There is definitely a benefit to signing up for CD Baby Pro Publishing, even if you are already affiliated with ASCAP or BMI!
There are two types of royalties that songwriters can collect for their music: performance royalties and mechanical royalties. Performance royalties are collected by PROs (like ASCAP and BMI) and are split 50/50 between the songwriter and the publisher share. Mechanical royalties are collected by companies like HFA and MRI, and 100% of this royalty type paid to publishers. If you sign up for CD Baby Pro Publishing, CD Baby will collect publishing performance and mechanical royalties on your behalf. The songwriter portion of performance royalties will always be paid directly to the songwriter by ASCAP or BMI.
If you are affiliated with ASCAP or BMI but do not have publishing representation, you are leaving money on the table. Since ASCAP and BMI only collect performance royalties, songwriters who have signed up directly through ASCAP or BMI will not receive mechanical royalties, and depending on the PRO, they may miss out on the publisher share of performance royalties. This chart helps break it down pretty well:
Typically, songwriters who are affiliated with a PRO but do not have publishing representation are only able to collect the songwriter (blue) portion of their royalties. Songwriters who sign up with CD Baby Pro are eligible to receive the songwriter (blue) and publisher (red) portion of royalties. Please note, BMI will pay out both the publisher and songwriter share of performance royalties even if you don’t have publishing representation.
That said, songwriters without publishing representation will still miss out on mechanical royalties and any foreign royalty collection regardless of which PRO they are with; this is where CD Baby Pro Publishing can help. Learn more by visiting CD Baby’s help center!