For anyone thinking of trying CD Baby who doesn't already know the ins and outs of this distributor, fair warning: CD Baby is currently a mess.

I have gone through first-world hell trying to get an album released through them. They want me to change my featured artist name, but every time I make the change, their system changes it back to the compound name they won't accept for flimsy reasons. And they refuse to make the change themselves. Tech support?!

As others have noted elsewhere, it can take a week or more for them to respond to emails. And if you go through their online chat, all you get is a rep who is helping other people at the same time as they are trying to address your problem. So they just repeat the same useless information/company line without ever resolving the issue. That's been my experience.

The company also tries to sell you a lot of third-party services that you would think it would handle. And, just as I signed up for their service, they stopped selling physical CDs.

Hoping I can find a better service and beyond disappointed since I thought CD Baby was run by fellow musicians who get how difficult the grind is and would do all they can to not create new problems for musicians. Were they bought out by some corporation? Because it sure seems like it. I'm honestly worn out from trying to resolve this problem with CD Baby since before mid-July. And still no resolution!

They still make CDs, for a start. https://cdbaby.com/make-discs.aspx

Sorry to hear about your problems though - I've not found it like that at all. It sounds like there's an issue with formatting? Might be something everyone will struggle with...or might not be. What are the "flimsy" reasons they can't accept?

All the distributors have their issues (for example, EMUbands don't put the music on instagram music - so you can't use them in background for stories, which is a bit rubbish).

I think the change was that they closed their online store. They might still make CDs, but they don't sell them from the CD Baby site anymore, you have to find your own way (Bandcamp? Shopify?) to sell them:

https://variety.com/2020/music/news/...ng-1203506690/

Edit: Though, after reading the article again, they'll still distribute CDs to Amazon and retail stores etc. Just not on their own site.

Fair enough. Obviously decided there wasn't enough return! I mean, independent artists barely sell downloads now, let alone CDs.

I have been logging in to CD Baby for 15 years. The last time I logged into my CDBaby account was Nov 1 2022. I tried again on Dec 1 2022. Password or/and user name invalid. The password renewal function does not work (no email received). The tel. no. (1-800-BUY-MY-CD) is not recognised. Has it totally gone under?

No, CD Baby are still around. I can log in to my CD Baby Artist account just fine, and it's Dec 2 2022 now.

Make sure you're logging in as an Artist though, not as a retail listener / customer. CD Baby stopped selling music themselves a long time ago, they're now a distributor to other online stores like iTunes, Spotify, etc etc.

Here's their instructions if you're having trouble logging in:

https://support.cdbaby.com/hc/en-us/...ble-Logging-In

hey, any more news regarding this issue?

'Content ID analysts have reviewed your content closely and have found it is not eligible for YouTube monetization ' - Jonathan

Me: I'm trying to identify which of the songs on my album are violating the content ID filter as its all original, so I can edit them. Is there someone else I can talk to?

"I am the current person in the highest ability to talk to you about this.
Sorry but the information I am telling you is correct." --- Jonathan

Me: I'm just trying to figure out which songs are triggering the content ID filter

'This is final, and we are not able to switch the decision made. We do not have any information about that and the whole project has been removed. Sorry but this is truly final."

All the best!' ---- Jonathan D.

@ Armatron - that sucks.

I only have experience of one release (via a different distributor), but here's what we found when we got refused 'because Content ID':

1) Exclude content ID, release to the rest
2) Upload to YouTube and Soundcloud ourselves.

That was 18 months ago and neither YouTube nor Soundcloud have taken down the content.

However we were at least told the reason: it was a drum loop (it was a jungle tune and we used a 'classic' break for part of it).

My feeling is that distributors are cracking down because a strike against one of their clients (especially one who isn't famous) is a strike against them ultimately. Our distributor has even warned in newsletters that tunes made using samples from royalty-free packs (even where the Ts & Cs specifically allow inclusion in commercial releases) might not be allowed

Yeah I feel ya. I mean, it's already on YouTube and Soundcloud, but I just wanted this album available for TikTok and Insta/FB stories/Reels etc. ya know? I don't have any loops or anything on it. It was recorded in 96. I think I'm ready to switch to Distrokid at this point! Lol

If my distributor flatly refused to provide a track name and timestamp and then told me the conversation was over, I'd definitely find a new distributor. And if the music in question was 27 years old and I could prove it was 100% original content, I'd go the the music press.

CD Baby's terms do give them sole discretion for these decisions, that is their right. But to refuse to provide an explanation to a customer and show they are exercising these rights properly and correctly... pffft.

I have a client with 12 albums distributed through CD Baby. They were all uploaded at 44.1/16 bit wav. Why do they not show up on Apple as Lossless?

Also their metadata restrictions are shit. You can’t even enter a “Produced By” credit. Unless you need their CD burning I would go elsewhere which is what I have talked my client into for their next album release.

I’ve had no such issues with Distro Kid. Recently a client released a track I produced at 96Khz/ 24 bit. This one shows up on Apple Music as 96/24 no issues. Wherever a streaming service can show credits it all populates not problem. The icing for me is that they even do royalty splits if the client enters it. (Let’s not get into how small or invisible those royalties might be:-))

This post came up on my "participated threads" page again.

I can't speak to the first part - maybe they don't have a lossless agreement with apple in place - but you can absolutely enter producer information. you simply "add additional artist", choose producer and enter it there. Shows up fine (you can't enter any other info like engineer or mixer though).

So - the rest is personal decision, but the idea you can't enter a producer credit is false. I agree it's not the most obvious of data entry jobs.

Thanks for that info Adrian! User error strikes again doh. Might be able to address that metadata issue now.

Just to be clear you’ve produced releases that have gone out through CD Baby where the metadata has shown up on streaming services including things like producer credits?

Kind regards

Yep, 100% confirmed. It’s where you put in your primary artist; you have a “+” button, then you can choose from another featured artist (where the release will go onto their profiles), or as a…appearing artist perhaps? Where it’ll go into their “appears on” section but not their main profile. Also can choose remixer or producer; and that’s where the producer credit can be applied. It then shows up on Spotify, Jaxsta etc.

As I said - you can’t enter engineer, mixer metadata (writers can of course be added and splits applied in a different area).

I like CDBaby mainly because I find their system overall reliable, and because it’s a 1-off fee. Royalty rates…well, it’s unlikely to matter huh? They pay out promptly when you hit the thresholds, but it’s obvs not a fortune most of the time!

I’ve never had to worry about the hires stuff. You can do atmos through them, but it’s a bit of a faff.

Awesome thanks so much for this!

Streaming royalties. Don’t get me started:-)

Now if we could hear from anyone who’s used CD Baby to distribute uploaded PCM audio files and then have had them show as lossless on a service that can handle that like Apple Music for example.

Kind regards

Holy shit, I just had a horrible customer experience with "Jonathan D"...

My music is correct on iTunes, but every other platform has the wrong music (Preludes, Book 1: No. 8 by Claude Debussy) with my artwork, artist name, and song names.

“Jonathan D.” repeatedly claimed that I had sent CD Baby the wrong music, which is false and insulting. The music on my CD Baby account does not match what is on streaming platforms. For example…

Correct audio: “Bespoken” by Johnnyrandom
https://music.apple.com/us/album/bes...ngle/762672957

Incorrect audio: "Preludes, Book 1: No. 8" by Claude Debussy, played by Richard Stoltzman)
https://open.spotify.com/artist/5xpNJYqGvePv12n5w20dhC
https://music.amazon.com/albums/B085X8JTQN
https://listen.tidal.com/album/13441...rack/134412815
https://www.deezer.com/en/album/136487822

“Jonathan D.” also refused to connect me with someone who could resolve or explain this issue, even after I asked him to politely. This situation and the lack of support are both unacceptable and unprofessional.

I've been with CD Baby since the start. I have 9 releases with them. Not since the start of the company in 1998 have I ever had this much trouble getting a new release setup. They seem to have changed for the worse. Just a bunch of Bots giving crazy unrelated answers to my questions. The 33% one star seems to be very justified and accurate. "This use to be a wonderful company with people you can talk to... Not Anymore". I could never recommend this current CD Baby to anyone.

I stand by my previous comments - I’ve still not had an issue!

You don’t want to hear some of the distrokid stories I’ve heard recently…

CD Baby is turning into a mess. I am waiting since 5plus weeks for an album to get processed.

Support is horrible to none existent...

That’s odd. I haven’t used them for anything recently (personally - we’ve been releasing through AWAL) but never seen that. Score!

I will say that recent processed > to streaming sites time has been unreliable and taking longer than typical. And yes, a support response can take weeks if you hear back at all unfortunately.

And yet, given their one time pay scheme etc I have yet to find a better alt option. (curious to know more about awal etc though)

Well... For those who don't already know... CD Baby (as part of "Downtown Music") is in the process of being acquired by Virgin. Which wouldn't be so bad if Virgin weren't also owned by Universal.

The three albums I released via CD Baby pre-pandemic all went great, loved the company. The one I did since the pandemic... did not go so smoothly. And now I'm planning on jumping ship and going elsewhere for my digital distribution needs, sadly.

I recently learned of Digidi, based in Denmark, which seems like it might have a very cool and pro-artist platform. I'll be looking into releasing something through them soon to see what it's all about. I'm sad to lose CD Baby, though, it was pretty great a decade ago (and more).

Awal is curated - you can apply or they can scout you, but they won’t take just anyone. They don’t take an upfront fee and they have a bit more sway with pitching etc.

this is sad news, I was planning on using CD baby for an upcoming release, sounds like it has really gone to s**t

Personally never had an issue with CDBaby, recent release took 10 days to process, all good and smooth.

I would contact them in advance before writing them off…none of this mirrors my experiences.

okay will still keep them in my mind as an option then.

Yeah they're still a fairly solid option in my recent experience. It's just that ones release time (if not paying for the expedited service fee) is a bit hit or miss. Could be 10 days could be 16 etc. And support is not, and has never been, ime so great. But they're still the best option for me personally.