CD Baby Advance

There is nothing better than getting a big advance. It’s validation of your hard work, and it’s money you can use to push your career even further.

If you make music, a royalty advance is the best way to finance your career.

Instead of waiting for the direct-deposit to hit your account and doing the math on your expenses for the month, an advance frees you up to do what you do - make music.

But there is one major problem - the advance system is broken.

Why?

1. Most advances are too small to make a real difference. They are designed so you go from one advance to another, trapped in a cycle. Running on that treadmill can tire any musician out.
2. Finance guys take advantage of you with confusing contracts and pushy tactics. Advances advertised as three-year deals can take five years (or more!) to pay off, but it would be IMPOSSIBLE to tell by reading the contract.
3. Advances often require you to commit to a minimum delivery requirement. Sometimes that’s great motivation - but sometimes it means you’re not working on the project that will fire you up.

BUT, there is a better way…

It’s called a Term Advance.

Term Advance gets you the benefits you’d expect from a traditional advance, without the uncertainty or the unfairness. This option puts you in control.

You offer a portion of your royalty income on our marketplace. You pick what you want to sell - just a single song, a percentage of your backcatalog, or everything. Whatever you need to take your career to the next level.

Then, we get your catalog in front of 23,000+ investors who compete for the right to win your royalties. The highest bid wins, you get paid today and don’t have to worry about repaying in the future.

You might say, “But this sounds like other advances I can get, just a different source of funding.”

Here’s where you’d be wrong:

• New works you release are NEVER part of the deal. You keep all of the money your new songs earn.
• Usually, you only have one or two offers for a catalog. Term advance means you have 23,000+ people fighting for the right to PAY YOU. That competition is the secret sauce that allows you to get a great price.
• We tell you everything there is to know about the money behind your music. Why? Because it’s in our best interest for YOU to know every penny that goes into your royalties.

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Term advance is designed to be the last advance you’d ever need.

Here’s why

• Pulling more of your future royalties forward lets you get a bigger payment today. Where regular advances only get you enough to hold you over to your next advance, a Term Advance gets you more money to put to work.
• The contract for a Term Advance is two pages long. Written in language that anyone can understand, you know exactly what the terms are. Compare that to the thick, 36-page monsters that most advance companies will have you sign.
• There are no future obligations. What you do next is totally up to you. That means you can produce the tracks you want to produce and write the songs you want to write.

How much is your catalog worth today?

That question used to be hard to answer.

You might be used to hearing a big number up front, and then being talked down over time. But, We take a different approach…

We examine at a catalog’s earnings, age, genre and dozens of other attributes to identify down its value. After analyzing thousands of catalogs across dozens of genres, you can get the most accurate estimate of your music’s value by using our free web app.