CD Baby true and honest distributor - watch out for dodgy competitors!

	posted by John on Thursday June 10 2004 @ 04:41AM PDT
	I'm a record label owner from a small indie company, and I firmly believe CD Baby (along with a few more) are honest, true music retailers. Last week I tried contacting, via phone, the following sites: The Orchard CD Street CD Wow panartist.com CD Baby (http://www.cdbaby.com) http://www.peoplesound.com http://www.iuma.com http://www.duckmusic.com http://www.besonic To my surprise, only CD Baby and panartist.com answered my calls and let me chat with a responsible person that answered humbly either one or more of my silly questions. The website peoplesound.com has a premium number that makes you very poor if you call them (it costs around $1.50 cents a minute). Some sites, like The Orchard, don't even have the correct mailing address or phone number up and running in the UK or USA. Judge for yourself! Research and tell me who are honest and true. Thanks. John

	by Shelva on Thursday June 10 2004 @ 12:31PM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	TheOrchard.com VS CDBABY.com my research shows the following positives and negatives. any opinion anyone? theorchard.com + positives + wider GLOBAL digital distribution outlets including european such as MTV, HMV etc + LoudEye encoding of files for digital distribution + online reporting of digital activity - Negatives - higher commission 30% of wholesale for digital and physical cds. vs. cdbaby 9% and flat $4 for physical cds - bad reputation - quarterly payment with bad reputation in the past of lost cds etc positives of cdbaby + a lot of great reviews from past artists and great reputation for payment monthly + lower commisions as compared to the orchard as above mentioned - negatives - distribution channels for digital downloads not as wide and GLOBAL as theorchard - reported delays in getting on the digital channels. theorchard.com says their artists get on within 6 weeks (how valid is this info. since the digital outlets are the bottleneck from my reading of articles) - somebody mentioned that there was some concern on the cd baby agreement for digital distribution of Apple itunes gaining control over the music (anyone know anything on this?) - i will try to get the link and post next time regarding this. any enlightenment on the above subject is appreciated. I am very convinced on cdbaby but the above points kind of keeps me on the wall kind of thing musically Shelva www.Shelva.com

by Derek at CD Baby on Thursday June 10 2004 @ 01:40PM PDT [ reply | parent ] I can respond to two of your negatives about the CD Baby Digital Distribution program: #2 - no delays in getting on the digital download services that everyone is not also experiencing. we deliver the audio to the companies quite fast, then once they receive it they get it up and selling in anywhere from 3 days to 8 weeks. Right now Apple iTunes is at their slowest, because they're busy lauching the European store, but they've promised that by the end of the summer, their new system will get our releases up and selling within 48 hours of receiving them. #3 - The only "concern" was from a single wack-job asshole who launched an unfounded attack against CD Baby last summer to try to scare people into hiring his "consulting" services. He was disproven and lost most of any credibility he might have had up to that point. Our contract is out in the open on http://cdbaby.net/dd and you can have any lawyer look at it. Also I need to address to things you have listed under "POSITIVES" for the Orchard: #3 - LoudEye is just another encoding company. We do everything they do. #4 - We have always had full online reporting of digital activity.

by Derek at CD Baby on Thursday June 10 2004 @ 01:42PM PDT [ reply | parent ] P.S. One big downside to the Orchard contract, from what I understand: it's in perpetuity. Once you sign it, it can never be cancelled. CD Baby will totally cancel your digital distribution agreement, no questions asked, at your first request.

	by Derek at CD Baby on Thursday June 10 2004 @ 01:45PM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	To John: Other legitimate distributors: http://www.iodalliance.com/ http://www.digitalrightsagency.com/ http://www.irisdistribution.com/ They're all good, and all do the same thing as CD Baby Digital Distribution.

	by Shelva on Friday June 11 2004 @ 05:48AM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	Derek, Thank you so much for your reply to my concerns. I believe, (so do most people here) that your CONTRIBUTION to the Music world is well received, heart-felt, innovative and inspirational. Indie artists are LIVING proof, whose lifeblood / daily lives are affected by your venture. Who says ONE person cannot make a difference...? Derek (you) did.. Any comments on digital distribution coverage in Europe / Asia (australia & Japan etc)? Will NetMusic.com (one of your partners) extend to those areas as they say? Musically Shelva www.Shelva.com

by Derek at CD Baby on Friday June 11 2004 @ 02:13PM PDT [ reply | parent ] >> Any comments on digital distribution coverage in Europe / Asia (australia & Japan etc)? Hold tight and you're going to see this get a LOT more interesting in just the next 2 months. Napster, iTunes, MSN Music, and more have their international plans forming now. Other companies like Emusic, AudioLunchbox, and EMEPE3 have ALWAYS been worldwide.

	by Tom Rockwell on Friday June 11 2004 @ 06:41AM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	Does anyone know of another brick and mortar distribution service like The Orchard, where they will get you listed in the book to be special ordered and make your CD available for any record store to order? I like the fact that The Orchard did this for me, but I didn't like the cost. I'm working on the new Sudden Death album and I'd like it to be available to stores, and use CD Baby for digital distribution (because they take a lower commission). But if I use The Orchard for my next CD to get it in stores they will automatically encode it and put it on line, which means I then can't have CD Baby do that. So are there any alternatives for me? ->Later.....Spice

	by Shelva on Friday June 11 2004 @ 08:34AM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	Spice, check out OasisCD's Promotion Tools page. There is a company called Artist1Stop which does that ondemand distribution you are asking. However their setup prices are kind of slightly high. So there is an option for you. you can go directly with artist1stop or if you manufacture via oasiscd they give you some kind of a $179 deal. check them both out and choose your best option p.s. I am like you, like what theorchard.com does in terms of coverage, but their commission is high and reputation is bad in the past. links are: http://www.oasiscd.com/music/INTRO_nat_dist_prog.html http://www.artist1stop.com/ musically Shelva www.Shelva.com

	by Tom Rockwell on Friday June 11 2004 @ 10:44AM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	Thanks! I checked out artist1stop's site. I wouldn't have a problem paying their set up fee if it was a one time thing, but they have yearly membership fees, too. I can't afford that. Time to keep looking. ->Later.....Spice

	by Shelva on Friday June 11 2004 @ 01:09PM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	Does anyone know if cdbaby ships WORLDWIDE? or is it just within USA? thanks for the input Shelva

by Derek at CD Baby on Friday June 11 2004 @ 02:10PM PDT [ reply | parent ] Why not just ask us, Shelva? We ship VERY worldwide. 30% of our orders go overseas every day. http://cdbaby.com/help has the shipping chart.

	by dave hedeman on Saturday June 12 2004 @ 11:17AM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	I am new to the concept of selling my music worldwide. Needless to say I don't know alot about most of the online distributors. However, let me say this. CD Baby has been open, honest, fair(commissions), and kept the communication going better than most of my local outlets (not to belittle them). I don't sell a whole lot of CDs but they still treat me the same as their bigger clients. Also, from a customer standpoint, their service is bested by no one. I may not know much about many of the other online distributors but CD Baby has been nothing but great for this ol' rock bassist in Montana. Thanks!

by Derek at CD Baby on Saturday June 12 2004 @ 04:54PM PDT [ reply | parent ] Awww... thanks Dave! That's very cool to hear. Treating everyone the same was one of the founding missions of CD Baby.

	by me on Monday June 14 2004 @ 07:45AM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	Just wanted to throw in my two cents for what it's worth. Cd Baby is about the best vehicle out there to market cds for the indie artist. I have been approached by a ton of cheesy (to put it mildly) sites in cyber land wanting me to market my cds with them. Their sites are poorly designed (low budget, do-it-yourself), and also are riddled with misspelled words, which adds to the cheese factor. Actually, while I'm ranting, I'll throw this out too. Does anyone know of a totally legit publicist? I'm extremely disappointed with the one I'm using. She was highly recommended to me, but so far, after three months and $1800, all I've gotten is a few reviews from some internet nobodys. I get no feedback or answers when I've questioned what's going on (just attitude) and it's really disheartening. Meanwhile, I see her and her company recommended on a lot of sites. Sorry I sound so negative, just totally bummed out about the sorry state of affairs. Just be cautious because there are a lot of people out there who are more than willing to take your $$ and give you nothing in return...unless (1) you consider some internet reviews by unknowns to be of value to you, (2) to have your music offered on sites that no one has ever heard of or even visits, and (3) to have your music played on webradio stations that no one ever visits or has heard of. Most of the songwriting contests and seminars are also total scams too. A few of them have "washed-up" artists (no disrespect meant) judging them or offering tips for success in the biz. Again, sorry for the negative attitude. Signed, One Bummed-Out Grumpy Indie Artist

by Derek at CD Baby on Monday June 14 2004 @ 12:15PM PDT [ reply | parent ] Your publicist wouldn't happen to be Rhonda Kelly from Rainmaker Publicity would it? If so read this: http://cdbaby.org/stories/04/01/25/3429170.html If it's someone else, let us know who! You're speaking anonymously anyway.

by Me on Friday June 18 2004 @ 04:20PM PDT [ reply | parent ] Bingo! It is Rhonda Kelley, guess I will start reading these postings more often, checked out your link. BUMMER.

by Eddie Wilson on Friday September 03 2004 @ 08:13AM PDT [ reply | parent ] Funny... guess who another of Rhonda's "clients" is... The Orchard. For anyone who is even considering doing busing with them, check the archives for LOTS of bad experiences, some of them which seem to have required legal action.

by david elias on Tuesday June 22 2004 @ 04:34AM PDT [ reply | parent ] Another vote of pure confidence for CD Baby and questionable to no confidence for many other sources of CD distribution! I put my first CD online with Derek at CD Baby in 1998. I have 5 discs online with them now and have nothing but a million thank you's to say about the service, support and just first class handling of everything. They even host my website for quite a few years now (since they started) through hostbaby.com -- Let me say that I probably have 100 CD's scattered around the planet in other inventory bins or dumpsters (I don't know) from other CD distributors I've tried in the past and never heard from again or never received any payment for. This includes online places as well as consignment places like Borders and Tower. One online place took a money order I mailed them to send me my inventory discs back and never sent them. They said they never got my letter! My rule of thumb used to be "more is better". I take the opposite position now and just concentrated on the best places for giving me both service and feedback on what's going on. CD Baby is the best service any musician could hope for for getting their discs out and their digital downloads represented to the new world of sources for that. CD Baby also brought me to Tower (with sales) and numerous other exposures with my approval as those opportunities come up. They never charge for this stuff. Pretty amazing. I can recommend these other sources for other types of service that I have similar EXCELLENT experience with: - BeSonic.com -- international MP3 site - get your music online here for no charge. Premium members (5 Euro/mo.) get extra features/support and better looking web pages. Great worldwide exposure and service. Almost 40,000 artists online at this point. - Oasis CD Manufacturing -- another great group of people who care intensely about music, musicians, artists and everything to do with doing a great job getting your CD package printing. Not familiar with their Artist1Stop service but have nothing but great things to say about their main business manufacturing CDs and SACDs. If you want a contact here for a project, send me an e-mail I'm not associated with any of these places other than being a happy customer. Good luck everyone, David Elias

by david elias on Tuesday June 22 2004 @ 04:40AM PDT [ reply | parent ] Ooops -- another important source of music delivery you should know about is www.wholewheatradio.org -- Check out Jim and Esther's 365 days of online radio broadcast from their cabin in Talkeetna, Alaska. You can send them a CD and they'll listen to it and probably spin it for you. Great source of indie music online for listeners and artists! Instructions on how-to get online their are linked on their home page. - David Elias

	by Simon on Wednesday June 16 2004 @ 02:37PM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	Derek, Tom Rockwell wrote--- Does anyone know of another brick and mortar distribution service like The Orchard, where they will get you listed in the book to be special ordered and make your CD available for any record store to order? I like the fact that The Orchard did this for me, but I didn't like the cost. I'm working on the new Sudden Death album and I'd like it to be available to stores, and use CD Baby for digital distribution (because they take a lower commission). But if I use The Orchard for my next CD to get it in stores they will automatically encode it and put it on line, which means I then can't have CD Baby do that. ------------------------------- Derek- I know the answer is most probably no, particularly as it might go against the purpose of the cdbaby.com site, but would there ever, at any point in the future, be the possibility of CD distribution to *internet* stores like Amazon.com, Tower records etc.etc. in the way that theorchard.com does? Although I signed up for a CD Baby account almost 2 years ago, I still haven't sent you any of my CDs as I really want them distributed through the internet stores, and only the orchard do that. However, I'm totally worried about signing up to the orchard for obvious reasons! What are the reasons for you not offering this service, and is this something that might ever work for CD baby? All the best, and the usual congratulations + derek-worshipping, Yours Simon HJ

by Derek at CD Baby on Wednesday June 16 2004 @ 04:18PM PDT [ reply | parent ] >>the possibility of CD distribution to *internet* stores like Amazon.com, Tower records etc We already get it into tower.com for you automatically - and although sometimes we think about working with Amazon, you can do that yourself, and cut out the middleman (us), here: http://www.amazon.com/advantage Now that CDnow is out of business (just points to Amazon) I think if you've got your record in CD Baby, Tower, and Amazon, you're pretty well covered. DEFINITELY no sense in sitting on your music and career for 2 YEARS waiting for this to happen! Just go make it happen!

	by Amanda Garrigues on Thursday June 17 2004 @ 10:30AM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	I know there was thread here a few months ago wanted to know if there has been any updated information on how to get in touch w/ CDSTREET for waaay overdue payments? They owe me money and all the numbers I have for contacting them are out of service.

	by Shelva on Thursday June 17 2004 @ 02:09PM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	Simon, there is a site you can check out called Artist1Stop.com. They handle your request if I understand right for a fee around $179 if you go through oasisCD.com for manufacturing or $199 if you go direct. so you could go with cdbaby for digital distribution and go with them for your other channels. they do on-demand request to brick/mortar shops as well. just a thought Shelva http://www.Shelva.com

by Shelva on Thursday June 17 2004 @ 02:09PM PDT [ reply | parent ] the direct link is http://www.Artist1Stop.com p.s. I have no affiliations with them..just a suggestion. hope it is helpful S

	by Simon on Sunday June 20 2004 @ 02:09PM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	Shelva- thank you for the link. Derek, Thank you so much for taking the time to feed back. I absolutely agree with you about Amazon, but here's the rub: ***it's not an option for me as I'm based in London UK, not North America***. It's only open to Canadian, American and Mexican residents. It would be amazing if you could have the same agreement with Amazon that you do with Tower, as it would make it all possible for 'foreigners' like me! Go on... Pleeeeease?... :) PS Don't worry, I've been planning/working for 2 years, not procrastinating! The moment my first album is ready, CD baby will have a copy! All the best, Simon HJ

	by 24hr CD Duplication on Tuesday September 14 2004 @ 09:01PM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	If you want great service for a Good Price visit http://www.24hrcdduplication.com We specialize in duplication for musician.

	by David on Thursday April 21 2005 @ 01:42PM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	I live in Portland, Oregon. I've been to the cdbaby warehouse/headquarters. I've met a lot of the faces on the website. They are great people always ready to help even if they do beg for chocolate! Derek runs a fine upstanding company and we are proud to be associated with them. We advertise them on all our gig promotion and in our press kits. They are a great resource for musicians and the best distribution company period. Thanks Derek for helping us get our stuff out there! And thanks to all the babies for their hard work and dedication. Come hear some great bluegrass music at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/puddletown ok your turn to post a comment!... *clicks the button* Shimmy Shimmy KoKo Bop!

	by PRATHAM on Friday June 17 2005 @ 05:01AM PDT [ reply | parent ]
	DEAR SIR , PLEASE SEND ME YOUR CATALOGUE & PRICELSIT & CD. MY ADDRESS : BIRJU LATHIA MIRA EXPORTS RAM KRUPA,KALAL STREET, BILKHA , 362110 ,INDIA ,GUJ. THANK YOU

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