What Is the Difference Between Tunecore and Cd Baby

The online music distribution industry is making major strides to help get rid of the struggle musicians face getting proper distribution of their music.

Online music distribution platforms help artists to sell their music online. There are several companies involved in this industry. Some of them are Tunecore and CDBaby, both being major players in the industry. Both companies play a major part in helping upcoming artists and independent artists make a living out of the music.

The following article will review both companies looking at the advantages of these companies over each other to help you determine which company will best distribute your music.

Tunecore

Tunecore is an online platform that provides independent artists, whether upcoming or established, with the tools they need to circulate their music to reach their fans worldwide. Once you open Tunecore account, you are able to circulate your music online without the help of a music label.

This platform is one of the world's leading platforms when it comes to sales and the distribution of music. It is very professional and enables you to gain access to a large network of online music stores such as Spotify, Google Play Music, iTunes, YouTube Music, Tidal, Amazon, among others. Tunecore users are therefore able to distribute their music across all the popular online music stores which receive a huge number of visitors across the world.

One of the things that make Tunecore so great is the fact that you get to keep all the earnings that your music has generated with it. The platform does not take any form of commission, meaning users get to earn everything from their music, making Tunecore one of the fewest online music distribution platforms where its users are given 100% of their royalties. In addition, all your earnings are deposited in your Tunecore account where you can withdraw the money any time you want.

Key Tunecore Features

Tunecore has several impressive features which are designed to ensure that you have a pleasant experience while interacting with the platform. These features help to improve the music career of its users by providing a gateway to the international market.

One way Tunecore does this is by giving musicians publishing administration. Publishing administration allows you to collect the full amount of money that your music has generated worldwide, without leaving anything behind. Publishing administration lets you collect full royalties for people playing your music, regardless of where they are located.

Publishing administration allows an artist to work without the fear of losing any money. Tunecore is the only online music distribution platform to provide this kind of high-security service for your music.

Another service that Tunecore offers is sync and master licensing. Tunecore has an interface designed not only to help you get your music played on TV commercials, video games, and even films but also make sure that you get paid for that. This feature is very important since it helps to introduce your music to a whole different audience and you also get to be paid well for such a chance.

Tunecore is able to provide this service since it has partnered with several notable performing rights organizations which will make sure that your music gets 100% royalties in case your music gets played on such platforms. This service allows you to generate additional income from your music.

Tunecore also has a very effective social media tool which connects you to a lot of these social media platforms where you can interact with different people giving you a chance to introduce your music and make yourself relevant to the world. In addition, this social media tool allows you to easily update your social media sites with information about your music such as a new video alert, the number of new releases, among many others.

Tunecore allows you to make infinite posts on both Facebook and Twitter if you are subscribed to the Social and the Social Pro plans. You also get to make two media posts per month on MixClouds and SoundCloud. This is really helpful when it comes to maintaining your relevance on these platforms.

Tunecore also has an analytic and reporting platform which you to know how well your music is performing. Knowing how your music is performing is very important since it helps you decide which pat you want to take with your music. The data is obtained from sites such as Spotify, SoundCloud, among other platforms.

The analytic and reporting platform also provides you with the demographic information, including where most of your fans come from, helping you decide on a lot of things such as planning your concerts and tours. Tunecore also provides you with the information on the rate at which your songs are being downloaded providing you with remarkable intelligence about your music career.

Pricing and Payent

Tunecore also offers several distribution credits which are handy in terms of saving, especially if you intend to release quite a number of music or content over the years through the platform. Tunecore allows you to pre-buy distribution credits for your upcoming releases, and they can be bought in bulk, which is cheaper in the long run. You, however, need to be sure that you will be using Tunecore for the distribution of your music for a long time in order to avoid making a loss.

Tunecore also has a payout feature which is ultra-responsive making the experience of receiving payment for streams and downloads made on your music much more pleasant. Tunecore has amazing payment options which are made via PayPal, Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) or via Check.

Tunecore allows its users to withdraw their payments anytime without having to overcome any thresholds. In case you are in a band or a music group, Tunecore can also send payments to individual members of the band, making it much more efficient. Tunecore can also give you an advance if you have an exemplary track record.

Tunecore also has an elaborate payment plan. Tunecore is free to join and you are not charged anything to sign up. For the distribution of a single, Tunecore charges an annual fee of $9.99. For the distribution of an album, Tunecore charges a distribution fee of $29.99 for the first year and then charges an annual fee distribution fee of $49.99 for the subsequent years.

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Cdbaby

CDBaby is an online platform which sells and distributes music. It helps upcoming and independent artists to distribute their music by giving them access to a worldwide market. It was founded by Derek Sivers in 1998 and has since developed to be one of the leading online music distribution platforms in the world.

CDBaby has formed partnerships with a large network of streaming services and online music stores, giving you the ability to access over 150 music stores including Apple Music, Spotify, YouTube Music, Pandora, Amazon Music, just to mention a few. This kind of access helps you to get a wider audience since your music is distributed worldwide. You can, therefore, establish yourself as a musician and create a fanbase.

Key CdBaby Features

One of Cdbaby's key features is CD distribution, which oversees the distribution of physical CDs. Your physical CDs are distributed and sold in the CDBaby Webstore and the over 15000 record stores which CDBaby has partnered with worldwide. CDBaby allows you to sell your CDs at any price you are comfortable with.

CDBaby also offers disc manufacturing apart from CD distribution. The platform will, at your own specifications, print your physical CDs and package them for you at a certain fee. CDBaby will also design the artwork for your album if necessary.

CDBaby also offers vinyl distribution and oversees the distribution of your music record in vinyl form. The vinyl are distributed to the over 15000 record stores that CDBaby has partnered with and the CDBaby Webstore, where they will be sold. However, the vinyl records are not processed by them.

CDBaby also offers pro publishing administration where your music is promoted, protected and accounted for.

CDBaby ensures that your songs are registered with collection agencies all over the world. It then collects all the royalties on your behalf and deposits the money in your CDBaby account after they collect a 15% commission for themselves.

Sync licensing is another service offered by CDBaby. CDBaby helps to get your music played in movies, video games, commercials, and YouTube. This is very impressive since when your music gets played on these platforms, you not only get paid well but also get unprecedented exposure.

CDBaby provides sync licensing for free for all standard and pro releases. CDBaby, however, demands a 40% commission on all revenue that is generated through this service.

CDBaby also offers YouTube and social video monetization. With YouTube monetization, you become entitled to any ad revenue which is generated from any video with your music on YouTube regardless of the length of the ad on YouTube. CDBaby offers YouTube monetization for free to all Standard and Pro users but takes a 30% commission on your earnings.

With CDBaby, you can also monetize your videos on social networks. CDBaby allows you to collect ad revenue on two social networks; Instagram and Facebook. This feature enables you to generate additional income from your music. CDBaby also helps its users to obtain licenses within their platform for releasing a cover song. The process is usually a long one, but with Cdbaby's help, the process is shorter. CDBaby charges $14.99 for this service, and CDBaby will also take care of paying the royalties to the songwriter.

CDBaby has an online music store known as CDBaby Music Store which provides a platform for upcoming and independent musicians to sell their music. Fans are able to bypass mainstream platforms and purchase music directly from the artists in the CDBaby Music Store. This helps the you make more money from the purchase of your music than compared to when your music is purchased from conventional online stores since when your music is purchased from the CDBaby Music Store, you get to keep 91% of sales revenue, unlike the 70-85% of sales revenue you will keep if your music is purchased from conventional online stores.

CDBaby also has an analytics and reporting feature which is useful in helping you understand your listeners and fan-base. This information is presented in a manner which is easy to understand. The information can be categorized by demographics, sources of your plays and more.

Pricing and Payment

CDBaby also has a variety of payment options to ensure that you receive your payment in the most convenient way possible. However, some of the payment methods are limited to the United States. Payments by CDBaby are made on Monday, and you can withdraw your payments based on the threshold you have set for yourself, which can be any amount between $10 and $10000.

CDBaby has three payment plans which you can subscribe to; the Free subscription, Standard and Pro. With the Free option, you can only purchase and download music from the CDBaby Music Store. Although you pay no submission fee, Cdbaby takes a 15% commission from your earnings.

With the Standard plan, the submission fee for a single is $9.95 while that of an album is $49. For the Pro option, the submission fee for a single is $34.95 while that of an album is $89. For both payment plans, Cdbaby takes a 9% commission from your earnings and a 4% commission for the distribution of all the physical copies of your music.

What are the Pros of Tunecore compared to CDBaby?

• Tunecore has a more modern web design making it have a more attractive user interface
• It is a cheaper option than Cdbaby especially if your music gets a lot of streams every year
• Tunecore does not take any commission from the money that your music generates hence you get 100% payout, unlike CDBaby which charges a 9% commission hence their users get a 91% payout
• You can use your earnings to pay for the annual renewal fee and other services on Tunecore, making payment more convenient
• If your last release sold decently on Tunecore or if you have a good amount of media coverage, you are then more likely to feature on various sections of Spotify, Apple Music or iTunes. I cannot say the same for CDBaby

What are the Pros of CDBaby compared to Tunecore?

• CDBaby offers a one time fee of $49 to sell your album while Tunecore charges an annual fee.
• CDBaby offers CD and vinyl warehousing together with their distribution to over 15000 music stores
• CDBaby is better for artists with a small number of streams per year

Verdict

Both CDBaby and Tunecore are very good service providers in the online music distribution industries. Both companies have a lot in common since they are major competitors in the same industry. Both companies have partnered with over 150 online music platforms including all the major ones such as Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, among others, therefore guaranteeing their users a wide distribution of their music.

However, I like Tunecore better than CDBaby. Tunecore has a really attractive user interface, making it very user-friendly. Tunecore also does not charge any commission on your income allowing you to keep 100% of your income.

Although Cdbaby's payment plan may be appealing to users with a small number of streams per year, all musicians are looking to grow and eventually start getting a lot of streams annually. Tunecore's payment plan is a little less favorable to users with a small number of streams annually but it becomes very reasonable as your number of yearly streams begins to grow.

I hope this article will help you choose the right platform to help you distribute your music.

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What Is the Difference Between Tunecore and Cd Baby

Source: https://promusicianhub.com/tunecore-vs-cdbaby/

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