CD Baby claims to be the first digital distribution service to “give creators access” to copyright ownership tools.
Last week, the US Copyright Office published a Federal Register notice.
The branch of the Library of Congress wants creators’ feedback as it works on a modern, digital copyright registration system. The move aims to improve the Office’s infrastructure to improve user experience, increase efficiency, and decrease processing times.
Unfortunately, creators in the US will still have to wait some time before the new digital system is unveiled. The Office will receive feedback until January 15th, 2019.
Now, one digital distributor has unveiled a new partnership aimed at streamlining copyright applications.
CD Baby partners with Cosynd.
CD Baby has announced a new partnership to help creators get their works copyrighted fast.
The major digital distributor’s deal with Cosynd, a legal services platform, allows CD Baby users to document ownership of their content. The legal services platform offers free and paid tiers of services.
Under the deal, users will receive a month of free access to Cosynd’s Essential and Premium tiers. This will allow CD Baby members to create unlimited copyright split sheets, full copyright ownership agreements, and work-for-hire agreements.
According to the digital distributor, the partnership will help members avoid misunderstandings, improper exploitation of copyrights, and unpaid royalties. This will provide artists, producers, and songwriters quick copyright ownership agreements. It will also help them register with the US Copyright Office.
Last year, the ‘royalty black box’ – a large tranche of unclaimed royalties – was loosely estimated at $2.5 billion. But that’s likely a conservative figure, given that unpaid mechanical licenses from streaming services alone were recently estimated at $1.5 billion by Variety.
Unless a registration exits at the Copyright Officer, creators can’t file lawsuits to resolve ownership and infringement problems.
Speaking on how the deal will benefit artists in the long-run, Tracy Maddux, CEO of CD Baby, explained,
“Making it easy for artists to manage the rights around their music catalog is a key part of being a total monetization solution. Our partnership with Cosynd provides these tools in a very accessible way.”
Expressing her ‘thrill’ of partnering with the digital distributor, Jessica Sobhraj, CEO of Cosynd, explained how creators could potentially lose out on royalties.
“There is more content being created and more opportunities to monetize that content than ever before. If you’re a creator, documenting ownership of your copyrights is a crucial step from the beginning – otherwise you won’t get paid! Disputes arise, liability increases, lawsuits ensue, and we all suffer the losses…We’re thrilled to [partner with CD Baby] to help creators protect themselves and their rights from the very start.”
Featured image by CD Baby.
Looks like CD Baby is stepping it up in the middle of all of these distro announcements and I bet the other distributors will follow suit. Pretty easy to use this thing, kinda Legalzoom’ish. Looks like you can still get free access to the premium tiers even though its past the deadline on the site.