CD Baby or Tunecore?

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NaeDae
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CD Baby or Tunecore?

Post by NaeDae » Thu Mar 23, 2017 9:04 pm

So I'm starting to figure out this soundcloud thing..

Basically the just of gaining (organic) followers is:
1) Make good music
2) Send good music to promotion channels/bloggers
3) Repeat steps 1 & 2 and occasionally invest in features

I've got a song with 115,000+ plays on spotify (if each play is $0.005, that adds up to over $500, which is great considering I put under $40 into the song's creation).

Well I put the song up with CD Baby (1 time fee of $15 but they take 20% commission). Tunecore is a YEARLY fee of $10 but you get 100% commission.

I did the math, and it turns out for a single to be profiting on Tunecore, it'd have to get atleast 2000 plays a year.

So in your guys' opinion, should I have put the song out on tunecore instead? At what point, mathematically, is it worth it for an artist to start paying a $10.00 annual fee per song?

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Re: CD Baby or Tunecore?

Post by Len911 » Thu Mar 23, 2017 11:42 pm

https://www.amadeamusic.com/

How can you beat free? No upfront fees, you keep 90%.

Mathematically speaking for the majority of releases by unsigned.
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Re: CD Baby or Tunecore?

Post by mojobone » Sat Mar 25, 2017 11:45 am

My feeling on the matter is if you're not actively touring/promoting and releasing singles on the regular, producing vinyl, CDs and tchotchkes for your merch table, etc. that's all stuff you need CDBaby for, and the more stuff you can bundle the cheaper it all gets, but there IS one hitch with their digital distribution in that any track you release through them you can no longer offer as exclusive and some production music libraries will not accept it. Yes, even some non-exclusive libraries.

I'm on Spotify by way of Reverbnation and Tunecore cuz I had an instrumental that got rejected everywhere I sent it, but I considered it good enough to put out under my own name, which they promptly screwed up, and there doesn't seem to be a way to fix it, short of tweeting Daniel Ek. I'm due to re-up, so I'll let you know how that goes; after a year, I now have a support email to try.

Dealing direct with Tunecore is obviously something different, and there are other options, like The Orchard, so your mileage as we say, may vary.
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Re: CD Baby or Tunecore?

Post by NaeDae » Mon Mar 27, 2017 11:58 am

mojobone wrote:My feeling on the matter is if you're not actively touring/promoting and releasing singles on the regular, producing vinyl, CDs and tchotchkes for your merch table, etc. that's all stuff you need CDBaby for, and the more stuff you can bundle the cheaper it all gets, but there IS one hitch with their digital distribution in that any track you release through them you can no longer offer as exclusive and some production music libraries will not accept it. Yes, even some non-exclusive libraries.

I'm on Spotify by way of Reverbnation and Tunecore cuz I had an instrumental that got rejected everywhere I sent it, but I considered it good enough to put out under my own name, which they promptly screwed up, and there doesn't seem to be a way to fix it, short of tweeting Daniel Ek. I'm due to re-up, so I'll let you know how that goes; after a year, I now have a support email to try.

Dealing direct with Tunecore is obviously something different, and there are other options, like The Orchard, so your mileage as we say, may vary.
That's helpful but I'm not really trying to get the song in libraries.

But yeah you're right. All the CD Baby merch options are pretty pointless and a waste of money IMO unless you're already at a late stage in your career (and by that stage you'd have people managing that for you).

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Re: CD Baby or Tunecore?

Post by mojobone » Wed Mar 29, 2017 1:46 pm

I'd hardly say merch is pointless; I've been on more than a few low-rent coffeehouse gigs where I coulda made bank if I'd had anything to sell. If you're indie you pay for the merch, you get to keep all the profits; the folks on major labels with 360 deals can basically only get paid for performing, and back end only if they write their own material.
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Re: CD Baby or Tunecore?

Post by NaeDae » Wed Mar 29, 2017 7:59 pm

Len911 wrote:https://www.amadeamusic.com/

How can you beat free? No upfront fees, you keep 90%.

Mathematically speaking for the majority of releases by unsigned.
That's a bit fishy. Almost a too-good-to-be-true type thing.

I searched them up and there are stories from a few years back of them emailing people referring to themselves as a label, even though all they do is distribute.

On top of that they're pretty small and therefore not much info exists on them. I mean they aren't charging but it's still kinda suspicious..

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Re: CD Baby or Tunecore?

Post by NaeDae » Wed Mar 29, 2017 8:01 pm

mojobone wrote:I'd hardly say merch is pointless; I've been on more than a few low-rent coffeehouse gigs where I coulda made bank if I'd had anything to sell. If you're indie you pay for the merch, you get to keep all the profits; the folks on major labels with 360 deals can basically only get paid for performing, and back end only if they write their own material.
That's a good point. I could see merch being easy to sell.

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Re: CD Baby or Tunecore?

Post by Len911 » Thu Mar 30, 2017 3:38 am

NaeDae wrote:
Len911 wrote:https://www.amadeamusic.com/

How can you beat free? No upfront fees, you keep 90%.

Mathematically speaking for the majority of releases by unsigned.
That's a bit fishy. Almost a too-good-to-be-true type thing.

I searched them up and there are stories from a few years back of them emailing people referring to themselves as a label, even though all they do is distribute.

On top of that they're pretty small and therefore not much info exists on them. I mean they aren't charging but it's still kinda suspicious..
There is also an Amadea Records http://www.amadearecords.com/
Probably the label arm.

I don't know what the business model is. It depends on what it costs them for an isrc code and barcode, and distribution costs, probably very little because they are purchasing in bulk, and probably very little labor costs. There is a minimum distribution, 30 euros for artists. They still get 10% of any sales.
How much does it cost to register ISRC codes for my songs or videos?

Only $2 per track and $30 to register!

The registration fee for your album, single, or DVD includes issuance of your ISRC codes, the collection of your track information, and the database registration of your tracks as required by the Recording Industry Association of America and IFPI.

Are there other ways of getting ISRC codes?

Yes, there are two other ways:

You could get them directly from the ISRC authority. But, they charge $95 and you will have to handle the assignment and registration on your own.
Some agents, labels, and other third parties offer ISRC services as part of a bundle of services that you hire them for. Sometimes they advertise this as "free ISRC codes". Read more here.
I'm just saying it would be worth it to try it with a song, the main thing would be if your song was distributed, and if you were paid
if you made over 30 euros. It seems costly and rather silly imo to pay money out with most of these other type of services for the general populace that will never recoup the expenses.
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