Publishing a song via CD BABY WITHOUT using the PRO option?

[Julflorianus]

Hello world
How "bad" is it to submit a song that has already been published on Spotify, e.g. via CD BABY, but WITHOUT using their PRO option? In other words - when such a song is already online - but with only a couple of clicks - why should a licence company be bothered about this while the original rights still remain untouched?

I know this has been discussed many times before, but with the focus (mainly) on the PRO option, which indeed will affect the actual rights question.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Ulrich

[RPaul]

How "bad" is it to submit a song that has already been published on Spotify, e.g. via CD BABY, but WITHOUT using their PRO option? In other words - when such a song is already online - but with only a couple of clicks - why should a licence company be bothered about this while the original rights still remain untouched?

There are two key areas with CD Baby (and similar) releases that could come into play:

1) CD Baby PRO is basically making them your administrative publisher to collect on your behalf, so that is one obvious point.

2) When you sign up a song or album, there is a section about whether you want them to "monetize your music" (not sure if that is the exact wording), which is specifically giving options are monetizing your music on YouTube, Facebook, and a few other possibilities, including sync. This is essentially making them your publisher (not just administrative publisher) for the any uses you get in those categories, and it gives them exclusivity in some of them (e.g. YouTube). Obviously that one will also run awry of a sync publisher who might also be trying to get placements in any areas they might explicitly or implicitly cover.

So now let's consider a library situation. Maybe they place your song in an ad or something that gets played on YouTube (in addition to any other media), but now CD Baby is the exclusive publisher for the recordings you include in the "monetize my music" part of their distribution, so the video with that song in it gets claimed by CD Baby due to YouTube content ID and your having given them that permission. So the library has put work into getting you the ad placement, but now it is claimed on YouTube by CD Baby (on your behalf).

So, if you are pitching your tracks distributed to CD Baby for exclusive library consideration, make sure to not sign them up for either CD Baby PRO or any of the "monetize my music" parts.

I've also seen a number of listings lately that indicate the music cannot be distributed through CD Baby at all (i.e. even if not signing up for the two parts mentioned above). They don't state why they require this, but I can think of a few possibilities:

One that would be important for songs that could be pitched for artist cuts is that any songs that are released and distributed are considered to have had their first publication. Copyright law provides a compulsory mechanical license provision that says, once first publication has occurred, anyone can license your track for their recording as long as they agree to certain provisions that are set out in the law, one of which is paying a statutory mechanical license rate (currently 9.1 cents per song for recordings under 5 minutes, with a per-minute rate for longer recordings, though the rates will go up in 2023). Prior to first publication, though, an initial mechanical rate is negotiable. So, if the record company/artist really wants the song badly, the publisher may have some leverage to hold out for a higher mechanical royalty rate and/or some prepayment of mechanical royalties. In general, I would not think this would be a common thing for libraries to care about since they aren't typically pitching songs to recording artists, but rather are trying to place the recordings in their library.

One other thought is maybe they will release the recordings themselves, and want to do it on their own terms, including being the one to collect any money for the recording and publishing side of things. Maybe it would be a hassle for them to try to back out of the things that are more or less automatically set up when you release a song that way. For example, when CD Baby collects from one of the outlets, you get any money that would be paid directly to the record label. In some (but not all) cases, this may include the mechanical royalties (in other cases, this could come through the MLC in the USA or foreign mechanicals societies outside the USA -- the latter is what CD Baby Pro would mainly get you beyond what CD Baby collects on its own as the MLC only covers the USA). But, if the library has your publishing, then they would be the ones to get the mechanicals, and then they'd pay you the writer's share. Maybe they just see this sort of stuff as too much of a hassle to work out, especially if the numbers are small (like they are for most of us "Long Tail" artists).

[Julflorianus]

Hello Paul,
Thanks a lot for this exhaustive explanation. I’m really sorry for my late reply, but since I had not been notified before, I was just not aware of your reply.
And now I just happened to pass bye a couple of minutes ago ...
All the best,
Ulrich

[Julflorianus]

Sorry again, I meant Rick.
BTW: I'm very familiar with this problem - because my name and surname are also easily "swappable".

[RPaul]

Sorry again, I meant Rick.
BTW: I'm very familiar with this problem - because my name and surname are also easily "swappable".

Yeah, I get that a lot, sometimes even from people who've known me for years (maybe even decades). No worries.

[Eddie]

Hey! I’m new here & completely green to all of this lol!

So I have music currently submitted through cdbaby pro…In order to work with Taxi, their saying I have to opt out of pro.
What happens & who collects the royalties for other places the song is played or used? Does taxi take over this position cdbaby offered with pro?

Thanks very much for who ever answers in advance!!!

[RPaul]

So I have music currently submitted through cdbaby pro…In order to work with Taxi, their saying I have to opt out of pro.
What happens & who collects the royalties for other places the song is played or used? Does taxi take over this position cdbaby offered with pro?

TAXI is not a publisher and doesn't collect money for you.

CD Baby Pro serves as an administrative publisher, collecting money for various types of uses on your behalf. The reason this would run afoul of exclusive publishing deals through music libraries and the like is because those libraries require that they are the publisher who collects the money for any uses of the song in question. They can't do that if the song is already tied up with an administrative publisher. (It's worth noting that the main difference between an administrative publisher and other types of publishers is you still own the publishing when using an administrative publisher to collect for you -- they take some percentage of their collections in return for providing that service. But if you sign a deal for the song with a traditional publisher, or a music library that serves as a publisher, the publisher will own the publishing on the song and will get the publishing share, typically 50%, of the money earned. So, for example, in the case where a song of yours earns $100, if it is signed to a normal publisher, you'll get $50 for your writer's share, and they'll keep the other $50 for the publisher's share. But in the case of an administrative publisher, who maybe takes a 10% cut on their collections -- note that I don't know what share CD Baby Pro takes, though I'd guess it is somewhere in the 10-20% realm -- you'd get $90 and that admin publisher would get $10. The $90 you get would represent $45 each for your writer's and publisher's share after having deducted the 10% commission.)

In the case of a non-exclusive publishing deal, they would retitle your song and collect on the retitled version, rather than the original version represented by CD Baby Pro.

As for who collects the money CD Baby Pro would collect if you don't use them (or another administrative publisher like SongTrust), you'd have to have direct arrangements with the various organizations CD Baby Pro collects from to collect that money. For the USA, you'd likely already have a relationship with a performance rights organization (e.g. ASCAP, BMI, etc.), and they would collect performance royalties for you worldwide (through their relationships with foreign PROs). For mechanicals from interactive streams, you'd need to sign up with the MLC (Mechanical Licensing Collective) to collect those for the USA, but they don't collect for other countries. It is the mechanical royalties outside the USA that are the key source of income being left on the table without an administrative publisher, and there would be many organizations you'd need to affiliate with to collect those fees without an administrative publisher. But, if your music isn't getting a large number of interactive streams and downloads (and/or physical media sales) outside the USA, odds are you're not leaving any significant money on the table (and it may be far less than you'd pay to CD Baby for the difference between regular distribution and distribution with the CD Baby Pro option.)

FWIW, I don't use CD Baby Pro for two key reasons. One is the extra cost versus the money I'd likely be leaving on the table by adding that option. The other is that they don't handle cowriters who don't also have CD Baby Pro relationships (and only one of mine does). Were I to decide on using an administrative publisher in the future, I'd be most likely to go with SongTrust to cover my entire catalog. The biggest thing holding me back from doing that (beyond that the money being left on the table at this point would likely be less than their setup cost) is that they also wouldn't cover cowriters who don't have relationships with them (and the setup costs for most of my cowriters would be far higher than what they could expect to gain from having SongTrust administer their catalogs). I am a member of the MLC for the US-based mechanicals they collect, but, at least thus far, I haven't reached the minimum level of royalties needed to actually get a payment from them. (I do get performance royalties from ASCAP, but the largest share of those come from my live performances, not broadcast or streaming.)

[Merryband1]

I just logged into my CD Baby account today (since I'm home sick with COVID and have a few extra minutes to think about business). I was able to turn off the Sync feature in PRO, while leaving the MLC option open. I don't know if this will help anyone, but I thought I'd mention it. There was a slider ON/OFF button. I never got any notifications that the song had been optioned or signed for any usage, so this may not be an option for someone whose songs/works have already been sync'd to projects, but I thought I'd mention it here.

Cheers,
Merry (despite COVID)