic: TuneCore vs CDBaby With digital music sales increasing due to the decline of physical albums, companies (called “aggregators”) such as TuneCore and CDBaby are revolutionizing marketing opportunities for independent artists. Aside from offering online music distribution and performance-royalty collection (working alongside PROs), they also collect publishing royalties from the sale and streaming of compositions. When faced with the choice of affiliation, however, an in-depth comparison between the two giants may seem daunting. Allow us to provide a starting point… (1) With CDBaby, the sign-up cost is $12.95 per song and $49 per album with no annual fee. There is a 15% commission for collecting publishing royalties, with a self-renewing contract term (as long as neither composer or CDBaby terminates) for songwriters & composers (there is a 1-year contract for publishers). In contrast, TuneCore offers free membership, but services trigger fees after affilia...
