*A note regarding CD Baby Pro Publishing
For all original compositions, CD Baby collects the ownership percentages (or Songwriter Splits ) and locations of each songwriter whether they are a collecting songwriter or a non-collecting songwriter.
Getting Started:
- Did you receive an error when attempting to input your publisher name? If so, please skip to the Do the songwriters have a publisher section.
- If your release is Standard, please refer to the information in this section for Non-Collecting Songwriters.
- Has your release already been distributed? If so, you will not be able to make changes to your songwriter and publisher information. Please see this article for more details.
- Do you still need to add songwriters to your Legacy CD Baby Pro Publishing release? If so, please read this Help Center article first, then return to this article once you have added songwriters to the first track of your release.
- If you have added songwriters to the first track of your release, and require assistance entering songwriter splits or publisher information within your account, please keep reading!
Once you have added songwriters to a track, you will need to enter the following information for each track:
- What did the songwriters contribute to the track? Music, lyrics or both?
- What percent of the track do the songwriters own? What are the songwriter splits?
- Do the songwriters have a publisher?
What did the songwriter contribute to the track? Music, lyrics or both?
"Music" typically refers to the melody, but can include other musical aspects as well. Chord progressions, bass lines, arrangements, key changes, and other musical elements of a song can inform the melody and help piece together a composition. If a songwriter contributed music but did not write any of the lyrics, you should only check the "Music" box for that songwriter.
"Lyrics" refers to the actual words used in a song. If a songwriter helped write lyrics but did not contribute to the composition in other ways, you should only check the "Lyrics" box for that songwriter.
If a songwriter contributed both music and lyrics you should check both "Music" and "Lyrics" boxes.
What percent of the track do the songwriters own? What are the songwriter splits?
We cannot stress enough how important it is to enter the correct songwriter splits during the submission process. If this is a Legacy Pro submission, the information you enter here is what we will be sending to your Performance Rights Organization (PRO) and other collection societies around the world when registering your works.
Songwriter splits must always equal 100%. If a song only has one songwriter, enter their percentage ownership as 100%. If a song has multiple songwriters, enter each songwriter's percentage ownership separately. The shares must add up to 100%.
It is necessary to come to an agreement with your co-writers before entering songwriter splits. We strongly suggest signing a split sheet with your co-writers before entering songwriter splits.
Do the songwriters have a publisher?
This is where you will indicate whether each songwriter has a publisher or not. See below for instructions on how to complete this field for both collecting and non-collecting songwriters.
Collecting Songwriter
- Choose "Yes" if they have a self-owned publishing entity with their PRO. The publisher name must be entered exactly as it appears with their PRO.
- Choose "No" if they do not have a self-owned publishing entity. This will result in the publisher field defaulting to "CD Baby Publishing."
Non-Collecting Songwriter
- Choose "Yes" if they have a self owned publishing entity with their PRO or their share of this work is being claimed by another publisher or publishing administrator. The publisher name must be entered exactly as it appears with their PRO.
- Choose "No" if neither of the above apply. This will result in the publisher field defaulting to the songwriter's name.
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*The CD Baby Pro Publishing service was discontinued as of August 8th, 2023. Any paid release which was signed up for CD Baby Pro Publishing prior to August 8th, 2023 is considered a legacy Pro release and will continue to receive Pro Publishing services. CD Baby now offers a new expanded suite of revenue amplifiers called “CDB Boost” instead.
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