CD Baby surpasses $1bn mark in artist payouts

The Downtown Music Holdings-owned service says that more than a million artists worldwide have distributed over 10 million tracks via the platform.

Downtown acquired CD Baby when it purchased the AVL Digital Group along with its portfolio of businesses for $200 million in March 2019. Prior to the acquisition, CD Baby and Downtown began working together in 2014 with the launch of CD Baby Pro, a songwriter royalty collection solution, which uses Downtown’s Songtrust platform.

Downtown boasts a global team of 600 employees in more than 20 cities. The company says millions of artists, songwriters and enterprise clients from over 145 countries, including major music, entertainment and gaming companies, manage more than 23 million music assets on its platforms.

“As business partners since 2014, we appreciated the depth of CD Baby’s organization and its incredibly loyal client base, two key drivers of our acquisition,” Downtown CEO Andrew Bergman said. “Unique in the industry, they have long understood that not all creators are the same, each having their own story, ambition and art to share.

“With CD Baby now leveraging resources across Downtown’s platform, including technology, royalty collection, global licensing operations and capital, we are able to drive equity and innovation to all creators at an accelerated pace.”

CD Baby president Joel Andrew said: “For us, it’s not just about how much the top earners make, but also about what the payout means to all of the unique artists we work with who are charting their own course, based on their creative vision and their personal versions of success.

“Our mission has always been to work as hard as possible to serve musicians dedicated to doing their own thing, their way. Our success is a reflection of their success.”

Independent musicians are increasingly taking a bigger market share of the music business. Media and technology analysis company Midia says self-releasing artists using platforms like TuneCore, DistroKid, CD Baby and more made about $1.2bn in royalties in 2020 – accounting for over 5% of the total global recorded music industry.