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Music Rights

Making the complicated details of music rights easier to understand for independent musicians. Make sense of important issues like copyright law and music royalties.

Musician singing into microphone with money as the frame
Music Rights

Making Money from Your Recorded Music

How do I earn royalties from my sound recordings? Making money from your sound recording involves the exploitation of that sound recording’s copyright. But what is your copyright?  As we … Continue reading →

April 26, 2021
Music money sources: How to collect what you're owed
Music Rights

How to Collect All Your Music Revenue Sources

Do you know all the ways your music can generate income? Royalties. Earnings. Income. Revenue. Scratch. Bones. Loot. Notes. Moolah. Dough. There are a lot of words for money. And … Continue reading →

April 26, 2021
courthouse with piano keys as the front of the building
Music Rights

The CASE Act is Leveling the Playing Field for All Creators

Understanding the CASE Act Last summer, a major artist sampled one of our artist’s songs, even after the artist rejected the original sample request. The major artist sampled the song … Continue reading →

March 21, 2021
Registering the copyright to your music is now easier than ever
Music Rights

The Easiest Way to Register Your Music Copyright

Establishing your ownership and registering with the U.S. Copyright Office are the only real steps you can take to protect yourself (and when things go wrong, it could pay off … Continue reading →

March 17, 2021
How to qualify for the YouTube Partner Program
Music Rights

Are you REALLY monetizing your music on YouTube?

How to know if your artist channel is eligible for monetization through the YouTube Partner Program. Are you really monetizing your music on YouTube? That might seem like a silly … Continue reading →

September 9, 2019
How to legally use samples in your music
Music Rights

How to Legally Clear Samples to Copyrighted Music

Can I sample copyrighted music without permission if it’s less than 6 seconds of audio? [Disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer. Just sayin’… ] Is sampling legal? Let’s be honest: Sampling … Continue reading →

July 10, 2019
CD Baby Pandora Artist Get Paid
Music Rights

How Pandora Royalties Really Work: A Complete Guide [infographic]

How to collect all your royalties for Pandora plays. What kind of royalties are being generated when someone hears your music on Pandora, and how do you collect them? Since … Continue reading →

May 21, 2019
Royalty splits with remixers are a gray area
Music Rights

Royalty splits for remixes: How to pay your remixer

How should you compensate a remixer? Music rights management comes down to two questions: Who owns what? Who’s owed what? In many musical collaborations, things like copyright and publishing splits … Continue reading →

January 22, 2019
Understanding the difference between music publishing royalties and the master recording royalties
Music Rights

CD Baby client Cienfue appears in the latest installment of The Game Plan

Spotify’s instructional video series features independent artist Cienfue. CD Baby is happy to see one of the artists we distribute, Cienfue, appear alongside Sheryl Crow and Matt & Kim to … Continue reading →

November 16, 2018
Music Rights

Get your songwriting splits right, or you might not get paid at all

Why accurate songwriting splits are crucial when paying music publishing royalties. Our friends at ASCAP just made a fun little animated video that explains why it’s so important to get … Continue reading →

August 31, 2018

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