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Just got an email... CD BABY ALPHA assumes my publishing?

ryanstrong

Senior Member
Without any action on my end I just received an email stating that CD BABY ALPHA is to receive 100% of the publisher royalties of my work even though I own the master recordings of my music 100%.

Did anyone else get an email like this?
 
Unless you've already agreed to that, they can't.

I mean I signed up to CD Baby for them to distribute the work online.

Or does this mean I am assigning them as 100% publisher so that they pay my publishing and not ASCAP. Anyway I'll probably speak with a lawyer but didn't know if this was a "new thing" that everyone was aware of.
 
No, you have to agree and sign that they become the publisher. If they are just selling your music, then all they are is a distributor. That may cover owning your publishing, but only if you've agreed to it, and that doesn't sound likely to me.
 
This is the email I received from ASCAP...

We are in receipt of CD BABY ALPHA MUSIC's letter dated 2/8/16 indicating that CD BABY ALPHA MUSIC (herein after, the Assignee) is to administer RYAN STRONG MUSIC's (herein after, the Assignor) interest in specific works as indicated in the agreement. Unless we are advised to the contrary, our records have been marked accordingly effective with the upcoming Publishing Distribution (3rd Quarter 2015 performances, March 2016 Publisher Distribution).

As administrator, the Assignee is entitled to receive the publisher royalties for the specific works as indicated in the agreement. All correspondence, statements and checks for these works will be sent to the Assignee.

Should this agreement be terminated, the Society must be notified in a timely manner. If either party contests the administration or termination, the Society will treat the matter in accordance with our Disputed Claims Procedures which can be found on ascap.com under ASCAP Governing Documents.
 
As administrator, the Assignee is entitled to receive the publisher royalties

wut
 
Yeah I definitely did not agree to this it's just amazing that they can go ahead and assume this.
 
Agree w/Daryl here, BUT -

I mean I signed up to CD Baby for them to distribute the work online.

Are you sure the fine print didn't say something like:

If you allow CD Baby to distribute your work online, you are agreeing to CD Baby becoming your publisher

- in legalese, of course.
 
So another thing to check is that CD Baby isn't collecting them on your behalf. It's possible that they might be marketing your music, getting placements and collecting income for you. So they do this? Have you asked them to?

BTW, what is Alpha? Is it your record label?
 
Over a year ago I signed up for CD Baby to simply distribute my music online so iTunes/Amazon/Spotify etc. I would have thought CD Baby was more common around here.

Anyway no Alpha is not my record label, actually I don't know what Alpha is I assumed CD BABY ALHPA is just their legal name.

The thing is I have been receiving royalties from the music that has been distributed by CD BABY from ASCAP for awhile now..... I dont know why this has changed.

This is why I posted... Didn't know if it was like a "new thing" that everyone was questioning.
 
Response from ASCAP...

CD Baby will collect royalties obo your publishing entity, and then distribute them to you directly. If you have questions about your agreement terms, please contact CD Baby directly.

I
just don't know why this is coming out right now as it's never been like this... ASCAP has always distributed royalties from the results of cdbaby distribution services.
 
A quick search elicited this post from a couple of years ago:



I would contact CD Baby direct and find out what is going on. The last thing you want to do is make them the Publishers, because they could mean that they have rights to your income that you don't even know about.
 
Wow. Sounds like they are just outright stealing the music. I don't even think that is legal. Did you opt in to some sort of song promotion?
 
I mean I signed up to CD Baby for them to distribute the work online.

Or does this mean I am assigning them as 100% publisher so that they pay my publishing and not ASCAP. Anyway I'll probably speak with a lawyer but didn't know if this was a "new thing" that everyone was aware of.

Sorry I'm still getting use to this "new" forum format as I don't spend much time on it and I didn't see this.

Yes, you just gave them your publishing. It must of been in the terms of your distribution deal.

Personally I would never do this. For CD baby it's a numbers game. If they distribute a million songs and get $10 in royalties from each song it is a huge haul for them. For us it's just $10. Which isn't worth it.

If you can get out of this distribution deal I would do it immediately.
 
Response from ASCAP...

CD Baby will collect royalties obo your publishing entity, and then distribute them to you directly. If you have questions about your agreement terms, please contact CD Baby directly.

I
just don't know why this is coming out right now as it's never been like this... ASCAP has always distributed royalties from the results of cdbaby distribution services.
This means that CD Baby is now your subpublisher. They collect all the publishing, take a percentage of it, then distribute the rest to you.

It could work out well if there's some actual money involved.

What you need to find out now is what percentage do they take, when do they distribute. And then keep track of the income they collect through ASCAP. On your statement it will read $0.00 to you, but it will give the amount sent to CD Baby as your subpublisher.

Also, a subpublisher should in fact be keeping very close track of where your music is used. That's their prime responsibility and is also the only reason to get a subpublisher.
 
As far as I know, CD Baby Pro is the one that keeps the publishing. If you signed up for just the regular CD Baby distribution (not Pro) then they don't get involved in the publishing. I have a few albums on CD Baby and they don't have any involvement on the PRO side.

The irony is that I can't think of any reason why a professional would assign his publishing to CD Baby.

rgames
 
As far as I know, CD Baby Pro is the one that keeps the publishing. If you signed up for just the regular CD Baby distribution (not Pro) then they don't get involved in the publishing. I have a few albums on CD Baby and they don't have any involvement on the PRO side.

The irony is that I can't think of any reason why a professional would assign his publishing to CD Baby.

rgames
Yeah exactly... so I wonder what the advantage CD BABY says about Pro if ASCAP or BMI or whoever delivers your royalties anyway.
 
Yeah exactly... so I wonder what the advantage CD BABY says about Pro if ASCAP or BMI or whoever delivers your royalties anyway.
I think you might still be confused.

ASCAP/BMI will not send you your royalties. That is up to CD baby now. Basically you singed an agreement with CD Baby that says they are now your publishers, will take a cut and send you the rest. It's called subpublishing.
 
I think you might still be confused.

ASCAP/BMI will not send you your royalties. That is up to CD baby now. Basically you singed an agreement with CD Baby that says they are now your publishers, will take a cut and send you the rest. It's called subpublishing.
Yeah I got that exactly... I'm saying what's CD Baby's marketing speak to why someone would sub publish.

And for the record I did not sign an agreement for them to subpublish. Not unless I have identity theft going on.
 
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