| CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast |
 June 29,
2009
Ep.65 : Matthew Ebel - Stream your concerts to the world
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| CD Baby Music Podcasts |
 Music Discovery
 Hip Hop
 60's Pop
 Rockabilly
 Top Sellers
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| selling your MP3s directly on cdbaby.com |
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Don't you love it when you find out that something you already have can do much more than you realized?
Check this out, and hopefully you will bob your head and say, "Niiiiiiiice...." in your cool-but-impressed voice.
You know you can sell your entire album as MP3 downloads directly from your cdbaby.com page, right?
But did you also know:
* - You can set the price at whatever you want, anytime you want.
* - You get 91% of the MP3 selling price! Set it to $15? You make $13.65. Set it to $8? You make $7.28. That's way more money in your pocket than ANY other store can give you.
* - You get to know WHO bought your music immediately! Their name, email, location, and everything is permanently saved in your account so you can keep in touch with your fans. (No other store gives you this.)
* - You get paid the following week, unlike other stores that make you wait up to 2 months.
* - Not to brag, but we've sold over $600,000 in MP3 downloads in the last few months, with NO marketing or announcements at all. That already puts CD Baby ahead of Emusic, Yahoo Music, Sony Connect, Verizon, MSN Music, Snocap and every company except iTunes, Rhapsody, and Napster, as you can see here : http://cdbaby.org/stories/07/09/07/3490238.html
* - Customers buy your entire album as one zip download, which includes not just the MP3s, but also a JPG of the album art, and a text file of song titles, album notes, and links back to your websites!
* - They're regular MP3 files that play easy on ANY MP3 player your fans use, whether iPod, cellphone, Blackberry, iPhone, Nokia, Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.
* - The MP3s are encoded at top-audiophile-quality (~200k VBR), higher than iTunes or any other major store.
* - See http://cdbaby.com/mp3
Niiiiiiiice, huh?
:-)
--
Derek Sivers, CD Baby, http://cdbaby.com
the only MP3 store that really loves you
P.S. To change the selling price of your MP3 album, just go to https://members.cdbaby.com/ to log in, then click [YOUR ITEMS] up top, EDIT ALBUM INFO next to your album, and edit "Basic important album info". All changes are instant.
P.P.S. Want to see how the MP3-album-download process works, so you know what to tell your fans? Temporarily set your MP3 album price to $5, visit your own page to buy it with your credit card or PayPal account, download it to see how it works, and you'll get $4.55 on your next check, as you would with any other sale. (Your $5 sale minus our 9% cut.) So in the end that educational research project would have only cost you a whopping 45 cents. Try it!
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LONG LIVE CD BABY!! I am proud to be a fellow musician on CD Baby. Thanks for that great advice Derek! He is the man with the master plan.
-Riley from 'Vocal Vanguard'
http://cdbaby.com/cd/vocalvanguard
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Thanks for all you tasty tips!
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Love the fact that Mp3's are generating great income without any advertising, but the fact that you guys don't heavily promote it puts quite a load on the artist. While it feels great getting a couple bucks more than on iTunes. We have sold 10 times as many downloads on iTunes as we have on CDBaby. Just imagine what those numbers would be if you did promote the Mp3's a little more. Just a thought.
www.cdbaby.com/repertoire2
www.myspace.com/repertoire
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Just imagine what would happen if YOU promoted the MP3 downloads a little more. You could contribute to your own sales directly by promoting it yourself, eh?
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| by
on Wednesday November 26 2008 @ 01:11AM PST [ reply | parent ] |
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i would like to sell my mp3 on cd baby,contact me think u.
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Do we have to do anything on our part to initiate mp3 sale? such as the steps you mentioned in the p.s. or is everything in place already?
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You need to do the following things (if you haven't already):
1) sign up for digital distribution
2) complete the info in the SONG DETAIL section
3) once we "inspect" that information to make sure its accurate you'll be asked to "finalize" the info for digital distribution
4) choose the price you'd like your full-album MP3 download to sell for on cdbaby.com. To do this, go to your member account's BASIC IMPORTANT ALBUM INFO section (in the "edit menu").
That is it!
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I wonder why CD Baby haven't delivered my album to eMusic or Rhapsody after I have requested for them to send it to them on numerous occasions.
My music is played on radio stations world wide and they tell their listeners that they can find my music on cdbaby.com, iTunes, eMusic, Rhapsody, and Napster. Guest what? The listeners can't find it on eMusic or Rhapsody when they look for it there.
I just wish CD Baby wouldn't tell us that they deliver to these sites when it is clear that they do not.
I am not being hateful. I love what CD Baby has done for me. I even delivered them my new release. I just wish I hadn't told the stations airing my music that their audience could find the music on Rhapsody or eMusic.
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There are some sites, including emusic that have never had my music up, even though they were listed as have recieved my music... though most were marginal. The only ones that count are the big ones anyway...iTunes and the like, and Cdbaby of course.
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We make deliveries to Rhapsody and eMusic all the time. Rhapsody happens to be very backlogged at the moment, though, so it does take some time. eMusic generally likes to take our newest content, so if you've been with us for a while and missed out on eMusic,... just write cdbaby@cdbaby.com and request that we send it to them. You'll have to make sure your distribution level is set to 75%. Then we'll take care of it!
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How do I know what price is fair to sell my album as MP3's. IS it fair to sell for more than the normal RRP price if customer is not getting hard copy and original artwork etc.... Could you help me with advice on what to price it as? less than RRp or more than? in your opinnion?
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Are you sure that CDBaby is not sending them your album? It could
be that they did, but that eMusic and Rhapsody have simply not put
your music up.
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Yeah, I thought that also, but Chris sent me an email earlier this week and said that he would send it since I made the request for them to send it.
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GMan : sorry since I don't know your real name I don't know
which album you're referring to, but Emusic has asked us to only
send them albums from artists who have opted-in or requested
us to send them. They don't want "everything by default", so
maybe that's why it wasn't sent until you asked.
But Rhapsody, on the other hand, wants absolutely everything
from us ASAP, so maybe there was just some encoding glitch
holding back your album that wasn't noticed until you called
attention to it.
Either way, sorry for the trouble. Always just email
cdbaby@cdbaby.com for best/fastest most helpful response.
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Thanks Derek for the feedback. My album is Sounds of The G... http://cdbaby.com/cd/theg
My new project is call The Sweetness and I already have several smooth jazz radio stations requesting it even before you guys have had a chance to get it up. I pretty much would rather waiting for you all to get it up before I send it to them.
Thanks for all that you and your staff does.
The G...
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Derek,
A CDBABY mp3 widget would make this unstoppable. Any plans
for this? I would love to replace my NIMBIT player with a CDBABY
one.
http://www.iamjen.com
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Derek, you know what might also help boost MP3 downloads from CD Baby?
If customers had the ability to download individual tracks like iTunes, Napster, etc. It would give them the opportunity to purchase just the tracks that they like without having to go to other websites.
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I don't believe most fans of independent artists are just looking for
one song.
I prefer the up-sell to encouraging them to buy the entire album
with one click.
For the occasional person that just wants one song and has no
interest in any of your other music, let them go to iTunes or ANY
other download service online.
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"I don't believe most fans of independent artists are just looking for
one song. " ~ Derek
Have you ever even browsed customer downloads on eMusic? Many cust. do not download entire albums. My own mp3 buying habits have changed since I got an ipod. I get ONLY the songs I want. I never had that option before mp3's.
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Cool. Well luckily there are over 100 outlets that sell almost the
entire CD Baby catalog as single-song downloads. Many of them
are linked directly from every CD page on cdbaby.com to make it
easy for someone who wants a single song to jump there with one
click to buy it.
cdbaby.com is one store where we encourage (require) people to
buy the entire album. So far it's working wonderfully and selling
much more than most of those other places
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I agree with Derek here; there are lots of OTHER outlets for that single song download (and hey, the "song" used to be everything - before the album and LP formats existed).
But as an artist - I like the idea that someone would be willing to download all the tracks; because (hopefully) it's worth it. As a service dedicated to the artist - the Mp3 album download is great. Plus I get a little more scratch with the reasonable 9% that CD Baby takes.
I have definitely seen some MP3 downloads since this service started.
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p.s. If we were to sell single songs, we'd have to take a 30-40% cut
instead of our 9% cut, in order to pay the credit card transaction
fees of 25 cents per sale!
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$600,000 in MP3 downloads in the last few months - you got some stick with the new cdbaby post around august (not from most it must be said) - i really hope you think it was all worth it because it was certainly, and the figures don't lie... well done and thanks for all the efforts... you make it so easy for us to concentrate on the music and so easy for consumers as well...
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How can I use CDBaby for DD and not iTunes or any of the others?
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If you'd like to sell downloads ONLY on cdbaby.com, just sign up for digital distribution like normal.
But then go to the HOW MUCH DISTRIBUTION section of your account and set the distribution level to 0%.
That will allow sales on cdbaby.com, put prevent deliveries to any of our digital partners.
However, before you do this... are you sure you don't want to have us send your music to iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, Napster, etc.?? Its all included in the price of your initial setup fee.
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What are the chances that cdbaby shall provide the artists with new BUY NOW buttons i.e.
a BUY MP3 button, or a DOWNLOAD NOW button?
Those types of payment buttons would be ideal (& relevant) for an artist's myspace page etc.
Also, what are the chances that artists can sell their singles through the cdbaby mp3 service - as well as complete albums?
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here's a great deal download Darrell Deese mp3 for only 1.50 that's right one dollar and 50cents tell all your friends thanks derek "keep it rockin"
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It's fantastic being able to let listeners get both physical CDs and album downloads in one convenient place. I love it.
One thing that would put the icing on the cake for me, though, would be to have the option to upload a PDF digital booklet that would be incorporated into the ZIP file as well. I think it's a great companion piece to go with any album download to get the full experience with various photos, lyrics and liner notes all in one go. Or possibly even allow incorporating other files such as video clips, with a small monthly service fee to cover the extra storage space and bandwidth for those who opt for the "deluxe" download packages?
I know, you give us an inch and we want a mile, LOL, but CD Baby is getting closer all the time to being a complete solution for music sales, and cranking the download part of the storefront into high gear would eliminate the need to use another service for more elaborate digital album packages. Who knows, perhaps this is something you guys have already pondered for the future.
These musings aside, Derek, thank you as always for all your efforts on behalf of the indie music scene.
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Thank You so much Derek for that MP3 information, and all that you and your staff are doing to help us musians here at CDBABY !Glad to be apart of CDBABY,S future.
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Yeah - this is good!
Thanks Derek - any way we can sell these directly from our web sites?
Hmm. I see someone else has already thought of this.. no surprise there!
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I've made a suggestion for CD Baby to have their own download service over a year ago. nice to see that they're doing it now. A CD baby widget would diffinately be the next great move.
About rhapsody and Emusic, and a few of those other download music services; If you ever notice, the major labels always have their artists up in front of the line on those services. Nobody wants to say it, but there is a major label conspiracy going on in the industry to keep all the indies at bay.
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Actually, I think everybody says it all the time, that Majors would love to squash indies! As indie sales now account for almost a third of music sales, seems like they're not having much luck, thankfully. And I don't see any reason for that to change. Indies are more open to new and different business models, while the Majors' insistence on sticking with the old ways has basically sunk the music business, hurting themselves and all of us indies in the process. Corporate greed will be their karma, hopefully.
I'm pretty confident the reason Major label releases are featured on legal download sites like they are is similar to why they get most radio play, too - money, palm-greasing... payola to put it bluntly. Perhaps not outright payola on the download sites, but perhaps coercive agreements where their catalog is included in the service in return for preferred placement. Just some thoughts...
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As for the comment about single download files....if you are already set up for Digital Distribution, you most likely already have your songs on iTunes available for single download.
If you set the price at CDBaby (for downloading the entire CD) at a reasonable price, then you might actually make more money with the full-CD download. Give your fans an incentive to buy the entire CD instead of buying single downloads at iTunes..
......wouldn't you rather see $5.00 or even $10.00 instead of just .99 cents? I know I would....and, your fans will be happier because they got the CD cheaper than buying it as individual songs on iTunes....
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Derek, YOU ROCK
I distribute digitally my album exclusively with IODA, but can I opt-
in only for the in-site CDBaby mp3 download service?
thanks!
Fer
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As of now, no. I'm sorry. It's something only offered to albums
that are in our Digital Distribution service.
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Hi Fer,
With regards to IODA, you need the read the terms of your agreement.
When I was with IODA, they required you to distribute your material exclusively with them.
Also, as far as I recall, CDBaby's agreement requires you to be exclusively with them.
There is a conflict of interest between IODA and CDBaby. Either you go with one or the other.
Cheers
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| by
on Tuesday March 11 2008 @ 07:03AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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[quote]Hi Fer,
With regards to IODA, you need the read the terms of your agreement.
When I was with IODA, they required you to distribute your material exclusively with them.
Also, as far as I recall, CDBaby's agreement requires you to be exclusively with them.
There is a conflict of interest between IODA and CDBaby. Either you go with one or the other.
Cheers [quote]
Hello.
I am with CDBABY and I love it,but....
Ioda are in-fact making distribution for some Digital shops that CDBABY dont do !
just to name some: (beatspot, audiojelly, saikosounds).
This digital outlets are specialized in Electronic music but looks like cdbaby dont want to make the next step and are not looking forward for next generations.
I did a request to have my music distributed in this digital shops but was rejected by cdbaby.(
I am thinking in make direct distribution for this shops, but that will cost me extra money.(
cdbaby its a excellent place for bands, single artists,etc... but I believe they should make a review and refresh connections with more resent and well known electronic music shops.... (are they too underground for cdbaby style ?)
I think not !
This outlets are just too new, but they are taking the music of the Artists to a very large (minority) of underground music Market.
Are cdbaby think in open doors later and start to look around ? or will be - you get what you have here and thats it ?
I try to contact IODA before but I didn't like the approach and at the end ,IODA have just a few digital shops I was interested...
I wish cdbaby can have this shops too !
I Love cdbaby & cdbaby love me already.)
I am very happy with your services but looks like some music styles are left behind.
For more I can look around, cdbaby still the best place for artists.
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You care about 'stoopid' sites with names like audiojelly - come
on, get a life!
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[quote]Hi Fer,
With regards to IODA, you need the read the terms of your agreement.
When I was with IODA, they required you to distribute your material exclusively with them.
Also, as far as I recall, CDBaby's agreement requires you to be exclusively with them.
There is a conflict of interest between IODA and CDBaby. Either you go with one or the other.
Cheers [quote]
Hello.
I am with CDBABY and I love it,but....
Ioda are in-fact making distribution for some Digital shops that CDBABY dont do !
just to name some: (beatspot, audiojelly, saikosounds).
This digital outlets are specialized in Electronic music but looks like cdbaby dont want to make the next step and are not looking forward for next generations.
I did a request to have my music distributed in this digital shops but was rejected by cdbaby.(
I am thinking in make direct distribution for this shops, but that will cost me extra money.(
cdbaby its a excellent place for bands, single artists,etc... but I believe they should make a review and refresh connections with more resent and well known electronic music shops.... (are they too underground for cdbaby style ?)
I think not !
This outlets are just too new, but they are taking the music of the Artists to a very large (minority) of underground music Market.
Are cdbaby think in open doors later and start to look around ? or will be - you get what you have here and thats it ?
I try to contact IODA before but I didn't like the approach and at the end ,IODA have just a few digital shops I was interested...
I wish cdbaby can have this shops too !
I Love cdbaby & cdbaby love me already.)
I am very happy with your services but looks like some music styles are left behind.
For more I can look around, cdbaby still the best place for artists.
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hi Derek,
I'm in the same boat. I hope that you will add an option for digital distro that is "CD Baby only".
cheers,
Leigh
"I distribute digitally my album exclusively with IODA, but can I opt-in only for the in-site CDBaby mp3 download service?"
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Hey Leigh,
You actually CAN do cdbaby.com-downloads ONLY. (though, admittedly, its not the most clearly advertised feature!)
First, sign up for digital distribution.
Then set your distribution percentage to zero (in the HOW MUCH DISTRIBUTION section of your member account).
Lastly, use the "restrictions" link on that same page to let us know you do NOT want CD Baby to deliver your music to any other download sites.
That'll do it!
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As with most of the CD Baby artists, I think that the MP3 download service is a great move. I only wish I shared the same trust that Derek has in customers restraining from making copies of downloads for others.
Although there will be many customers who are honest and have respect for the CD Baby artists (to them, we are extremely grateful!) there is surely going to be a significant amount who will have no scruples about running off one or more copies for their friends.
Someone contacted me recently, asking if I would be interested in swapping MP3s by a well known CD Baby artist of which I own several CDs. I firmly pointed him in the direction of CD Baby and told him to get his hand in his pocket for once! The irony is, after possibly becoming a CD Baby customer, did he then proceed to run off some copies for free?!
As far as illegal CD copying goes, it looks as if we’re stuck with it but I think that some form of DRM on downloads could help prevent some of the loss of revenue suffered by CD Baby and its artists – every little helps. Derek thinks that DRM is disrespectful but respect is a two way thing.
I personally have no problem with a CD Baby customer copying any of my digital download purchases for their in-car entertainment, home CD player etc. but to do it for others (other than for genuine promotion) is just plain stealing.
If only we could see our sales figures in the real world along side those in a totally honest world… might not be such a good idea!
Having said all that… I think CD Baby provides a service to artists and customers which is second to none.
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Some of the most successful digital music services, Amazon and
Emusic, have no DRM at all. Just plain MP3s. And even the massive
major labels are on board.
The only way to put DRM on downloads is to use Windows Media,
which then means that download would not play on hardly any
portable devices. (No iPod, no cellphones, etc.)
So - no DRM.
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Thank god. Sure, it keeps my iTunes running smooth but I HATE that I cant' move those tracks to other devices that shouldn't be a problem (like an iDJ2 mixer, etc.).
Happy to take the burned CD hit,
Scott Woods
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Hi Chris,
Derek's definitely right with regards to keeping digital files that are sold on CDBaby free of copy protection.
Some people may copy your music but a lot more people will hear your music as well as a result of open, digital formats.
DRM formats are draconian. Who really wants to fuss with DRM on their Microsoft certified machines/software?
And think of how hard it will be in 10 years to port all these locked formats to new devices... It just doesn't make long-term sense.
Vinyl, CD, and Cassettes were/are all open formats. Granted there was less piracy back in those days, but music is really about sharing soul energy and connecting people... Somehow we have to find another solution to this issue.
Cheers
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If you read my last posting again, you’ll see that I’ve used the words “some form of DRM”. After all, DRM is a general term.
I agree that making song files which will only play on certain players is way over the top. I’m talking about some way of restricting the amount of copies which can be made. I don’t think that would be unreasonable, seeing as the purchaser only has to pay for it once in the first place.
Because so many people in the music business (the ones who stand to lose!) are speaking out against copyright restrictions, there is becoming more and more a “free rein” attitude from some of the "buying" public. In fact it is now at the stage where some aren’t even paying in the first place – using software which converts streams into something you can save onto your PC as MP3 etc.
I’m sure that there are many artist who just aren’t making the living they should (or aren’t making it pay at all!) due to illegal copying. I can only see that situation becoming worse due to lack of restriction.
To cut to the chase... I personally would be happy if only the respectful, paying public got to hear my music and the thieves were excluded.
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How exactly do you propose to do that? If you create some new file type that can only be copied X times, how would this file type be playable on all existing players? DRM is DRM and it's never a good idea.
Are people that record off the radio thieves?
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I don't propose to do anything but express my views - I'm a musician not a software programmer.
Taking into account all the amazing things that are being done with technology these days, don't you think it would be possible for someone to come up with some kind of multi-format copying restriction?
With regard to recording from the radio - if someone is taking something for free which by rights they should be paying for, then that looks pretty close to the definition of the word "theft" to me.
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| by
on Monday March 10 2008 @ 11:26AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Get us on Pandora --- please!!!
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Pandora also doesn't add every record submitted to the Music Genome database, either. They're selective.
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I have to agree with derek about the mp3 deal cause simply it allows me to sell my music for less than what i have to charge for the cd's.But i have to say i myself do not buy cd's anymore i just listen for the song's i like and goto itunes and buy them there.And as far as making copy's for your friend's i guess that's just something we going to have too live with.I myself wish there was a way stop it but there is not.Thanks derek keep up the great work...
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Hello,
I'm a member of cdbaby. I do have a couple of cd for sale on your web.
There are a couple of things that I want to know.
1. I don't understand how to put my music on mp3.
2. My music is listed as "ZYDECO" and I don't see it on your music program. It is on the grammy chart.
Thanks
JRobinson
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Derek,
This is amazing, and thank you for sharing those amazing statistics of mp3 $$ so far.
Even on Amazon, which I'm sure has a huge team of engineers working on the functionality of the site, only just got the MP3s integrated with the physical CDs, and it's not really from the same page. It has a link at the bottom of the CD sale page to Amazonmp3 like in this example
http://www.amazon.com/True-Reflections-Piano-Steven-Cravis/dp/B00011HEX4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1205255946&sr=1-1
On CDbaby it's more integrated on the same site (of course/ all through CDbaby...) and better over all cut to the artist for both physical CDs and mp3 downloads! :-)
-Steven
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| by GP
on Wednesday March 12 2008 @ 11:34AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Where are email addresses stored for CDBaby downloads? I have searched the site but can't find this info...
* - You get to know WHO bought your music immediately! Their name, email, location, and everything is permanently saved in your account so you can keep in touch with your fans. (No other store gives you this.)
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Listed in with your customers with sales. Both CD-sales and MP3-
sales are together.
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Here's the easiest way:
https://members.cdbaby.com/login
Once logged in, click the "Accounting" tab at the top and select $ Sold for your album title. *The digital distribution shows info from our digital partners, MP3 downloads off cdbaby.com are mixed in with your "Album Sales."
Scroll through the sales info, you'll see MP3 instead of the quantity in the order.
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I did a MP3 sale advertisement on my page and it seems to be working. People in foreign countries are down-loading the MP3 because they get the album at a reasonable price and they don't have to pay shipping and handling. Check out the ad and try it out. You might get some extra MP3 sells. Thanks Derek.
Here's the link to get an idea on how to word your MP3 sale.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/theg
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what about the unpaid paypal royalties from nearly two weeks ago.
when is this going to be resolved.
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? everything is paid. if you have a problem with accounting
specifics, please email the details to money@cdbaby.com - not
posting anonymously on a bulletin board about a different subject.
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What is the minimum price that digital downloads can be set to? Can I set the download price to $1.00?
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You can do whatever the system lets you do. :-) Go in and change
your price to whatever you want. You'll see.
If our system lets you do it, you can do it.
If we need to set a minimum price some day, we'll build it into the
system.
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Hey Derek.. i'm not sure if this has been answered already, but how
long does it usually take to send things over to itunes and stuff,
and do get the digital submissions "inspected" over here at cd
baby?
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Assuming you have all the correct composer/publisher info completed in your member account's SONG DETAILS section then it generally takes us about a week to encode and inspect your music (from the time we receive the CD). Then we can begin deliveries the following week. iTunes is usually amongst the first batch of deliveries and they've been extremely quick posting content recently (as little as 5 days!). But to be safe, we usually tell people 1-3 weeks.
Many of our other download partners are not as speedy, and it can take 1-4 months for the rest of the stores to receive and post new albums.
Hop that helps.
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If it costs $0.25 for the credit card fee (does it really cost this
much?) then CDBaby probably can't afford to take only $0.09 for a
$1 download without losing money.
Maybe CDBaby will need to implement a fee structure like this:
%9 (with a minimum of $0.xx per transaction).
This would allow musicians to price their albums to whatever they
want without bankrupting CDBaby.
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Thanks Derek for that information on the pricing of our mp3,s It,s nice to be able to give a One day or a few days special like a couple of CD,S for only a dollar.Thanks again for that.
http://cdbaby.com/all/walt
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I found this out by accident looking at my site on cdbaby some time ago (before you informed us). It is really great and I figure nothing but "gravy". MP3's are the future. Thank-you CDBABY for your help. You people are great. Even "old people" can sell cd's and mp3's.
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Thanks Derek!
Yeah, yeah, I know that 9000 listens/downloads is probably no big deal in the scope of those who have sold tons on CDBaby, but as a composer and performer of gospel music, knowing that Derek and CDBaby has allowed this music to be downloaded in other countries is really moving to me personally. Knowing somewhere across the planet, someone purchased a song I wrote because it touched something in them. THANKS!!!! CDBABY ROCKS MY FACE OFF!!!!
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I am quite excited about this. As someone who has always spent
considerable thought on the track sequence I am very grateful to
have a site that sells the entire album for one low price, and that I
can use one simple link to send people to my whole catalogue on
CD and mp3.
Now, let's just hope the fans feel the same way!
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I came across an indie label site the othe day which allowed to you to purchase a physical CD, and get the tracks in downloadable form NOW (for instant gratification) and the full quality physical CD mailed to you.
For one price, in one transaction. I wish CD Baby would let me offer that to my customers.
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The CD Baby mp3 version of our CD ( "PASSAGE" http://cdbaby.com/cd/dreamstate2 ) now states: "We're sorry, but MP3 downloads are not available in your region." I checked a few other artists' pages, including American and Canadian ones and it's the same. I live in Canada. What's up?
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mine too... (england) and i've already had sales in mp3 format... what's up???
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I'm UK based and on our album pages it states 'We're sorry, but MP3 downloads are not available in your region. ??????
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I know that in two of my previous postings I called for some form of restriction on downloads to help prevent piracy... but I really didn't think it would go this far!
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The CD Baby mp3 version of our CD ( "Come with us" http://
cdbaby.com/cd/venusflytrap ) now states: "We're sorry, but MP3
downloads are not available in your region." . I live in Holland.
I see a similar message in a bulletin board here
http://africambiance.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=49370
dated Thu Mar 27, 2008
What's up?
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from my e-mail: a reply from CDBaby (fast as ever :-) )
>For legal reasons, we recently stopped selling MP3 downloads
>to customers outside of the United States.
>Selling MP3s outside of the US would require CD Baby to
>negotiate with many, many collection societies and pay
>royalties on behalf of our Artists. We just don't have the
>people-power to do this across the globe.
>I am really sorry if this is a disappointment to you but we need
>to be in compliance with International regulations.
obviously, I would have liked to be warned upfront. but
apparently, this has been changed last week...
*-pike
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No, I must admit that this is a new one to me...
I've always associated royalty collection with the actual commercial useage of an artist's music - cover versions, radio airplay, public broadcasting and the like.
I can't see how digital distribution and the physical CD sales would differ regarding the collection of royalties if this is the case.
With regard to many of the CD Baby artists who are completely independent, ie. not affiliated with any record company or publisher etc. - there may not be any royalties to collect anyway. If anyone is collecting for me, then I'd like to know who's getting a cut of the money - because I'm certainly not!
Would it be possible to have an opt-in/opt-out scheme for mp3 downloads or has the law made it too complex to implement?
For some of the artists who do have publishing deals, their music is already being broadcast as two minute samples - should they be paid royalties on that then?
I have to agree that the "not available" message looks bad, although I noticed that the word
"region" has been used instead of "country". I presume that is what it actually means but "country" would have looked even worse!
To me, CD Baby have always been so flawless and accurate in everything they've done. Anything they do which falls short of excellence will surely stand out like a sore thumb!
Let's hope a solution will turn up in the future.
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With all due respect...
Firstly, why go through the process of the grand announcement, followed by the artist updating the details, agreeing the price and the process, have the changes published, only to subsequently be told "We're sorry, but..."?(Not informed by email, but finding out by visiting one's site).
Secondly, how is it that the myriad other companies (Napster, iTunes etc. etc.) are able to provide this service globally whilst CD Baby isn't?
Lastly, why leave a negative comment on a band's CD Baby home page ("We're sorry, but..."). Wouldn't it be preferable just to leave the message off entirely, as it's something that's not available (if you are based outside of the USA, presumably)?
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also just noticed the "mp3s not available in your region"... this
after spending lots of times directing them to CDbaby and not
iTunes anymore.
re: collection societies being the reason, (which i'd like to hear
more about--what are the topics that need to be negotiated
w/the societies? specifically? sales reporting? royalties--cdbaby
doesn't stream full songs so it can't be that? How does the int'l
sale of hardcopy CDs differ from digital vis a vis collection
societies? What terms were 'negotiated' with US collection
societies? etc
SOLUTION: is it possible to have a legal "Opt out of collection
society regulations re: international mp3 sales from CDbaby"
clause that will okay the int'l sales?
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I agree with brian brooks about the tone of the statement.
please don't say 'we're sorry, but ...' on our page. somewhere at
cdbaby there's a texteditor that makes me smile each day, let
him/her work on it.
secondly, i'm still very curious what actually happened last
weeks. was there an immediate threat ? you don't have to name
names ... i'm just curious. for history's sake. because, how long
will it take before itunes et al stop mp3 downloads outside of
the US ?
and lastly, i think you should change the opening text on *this*
page, along with some other pages. it should say
"You know you - being a US citizen - can sell your entire album
as MP3 downloads directly from your cdbaby.com page, right?"
*-pike
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But, yes! We have no bananas!!
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Hello,
I am visually impaired, living outside US. I use Jaws (screen reader) to read web pages. I like buying mp3 from Cdbaby.com as the website is very very accessible, simple and powerful. Compare to Itune, payplay, mp3.com or others mp3 website, Cdbaby.com is the best and I can find my favourite cds in a minute.
I feel really disappointed when Jaws fread something like "We're sorry, but MP3 downloads are not available in your region.
"
I like buying mp3 because I can get it quickly after paying. For physical cds, I need to wait for 14 days. Too slow, I think.
I really hope Cdbaby should stand strongly and fight against the unfair rule/policy/law. You do the best thing. Be confident. All Cdbaby customers fully support you otherwise they will notbuy something from you.
I hope the sentence "We're sorry, but MP3 downloads are not available in your region.
" will disappear. I am afraid that for those mp3 lovers, they will listn demo on Cdbaby.com and then buy mp3 from others websites. How terrible! Perhaps, you should think about it deeply.
Regards,
Sam
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I was a very satisfied Australian CDBaby user -- one of my
favourite things to do is to lie in bed at night and find new
Australian music to enjoy. I loved using CDBaby because I knew
the artists were getting a fair share of the profits, and your
bare-bones MP3s are exactly what I need to play on my system.
So it was a rude shock to check out the website tonight only to
be told: "We're sorry, but MP3 downloads are not available in
your region."
I can't imagine the legal issues that prohibit digital distribution
of media while allowing physical CD distribution; and I am
extremely disappointed that CDBaby has decided to limit digital
distribution of their media.
To me, CDs are a dead format. I don't like the physical
petrochemical waste of their production and distribution. Nor do
I have room in my life for the extra clutter of thousands of
physical disks. Nor, frankly, do I have the patience to wait the
weeks it takes to physically ship a CD to Australia.
While I heartily prefer CDBaby's transparent accounting and
bare-bones MP3s, all my buying will be through iTunes until
CDBaby resumes international digital distribution.
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TO ALL MP3 FANS WORLDWIDE :
You are absolutely right about the lame decision to disable MP3
purchasing outside the U.S.
I was not aware of the decision inside my company to disable
international MP3 purchasing, and I completely disagree with it.
So, I have re-enabled it on the site as of today (April 5, 2008).
Please understand that the international copyright licensing laws
are freakishly complex, which is why some very well-meaning
people both inside and outside CD Baby advised us to stop
selling MP3s outside the U.S.
But I strongly believe that the market needs this ability and so
we will do whatever we practically can to reimburse the various
publishing/rights organizations needed.
Very sorry for the trouble! Please resume your effortless MP3
listening and buying.
:-)
Signed,
Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
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Derek - You've got spunk! Thanks.
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Great decision! Many thanks for your speedy response.
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| by
on Tuesday April 08 2008 @ 03:25PM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Derek, on the other hand, I hope that you will not really sell
everything "worldwide" and will disallow any attempted
purchases from countries that are excluded in the restrictions
area for a particular release. This is important for non-US
artists, because it's very hard to legally sell downloads for which
one does not own full publishing rights through retailers in the
USA if one is based anywhere else in the world.
For some of us it's just not worth the expense and unbelievable
hassle involved to obtain a US compulsory licence with all the
required statements, international postage, accountants, etc.,
and publishers will tend to tell anyone small-time to get lost, so
some material cannot be legally sold (digitally) to customers in
the USA because the publishing royalties would not be paid.
Anywhere else in the world (that I'm aware of), the publishing
royalties are paid by the retailer for digital downloads.
To sell imported downloads in the US without a licence would be
illegal and might get people in serious trouble with publishers
and/or the law, and the copyright holders would not be properly
compensated. Please bear this important issue in mind whilst
adopting a cavalier approach to international copyright law.
Thanks.
P.S. I sure wish CD Baby would set itself up as an agent to obtain
licences from HFA for non-US artists and labels. That would be
fantastic! Nobody else seems to be doing it...
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Thanks for re-enabling worldwide MP3 sales.
It only seems right to me. We have cover songs on our compilation album, Thinking About Bob Dylan, and while it is licensed for sale on in the USA and it's territories, we view all sales made by CD Baby as USA sales and we pay royalties on those sales, so I see no problem.
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dear Derek,
You did a great job. We all welcome and support your decision. I will order some cds (mp3s) very soon.
Cdbaby is still the best cds and mp3 selling website in my mind.
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Hi Derek,
I'm very glad that you've decided to re-enable mp3 downloads and I hope this will remain the case. This is the only time so far that I've been disappointed in cdbaby- like others I went to the trouble of sending all fans to cdbaby to get mp3s only to discover that the link has been removed! (I recieved the same mail quoted earlier when I asked about it- quite disappointing...) For anyone complaining that they have been re-enabled- surely the easy solution is for the artist to assert that they own all rights to the release? I personally don't understand why mp3s would be any different from cds in this regard anyway. Anyway, the direct mp3 option is THE BEST digital download option for artists that I'm aware of so I hope the link stays!
Cheers,
Alastair
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| by
on Thursday April 10 2008 @ 01:38PM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Hey Alastair, you were apparently responding to my comment
above. Just wanted to clarify I was not at all suggesting re-
disabling downloads entirely, only making sure they are being
sold to countries they can legally be sold to by allowing the
LABEL complete control over where the downloads can be sold,
if such control is needed. This may be the case already, but
nobody has yet confirmed it...can't check it myself since I'm not
in one of the countries I have disallowed sales to.
Digital downloads ARE very different legally from CDs, and there
are real problems with selling them internationally. It's a total
pain in fact.
And, yes, as someone else says below it would be a wonderful
topic for another thread--I tried to start one, but it never
showed up. :(
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Greetings Derek,
I realized that my cd hasn't being digitalized and sent out, just
checking why is it taking so long?
The message below is what's being posted on the digital status.
Thanks!
"This album has just been approved and inspected for digital
delivery, and should be sent to our partner companies soon. As
of this moment it hasn't been sent anywhere yet, though."
Check back here in a week and you should see a growing list of
companies it has been delivered to.
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Derek,
I humbly bow. One Brave Decision. You just made my day.
Just how freakishly complex international copyright licensing
laws are might be an interesting topic here on the forum, in
another thread ? I guess it's a quickly moving market, and you're
making history, in a sense ..
Thanks!
*-pike
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Hi Derek,
The copyright law in US are very strict and cruel.
Maybe you may set up a server ouside US and even register your company in foreign country.
Sam
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| by
on Saturday April 19 2008 @ 09:16AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Hey Derek,
What about a CDbaby portable CD wiget code
to put up on our other web sites. This wiget
would stream songs/sell CD's and more
importantly spread the word about CDbaby using the viral method.
whada-u-tink
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When is the new Mp3 Player coming out of CDBaby.com Derek? Will it have an automatic EQ within it, somewhat similar to the versitle Music iPod offered at: http://garageband.com ?????
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Great Decision!
despite all the legal and somehow still unclear issues.
In the 3rd millenium everything is going digital and "globalized". There will be MANY new legal "guiding lines" to follow, and it might be worth start thinking now about
a) De-centralizig (opening up legally in Europe/Asia etc [just URL & Digital processes (servers/up &downloads)])
(you might even find some tax benefit for yourself)
b) Widgets as suggested picking up the relevant/legal server from which download
All the best with your next Company Growth!
:-)
your next musician to sign up! :-)
ZM
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I love cdbaby....I have made lots of money from digital downloads...
www.cdbaby.com/all/liltony
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why do you let people hear most of the songs before they buy them. sum songs are short and they hear the whole song for free. even can download for free??????????????????
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Dear Indie Colleagues,
When you google the name bob rowley,
you head straight to the land of the holy.
Try this new way to drive your fans crazy,
"download all your free samples on sweet cdbaby".
Go look & see, don't be lazy.
Check out what I'm doing
to market my music: http://cdbaby.com/all/bobrowley
Let's work this thing together, come and join me on: http://www.myspace.com/bobrowley
Cheerio,
Bob
PS. Let us not forget our three commandments from His Grace the blessed St. Derek:
1. Hear it?
2. Like it!
3. Buy it...
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Sold our first MP3 album last week! Its a great service you provide!
We love CD Baby. It was an easy choice over tunecore. We'll be sending our next album in to you later this year!
love,
Astral Travel
www.cdbaby.com/cd/AstralTravel
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I love that CDBaby is selling my record in this manner. My digital sales all around have far outstripped actual CD sales and I couldn't be more pleased about it.
I have a fairly inocuous question, and please understand I don't have a problem with this; I'm just curious:
Why aren't CDBaby MP3 sales listed on a member's "Accounting" page with the rest of their digital sales?
Again: just curious. Is it simply easier to keep it under CD sales because it's an in-house sale regardless?
Again, thanks so much for everything. I love this company through and through.
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DRM - it tells the buyer you just don't trust them. There are ways
to get around it too - and most people who would want to do that
know how to. I'd rather people get my music without restriction -
and if buyers want to give a copy to a friend, I see that as a
sideways compliment - great that they like it that much, but I'd
appreciate the $$. Ah well, you can't have everything. I also think
some people might get around the DRM and copy the music "just
because its there" and without it, they might be more inclined to
buy. Just my opinion.
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I like the whole cd-baby thing is going but i hope that the right people as an any A&R's of that sort to recognize my music.
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Get A&R's to look forward to my album
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I have just complete a 4 CD series,4Cds and a 2 series.
1.4 Series Title: The John Reese Music Based Learning System.CD1, Musical Fun Just For Kids,
CD2,I'm So Glad About Me, CD3,Rap Is Here To Stay, CD4 Do The Pork Chop. I have been Selling the series for $40.00.May I send you a 4Cd series, so you can see what I am doing.
2.The 2 CD Series Title: The Blast Avenue Time Tables from 1 through 12. kid love the Time Tables.
3. DVD The Blast Avenue Time Tables from 1 through 6.Please let me know if this is to much to send, I just need to know what to DO!
Blessing John
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The mp3 sales are not going anywhere at cdbaby.
The whole site needs to be reworked into web 2.0 style. Static website with search does not drive enough traffic today.
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will email you more tune for digital service
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Thanks for the opportunity;
CD BABY
**"changing directions"**
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Does anyone out there have any suggetions on how to get our music noticed.
We have our CD for sale here and several sites but I'm having a hard time promoting it.
I've added links to all our sites and even droped our price to $5 and still no lift???
If anyone out there has any suggestions your help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Gayle Gardner
http://cdbaby.com/cd/gfwind
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I'm not sure about the stats on this from cdbaby, but I'm not
convinced being in the five buck bin makes your album more
desirable to listeners. As a matter of fact, I have noticed a
distinct difference in the quality of cds that artists sell for a
standard price and those in the bin. I'd raise your price, and then
spend a little on promotions on other internet sites where ads
are possible.
Some friends of mine have targeted promos on sites like
garageband.com and say that they get cd sales because of it.
Also get in discussions on chat rooms. Great job on all those
radio outlets. That can't hurt! Good Luck!
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yes all of this advice is wonderful Thank you CDBABY for giving me
the time and chance to spread my music!
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Wow! i love what cd baby offers, me as a artist, i put hard work, and a lot of time, effort, & love into my music. i give it my heart, everything. i love when fans buy the whole album. i dont believe in album fillers, i treat every song like its my last. singles are great too. but all fans are different, and they love different songs for all specific reason,& moods there in. so if you get the whole album, you dont miss that special song, that wins your heart at the moment. peace ghost black
http://cdbaby.com/cd/ghostblacksandy
www.itunes.com/ghostblack305
www.reverbnation.com/ghostblack305
www.myspace.com/ghostblack305
i want all fans, friends, artist, all music lovers, of all music, & every genre. i'll listen & network with everyone on the planet. i love this. peace, much success in your career
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I already have digital distribution to iTunes and Amazon etc through another company. Can I still opt in to having my songs available for download on my CD Baby page? How do I do this without having my songs released to iTunes and other companies twice?
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| NOTE: If you need a reply you should email CD Baby directly instead of posting here. We don't often read old message board postings, and have no way of replying to them!
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