| CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast |
 Nov. 13,
2008
Ep.38 : Pandora Radio
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| When & what does each digital company pay and how much? |
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I have not received a payment from Napster since march.Has
anyone received payments since march?
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EMusic have not paid and because I bought one of my song just to see.
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yo what up all I got my report from napster there corrupt again I got about 645 listens 0 dollars to show on my plays. This whole digital thing has gone bad everone is going to ripped off. Actully I wouldn't be suprised if this gets deleted I even went to the better busness burough of where ever this company resides I released two albums here ..... never again . As a matter of fact Im never writing music again. The burough told me that well they couldnt figure out what I was talking about... I know music is about the love of it but it doesnt all have to go into dereks pocket. whoever the heck he is. Im done freedom of speech....
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my sh** got altered in writing to make me look unintelligent no prob i'll check back whenever to see if it gets deleted
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Hi Alfred. My name is Julie. I am the Director of Digital Rights & Finance here at CD Baby. Basically that means that I take care of all the royalty reports we receive from our digital partners.
I believe that one of my co-workers in customer service was working with you on this because she asked me about this very same thing for your account. The sort answer is that Napster payments are not behind. I'll be writing you an email to explain the specifics of your account in private, instead of on a public forum.
Thanks!
Julie
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Not sure if anything is different other then economic issues.
There seems to be a lull right now and I would not worry about it for a while. I do not sell allot however I have had some digital sales every month sense 2005.
It is true that I have not seen any reports of sales sense April and though I find it strange I will not worry until it has gone on for over 4 months then I will start asking questions.
I normally would get at least some pennies on a regular basis but it seems to have come to a stand still the last few months.
It would be interesting to hear from others as to if they have experienced the same thing.
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| by
on Wednesday August 20 2008 @ 10:37PM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Our napster listens have really dropped off. Have people just stopped listening? I really don't think so. There is a "free" napster link for our two albums. Perhaps, there is no pay for these???
Clare Burrows
http://www.johnburrows.com
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I am having a similar issue with Rhapsody... I was fortunate enough to be on the front page of the Christian music section of Rhapsody for about 5 days back at the beginning of April... I clicked on it once or twice to see where the link would take it, but surely I would have seen a few hits considering I have been selling a decent amount on iTunes and some others since getting some radio play here and there. However I have not seen a Rhapsody payment since the end of March. I emailed CD Baby a bout 3 weeks or so ago and got a reply from Zaeron saying that the sales imports were going to be going in the following week...1 week later I got another one saying that things were going slower than anticipated and they are getting to it as quickly as possible... Im just a little confused as to what the issue is... As a matter of fact it has been almost a month since I have received anything from CD Baby for digital and that is a little out of sync from what Im used to seeing.
Anybody know what's up?
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A) Sure Napster is BEHIND in payments
B) They seem to change amounts as they please: in the past I used
to get 2c per song, now I get less for the listen of the whole album
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| by
on Wednesday September 03 2008 @ 11:21AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Concerning Napster it looks like it takes six months to get the accounting or payment posted.
Also I got paid .03 cents for the "full album" stream and another time I got paid .15 cents for a "full album" stream or listen. Seems to pay different each time. And I also am getting plays or listens that pay .000, that's nothing. Is this because they return it or what's up with that, getting .000. I'd like to know.
tom
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Concerning Napster it looks like it takes six months to get the accounting or payment posted.
Also I got paid .03 cents for the "full album" stream and another time I got paid .15 cents for a "full album" stream or listen. Seems to pay different each time. And I also am getting plays or listens that pay .000, that. Is this because they return it or what's up with that, getting .000. I'd like to know.
tom
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what a bunch of kiss ass losers
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what a bunch of kiss ass losers
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I got this email reply from Cdbaby below about few reports in my account.
I apologize for the delay in your digital sales reports.
Our ability to import digital sales data into your account is currently delayed due to some operational updates.
It's a top priority to rework our digital importing system to make it faster and more efficient. I really appreciate your patience while we get a few things sorted out.
If you have any other questions or if there is anything else I can do to help, please let me know!
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I noticed a change in the digital sales spreadsheet I where it says all of my sales are 70 cents per song instead of 63 cents like before. However, it listed all of my old sales as being at 70 cents, which of course is wrong. Anybody know about this change and if the spreadsheets will reflect honest numbers? If there's a post about it somewhere, I could use a link. I missed the memo on that one....
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I noticed the .70 vs .63 difference also. Must be one of the gliches they are currently working on. Let's all be patient, as difficult as it may be, and give CD Baby time. I trust that they will get it right.
-Dave
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| by JM
on Thursday August 28 2008 @ 08:28PM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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yes..i have experienced this too....and the whole .0001 cents per play at napster has got to stop.....do you think label acts are getting that??
Their Accountants would shit marble..@!!!!!!
JM
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Not sure where you are getting the .0001 cents per play JM. I just looked at the payout for napster for my stuff and it is .017 so at 100,000 listens you would make about 1,700.00....not bad for plays and of course the ultimate goal is somebody that listens would buy your album. Think you need to go back and look at your stats. I think the labels are looking at big numbers so 100,000 would be kinda of wimpy for them and they probably would not of signed the artist if they though that was all they were going to get. In my case without doing shows and no work whatsoever I have made 1.38 from Napster. Considering they are not the major players with the listens and I did nothing to promote it, it is like getting free interest just for having my music there. I don't see that as such a bad deal. Really I think it is kind of cool, I mean I am nobody and yet I have made 89.04 for something I probably would never been able to sell to anybody myself. When I started writing music the only way you would sell music is by getting a label and the equipment to make good sounding songs was out of reach for most of us. Seems we have gotten pretty spoiled if we are complaining about pennies for free!
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| by JM
on Thursday September 04 2008 @ 05:37AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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i'll send you the damn report if you'd like...i'm not the only one here seeing .0001
JM
PS: it's not every single transaction some are .03cents or .02 cents..
but a lot have come back as less than a penny.
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Sorry you feel that way. I just find it odd that when I check my stats I have 78 sales from Napster starting in Dec of 2006 to July of 2008 and the lowest amount I have ever been paid is .001 not .0001. I simply think you put in one too many zeros. Sorry you are so touchy about it I really had no intention to offend anybody.
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John I am not sure that you understand what JM and others are explaining to you . Look listen and smell the coffee something terribly wrong
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John I am not sure that you understand what JM and others are explaining to you look listen and smell the cooffee something is terribly wrong
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Brad the same with me I am not used to not getting anything from cdbaby but almost a month now nothing NOT A PENNY . I was told also that they are slow in importinmg sales report. I am not sure what the problem ?
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First of all JM said he was getting .0001 cent a listen from Napster and that is just plain incorrect and that is the part of his post I was responding to. I agree with the fact that there seems to be a delay in digital payments as I mentioned above in another post. I have made money every month since 2005 with digital sales and they seemed to of stopped.
I do understand about the payments and am in the same position in that I have not received anything for a couple months. However it has been noted by Bradly here and I quote:
"Our ability to import digital sales data into your account is currently delayed due to some operational updates."
That is why I said I would not worry for a while. I half expect there to be a larger day because of the catching up that will probably happen when it is complete. Read all the post above you and you will see what I mean. I think this string is good as I was wondering if people were experiencing the same thing however now I think we have our answer and unless you are making your living doing this what difference does it make anyways. Do you think these companies make there money by stealing from the artist? Are you grossing over 1,000.00 a month? If you are then I could understand your concern otherwise we are wasting our time worrying about pennies....that is all I was saying.
I will come back and check the comments as I am interested in hearing others and if they are experiencing the same. For a while I thought I was loosing it.
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| by JM
on Thursday September 04 2008 @ 05:39AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Are you a fucking retard....sorry for the profanity but how do you know the figures i posted are inccorect???? I work as an accountant, and you sir have some kind of nerve calling someone a liar on this post...
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Sorry you are offended Jim, all I did is state a fact! I was not rude nor did I call you a liar. If this is the way you handle accounting problems I sure am glad I am not in the room when things do not balance.
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| by JM
on Thursday September 04 2008 @ 05:43AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Also...since your ignorance seems to permeate other areas like business, it is most important to catch these things when they are small before you are selling thousands of units/plays...
Right now it's pennies, but when it's not pennies and you (assuming you have any ambition which judging from your response you don't)
start getting thousands of hit's it is a lot of money you are going to loose...
Now, would you like to call me liar again with no evidence to back it up???
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John I appreciate you clarify things but I must say pennies do matter when it is business. Try it with your bank or run a toll booth without that penny. You will see what the state police will do to you SO PENNIES DO MATTER.
We are Artist we put every sweat in satisfying people. The more we are compensated even in pennies the more we put into making our fans happy SO WILL EVEN CDBABY AND OTHERS WE DEAL WITH HAPPY.
We desearve our pennies or load on time as an encouragement .
YOU ARE MY BROTHER IN ARMS SO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYING . Let us show patience as you said especially as Derek is not there. It is major concern. We all pray that it works out well because our business is based on reputation. WE PRAY CDBABY MAINTAIN THAT GOOD REPUTATION. It had with Derek.
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| by JM
on Thursday September 04 2008 @ 05:44AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Thanxxx Chief....didn't see that!
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NAPSTER ISSUE WITH JM If they just load your song and click play on Napster without the fan having the patience to listen to the tracks IT WILL COME OUT 000.00 on your sales. John JM is right but my explanation is the reason . His fans loaded the tracks ONTO TH PLAY WINDOW but not listen to it so even if they loaded 650 tracks and not listen to it. It will show as 000.00 on report and cdbaby will round it up as .0001 . The tracks were load on play window but not listened to.My explanation is now clear to ALL ARTISTS
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| by
on Sunday August 31 2008 @ 09:16AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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| by
on Sunday August 31 2008 @ 09:25AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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I just found it odd that on my stats there was not one .0001 for napster there but maybee that shows people listen to my music and I gueass that is a good thing. Just thought it odd that not once on mine.
I am with you on hopping CD baby keeps up the reputation. It was a shock for me with Derek leaving, he kinda felt like a brother and now there is a stranger there trying to fill his shoes. Really do not know where else to go though. I will say for me I make the music becuase I love it. Of course I like when people listen also but I will never stop writting even if it is for the cats and dogs. It is just a turn on for me and I never thought of it as a business. I have taken note.....thanks all
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As for Napster payments. . .
Napster uses a formula to calculate the payments for streams
(opposed to downloads) and the amount will differ each month.
The amount is based on how many streams VS. how many
subscribers.
Recently Napster sent us payments that were so small they
wouldn't register in the artist accounts.
CD Baby Artist accounts can only go to .001 and these payments
were smaller than that so, the money will get added to your
total, but the field that shows the amount is just not formatted
in a way to show that.
Hope that makes sense. Love and Fortune to you All!
Chris B
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| by JM
on Thursday September 04 2008 @ 05:45AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Hmmm not what cd baby told me...!
they said it has nothing to do with how long it is in the que....it's the share of the plays overall....!!!
Indie artists are screwed
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We too have found it odd that we've had NO DIGITAL SALES reported since the new ownership took over.
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Independent astist help make iTunes,Napster,iPods,Mp3 players,etc.Thay get their money in about two days.Why do thay need so much time to pay us?So why should we have to wait months to get paid?Do the big labels have to wait to get paid i dont think so thay have big time attorneys working for them.You dont thank thay have the technology to pay us respectfully?I thank thay do.The digital payment system should and will be better in time if we speak up.I want all of my pennies & dollars this is not personal its business.It you do every have a hit you want know about it for months and this could hurt your music.I have been a cdbaby artist for almost 5 years and plan to stay a cdbaby artist.I pray every day that I will get paid for my hard work and time that i have spent making music.
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I did not received a sales report for August, This is the first time this has ever happen in the 6 years I been with Cdbaby Is this things to come with this new owner
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I noticed that iTunes (from any nationality) had not seemed to hit CD Baby in all of August. I sent an email to them, and 48 hours later got this reply:
***I apologize for the delay in your digital sales reports.
Our ability to import digital sales data into your account is currently delayed due to some operational updates.
It's a top priority to rework our digital importing system to make it faster and more efficient. I really appreciate your patience while we get a few things sorted out.
If you have any other questions or if there is anything else I can do to help, please let me know!
***
What I'd like to know is - what is the ETA to get this fixed? I assume it means that the monies are getting reported; and some new software or such is being put into place, but is glitching.
But it would be nice if CD BABY told everyone "We're having some troubles; we'll have it fixed within two weeks - hold your horses"
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My name is Joel and I've been with CD Baby for 5 years now. I was initially hired to help when our artist catalog reached 30,000. My first job before anything else was to actually build a few shelves to handle the big push of growth.
But now we have 250,000 in our catalog and the shelves I helped build have been long since filled with all the great indie music. In the same way we had to upgrade our shelving system to handle the growth, we also needed to handle the growth with our programming. Unfortunately, we have used the same digital sales importing program that we've had for 5 years and it was barely adequate to handle the sales from years ago, now it needs major repairs.
With DiscMakers coming in as the new owners, we are looking to the future and making immediate repairs. I'm not sure if you were part of the delays in payments a few weeks ago but it was all a part of trying to fix things that hadn't been updated in years... and now the actual payments go out faster and easier for our clients than ever.
Our digital reporting is delayed, I am so sorry about this. None of us here are comfortable with this or think it's okay and we're days away from having a fix for this. But in order for us to handle your sales for the future we have to upgrade. I totally see how this is terrible timing with the new owners coming in... but our focus to make things easy for our artists, the goal of getting your music available to the entire world, and the desire to make independent music stronger than ever requires us to make some serious fixes. I'm an independent artist too, my music is for sale at CD Baby just like yours... and I'm stoked about the fixes finally happening at CD Baby. It's going to be so great!
Thank you for the suggestion of making a public statement about this. I will definitely bring this up with everyone here at CD Baby.
-Joel Andrew
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Joel Thanks. I agree that the main thing is for those @ CD Baby who know what's going on, to communicate the issue to the artists. To not have heard anything since the end of March is pretty inexcusable in my opinion. Thanks for unofficially addressing this.
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Dear Everybody,
I'm the programmer who has been working on the project to improve the import of digital sales reports from all partners. This project has been on going for quite some time, and has nothing to do with the change in ownership of the company. The issue we are correcting is caused by the variety of formats the reports come in, and erroneous data in the reports themselves.
In order to import this information, an intensive data validation process takes place, which simply makes the process slow. The important thing to know is that no sales are lost in this process. In fact, with the improved importer, we now have much better capability to match artist sales, even if the album, artist or song name, or isrc/upc is wrong or corrupt. Any items which fail to match initially are human processed, and matched manually.
Regarding the amounts, we simply pass along what the partner reports to us. We're all committed to the goal of processing the sales reports as quickly as possible, but when its a question of speed versus accuracy, we definitely need the accuracy more than the speed.
Thanks for your continued support.
-Warren
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Does anyone have any experiences with last.fm? The user features are all good, but the payment system seems to be worse than NAPSTER and RHAPSODY. Just my impression - anyone ever been paid by last.fm ?
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none - lots from napster/rhapsody/itunes...
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Last.FM will report their first royalties in October, which is a typical "Quarterly" royalty payment month. Make sure you have checked the proper box on their royalty page.
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Good to hear from CDBaby regarding all of this - we are used to having a transparent relationship with CDBaby (thanks to Derek). Glad it is continuing. I was wondering why my numbers were tanking also - it's tough be be watching sales & listens going up month after month then suddenly seeing nothing! These boards help a lot - I guess we have to hang in there and trust the folks who have earned our trust over the years.
Peace & Harmony to all,
Michael
http://thebandofbrothers.net
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Michael You are right they earned the respect under Derek but they also need to sustyain that respect espacially as there are new owners. We need to be given specific information and approximate time these fixes will be done . This is a business.
It is us who make the system work. It is our efforts as Artists that make others happy. We must be given appoximately the time the repairs will end and we get our royalties.
How would worker feel if their pay check was not given them at the end of the week.
We are Artists and our efforts is put into the music . The sales report is not just money it is also an ENCOURAGEMENT TOOL for us and our fans. Please cdbaby we must upgrade
quickly.
Let us have an idea when you will finish the upgrade and when will we start seeing sales report posted.
This is a business.
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