| CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast |
 Nov. 13,
2008
Ep.38 : Pandora Radio
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| Sell More Music Through CD Baby |
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| posted by Tony Van Veen on Tuesday September 23 2008 @ 11:03AM PDT |
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You may have already heard that Derek Sivers recently handed over the reins of CD Baby. (If this is news to you,
you can read the announcement on Derek's blog.)
As you can probably imagine, we've gotten plenty of questions about what's going to happen next with CD Baby, and whether it'll change. I promise you that CD Baby's philosophy of "artists first" will NEVER change. Click here to see my post on the CD Baby forum with my pledge to CD Baby artists.
Rest assured, the same friendly, capable CD Baby crew remains in place, working as hard as ever to help you sell as many CDs and downloads as possible. Here's how we intend to make this happen:
- We'll focus on getting CD Baby titles in front of more buyers by working with iTunes, Amazon, and other retailers, as well as less traditional music channels, like MySpace, to promote CD Baby content and make it more prominently available.
- We will make it easier for artists to sell their CD Baby titles, through easy-to-use links and widgets that can be dropped into any web page, single song downloads on cdbaby.com, and more.
- We strive to make the cdbaby.com store the premier new music discovery destination on the web, with "best of" lists, staff recommendations, and other features that encourage music buyers to stay and browse.
In fact, we've already made a couple of changes I think you'll like:
SELL MORE MUSIC (EASILY) WITH OUR "BUY NOW" BUTTON
Check out our new and improved “Buy Now” buttons which direct fans right to your CD Baby page, making it incredibly easy for you to sell more CDs and downloads. It is so easy to add a button to your web site, MySpace page, or any other web page that allows visitors to click and buy your album. These buttons come in a variety of styles, including a small thumbnail of your album art! Go http://cdbaby.com/link, start adding these links, and sell more music!
Here's a tip: Put your fan network to work by emailing your fans and asking them to go to http://cdbaby.com/link and add the link to their web pages and blogs. The more people recommend your music, the more music you'll sell (and we all know that personal recommendations are the strongest sales drivers there are).
ALBUM DOWNLOADS NOW SELL FOR $9.99!
As of yesterday we've changed all album download prices to $9.99. The old system, where the download cost as much as your CD, was too expensive for fans, and it made CD Baby uncompetitive with sites like iTunes. We think this will increase your download sales. However, you can always change your download price to any price you want. Click here to log in and change it.
So go ahead, sell more music. Thank you for your support of CD Baby, and I look forward to doing great things - together.
Sincerely,
Tony van Veen
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Tony,
I love the new product links. Is there any way to provide whole catalog HTML links/widgets?
I have numerous sites where I'd love to post my whole catalog and save time from posting 10 different bits of code.
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At present, there's no way to do it. Functionally, one widget with multiple titles will work the same way as multiple widgets with one title. It still gives site visitors the option to buy any one of your titles. The main difference is that for 10 titles you'll have to drop 10 bits of html code into each site, instead of one bit. So, for now you'll have to use that elbow grease...
It's an interesting suggestion, and as we develop more fully functional widgets it's something we'll consider implementing.
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Do you have an update on the accounting software upgrade? Thanks.
-Dave
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new widget: the link goes to cdbaby record page.
why not link to the group/gallery like: http://cdbaby.com/group/base. its also just one page. could help until someone finds a better way.
greetings Wolfgang
(base records)
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Awesome buy now buttons! too cute!
-Sheba
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Peace, what's good...thanx for informing me on all tha new strategies you guys are doing to sell my CD's...Im still amazed by seeing my work digitally distributed...When I first started this music stuff (aside from me being well known Illustrator)...I kinda started to get frustrated from recording material and not getting tha right resources for exposure...so it's good to see tha ball rollin....I still got work to do, but it's nice to know Im getting more and more exposure for my art....thanx again guys......PEACE.
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Hey Tony, and congrats as the new CD Baby Boss! I like the widgets and will be using them on melindagospel.com.
Question, will disc makers make special provision for CDBabys to use their studio to not only master, but also record material at discount rates? If so thanks in advance.
Terrell
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Hey Tony,
Thank you for taking the time to ease some concerns. I do have
one really big request. I know competitors are starting to offer
weekly trending sales reports from iTunes. Will CDBaby be offering
anything like that? We need to be able to view iTunes sales sooner
than 6 weeks after the fact! Please make this a priority!
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LOVE LOVE LOVE the new buttons!!! Fabulous :-D
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Tony,
Thanks for the news and for the terrific way that you are maintaining and building upon what Derek started. I am curious whether CDBaby might consider finding a way to also sell other forms of band merchandise. My band has a terrific t-shirt, plus we sell egg shakers and stickers at shows. Is there a way that other forms of merch could be sold via CDBaby?
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We'd like to add other products like merch, and maybe posters, books, and other items. It'll require some reorganization in our warehouse and changes to the software code, so it'll be sometime next year. I'll be sure to let you know (along with everyone else on CD Baby).
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I'm glad things are continuing at CD Baby much as Derek started them, but it's hard to continue an idea without the idea man. No offense, Tony -- but Derek wouldn't have ever sent out an email from email@cdbaby.messages4.com. That's a cultural thing that's hard to transfer. So, I'm glad we'll be selling more CDs. Gonna miss ol' Derek though.
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I hear you, Desemac. As much as it pains me to do this, I feel we had no other choice. Let me tell you how we came to this decision.
On August 4th, the first day I was at CD Baby, I had asked members of the team to send me some emails with suggestions. By 2 p.m. I thought it strange that I had gotten zero suggestion emails. By 4 p.m I still had gotten none. I investigated, and it turned out that the in-house email server was still busy sending out Derek's mass email from Friday the 1st, and all the internal emails by CD Baby folks were stuck in queue behind the mass email! So, all the emails the customer service team had been happily sending to clients all day had never gotten delivered.
Clearly, the old mail server didn't have the capacity to manage large bulk emails. Yet, one of the ways I want to add value for CD Baby artists is to let you know when there's new developments that will help you sell more product. Therefore, mass emails will be happening from time to time. The quickest way to do that was to go to a 3rd party email provider that could accommodate us immediately for our mass emailings.
So, when faced with the choice of "cute email handle with poor customer service" vs. "slightly less personal email handle and uninterrupted great customer service" we opted for the minor compromise of the latter. I ain't thrilled about it, but my customer service team is...
Thanks for noticing.
Oh, and I'd like to think I've had the occasional good idea myself. :)
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Hi tony,
I think your ideas about making cdbaby downloading competitive
pricing with other major companies is a great one. I have hired
Discmakers to manufacture my CDS in the past. I have a question-
how long do you think that selling the physical CDS is going to
last? I teach flute at Cal State University in Sacramento, and all the
students download their music. I still prefer CDs but I am of a
different generation.
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That's the (multi)million dollar question I keep asking myself.
Ivin Ballen, the original founder of Disc Makers 62 years ago, had a theory that a product (or format) takes as long to decline as it did to grow. The growth and decline trajectory forms a perfect bell curve. That would mean (if he's right) that CDs took 25 year to reach their apex, and will take another 25 years to die completely. (Well, we're a solid 3-5 years into the decline already.)
For independent artists, CDs are still growing, believe it or not. Independents typically can't get traditional distribution, radio airplay, promotion, or retail placement. They rely on gig sales for their music revenues, and gig sales = CDs.
Even if CDs start declining for independent artists in the next 3-5 years, they'll still be a big part of the overall sales mix. And, they'll decline gradually. They won't die out instantly. A CD is still a remarkably cost-efficient way to distribute content.
So, back to your point. Sure, all your students download music. My kids, in their early teens, do too. And so do I (though I buy CDs too.) However, think about how we find out about new music. Much of it is discovered in clubs and at concerts. And when you're there, a CD is a great medium (dare I say the greatest?) to take home some of that cool new music you just heard.
So, yes, CDs will begin declining gradually. But they'll be around for another 10 to 20 years.
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I completely agree with you. The one thing we love about CD Baby is its personal, intimate feeling. Obviously Tony has to handle a mass mailing, but there are ways to use some makeup on it... specially I would really love if you guys keep all email as "text only", as HTML feels too corporate...
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Great news on the updates with CD Baby.....
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Hello Tony, this is just to wish you all the very best of luck with your acquisition of CDBaby & long may it prosper in the best indie tradition!
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Thanks for the update, Tony.
Best of luck with this new transition.
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Tony - it all sounds very promising. i long ago changed my mp3 download price to $10 to make it iTunes competitive. with this across the board change to $9.99 for mp3 albums, and the coming availability of single song downloads, will CD Baby's well-deserved cut on those digital items remain at 9%?
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This is a tough one, Deirdre. I know everyone's watching like a hawk to see when prices are going to change. My hope is to keep the current rate structure the same as much as possible.
However, I'm a straight shooter, so I'm not going to lie about this: for single song downloads the credit card processing fee alone is greater than 9%. So, in order for us to do single song downloads something's gotta give. It's one reason why we so far only offer album downloads.
We haven't resolved this matter yet, and the whole team here is jazzed about new features we're working on, including single song downloads, the ability to do free promo downloads, and download cards for gig sales. These will all take some time to implement, and I promise that we'll strike a deal that's fair - to both the artist and to CD Baby.
Stay tuned...
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It's always refreshing to see how CDbaby retains its personal touch,by mailing each musician individually,
informing them of updates, and always new ideas, angles to help us sell more music.
Well done, cdbaby.
Tom Acton
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Tony
It is nice to see that Cd Baby is in good hands. I trusted my first
solo album China Ranch to Disc Makers not only for duplication
but mastering as well and you knocked it out of the
park...seriously.
Looking forward to working with you again.
All the best
Frank Briggs
http://frankbriggs.com
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one more thing - the new buy now buttons TOTALLY ROCK!
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Great & Good Luck Tony Van Veen,...
Content, not image, & a level playing field.
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"About MP3 downloads at CD Baby"
Why no single song-purchase?
This is not a hit-song store. No corporate filler-tracks. These artists poured their life (and personal bank accounts) into every song on that album, and you're going to love it.
I may not be corporate, filler tracks? Who's to judge.
Anyway it's stupid you can't buy single songs.
Change it now, you're going to eventually.
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See my post a bit higher up about single song downloads. We're going to do it, we're just working on HOW we're going to do it.
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| by
on Thursday September 25 2008 @ 04:52PM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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I don't want single song downloads. Really liked CD Baby's original
stance on this matter! I know some people want it, but please make
it optional!
Would opt for album only on all the services if it were possible. If I
am selling an album it is an album, not several singles that just
happen to be on a CD. It is a complete work of art.
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I believe the plan is to give artists the option to choose between single song downloads, or full album downloads. I've always
liked that we had the album only option, and we have many people selling through us where it makes sense to have an album
only option(Audiobooks and meditation CDs to name a few). Unfortunately, with all our digital retail partners, they do not
allow us to designate albums as "Album Only." A little tip: With iTunes, any track over 10 minutes becomes an album only
download, so if you are planning on releasing something like an audiobook or meditation CD, you can break up the audio
into 10 minute tracks, and it should only be available as a complete album download.
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| by
on Tuesday September 30 2008 @ 09:38AM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Great! That is good to know!
Another major trouble with iTunes though is when you have an
album with a low track count (but long tracks, so the same actual
length and amount of content as the typical 12 song album) and no
option to set the price. The whole system is unfortunately set up for
pop singles. Very glad CD Baby is trying to accommodate both
sides on their site anyway!
Hope that worldwide licensing will follow very soon.
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Fine by me. Just keep on doing it.
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Hi Tony
The plans for Cd baby is very exciting and i look forward to some sales. All the best for this venture.
Paulina odongo
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Tony,
I don't think most artists would object to a fair rate increase if there was tangible value added. Understandably, the costs on micro credit transactions are so obnoxious that you'd need to take a bigger cut to cover expanded costs and still make a profit, pay the crack staff, etc.
Maybe you could do an exploratory digisingle betatest for a small group of volunteers.
Thus far I applaud your leadership and diplomacy amidst some cheap and self deluded, grandiose remarks.
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Thanks Colie. Tangible value add is what it's all about. Today's announcement has just some tiny, easy things. We're looking to do much more to enable CD Baby artists to sell more of their music.
And BTW, I've noticed your posts on numerous forums, where you're speaking up and supporting CD Baby and what it stands for. I really appreciate your vocal support, and so does everyone on the CD Baby team. I hope to meet and shake your hand one day.
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One reason I like to deal with CDbaby is the convenience of signing up one place to distribute through so many others.
Any chance that cdbaby will have digital distribution deal with emusic again? They picked up one of my (now 6 and counting) albums before they stopped taking new material. Even so, they're 2nd only to iTunes for digital sales.
Or any thoughts on new distribution companies, revisiting a distribution with others from the past (snocap, etc.), or others?
Thanks,
Kevin
http://www.debone.com
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Kevin,
We are still delivering music to eMusic. One thing to double check
is the "How Much Digital Distribution" setting for your new album.
We only deliver albums to eMusic where that is set at 75 or higher.
Just login to your CD Baby member account to double check that. If
you do have the album set at that level, feel free to email us at
cdbaby@cdbaby.com and we'll make sure your music gets there
asap!
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While we deliver to eMusic, it sometimes takes our partners a
while to ingest all the content we send them. There is a lot of
new content added every month, and it takes some effort to
process all that content and add it to some of our partners'
libraries. I don't know off the top of my head if eMusic is current
on our content, but I do know that some of our partners can't
process it quite as fast as we deliver that. Unfortunately, it's a
situation beyond our control.
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Thanks for the assurances Tony, we musicians really do appreciate the opportunities that CD Baby opens for us. Keep up the good work that Derek started.
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Hello Tony,
Thank you for the introduction, and the information. I'm looking forward to working with you. Question: Would you consider doing a thing like Amazon is starting with createspace, where you can do one off CDR's to support sales, instead of you or me holding inventory? Obviously, the pricing thing would be different, but as an option, I like the idea, and with your connection to DiscMakers, it seems like a natural to me. Food for thought... In any case, my best to you, and all at CDBaby.
Alex Kash
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We'd like to offer this at some point in the not too distant future.
Like most of our new initiatives, it'll take some time to develop
and won't be this year. Looks like 2009 is shaping up to be a big
year for new CD Baby initiatives!
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I think of this like a Farmer's Market. So I believe that the content owners should be asked to set their own price for their products. THere should be no "default price". Let the "growers" determine the value proposition they want to offer and to have the economic feedback that will let them know if it works for customers.
Cheers,
Carl Saffira
ASCAP composer/ musician
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Carl,
We always encourage artists to sell their albums for whatever
price they choose, but we had to add a default price several
years ago due to the fact that too many artists were skipping
that step in the sign up process. This in turn caused a delay in
their music being available for purchase. Before the recent
change, the default price for downloads was the same as the
album price, which in some cases was way too high. We simply
standardized the default price for mp3's at $9.99, but like
mentioned, you can login to your account and change that at any
time.
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I would love to see single song downloads from CD baby. Ant chance this will happen, soon?
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Joe,
See Tony's reply above for the details on single song downloads.
We're working on the issue as fast as we can. Believe me, we're as
anxious as you are to get this going!
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WOW, Thanks Tony for the BUY NOW links, they are perfect. I just got rid of the Snocap store (it never worked)on our MySpace page. It was so easy to pop the new links on to the page. They look great! Thank you, thank you.
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