C D Baby Inc

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]

To whom it may concern:We took the clips down when we were contacted by the client on 4/14/17.  He spoke with a representative at CD Baby over the phone to follow up on the email he sent us.  [redacted] (CD Baby agent) urgently took the album down,  had the clips re-ripped and we put the album back up.  Our clips have always been low resolution and will continue to be.  There is no systematic way for us to override this for a single submission.If this is not acceptable to the client, we are happy to cancel his submission and refund his submission fee.Thanks,Anna

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Hello,Attached you'll find the email thread between our client and our rep Crystal.  They have resolved this issue after this complaint was filed.Let me know if you need any more detail.Thanks,AnnaAnna H[redacted]Director of Customer ServiceCD Baby
[redacted]SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS REDACTED BY Revdex.com[redacted]

To whom it may concern,
I've found this album on Spotify.  I've attached a screenshot.
Sometimes delivery to partner sites can take some time, and we make no guarantee that it will be delivered to all partners within a certain time frame.
From CD Baby's perspective, we've provided the...

service this client paid for and do not feel a refund is warranted.
Let me know if you need more information.
Thanks,
Anna H[redacted]
Director of Customer Service
CD Baby

Complaint: [redacted]
Thank you for responding. It was difficult to address this issue during the Christmas/Holiday/New Year period but
I did receive a recent email from CD Baby stating that they had taken my music from SPOTIFY. (They had told me this months ago as well.) Shortly after receiving their email I checked my CD Baby account page and, lo and behold, there was a new usage of my music by Spotify posted on or about January 4, 2016. I requested the removal of my music from SPOTIFY THREE YEARS ago. CD BABY, INC. and SPOTIFY have not only retained my music during this period against my will, but have undoubtedly profited from its unauthorized usage. I have contacted an attorney with these concerns and I am considering full scale litigation against both CD BABY and SPOTIFY pending the outcome of your assessment of this situation. (The artist known as Taylor Swift has successfully had her music removed from SPOTIFY in 2015.Had I her financial resources I would have had like results by now, but since I am a small independent composer, I need to rely on your assistance first.)  Please reopen the complaint and feel free to contact me at [redacted] or [redacted]
Thank you,
[redacted]

Review: CD Baby was contracted in May of 2013 to allow for digital download of retailers such as, but not limited to, [redacted], etc. All necessary protocols by the customer (the party filing the complaint). Services were not rendered until such time as the customer became aware. CD Baby denied responsibility, claiming customer failed to complete forms. However, upon review, forms were completed. Effort by CD Baby to contact the customer about any issue was limited to unconfirmed emails, even though telephone numbers were provided in the contact information. A lack of due diligence is evident on the behalf of CD Baby.Desired Settlement: Credit in the form of half of amount paid, as only half of the services were rendered in due time.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/10/30) */

Hi [redacted],

Thanks for reaching out. First, I want to mention that it appears that one of our Supervisors, [redacted] has resolved this issue to your satisfaction via his response agreeing to your proposal of 100 download cards as compensation for the communication misunderstandings. Those cards are now in production.

In regards to the issue itself, our primary method of communication with our clients is via email, as stated in our terms of service. We do show several notices that were emailed to you to finalize your release for distribution, per our normal process, yet you had not done so until 10/26/13. I'm happy to see that you have completed that, and distribution is now underway for your title.

However, I do see that now that you've approved distribution for this title, you do have a final step to complete in your account for the CD Baby Pro process in regards to your affiliation and tax information.

To do so, log into your account and click the

CD Baby Pro Administration link on the left hand side of the page. You'll see options for CD Baby Songwriter Affiliation Info and Tax documentation to be completed on this page for CD Baby Pro.

This doesn't affect your distribution that is underway already.

I hope that helps. Feel free to reach out to us directly at [redacted]@cdbaby.com, or by phone at X-XXX-XXX-XXXX if you need further assistance.

Customer Service Supervisor

CD Baby

Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 7, 2013/11/01) */

(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

CD Baby has fulfilled its agreement, and I am happy to say the issue is resolved!! I thank The Revdex.com and CD Baby for working with me to resolve this issue. My faith with CD Baby has been renewed, and I will continue to do business with them in the future.

Special thank you to The Revdex.com, as you folks do an excellent job, and have proven to be a great tool for consumers.

Many thanks,

Review: our management team has been forwarded all matters involving case

and come to conclusion that cd baby has ran a fraudulent scam and was

misleading artist to believe that mass units would be distributed by [redacted]

if 5 units were submitted, costumer service reps stated that all they would have to

do is contact owners and have them order directly, but once owners contacted

or attempted to order there was no artist in catalog of alliance, and now the story

will change again, and again

also in emails is proof of costumer service stating that certain stores were submitted

artist emailed costumer service reps to confirm a submission, and they say it was submitted

one month later original company was contacted and said there was no submission,cd baby was

then contacted and said ok we will now submit it, clearly a huge mistake, and this happened

to several main stores, along with that there are issues with the quality of player as it is

a poor quality and apps/widgets do not work correctly bugs and glitches, sometimes not at allDesired Settlement: refund 2 accounts[redacted] and [redacted] have and terminate all paperwork asap

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/07/02) */

To whom it may concern,

CD Baby is very clear in the service we provide. The client paid for our service, which includes distribution to our partners [redacted] and[redacted] if the client supplies us with physical product to sell. In this case, the client misunderstood and assumed we were going to manufacture discs for him. We explained that this was not the case, and offered solutions, as we do have a division of our company which does manufacturing. We are very sorry that the client was mistaken. We have not offered a refund, as we provided the service he paid for, as agreed to when he signed our terms of service.

Thank you,

Director of Customer Service

CD Baby

Review: this company is claiming they cannot send money if it is under a pay point. they said only if I am looking to shut down my account which I am looking to do so. in addition they have bad customer service in terms of actually responding. ive been told that you can and cant delete a account so there service is horrible.Desired Settlement: I am seeking my money that I made from selling my music and deletion of my account.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 8, 2015/02/09) */

Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Dir.of Cust.Ser

Contact Phone: XXXXXXXXXX

Contact Email: [redacted]@cdbaby.com

We have paid out this client the monies owed to him, since he has cancelled his distribution with us. Our terms of service, signed by the client, indicate that our minimum paypoint is $10, which is why he received the original answer. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Review: I have been in contact with [redacted] who is an Inspector at CD Baby telling him in the email that [redacted] Is the Artist on [redacted] a song I Composed some years back. And [redacted] I am the Composer. [redacted] at CD Baby just can't get this right, and this delays me posting my CD Album Called: [redacted] on [redacted]. To Name A few.

It's so simple to make this correction. And CD Baby and Mr. [redacted] Refuses to cooperate with me, and List [redacted] As The Artist and [redacted] As Composer. All the Credits have to be right so everyone gets paid from the revenue of the songs. Composer and Artist. This is the 3rd time I am telling CD Baby about this minor problem. I definitely think those people are lacking smarts because they don't list Artists and composers correctly for the Credit of this particular song only called: [redacted].Desired Settlement: I want Mr. [redacted] I who is Inspector of Title Tracks for the Compact Disks to List [redacted] As the Artist, and [redacted] as Composer. So I could get the CD ALBUM Listed on the Websites Like [redacted] Etc. I cannot allow CD Baby to post my CD Album without the correct Artist and Composer. I also Emailed them in such words. But it's like talking to the 4 walls!

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2014/10/02) */

Contact Name and Title: [redacted] Dir.Cust.Svc.

Contact Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX

Contact Email: [redacted]@cdbaby.com

The formatting guidelines of the digital distribution partners we work with are as such:

Primary artist name must match cover art.

Any additional artists not mentioned on cover art must be listed as "featured".

Primary artist name info should be streamlined to be consistent throughout the album and consistent with cover art.

The album artwork for album "[redacted]" lists only "[redacted]" and no other artists. So even if [redacted] is the songwriter and not performer on a certain track, consistent formatting requires that he be listed as the artist on every track. That said, the artist performing the track "[redacted] can be listed as a featured artist and has been done so:

[redacted] (feat. [redacted]

You can review this here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/[redacted]

When [redacted] emailed about not getting the info formatted the way he wanted, he received this message, not from [redacted] but from a different customer service rep:

Hey [redacted],

Since [redacted] is the only primary artist on this album, he needs to be the only primary artist on EVERY track.

We can make [redacted] a featured artist on track 4, and we have.

If you want to make [redacted] the primary artist on that track, he needs to also be a primary artist on the album level and on the cover art.

Those are the digital partner formatting guidelines, and we need to follow them to send content to those services.

(sent 9/29/14)

This email correctly states the digital distribution guidelines that we are required to adhere to by our digital distribution partners, and gives him a solution to his problem: update the artwork to list [redacted] as well as [redacted], and then he can (and must) be listed at the album level, and can be the sole primary artist listed on that track.

The album is ready for [redacted] to approve for distribution in its current form so he is not being prevented from listing the album on the distribution sites he wants to get it to, he is simply unhappy with the current formatting, and has not responded to the suggested solutions to getting that formatting in place.

Thank you for your feedback!

Review: I had registered an album of songs ([redacted] for distribution by CD Baby. One distribution they offered was "Do it all, even unpaid." A few months after submitting the [redacted] album for distribution as an "Do it all, even unpaid" distribution option album, I called CD Baby to find out how I could change the distribution status of that album to "paid only" distribution. They informed me that I would not be able to change the distribution status without fully re-submitting the album at the full submission price again.Based on this information, I purchased 10 submission credits at a reduced rate (20% off) since I had six other [redacted] albums that were not distributed digitally, and in re-submitting the original [redacted] album, I would use a seventh submission credit that would make it financially fesible to buy ten credits, i.e., though I might only be able to register seven albums with the ten credits, at 20% off the regular submission price, I would save a small amount of money, and then possibly submit another album in the future if I were ever to record one.When I called CD Baby after purchasing the ten submission credits, I was informed that the company had a new policy that allowed distribution options to be changed after submission, thus negating any need to re-submit the first [redacted] album. Since I had only submitted five albums to that point with the ten credits, I asked CD Baby to allow me to refund the ten credits price, and allow me to purchase the five album credits package (15% off full price). I even informed them that I would then be purchasing two other album submissions at full price. I explained to the various customer service representatives that I spoke with that I had purchased ten credits relying on information that I was given by CD Baby, that their policy had subsequently changed, but that that change was not readily apparent when viewing their website or even apprehensible by close reading of their present policies.They refused a refund under any circumstances.Desired Settlement: I'd like a refund of the ten submission credits toward the purchase of five submission credits.

Business

Response:

To whom it may concern,CD Baby sells submission credits in bulk, and it's very clear through the purchase process that these are non-refundable. Our system is not set up to refund these. In this case, it appeared that the customer ordered a larger bundle of credits in order to receive a larger discount percentage, then asked for a refund after the fact.I have attached a screenshot of the ordering process which clearly states these being non-refundable.Please let me know if you have any further questions.Thanks,[redacted]Director of Customer ServiceCD Baby

Consumer

Response:

Review: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:

Review: I have been the recipient of e mails that I consider spam after spending a couple hundred dollars to get music listed with ASCAP and BMI. Who ever is involved in the customer service, and I have a few e mails with names on them so there is more than one, continue to send me "urgent" messages to act on my accounts, eventhough I have fulfilled all their obligations to get the music in the proper channels for distribution. I complained to them about this and the e mail was not answered except to send more unecessary "urgent" messages that held no explanation for what I was to accomplish. I see "urgent" on the e mail and try to respond as quickly as possible. Finally I called them on this and they just sent more spam.Desired Settlement: I want to be sure my music has been relegated to the proper position ie. available for digital sale and covered by ASCAP or BMI to return to me the royalties from its use and sale and they apologize and cease the spamming.

Business

Response:

Business' Initial Response /* (-10, 5, 2013/05/22) */

Hello,

I am away from the office with no email access and will return June 10, 2013.

For any CD Baby rights related concerns, please follow up with Tyler - [redacted]@cdbaby.com - or contact our customer service management team - XXX XXX XXXX/[redacted]@cdbaby.com ATTN: Manager.

All the best,

Business' Final Response /* (1000, 8, 2013/06/06) */

Contact Name and Title: [redacted] w/ CD Baby

Contact Phone: X-XXX-XXX-XXXX

Hi [redacted],

I'm sorry for the trouble you were having. These emails were not spam, they were notifications for you to complete the affiliation registration for your CD Baby Pro albums. There was a technical issue on our end that was likely causing you some trouble completing that info on the site, but that has now been resolved and I see that you have completed that setup.

The last of these emails was sent to you back on 5/16/13, so you should be all good to go as we have no need to send further notices for this issue.

Feel free to reach out to us for further assistance. We can be reached by email at [redacted]@cdbaby.com, or by phone at X-XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Thanks,

Customer Service Supervisor

CD Baby

Review: I have been a CdBaby customer for well over a year. I have yet to receive ONE payment from them from my music sales. They fail to report the sales and obviously to pay them.I began receiveing reports from people a year ago that they have purcahsed or streamed my music. When I called the company asking them why my sales haven't been reported they told me to track the people down and try to get an order number from them. How ridiculous! That's the service I am paying them for. Tracking down my customers to be paid is completely unprofessional to boot. Desired Settlement: I want my contract broken, I want to be compensated for the sales I didn't receive (who knows how many they really are) and I want to be refunded the money I paid for the initial service.

Business

Response:

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2013/08/19) */

Hi [redacted],

Per our phone conversation, please be assured that all of our digital partners, as well as our own site, reports and pays all sales accurately. We have not had prior issues with partners not reporting sales accurately, but as we had discussed please note it can take time for sales to come in from partners.

As I mentioned, we're happy to investigate any specific situations where you feel that a sale that occurred has not been reported by a partner, but in order to do that we'll need you to provide some specific detail on the sale you're asking about so we have some verification that it occurred. We're unable to go to a partner and question their sales reporting without something specific to go on, and as of yet you have not provided any specific info about any sales. You've only said repeatedly that you've been told by people that they bought your music. That's just not enough for us to go on, but again, if you are able to provide any specifics we're happy to look into it further.

I see that you've now cancelled your sales and distribution with CD Baby, and I'm sorry to see you go. However, please be assured that even though you've cancelled, if any sales occurred before cancelled, that sales data that we receive from any digital partners will be paid to you as normal.

Again, if you're able to provide any specific data of a sale that wasn't reported in your account, we're happy to look into it further.

We can be reached for assistance directly at [redacted]@cdbaby.com, or by phone at X-XXX-XXX-XXXX.

Thanks again,

Customer Service Supervisor

CD Baby

Final Consumer Response /* (3000, 7, 2013/08/25) */

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)

This is the ultimate run around. I paid this company an initial fee and commission for keeping track of my sales and facilitating them and now they're telling me to do THEIR job. I do no throw all the people who have purchased my record. This is one big rip off.

Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2013/09/17) */

Hi [redacted],

Thanks for reaching out. Note that our response hasn't changed on this issue, and we're happy to look into any alleged reports of sales that you claim have not been reported by our partners or by CD Baby. However, you have not yet provided any evidence (in the form of specific transaction info) for any sales that you're claiming have occurred and have not been reported to you.

Again, please be assured that CD Baby and our partners do report all sales accurately as they are reported to us by our partners. Note again that as we mentioned, it can take time for partners to report sales. Typically they'll tally sales towards the end of each month, and start reporting those sales to us about 4-6 weeks after the end of that month. Some partners report sales quarterly.

Again, we're happy to review any evidence you have of specific transactions that have not been reported by our partners, but as you have yet to provide any evidence there are no further actions we can take at this time. If you're able to provide ANY specific transaction info (receipt #, date of sale, partner it occurred with, amount of sale, etc) we're happy to follow up with any partners as needed.

Again, I do want to stress that we have not had any issues with partners or CD Baby failing to report sales, and we are not hearing of concerns from other artists regarding this issue. CD Baby and our partners take pride in accurate reporting and payments to artists for their sales, and we stake our reputation on it.

As there is no evidence of any service failures on the part of CD Baby, we would not offer any refunds or otherwise compensate you for this issue. In regards to breaking your contract, I see that you've already cancelled your sales and distribution for your album so your account is no longer active. However, be assured that if any partners did have sales of your content prior to your cancellation, they will be reported and paid to you as normal.

Thanks again,

Customer Service Supervisor

CD Baby