If you have a Legacy Pro Publishing release for our royalty collection services, you may have questions about royalty earnings and how they are paid. In this article, we'll cover what you can expect from your royalty collection.

How much can I expect to earn from royalties?

The amount of royalties you make will depend on various factors. It's not currently possible for CD Baby Pro Publishing to estimate royalty amounts in advance.

Royalty amounts depend on factors such as:

• Use of your music in broadcast (e.g. radio, TV)
• Use of your music from streaming (e.g. Spotify)
• Sales of your music overseas (e.g. iTunes)
• Territories in which your music is used

Keep in mind, CD Baby Pro Publishing Administration receives and pays out the publisher’s share of your royalties (50%). The songwriter’s share (50%) will be sent directly to you from your Performance Rights Organization.

When should I expect my first royalty payments?

• If you're affiliating with a Performance Rights Organization for the first time, the earliest you could see royalties is 6 - 9 months after affiliation.
• If you're already affiliated with a Performance Rights Organization at the time of joining CD Baby Pro Publishing, you won't see any interruption to your existing schedule of royalty payments.

How often do you pay my royalties?

• CD Baby distributes royalties quarterly. 
• Generally, US societies are 2 quarters behind (e.g. 4th quarter 2013 payments will include uses from the 2nd quarter of 2013). Societies outside the US vary from 2 - 4 quarters behind.
• These royalty payments are dependent on the use of your song in a particular quarter. If your song isn't used during a particular quarter in a way that generates royalties, you won't receive payment for that quarter.
• There are no guarantees that by joining CD Baby Pro Publishing Administration, you will receive publishing royalties.

How far back can you collect?

• CD Baby collects royalties going forward from the time of joining.
• In certain instances, a songwriter may have retroactive royalties to collect. These almost never go back further than one to three years.
• We can't guarantee our ability to collect retroactively.
  
  

How soon after my song is broadcast (e.g. on the radio) will I get paid?

• With all Performance Rights Organizations, there is a lag between the date of the use and the royalty payment.
• The lag in the US is normally between 6 - 9 months.

A note regarding CD Baby Pro Publishing:

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.