DistroKid does not collect any publishing royalties, which are generated by compositions. To view the purposes they believe they have legitimate interest for, or to object to this data processing use the vendor list link below. The audio file types DistroKid accepts are WAV, WMA, M4A, FLAC, MP3, and CDDA. The sync songwriter & the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC), PROs That difference is completely negligible when you factor it into the big picture of the royalties you are entitled to and the commissions that each service takes. Youll still have to sign up for a PRO, and SoundExchange, but the duties of Distrokid and Songtrust can be combined (at a cost) into CDBaby Pro. That means if anyone uses any of your songs as background music in their video you will get a portion of the ad revenue on that video. Harry Fox Agency collects mechanical royalties from Spotify (and most others), though MRI collects from Amazon. CD Baby have a publishing service called CD Baby Pro Publishing, TuneCore have a publishing arm called TuneCore Publishing, and Ditto also offer Ditto Music Publishing. Becoming a Member of The MLC is how you will Connect to Collect these royalties.The following questions discuss who exactly needs to Connect to Collect on your behalf and how the process works.. Read FAQ s DistroLock is another tool that you can use to prevent your music from being stolen and uploaded without your permission. Then 5% goes to any backup musicians, session musicians or anyone who is featured on the track. DistroKid distributes your music to all of the major streaming services and digital stores, including Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Amazon, and many more. Distrokid charges $0.99 cents per song so that people can shazam and ask siri what your song is. Slaps rewards people who engage with other musicians by promoting their music. Unlike some of its competitors, DistroKid does not review the releases you put out. CDBaby gives you 91%. At the same time, they collect funds from all the businesses and entities through something called a blanket license so that they can use copyrighted music for their businesses, such as restaurants, music venues, on the radio, or in a shopping mall. OR since you have decided to go with Distrokid and already need to sign up with SongTrust as an Admin publishing company you can use their option. DistroKid distributes your music to all the major streaming services and digital stores. DistroKid is a music distribution service that distributes your music to digital stores and streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music. This can cause big issues in marketing your release because some digital stores and streaming services will not receive and publish the release at the same time as others. So if someone makes a video with your song as background music and it goes viral, you will get a payday as long as you set up YouTube monetization. What I found most frustrating, is that most reviews of Cd Baby vs Distrokid focused on the different yearly fees that each distributor charges. Mechanical Royalties: What Are They, How Do I Get Mine? Without a publisher administrator, your performance and mechanical royalties will remain uncollected. CD Baby Pro Publishing uses the publishing admin system Songtrust which means you get the same publishing services they offer but as part of your CD Baby account. Once you start to gain some traction you can upgrade your subscriptions. If you are not signed to a publishing company. Performance Rights Royalties are paid for the right to perform a song in public places. When setting up your profile, you can categorize yourself on all of DistroKid's social features by genre and artists who have influenced you. Pay as you upload is a good thing if you hate the idea of having to pay a yearly subscription fee. Congratulations! Here are the different types of music royalties and which services and agencies are in charge of collecting them. You need a way to collect these royalties. But they don't anymore! Since you're an independent artist making original songs, with no record label or signed contracts, you'll most likely put 100% into Songwriting and 0% into publishing. This means you receive royalties on all songs youve written even if youre not the one performing it. If you go with CD Baby, you are going to want to go with the Pro Options as it includes administrative publishing services. Especially for artists who do not perform their work e.g. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'bestfriendsclub_ca-large-leaderboard-2','ezslot_8',111,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-bestfriendsclub_ca-large-leaderboard-2-0');With that said, if your musical project is not (yet) getting much attention or streams, it may not yet make sense to sign up for Songtrust because, although they only take a small 15% percentage of any royalties they collect, there is a $100 setup fee. Getting Paid - DistroKid Help Center What Artists Should Know About Songtrust - Passive Promotion Spotify then pays those publishing royalty portions to a performance rights organization (which specific organization depends on where in the world your song was streamed. DistroKid and other similar services are only for distribution and collect mechanical royalties for digital streams and sales. You can create a group and give it a name and description, and anyone will be able to join. We dont think so. To ensure you make the most money out of your music, get started with a service that will collect them for you. As a Distrokid user, I will tally up the price in terms of the services I chose: I pay for the musician plus account. We dont yet offer admin publishing services. When you distribute your music through CD Baby Pro, you are added to CDBabys non-exclusive sync library. $9.90. One is for the recorded song that you actually hear (The Master) and one is for the song as if it were written down on a piece of paper (The Composition). With all these services you have to release the song using the distributor in order to access the mechanical and performance royalties unlike Songtrust. Another important thing to note is that almost all of these terms and royalty systems were setup long ago when the music industry was very different. Can Distrokid Collect Mechanical Royalties? Distrokid doesnt. Both BMI and ASCAP split royalties of a song between the Songwriter and Publisher, and artists have the choice of what percentage of royalties theyll earn from each category during a process called song registration. Often times musicians hire sync licensing companies. Perhaps many of us are scarred early on when we were singled, Read More 10 Ways You Can Learn To Sing BetterContinue, Will AI replace graphic designers? Songtrust also allow you to keep 100% music copyright ownership of your work. DistroKid members can link their DistroKid account to an Audiomack account, upload their songs lyrics into the Instagram story creator, and get a Spotify verified checkmark. Today, if you are an independent musician who writes and records your own songs without a publishing company or record label you own 100% of both copyrights. These are the royalties that are collected from streams and sales on digital music stores or streaming services. You could be missing out on a lot of royalties which will go uncollected if youre only using a distributor. If you would like to learn more about them, check out my big fat DistroKid review for everything you need to know about DistroKid and music distribution. Beyond these basic features, DistroKid has a referral program where you can offer discounts to your friends and receive money when they sign up. An example of this is: if your record label produces a CD or vinyl with your song on it, they have to pay mechanical royalties for each copy they make. If youre getting big streaming numbers and listener engagement then you should definitely sign up for a PRO and a music publishing administrator. The base package of Distrokid is a yearly fee for $19.99 and you get unlimited uploads and get to keep 100% of your royalties. If you want a distributor+publisher, CD Baby and Tunecore let you sign up as a publisher. DistroKid collects royalties every time someone interactively streams your music or digitally purchases it. Voting for playlists with the Playlist Spotlight feature can help artists get on DistroKid's Spotify playlists, and other artists can vote for your songs too. Once you upload your music to Spotify (and other streaming services and online stores) using DistroKid and your music gets streamed, that play generates these royalties: The master recording royalty is for audio file, where the publishing royalty is for the intellectual property (ie: the copyright) of the composition (ie: the songwriting, melody, chords, lyrics, etc). The big differentiators for DistroKid here are the yearly subscription model and the full royalty rights. CDbaby vs Distrokid whos better at collecting sales and streams? Do what you decide is best for you and I hope this article was helpful. They only collect the master recording royalties. This includes radio stations, TV, live performance, and venues (such as restaurants or bars). Neither CDbaby nor Distrokid do it. An example of this is: if your record label produces a CD or vinyl with your song on it, they have to pay mechanical royalties for each copy they make. How Songwriters Can Claim It Admin Publishing Companies So In total, if Im releasing an album I am going to pay: Thats not exactly cheap, but again, if youre trying to have music pay for your house, its a drop in the bucket. Where music distribution services will collect mechanical royalties, BMI or ASCAP will collect performance royalties. Some of those royalties, like publishing, CDBaby would have collected for you (hence the extra cost). Using Songtrust you get 15% more than CD baby, 5% more than distrokid and skip the yearly fees of distrokid. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Its worth noting at this point that both CDbaby and Distrokid will distribute your music to virtually every store you could ever hope. Youre just trying to release one song as a hobbiest and have it available on streaming platforms for fun to show your friends. Distrokid can also collect your streaming royalties from YouTube and SoundCloud too. LUCKILY, you dont have to miss out on mechanical royalties if you go with Distrokid. You earned the money, not them. Thats a nice add on by CDBaby, but it really doesnt matter as its just a matter of going to the PROs website and filling out some forms. To begin, the prices on each platform vary widely depending on which option you choose. What Music Distributors Collect Publishing Royalties For Me? Top 6 does distrokid collect mechanical royalties in 2022 With BMI, you can register as a writer for free, whereas ASCAP charges a one-time $50 setup fee. Hey! This information is going to be a bit much if this is the first time you are diving into this. Note: This article is written from the perspective of an independent musician who both writes and performs their own music. As I mentioned above, mechanical royalties are almost impossible for you to claim and collect on your own without the help of a publishing administrator. My personal favorite DistroKid tool is Playlist Spotlight. I researched the differences between Songtrust and DistroKid, and wrote about it all here for you. I am a member of BMI. Mechanical royalties are collected by a music publishing company. That is by far the cheapest option and the option you should go with if all you are trying to do is throw some songs up on streaming services for fun. if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'bestfriendsclub_ca-leader-1','ezslot_10',112,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-bestfriendsclub_ca-leader-1-0');A DistroKid account is needed to upload your music to online stores and streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora.