Despite Declining CD Sales, CD Baby Experiences Growth in 2008
from the not-dead-yet dept
While CD sales dropped 14% overall in 2008, CD Baby -- a popular online music store that lets independent artists sell music directly to fans -- actually saw an increase of 2%. In addition to selling physical discs, CD Baby offers optional digital distribution through iTunes, Amazon MP3, Napster, Rhapsody, eMusic, etc. and directly through their website. Still, almost 30% of albums last year were only offered as physical discs (though, some of these artists probably use other companies for digital distribution). While growth in digital sales was predictably larger (45%), even a small increase in CD sales in the face of the broader crisis is a sign that CD Baby is doing something right.There are a few reasons why CD Baby could be having better luck with CDs than the rest of the industry. First, a lot of independent artists are discovered through live performances, and the CD has yet to be replaced as the standard format to sell music at shows. The credit card swipers that CD Baby offers artists accounted for $2.4 million worth of revenue last year (though, that includes sales of other merchandise too). Second, CD Baby seems to be taking advantage of the long tail, with minimal setup fees, minimal starting requirements (artists only need to mail in 5 CDs to start selling) and short-run duplication services, though they haven't released enough data to confirm how distributed their sales have been. Lastly, great customer service and a sense of humour can't hurt (e.g. an order confirmation email starts, "your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow..."). Although it doesn't make any sense to base an entire business model on selling CDs, there's still money to be made for artists and companies using CDs as part of their model.
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What other services allow Musicians to sell Digital Music
I don't keep up on this stuff; but...
Last time I looked; CDBaby was the only game in town if you wanted to get your music onto 'major' music services. What other services allow independent musicians to sell their music via iTunes or Napster?
At one point there was a way to submit to iTunes w/o going through an intermediary; but I never tried it so I don't know how 'picky' they are about the process.
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Re: What other services allow Musicians to sell Digital Music
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Re: Re: What other services allow Musicians to sell Digital Music
I'm glad both companies are there to serve the market, as the majors want nothing to do with independent distribution methods.
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More and more people like me increasingly refuse to buy any products from the major labels (or any RIAA label if it can be avoided) and actively search out alternative bands and labels (and if I absolutely HAVE to have a major label album - increasing rare - I go looking for it second hand).
Of course more and more bands/artists are jumping ship and "going independent again - both because the labels are pissing many of them off as much as they are pissing off their costumer base, and because they are increasingly seeing the writing on the wall (something the labels, too busy trying to protect there hold on the industry any way they can, clearly haven't noticed yet), which means more and more we can still get all the music we've grown to love.
As more and more services like eMusic and CDBaby arise, and more and more well known artists rejoin the ranks of the independents, the market will shift (slowly at first, then with increasing speed), and at this point I don't see anything the major labels can do to stop that flow, regardless of what laws the manage to get passed. They've let to much of the foundation erode for their house to stand for much longer.
A good part of CDBaby's success, part of what they are doing "right", is that they have little or nothing to do with the major labels at all.
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Despite Declining CD Sales, CD Baby Experiences Growth in 2008
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Indie CD sales have been rising for some time
Based on their figures, it continues to grow, but the press, wanting to spin a different story, and the folks who want to sell ipods, ditto, are never going to want to run with the correct story. caveat emptor.
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