# Tunecore, CD Baby etc



## Guy Rowland (Apr 8, 2014)

I've been working with a singer for a few years in the background and this year an album should be ready. Not looking at anything too fancy, just want to get the album in all the usual places - iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc. I like Bandcamp too, might be nice to make that the cheapest retail option but have the others for convenience.

The one stop shops look pretty appealing, but I feel pretty green. Any experiences with the likes of Tunecore and CD Baby? I see a few upfront pricing differences, but I'm more interested in finding out any hidden gotchas (or hidden gems). Thanks all.


----------



## DocMidi657 (Apr 8, 2014)

Hi Guy,

I used CD baby around December and it was very painless. They got the CD into iTunes and all the other digital places very quickly and all worked well. Payments for sales has been all clean as well. No issues. 

In short you just need your tracks and some artwork and then you upload everything. Can be done easily in an afternoon and they do the rest to get it to Amazon, Spotify, iTunes etc.

Dave


----------



## Guy Rowland (Apr 8, 2014)

Thanks Dave, that's very good to hear. CD Baby do seem to have a good reputation and they have some big artists on there now too, eh? Two Steps from Hell on the front page I see


----------



## marclawsonmusic (Apr 8, 2014)

Hi Guy,

I have used both for my songwriter work. CD Baby has been around longer and was originally based on a physical CD distribution model - I sent them 5 or 10 copies of my CD and they would warehouse and ship them when orders came in... they also ripped the CDs for me, thus getting the correct ISRC codes, etc. Tunecore, on the other hand, is pure digital from the start (you upload the tracks).

Both offer distribution through digital and even some physical outlets. I learned from Tunecore that Amazon has a service where they print your CD and artwork on demand - then send it out to whoever purchased it (huh... WTF?) I thought it was a bit odd, but it is something that's available.

The only thing I don't like about Tunecore is they require an annual fee to keep your digital distribution "current" (maybe "active" is the word they use). I only paid a one-time fee to CD Baby for digital distribution, but Tunecore wants me to re-up every year. (I did my first CD on CD Baby and my second through Tunecore and both are still on iTunes, but I am still paying Tunecore, while I haven't paid CD Baby for years now.)

Anyway, just one person's experience... I hope it is helpful.

All the best with your project,
Marc


----------



## Guy Rowland (Apr 9, 2014)

Thanks Marc - so with CD Baby how does their CD operation work? They obviously can't print thousands of discs for every release to get into shops... I see they have a flat fee of $4 per disc which seems very fair, but its the logistics that intrigue me.

Also anyone any experience of CD Baby regular vs Pro? Looks like with Pro they register with ASCAP/BMI and set you up for royalty collection. In an optimistic world, that sounds good for my singer if anything were to take off, but it looks pretty USA-centric, I guess she'd need to register herself with the PRS here.

Well it's still peanuts really - $99 for the album and that's it?! Almost too good to be true...


----------



## Jaap (Apr 9, 2014)

Beware that if you use CD baby that your music is automatically tagged with the Youtube Content ID.
If you have any music at production libraries or tend to use otherwise it might give trouble.


----------



## alexmshore (Apr 9, 2014)

Yes the YouTube Content ID can be annoying, however you can fill out a form that will exempt your channel from Rumblefish collections on a per-album, per-video basis, but only AFTER you’ve received a content ID notification.


----------



## Guy Rowland (Apr 9, 2014)

Wha wha wha you two? What's all that? Can you explain more?

I don't think this will apply to this project as it would be a commercial album and not library, but sounds like info I should know anyway.


----------



## Jaap (Apr 9, 2014)

Your music gets fingerprinted and it means that everytime the music is used in a youtube video (no matter if you granted permission or not) a few things can happen. It can give the user a copyright infrigment warning, but it can also be used to monetise your music by generating adds in the video which will earn money everytime the add is clicked. The money goes to youtube, then rumblefish (the partner that is working with cd-baby) and in the end to you.

So far no problems on the horizon if you are planning to use your music only commercial and not have any plans with it. It can even be some nice extra money (however thousands of advert clicks will generate you a few dollars a year)

The problem comes in that if you decide to distribute your music on other channels, like for example to a music library or grant permission that movie or other project can use it. If this is happening then all sorts of nasty disputes can arise and very often cause a lot of annoyance with clients, libraries etc.


----------



## Guy Rowland (Apr 9, 2014)

Thanks Jaap, super useful to know. Shouldn't be an issue in this case, it's all totally separate from my media stuff. It's actually been really great having a for-the-love-of-it project answerable to no-one but ourselves. Good therapy.


----------



## Jaap (Apr 9, 2014)

Guy Rowland @ Wed Apr 09 said:


> Thanks Jaap, super useful to know. Shouldn't be an issue in this case, it's all totally separate from my media stuff. It's actually been really great having a for-the-love-of-it project answerable to no-one but ourselves. Good therapy.



That is great to have such projects and should be very refreshing I can imagine  Good luck with it! Don't forget to let us know when it's released o-[][]-o


----------



## Stephen Rees (Apr 9, 2014)

Perhaps this thread could be moved to 'Working in the Industry' forum or another appropriate one? Seems very 'on topic' and I'm sure a lot of people would like to read it whether they were forum members or not. Seems a shame to hide it away in the 'Off Topic' section


----------



## chillbot (Apr 9, 2014)

Stephen Rees @ Wed Apr 09 said:


> Perhaps this thread could be moved to 'Working in the Industry' forum or another appropriate one? Seems very 'on topic' and I'm sure a lot of people would like to read it whether they were forum members or not. Seems a shame to hide it away in the 'Off Topic' section



Actually thread did not get a lot of love in the "industry" forum:

http://www.vi-control.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=37792


----------



## marclawsonmusic (Apr 9, 2014)

Guy Rowland @ Wed Apr 09 said:


> Thanks Marc - so with CD Baby how does their CD operation work? They obviously can't print thousands of discs for every release to get into shops... I see they have a flat fee of $4 per disc which seems very fair, but its the logistics that intrigue me.



Hey Guy,

With the CD operation, you actually send them a handful of CDs (5 or 10) to get started. They take one of the CDs and rip it, so that's how they get your audio for digital distribution (and demos on their site). The rest go on a shelf somewhere and they handle the shipping whenever someone orders a copy.

They will ask for replacements as those first few sell out, and if you are selling tons, they will obviously keep more than 5 or 10 in stock.

So, basically, it's a 3rd party fulfillment operation. They host the "shopping cart" and as people buy, they fulfill the orders.

As far as the digital operation, you probably have to compare the list of digital distribution sites to see which is best. At one point, I felt Tunecore had the edge on this. They seem to be more "hip" and aware of technology - e.g. their CEO promotes artists on his Twitter feed and I think they were the first to offer Spotify distribution. Not sure how they stack up these days, however.

Cheers,
Marc


----------



## Guy Rowland (Apr 9, 2014)

Thanks Jaap - will do!



Stephen Rees @ Wed Apr 09 said:


> Perhaps this thread could be moved to 'Working in the Industry' forum or another appropriate one? Seems very 'on topic' and I'm sure a lot of people would like to read it whether they were forum members or not. Seems a shame to hide it away in the 'Off Topic' section



You know, that's a good shout. I must confess I missed the Tunecore publishing thread, but I guess this one has a different focus in terms of distribution. Although its not directly related to the job in my case, it could well be in other people's (and there's already very useful general info regarding the YouTube ContentIDs etc). I'll press the alert button and the mods can move it if they feel its appropriate.


----------



## DocMidi657 (Apr 9, 2014)

Hey Guy,

One other thing I should point out is that I went with CD baby also because I did not want to have to pay a fee every year based on what I anticipated my sales would be on an instrumental Jazz CD.
Dave


----------



## ThomasL (Apr 9, 2014)

We've been using TuneCore in the past (as well as Ditto) but since discovering Catapult Distribution we won't be using anything but them from now on.

They don't have a yearly fee and are fast as !(@#!. Support usually is just a few hours at most before any problem is solved (had a glitch in the iTunes Store with an empty album once, fixed in an hour or so).

iTunes releases are just a few hours or so after the upload is complete.

For CD duplication we have used Kunaki. Not-so-hot looking website but the service is good. Only downside is that the program they use for "packing" a release is only available for Windows, had to borrow a PC to get it up and running. Other than that, great service.

(Shameful-self-promotion-of-latest-release: two - Thousand Needles)


----------



## Guy Rowland (Apr 9, 2014)

Thanks Thomas - those figures look the same as for CD Baby, but good to hear about the positive CS. Kunaki sounds good - might well be looking for a UK equivalent.


----------



## Nathan Allen Pinard (Apr 15, 2014)

> "Yes the YouTube Content ID can be annoying, however you can fill out a form that will exempt your channel from Rumblefish collections on a per-album, per-video basis, but only AFTER you’ve received a content ID notification."



This isn't entirely true. You can opt-out of Rumblefish, which is what CDBaby uses for sync licensing on YouTube.


----------



## MichaelL (Apr 15, 2014)

Hi Guy,

I had some Smooth Jazz and New Age CDs out in the 90's. I decided to re-release them via digital distribution on CD Baby. The experience has been pretty painless, and the pennies trickle in. :D 

Best of luck with your project.

_Michael


----------

