Join the leading
CD Baby alternative - Identity Music
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We’re partnered with the world’s biggest (and best) music streaming platforms.
A better way to distribute, promote & protect your music.
Faster, better & more helpful support
Waiting weeks for a response from CD Baby or being fobbed off by an AI chatbot is a thing of the past.
Our Client Management team are ready to help at a moment’s notice. Through live chat (in under 2 minutes), email, social media DMs or telephone, the team are human, helpful and friendly - helping make distribution a stress-free experience.
No upfront fees or nasty surprises
While CD Baby presents themselves as charging a per-release fee of $9.99 flat, there are also commissions taken on some types of earnings. Any streaming revenue incurs a 9% commission and any revenue generated on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram or TikTok incurs a 30% commission with CD Baby.
With Identity Music, your agreed royalty split never changes, there are no upfront fees or extra costs, and you will always keep the lion’s share of your revenue.
We're invested in your success
Unlike CD Baby, we don’t just get your music on the right platforms (all 80+ of them). We help you reach new, engaged audiences with promotional support (including editorial playlist pitching) and we protect your work with proactive digital rights management - all at no extra cost.
We work to help independent artists leave their creative mark on the world, not just to make a quick buck off your hard work.
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Ready to experience better?
Submit your application now for our A&R team to review! We work only with carefully-chosen independent artists who we're confident we can fully support, so please share as much information as you can to support your application.
Learn more about:
CD Baby vs Identity Music
While CD Baby doesn’t have any subscription fees to keep your music live (unlike DistroKid), they do have additional fees on top of the $9.99 per release they advertise.
Adding on ‘CD Baby Boost’ takes the per release cost to $49.98 to add publishing features (Sync opportunities, SoundExchange royalty collection, and MLC royalty collection) - and those publishing earnings are subject to anywhere from 9% to 40% in additional commission charges.
Even without CD Baby Boost, there are extra costs to take into consideration. Any revenue earned from streaming platforms (like Spotify, Apple Music, etc.) incurs a 9% commission cut and any revenue from social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok) incurs a 30% commission cut.
With Identity Music, all our features (including promotional support, YouTube Content ID, Spotify Discovery Mode, editorial playlist pitching, and more) are included in your distribution agreement.
We work on a bespoke royalty share basis, where you keep the lion’s share of your royalties (never less than 80% goes to you), and nothing incurs additional fees or upfront charges.
We’re here for anything you need - and you don’t need to battle with the CD Baby chatbot either. One look at CD Baby’s social media will show you how dissatisfied their customers are with the speed and helpfulness of customer support responses.
We’re the opposite.
Client support is the thing we’re best at. Chat to us via live chat (in under 2 minutes on average), email us, send us an Instagram DM - or even pick up the phone and speak to us the old-fasioned way. We’re here to help 10am-6pm (UK time) ever weekday - and you’ll never be left chatting with a bot.
We use the latest technology to make distribution to over 80 platforms as seamless and stress-free as possible.
We have close partnerships with the biggest streaming platforms, including being a Spotify Preferred Provider, that make sure your music is distributed on time every time.
You can - and we recommend you do!
Moving your back catalogue isn’t as stressful, complicated or time-consuming as you might expect - thanks to our Client Management team who’ll handle (almost) everything for you.
To move your catalogue away from CD Baby all we need is your metadata and WAV files and we handle the rest. After 6 weeks of track-linking, your catalogue can be taken down from CD Baby and will be all in one place in your Identity Music dashboard.
Yes! But you’ll need the relevant licenses.
Every track distributed through Identity Music is reviewed by one of our Client Management team who will make sure you have the rights to distribute the track.
While CD Baby may let you distribute content for which you don’t have the correct licenses, we take copyright seriously and will require licensing proof before distributing your cover song or remix - so that your track isn’t taken down from platforms for violating licensing rules.
Yes! And it comes at no extra charge.
While CD Baby customers are charged extra (a 30% cut of royalties) to monetise content on YouTube, TikTok or Meta (Facebook and Instagram), Identity Music clients benefit from digital rights management and YouTube Content ID at no extra cost.
If we find your content used without proper attribution, we give you the choice of tracking, removing, or monetising that content.
Anything you distribute via Identity Music will remain live forever at no extra cost - unless you ask us to take it down or a takedown is needed for another reason (like violating artificial streaming rules, licensing, etc.).
As an invite-only music distributor, we work with selected independent artists and record labels on a royalty-share basis that suits your needs.
Our A&R team will discuss a bespoke distribution agreement with you before you start distributing your music with us. You’ll always keep the lion’s share of your revenue and be the first to earn.
To get started with distributing, promoting and protecting your music with a tailored royalty-share agreement, send us your application!
