Independent distributor/publisher CD Baby has entered a new partnership with Audible Magic — the digital content identification, licensing and monetization platform — to increase content protection for artists and labels.

The partnership comes as streaming continues to grow in size, raising various opportunities and challenges for distributors and artist service companies; for example, how to manage and grow data volumes and also provide good and cost-effective service to musicians.

And, more importantly, how to prevent leaks from happening. Who could forget when Taylor Swift's 1989 and Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp a Butterfly leaked just before its release? Just in March, an unofficial collection of Rihanna songs was uploaded to iTunes and even debuted at No. 67 on the Worldwide iTunes Albums Chart before it was taken down.

In the new collaboration, CD Baby will use Audible Magic’s platform to identify content rights conflicts prior to delivery to a Digital Service Provider (DSP). When a user requests to upload files, Audible Magic's RightsRx allows CD Baby to check Audible Magic’s registry of over 30 million media assets.

RightsRx then indicates if the file is a duplicate of another audio track in the system, or if it is a potentially suspicious file. CD Baby can then decline to upload the file in question, rather than reactively taking it down at a later time, the company explained in a statement.

“Audible Magic is an essential element that enables us to play our role in the music business,” said CD Baby VP of Marketing Kevin Breuner, in a press release. “Their powerful identification technology allows us to serve our artists — and the platforms and services they rely on — quickly and fairly.”

Audible Magic President and CEO Vance Ikezoye added: “CD Baby plays a vital role in the independent music community. We look forward to supporting their ongoing efforts to provide the highest quality of service to their artists and maintain strong relationships with the DSPs.”

CD Baby said that the new partnership will ensure that the company remains a trusted distribution partner to diverse music services and an even more diverse community of artists.