| CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast |
 Nov. 13,
2008
Ep.38 : Pandora Radio
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| A Verbal Tour through the CD Baby office |
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A guy came to visit the CD Baby office during lunch, and asked if he could have a tour. John gave him a tour of our office, and didn't found out until the guy was leaving, that he was writing an article on us! So check out this long article for a verbal tour through CD Baby...
Baby, you're the best!
By Derrick Bang
The Davis Enterprise
Enterprise entertainment editor
http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2004/06/25/spotlight/feature%20stories/189ent.txt
It seems appropriate that a new business model emerging during the infancy of the recorded music revolution would call itself CD Baby.
But this company ain't no babe in the woods; CD Baby is the future of the music business.
I first encountered the still largely unknown outfit last autumn, while researching titles for my annual survey of new holiday jazz releases. A diligent Internet session produced a few musicians whose albums were available from an online business whose name - CD Baby - initially sounded like a joke.
I quickly learned otherwise.
After finding CD Baby's Web site, I was staggered by the sheer volume of titles available in its massive catalogue. Holiday jazz is, as you might expect, a pretty specialized niche category, and yet CD Baby kept me busy for weeks, while I sifted through hundreds of albums.
The mechanics of a visit to CD Baby will be familiar to those with experience at Amazon.com, although with a few key distinctions. Whereas Amazon.com gives 30- or 60-second examples of a few tracks from most albums, you can play several entire songs from each album at CD Baby ... which gives a far better indication of whether you'll truly enjoy it. The prices also tend to be better at CD Baby, where the average album costs between $10 and $12.
CD Baby specializes in independent, micro-label and amateur releases: all the music largely overlooked these days by the dinosaur-like major labels, and certainly ignored when it comes to radio airplay. Frustrated music fans who've grown tired of hearing the same 40 songs from the same 10 albums, on every station on the FM and AM dial, will delight in CD Baby's astonishing wealth of variety and quality.
Note that last word: quality. One must not equate "independent" with "junk." Just as many of today's most intriguing and provocative movies come from independent and foreign filmmakers, plenty of great musicians - and their music - are just waiting to be discovered by fans ill-served by major labels too concerned with finding the next Eminem or Norah Jones.
Half a dozen of the Christmas jazz albums purchased from CD Baby immediately shot to the top of my list of favorites. They're professional albums made by talented musicians and production personnel, and I'd match them - any day, any time - against what I found at Tower Records and Borders last November and December. Perhaps the only giveaway, when comparing the average indie release with something on (say) the Sony label, is that the former's CD booklet layout and art might look less polished. But that obviously doesn't affect the music, and merely reinforces the adage that one must not judge an album by its cover.
Granted, CD Baby's catalogue contains its share of trash and puerile junk by wannabe pretenders lacking the slightest ounce of talent ... but so does any conventional retail outlet. The difference is that CD Baby puts the decision fully in our hands, giving us the ability to hear enough samples to make a valid judgment, without the distraction of a bothersome - and, let's face it, largely irrelevant - mass-market advertising campaign.
CD Baby president and founder Derek Sivers, a musician to the core, identifies himself as a "hyperactive non-conformist minimalist optimist ... learning addict, social introvert, anti-social extrovert, marketing whiz, storyteller, design fanatic ... and owner of the world's longest attention span." Sivers has been a full-time musician since 1992, and he started CD Baby (you'll love this) in 1997 to sell his own album, and those of a few friends.
Sivers intended this upstart business endeavor to be a hobby; for the first year, he'd put the day's orders in his backpack and ride his bicycle down to the Post Office. But the "hobby" quickly took over his life. As CD Baby grew, and because he couldn't afford to hire a programmer, Sivers learned PHP, MySQL, Apache and OpenBSD himself, and now the technical/programming/design side of things is his favorite part.
John Steup, CD Baby's vice president and "manager of all things," identifies himself as a writer, poet, musician, carpenter, blacksmith, geo major, proud husband and dad. He loves "bad jokes and tribal beats," was raised on "classical, jazz, showtunes and The Beatles," quickly embraced "everything from Robert Johnson to the Sex Pistols to Bauhaus and beyond," and "played in crunchy heavy bands throughout the '80s."
Steup started working for Sivers part-time when CD baby had 200 artists, and now he runs the place.
CD Baby as we know it today set up shop in March 1998, and currently is located in a pair of 5,000-foot warehouses in Portland, Ore. Still a baby by most definitions, the company is the largest seller of independent CDs on the Web.
The business has doubled in size every year, and the busy gremlins in the CD Baby warehouses currently receive and process 100 new discs per day. The company employed seven people in 2000, fields a staff of 45 today, and expects to hire another 10-15 by next year ... not to mention expanding into a nearby 18,000-foot warehouse that Sivers and Steup have their eyes on.
The numbers are staggering. CD Baby handled 180 orders a month in late 1998, a number that jumped to 25,000 per month as of December 2003. More than 65,000 artists sell their albums at CD Baby, which maintains a rigorous practice of paying royalties to these clients every single week. (Put that in your corporate pipe and smoke it!)
When last I looked, the company had sold 1,027,079 CDs and paid $8.2 million to its client artists.
Steup recalled a phone call he received from one astonished singer/songwriter - as it eventually transpired, one of CD Baby's better sellers - after she received her first weekly royalty check.
"She told me it was the first time she'd ever been sent a royalty check," Steup said, "from any label."
If this truly represents the way that corporate Music America behaves - not to mention (sadly), many of the mid-sized labels - then, clearly, they all deserve to go the way of the dinosaurs they've become, gasping for air as the tar closes over their greedy heads.
Industry behemoths continue to charge $18.99 and up for an item that costs less than a buck to produce, they stiff and otherwise litigate even their highest-profile artists, and hire seven-figure attorneys to combat online music piracy ... all while CD Baby grows, thrives and threatens to bury them in the very Internet environment that Hollywood regards with such horror.
Which brings me to another example of Sivers and Steup's marketing savvy:
CD Baby digitizes every new album that comes through the door. At the moment, all this music is stored in four to six 200-gig drives in each of 40 computer towers tucked into a back corner of one warehouse. The reason is obvious: Sivers & Co. know full well that we're only a few years away from a complete overhaul of the way popular music reaches us ... and the new delivery systems will be digital.
The evidence surrounds us already: Apple has married its incredibly popular iPods with iTunes, becoming the first successful endeavor to beat music downloaders at their own game. (Ancient rules of warfare: Embrace the enemy, and you own him forever.) Satellite radio is blossoming exponentially as these words are typed, with Sirius and XM bringing commercial-free music to cars and homes across the entire country.
Music distributors able to supply digital product to such operations will have a major advantage over those who cannot ... and the former's artists are fully aware of the implications: a much wider audience for their music.
Finding CD Baby isn't easy; the twin warehouses are in an unassuming industrial neighborhood in northeast Portland, practically off the map. The buildings have no prominent signs; the only clue that you've found the right place is a largish version of the company logo, propped against one front window.
The employees are dressed casually, and many seem to be eating ... constantly. Indeed, the working environment resembles an extended pot-luck party, with everybody bringing various food items - running the gamut from healthy to un - to share with the group. The atmosphere - cheerful, lively and extremely friendly - feels very much like the largest and best independent music or book stores I've visited, such as Amoeba Records, in Berkeley; or Powell's Books, also in Portland.
And small wonder: Like Sivers and Steup, most of these people are musicians themselves. They live and breathe music, and the various warehouse departments reverberate with an ever-changing mix of tracks from the very CDs they sell. In other words, everybody at CD Baby knows the product, so if you cite half a dozen favorite albums or artists, they'll suggest half a dozen more for you to try.
The one down side is that CD Baby is strictly an Internet endeavor; the company has no store front, and publishes no catalogue. One must visit and conduct business on the Web. Steup admitted that they'd flirted with a partial catalogue for distribution at trade shows, but the concept wasn't practical; the contents were outdated before the ink was dry.
If you don't like what you get, CD Baby will issue a full refund if the disc is returned within 14 days ... no questions asked. Steup regards himself as a problem solver, and takes particular delight in defusing the most hostile customers (not that CD Baby gets many). He'll do anything - refund postage, send a few freebies by way of consolation - to transform an irate caller to a new best friend. Given how hard it is to find a live human being at most companies these days, and the indifference one encounters upon reaching one, I can well imagine that Steup's behavior induces stunned (but pleased) silence.
And yes, Steup and his staff have encountered occasional customers who, ah, take undo advantage of the return policy. Clearly they're copying and then returning the CDs, but such behavior is blindingly obvious.
"When we spot one," Steup said, "We tell 'em, 'We know what you're doing ... cut it out.'
"They always stop."
CD Baby's warehouse walls are painted in bright solid colors: yellows, reds, purples, greens. Steup's small office has room for little more than a desk and computer, on which he eagerly shares his company's impressive sales figures and growth charts.
This is one of the few businesses I've ever seen that actually understands how to properly exploit the tremendous power of computers, in terms of tracking sales operations; with a few keystrokes, Steup highlights a just-going-out-the-door sale, and shows how it impacts totals for that day, month and 2004 as a whole.
Steup makes a lively tour guide, pausing when necessary to answer questions from staffers who don't hesitate to interrupt; this is not a guy who hides behind (or abuses) his title. He reveals and explains every facet of the operation, although it's not really that complicated: CDs arrive, get catalogued and digitized, and are stored on the massive shelves that take up the bulk of the warehouse space. Orders are filled as rapidly as they arrive, the requested CDs are located easily (thanks to alphabetical/numerical coding and filing), stuffed into mailers or boxes, and collected by U.S. Postage trucks that arrive daily.
Unlike distributor operations that act as middlemen and often won't obtain product until an order is placed for it - thus lengthening the customer's wait - CD Baby has all its stock at all times, and can fill an order within hours. And does.
Artists looking to market their music couldn't be in better hands. The CD Baby "starter kit" costs a paltry one-time free of $35. The artist fills out a submission form, describing how the album should be marketed, and sends five copies of the disc. CD Baby then creates a Web page dedicated to showcasing and selling this CD. The site will include sound clips, links back to the artist or group's own Web site, reviews and all the desired text and descriptions.
This new Web site is placed into galleries and search engines at cdbaby.com, which gets more than 150,000 hits per day. CD Baby takes all credit card orders for the CD, online or through the toll-free phone number (1-800-BUY-MY-CD, for orders only), and sends an e-mail notification every time the disc is sold, to tell the artist/group who bought it. (Customers can request to remain anonymous, if desired.)
That $35 set-up fee lasts forever. CD Baby won't ever tell a band that its disc isn't selling enough. Even if the album moves at the rate of one disc per decade, CD Baby will warehouse and fill orders against the original five copies. More happily, if those five copies blast out quickly, the artist will be asked to refill the shelf (perhaps more than five at a time, depending on interest).
CD Baby takes $4 per disc sold. The artists set their own retail price.
The arrangement is nonexclusive, with no contracts to sign. CD Baby is not a record label, just a record store. The CDs need not be shrink-wrapped, and CD Baby will even accept and market a home-made CD-R, "as long as it looks good."
Fill out the form, pay $35 and send five CDs ... and Steup and his merry minions will do the rest.
Frankly, I didn't want to leave.
Although he clearly would have chatted for hours, Steup had plenty on his plate; I didn't want to abuse his hospitality. More to the point, I knew that if he released me in the stacks - as I secretly hoped might occur - weeks would pass before I emerged again.
Not wise.
So I contented myself with a CD Baby T-shirt, and the certain knowledge that, when family obligations bring me back to Portland, I'll find that Sivers' "little hobby" has grown and grown and grown again, on the mother's milk of marketing genius, shrewd business acumen and the best customer interaction one could imagine.
Heck, I'd place a new order just to get another of their droll e-mail confirmations.
http://www.davisenterprise.com/articles/2004/06/25/spotlight/feature%20stories/189ent.txt
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Sounds like the coolest place in the world! It would be nice to see some pics of this place.
Thanks for posting the article,
Peter
http://soundsichiban.com
[11th cd arriving december 2004]
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i like the article very much. almost everything he said is true,
except for his statement, "GRANTED, CDBABY HAS ITS SHARE OF
TRASH..." I think one of the great things about CD Baby is that it
always attracts the BEST in independent music. I've listened to
dozens of artists in the CD Baby catalogue and, although some
may not fit my taste, the quality is always there. Musicians who
are serious about their craft and have a product that needs to be
on the market always come to CD Baby. Those who are 'trash"
usually don't even bother.
-Alex
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Great artical Derek.
Had a feeling that most of your working staff
are musians .It would be nice to here some of their music! walter goulet
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Wow..! About time more articles come out on CDBABY! I hope that more press get hold of this article and run with it and let CDBABY a great 'Role Model' / 'Business Model' in terms of vibrant, friendly, compassionate, pleasing, outstanding, did I say friendly already? :), 'out-of-the-box-thinking', optimistic, musician-FRIENDLY, 'no-B.S', Industry-leading, people-centric, corporate culture!
The Music companies have 2 choices:
1) Ignore CDbaby growth and vitality. Not learn the positives and be obsolete themselves to be left in the wayside / as dinosaur businesses.
or
2)Learn and grow themselves to become healthy participants of the Music Revolution.
choice is theirs
Musically
Shelva
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p.s.
Congrats to (Founder Extraordinnaire)-Derek, the amazing passionate staff …John, Kristen…Plus….Jen, Tamara, Pamela, Daniel, Breanna, Sean, Rich, Alex, Sammy, Joel, Laurie, Ryan, Benjamin, Miz, Scott, Ben, Trevor, Dana, Davey, Jeff, Lindsey, Chase, Ryan J, Jamie, Freddy and all other amazing Musical people at CDBaby!
Hope you all realize that you are not just doing a ‘job’ but becoming the part of the fabric of the “Music Revolution” and going down on history as one of the driving forces of making ‘independent music’ being heard to the masses! Who said one person cannot change the world?
Kudos!
Musically
Shelva
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This arcticle really nails the feeling of being at cdbaby.
Infact, last summer, I visited, and liked the place so much
that I would visit almost weekly and help them with stuff.
Quite frankly, it was the best job I ever had, even though i
didn't get paid in money, i got more than compinsated in
fun and storys.
After meeting Derek, John, and Ben... I got the feeling that
this might be the one place in the world not run by
assholes. It was a revolation. I mean, you go in, and you
there isn't a boss, just a people helping eachother.
I think tihs is because of the musicans approach to life that
they take. Its kinda like getting together and jamm'n to the
blues. The form and structure is there, and everyone just
does their part. Freddy and me play'n the packin, Ben
whale'n on his keyboard, Ryan drum'n through the cds.
This place doesn't just sell music, it is music.
Let the music be your guide,
E Jeff Einowski
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That article gives me hope for journalism! Very well done. CD Baby is fantastic, and the only web music site that has EVER resulted in any sales of my stuff. I will be a loyal fanatic unless some day CD Baby is sold to a big conglomerate...
I'm a terrible pessimist and frankly CD Baby is just too good to last!
Best regards,
Tim S!
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just ask Derek if he's ever going to sell.. the big ones keep trying... his answer? "I'm having way to much fun to ever sell CD baby!"
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Fantastic article! Congratulations to Derek and John, and all of the wonderful staff at CD Baby. I've never enjoyed doing business with any company as much as I do with you. You've proved time and time again that doing right by your customers, your employees (who obviously love their work),and affiliated artists is a recipe for success. If I ever get out to Portland, I hope to meet you and thank you in person for all you do!
All the best,
Willie T
http://www.WillieTandDoctorX.com
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Great article! It's good to know that we have the privilege of being associated with such a great company. I'm glad I was able to get in with a growing company and great bunch of people. I hope to have a long relationship with you guys!
Blessings,
Aaron
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Great Article. But they forgot to mention me!
Oh well...maybe in the next article!
Kam
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Great article, congratulations Derek and staff! Your success is our success! I recommend CD Baby wholeheartedly to anyone who asks. Its paid for itself many times over.
All the Best,
Gregory Alan
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Wonderful, interesting, positive article! Sniff sniff, makes me proud to be a part of it!
Christina Connell
http://christinaconnell.com
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| by e
on Thursday July 01 2004 @ 02:41PM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Derek,
Now, don't go off and become some big deal
label exec and leave us little indie artists
floating in this big, cold musical ocean!!! keep
up the great work and thanks for the ray of
light.
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"Frankly, I didn't want to leave."
I kinda feel that way when I log in.
Absolutely my favorite company, or even entity, ever. I hope it never goes away. :-)
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Another vote of supreme confidence for Derek, Rich (at Hostbaby), Alex and everyone working at CD Baby to make it the best source of all it does for both musicians and listeners. I've been online here since 1998 getting my music out to the world with CD Baby's excellent assistance. Thanks and congratulations!
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I wanted to mention what a wonderful article this is. A pleasure
to read!
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Great article and down to the earth factual. The big music company execs might be close to feeling like Dick Rowe did when he sent the Beatles packing back in the early 60's. His quote: "Guitar bands are on the way out" - It's still dangerous to underestimate & be indifferent to the blunt power of independent musicians, songwriters, guitarists, entertainers and the like.
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Great article on a great company. I am just starting to use CD Baby both as a fan and on my blog/website The Rock and Roll Report and the stuff that CD Baby sells is fantastic. As I become more familiar with CD Baby it really gives me hope that rock and roll is alive and well thanks to companies like CD Baby who actually care about music. Thanks to everybody involved in the CD Baby family for making music both fun and profitable. You prove that it is possible to do both in 2004.
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Enjoyed very much the Davis Enterprise story regarding the verbal tour of the CD Baby offices and plant by Derrick Bang. Now I can better appreciate what's going on at CD Baby! Derrick's tour guides the reader not only through the offices and the warehouses, but also through the mind-set of the management and its employees. Great story!
Bobby Lee Cude
Hard Hat Records/TimessquareFantasyTheatre
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I can only hope that he is right when he says that CD Baby is the future of the music industry... Let the major labels crash and burn if that's the way they want to conduct business. Maybe they'll learn that music works best when it's not a dollar sign.
Mike Grosso
cdbaby.com/docdabolu
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Definitely a PHAT piece on CDBaby. Too many good artists out there don't know anything about CDBaby. It's the place to get good music from that cool (but unknown) band next door.
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Definetely, I would agree that CDBaby is one of the best resources available for independent artists of all genres & likenesses. I sstay informed by them on my sales, news, admirations and they will allow you to promote outside sites selling you albums as well. You really gotta luv that!
So hats off to the gentlemen behind this operation & thank you for having me.
Now come out some music. . .
www.cdbaby.com/ntense2
www.cdbaby.com/pistola
www.cdbaby.com/ntense
www.cdbaby.com/pistola2
www.cdbaby.com/hiraelites
www.cdbaby.com/jcmc
www.cdbaby.com/outlandishraw
www.cdbaby.com/outlandish
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What a sensational article. Many Kudos!! Roberta Miles
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Great article on CDBaby. I am an artist and found CDBaby to be a great way to market our cd (Nosband). I couldn't believe it when I got notification that we made a sale in Japan and in Europe! That is a great statement for the power of this marketing venue.
Bill
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Great well deserved article. I love getting emails from Derek. This is a great company and I only wish you the best. I'm proud to have the privilege to be associtated with such a wonderful group of people. Wish I lived closer so I could take a tour myself. I read the article 2 times, didn't want to miss anything.
Mike
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Great article. I am glad to hear good things are happening for a growing company such as cdbaby. This company is a blessing to unknown artist such as myself. We have an opportunity to grow with a legitmate company. What people don't know is that Derek walks around with an invisible sign on him. The sign saids (Money tree) We are able to pick lots of green from his tree, and it never stops growing more opportunities. Way to go cdbaby
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Killer article about CD Baby. I've just forwarded the article link to about 4000-5000 folks on listservs that I'm subscribed to, so Derek and folks may be over run with new artists looking to make their music available to the masses.
If we ever have the opportunity to visit the left coast with our band (and we've had some offers), we're going to figure in a few extra days in order to drop by Portland and visit the shop.
Keep up the stellar work folks
Mike Ramsey
http://www.LinvilleRidgeBand.com
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We have CD playing overseas and the radio stations were glad to get our CD . But i think cd baby can realy help people like us to get out there to the people . If they dont hear yOu they dont buy you.
Keep up the good work Derk.
Thank you.
Ron Miller and the DIXIE REX BAND
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As a broadcaster on a local community radio station, I am constantly amazed at the quantity and quality of good music out there. How sad that the vast majority of the listening public is not aware of this yet how great it is that sites like CD Baby are there to show them the way.
Here is to hoping that sites like CD baby will become the norm in the future.
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BRAZILIAN CONTEMPORARY CLASSIC MUSIC
please, listen my music named: "picture of death?!" to singer(mezzo_soprano) flute, oboe, viola, cello, piano and other. if you like it l can send all score to be played with your musician in your country. thanks, robson dos santos, brazilian composer. http://www.robsound.mus.br
08. Pictures of Death?!
......a. Dead?!
......b. Gravitating
......c. Valley of the Souls
......d. Encounter with the Creator
......e. Return
http://www.robsound.mus.br/en/discography04.htm
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WOW !
I AM VERY PROUD OF MY BABY BROTHER
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| by Ro
on Wednesday September 01 2004 @ 03:01AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Hello Cd baby is truly a great company. It provides the little guys like myself a chance to shine in an otherwise bleek situation for indies. Keep up the good work and thanks from one of the underdogs.
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Agreed, it's a great article. I'm continually amazed at all the amazing things the staff at CDBaby do for us little guys and how cheerfully they resolve problems when they only occasionally happen.
The only thing about the article that keeps haunting me, is the remark on the writer's part about how CDs only cost a dollar or so to produce. While it's true that if you buy in enough quantity, you can have a CD manufacturing house sell you CDs in nice packaging for a dollar or two, that doesn't include the cost of the equipment, the studio gear, recording, mixing and mastering costs, promotion, graphic design or any of the rest of it.
Why does this bug me so much? Because it, probably unintentionally, supports that myth that music is actually cheap and easy to make and therefore should be free (or close to free) for the listener. I agree that charging $18.99 seems a bit much and the greed of the big labels has a lot to do with the current musical landscape, but making a quality product isn't cheap or easy and even if an artist makes $6.00 back per unit on his/her album, it doesn't mean that any of that is profit after all it said and done.
This goes to a deeper problem, I guess, which is the devaluing of art in our global consumer culture. But that's a different rant.
Okay, this rant is over.
Thanks for the bandwidth,
Rhett
R-Three
http://r-three.com
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kudos to the hard-working and ever-productive Derrick. as a
musician whose default distribution strategy is "one on one and
give away the product," i find cdBaby a godsend. my sales have
rocketed to four figures (if you count the numbers after the
decimal point)! more importantly, Derrick and Baby provide an
easily-accessible, up-to-the-minute venue for my somewhat
oddball work. my hope, Derrick, is that you are a young man
with a long career ahead of you and no incipient plans to retire.
it would be too heartbreaking to have you go the way of my
dentist and my shoemaker.
yours sincerely,
christine baczewska
(the X factor)
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Way Cool, gang! If anyone reading this posting has read Malcolm Gladwell's book, "The Tipping Point", you would agree that Derek Sivers is a "Connector", a "Maven", and a "Salesman" all rolled into one. We are so fortunate to have you helping all of us, Derek... Thank you! You deserve all the accolades you receive, and that goes for each and everyone at CDBABY.
Steven Gurgevich
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Just wanted to say that I received an email from my most recent sale, the buyer lives in The Netherlands and received his CD (which he loved, I am proud to report!)in 3 days! He was shocked.
On a more serious note:
Since the "Majors" (what a term....shouldn't it include the term JERKS?)can't decide that being friendly, helpful and basically human (such as giving you some money for having allowed them to rip you off)are positive things in this dastardly world of ours where teenagers are subjected to the concept and video of decapitation, then I am happy if they remain creeps...CD BABY will be the BOSS when they are out-of-work bums who have nothing better to do than litigate slip-and-falls at the local bozomarket...and I could not be happier...we will all have a new motto:
In Derek We Trust.
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I just wondered how a person or a group gets to be featured on the front page of CDBaby.. Is it politics as usual or is it best sellers from the past or what. I love CDEBabys set up and my son has now 3 cds on this site. If you get a chance please e-mail me and let me know how to get featured on the front. Let me put in a good word for Bodega Seven Hands. Great CD.
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Very informative. I know my music is in good hands. :)
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Got to agree, CD baby took away all the scariness and feel like old friends. They do what they say they are gonna do, when they say .Been an enormous help to me.
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Congratulations on the great article (if only my band
would get press like that :-D !!!! CD Baby deserves to
be recognized. It's the business model of the 21st
century, and not just for the music industry. Your fair
and upfront exchange with artists/ clients is as well an
example to be followed.
Best,
Otoño.
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