Rumblefish, CD Baby deal puts indie artists’ music on YouTube videos

By Geoff Duncan December 7, 2011

CD Baby — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Apple’s iTunes might be the 800-pound gorilla of the digital music industry, but upstart CD Baby has long been a favorite of independent artists, enabling them to sell their CDs online and get their tracks into iTunes (and Amazon, and Spotify, and more) without having to land a record deal or pact with a major distributor. CD Baby recently expanded into Facebook, enabling artists to create storefronts and pages there, and now the company has announced a deal with RumbleFish that lets artists opt-in to making their material available for licensing in YouTube videos.

“We’re here to help our artists connect with their fans through every avenue available. Fans can add soundtracks to their videos and slideshows, and they can share them on their favorite sites like YouTube and Vimeo, as well as in mobile apps like Animoto and Instagram,” said CD Baby President Brian Felsen, in a statement. “Rumblefish is the clear leader in sync licensing and can open these doors for our artists through its deals with social destinations like YouTube.”

Rumblefish’s business is built around offering a catalog of copyright-cleared music that can be used in everything from videos and presentations to commercials, video games, and movies. It made its initial licensing deal with YouTube back in 2008.

CD Baby’s catalog comprises more than 3.5 million tracks from over over a quarter million artists, and the company has a good track record supporting indie efforts: CD Baby has paid artists more than $200 million in royalties to date, and helped artists sell millions of CDs. Beginning December 15, all those artists will be able to make their material available for sync licensing via Rumblefish on the CD Baby Website. And while it’s true a lot of the material available via CD Baby may more-or-less amount to vanity publishing by hopeful amateurs, quite a number of quality independent artists distribute their material through CD Baby, including recent Grammy nominee Linda Chorney and Macklemore.

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