CD Baby allows you to assign artist roles for every track on a new release. These roles help ensure proper credit on streaming platforms and digital stores. This guide explains the available roles, their definitions, and how to assign them.

Artist roles and definitions

• You can assign these roles to your tracks before distribution:
  • Primary – The main artist performing on the track or album.
  • Featuring – A guest artist featured on the track or album.
  • Producer – The individual(s) in charge of a recording session or responsible for creating the musical backing tracks.
  • Remixer – Someone who creates a new sound recording using elements from pre-existing tracks. 
    • (Remixers are treated as primary artists on our partners' platforms.)
  • Production and Engineering – Less common credits; may not appear on all platforms. Optional. 
  • Other Contributors – Additional roles; may not be displayed on all platforms. Optional.

Songwriter roles

• Composer and Lyricist credits are entered separately in the Songwriter Information section of the release setup flow.
• These roles apply specifically to songwriting contributions rather than performance or production.
• For more instructions on adding songwriter credits, go here.

How to add Artist Roles to a Single

• From your CD Baby Dashboard, click Albums & Singles
• Click View/Edit to get to the Title Overview page of the single in question
• Click the release title, above the artwork box
• On the Basic Single Information page, you can assign the following roles:
  • Primary
  • Featuring
  • Producer
  • Remixer
  • Production and Engineering
  • Other Contributors
• Clicking Production and Engineering or Other Contributors opens additional options for specific roles.
• After saving, the updated roles will appear on the Title Overview page under the Tracks & Audio section

How to add Artist Roles to an Album

• From your CD Baby Dashboard, click Albums & Singles
• Click View/Edit to get to the Title Overview page of the album in question
• Click the release title, above the artwork box
• On the Basic Album Information page, enter the primary artist(s) in the Artist Name field
• To add additional roles, navigate to the Track Information page.
• Click the icon to add new roles.

• The updated artist roles for each track will appear on the Title Overview page under Tracks & Audio

  

Things to note

• Roles cannot be added retroactively to already distributed releases.
• Accurately assigning roles ensures proper credit and reporting across all streaming platforms.