[UPDATED] CD Baby, a company best known as a distributor of and advocate for independent musicians, now also administers the publishing of more than a million songs for 160,000 songwriters in over 50 countries. Their core distribution business is booming, as well.
CD Baby estimates that their distributed catalog accounts for about 35% of the tracks available on Spotify and most other music streamers; and that impressive percentage is growing. The company says that it is delivering 2,000 new tracks a day or an estimated 50% of the new music self-released by artists in North America.
Music publishing has now become the core component of CD Baby’s push into artist services beyond music distribution and sales. Other CD Baby add-on services include marketing tools, education and YouTube monetization.
“I’m very pleased with the growth in our publishing administration business in the five short years since we launched it,” CD Baby CEO Tracy Maddux tells Hypebot. “Moreover, we’re helping songwriters get their music live on platforms like Amazon Unlimited and Pandora, and even helping collect mechanical royalties in other parts of the world where these writers would never know to look! It’s a great win for the songwriter/artist!”
CD Baby has 135 staffers worldwide.