CD Baby?

Snowman999

Snowman999

Active member
All these place basically lie to get your money. I wanted to ask some questions from CD Baby before I paid, and they couldn't be bothered to answer. So, I never bothered to put up Pretty Old Bones. Even though they don't bother to respond. I've read they're the cheapest place, because it's a one time fee per album.

Is CD Baby most useful in putting your music on apple/amazon/spotify? I realize these places, even if in some sort of rotation you still get pennies.

Is there any other benefit like assisting in getting reviewed or getting your music played?

Does anyone know of any other place that's better than CD Baby. I hate to give people money who can't be bothered to respond.
 
I use Distrokid and AFAIK, none of these services offer any marketing or anything of the like. They just put your music up on the sites. You gotta do the marketing yourself. I got about 15,000 streams doing my own marketing, but it was tiring to constantly do it, so I stopped and the streams died down.
 
I also use DK. I've found them pretty responsive to customer support inquiries.

Unless you're paying extra for it, none of these platforms are going to do any real marketing. They're just going to post your music to the stores.
 
I have always used CD Baby. But I started with them when they were pretty much the only game in town and I haven't bothered to go elsewhere. Of course, I haven't put anything out in quite a while, either. They do put your music everywhere. I get sales reports from sites I've never heard of. The fee was low last time I used them. Don't know about now.

I guess they've grown out of their grassroots beginnings and have gone fully corporate with poor customer service. I've called them once or twice in the past and they answered the phone. Even visited their warehouse and they let me look around. (That was actually pretty cool).
 
Thanks everyone. I HATE marketing. I like the artistic side (whether I'm good or not), and nothing else.

I'm sure it's not the same place. But, back in the late 90s - early 00s, we'd drive from NJ to Karen's mom's in PA via the turnpike. On the way we'd pass CD Baby. But, that's when it was an online record store. If CD Baby is still in the same place, we'll be living by there shortly.
 
Snowman999 said:
Thanks everyone. I HATE marketing. I like the artistic side (whether I'm good or not), and nothing else.

I'm sure it's not the same place. But, back in the late 90s - early 00s, we'd drive from NJ to Karen's mom's in PA via the turnpike. On the way we'd pass CD Baby. But, that's when it was an online record store. If CD Baby is still in the same place, we'll be living by there shortly.
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I know what store you're referring to and that wasn't CD Baby, that was CD Online or something similar. In Ft Washington. The name is close, though. CD Baby is near the airport in Portland, OR.

Yeah, I hate marketing too. But you're the only one who's going to market your stuff. No one else will do it for you without getting paid.
 
I've used CDBaby for the last 3 albums. The one-time fee makes it a better deal if you release full albums. Customer Service is piss-poor slow, for sure, but they do get back to you eventually - there's an online form to use if you have issues so if you just send an email, you get a response after 2 weeks to use the form.
 
Chili said:
I know what store you're referring to and that wasn't CD Baby, that was CD Online or something similar. In Ft Washington. The name is close, though. CD Baby is near the airport in Portland, OR.

Yeah, I hate marketing too. But you're the only one who's going to market your stuff. No one else will do it for you without getting paid.
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It was called CD Now. Been out of business for years. CD Baby, CD Now, both start with CD.

My mind works slow. I think it's one of the reasons I didn't sign up with CD Baby immediately. I have a question about CD Baby and DistroKid.

CD Baby I pay $100 flat fee and my album is in Apple/Spotify... I'm guessing since it's a one time fee, it's there forever. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

Distrokid is $20 a year with unlimited song uploads. That year ends and I don't give them another $20. Do my songs from the previous year get removed or are they there forever? If I didn't pay, and the songs are still in the stores, does distrokid still send you a check if anyone listens or downloads?
 
Distrokid has a legacy option where you can pay for it and it will always remain up even if you cancel with Distrokid. Don’t know how much that is, though. Yes, you still receive a check. For my 15,000 streams I received four whole dollars.
 
CrowsofFritz said:
Distrokid has a legacy option where you can pay for it and it will always remain up even if you cancel with Distrokid. Don’t know how much that is, though. Yes, you still receive a check. For my 15,000 streams I received four whole dollars.
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Thank you. Yeah. All these places are rip offs. I think with a million views you get $1200 from youtube. Which isn't bad. It's just not great. I made a movie years ago when streaming was in it's infancy. It was up on amazon (way before Prime) and was #1 for a day and in the top ten for over a week. I think I got $2 per rental. That's pretty good. For quite a few years I'd get money to buy a case or two of beer. Now I think it's pennies. They removed my movie for content. You can basically rent soft porn on Prime. But, my horror movie with no female nudity goes too far.
 
Snowman999 said:
CD Baby I pay $100 flat fee and my album is in Apple/Spotify... I'm guessing since it's a one time fee, it's there forever. If I'm wrong, please correct me.
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So, it's 100 now. I think the last time I paid, it was $35. Yes, you are correct, once up on those sites, they are there indefinitely. Whatever that means in the internet business realm.
 
Chili said:
So, it's 100 now. I think the last time I paid, it was $35. Yes, you are correct, once up on those sites, they are there indefinitely. Whatever that means in the internet business realm.
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No, It's $29 for standard. $49 for premium. ANd they often have a 1/2 off (or other) sale.
 
Snowman999 said:
It was called CD Now. Been out of business for years. CD Baby, CD Now, both start with CD.

My mind works slow. I think it's one of the reasons I didn't sign up with CD Baby immediately. I have a question about CD Baby and DistroKid.

CD Baby I pay $100 flat fee and my album is in Apple/Spotify... I'm guessing since it's a one time fee, it's there forever. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

Distrokid is $20 a year with unlimited song uploads. That year ends and I don't give them another $20. Do my songs from the previous year get removed or are they there forever? If I didn't pay, and the songs are still in the stores, does distrokid still send you a check if anyone listens or downloads?
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CDBaby is $29 for standard, $49 for Premium, and they often have sales. With Distrokid, if you don't pay, your online songs disappear after a year? Not sure if its that. or they no longer collect the streaming money.
 
mjbphotos said:
CDBaby is $29 for standard, $49 for Premium, and they often have sales. With Distrokid, if you don't pay, your online songs disappear after a year? Not sure if its that. or they no longer collect the streaming money.
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They do disappear after a year if you no longer pay unless you pay the legacy fee.
 
mjbphotos said:
CDBaby is $29 for standard, $49 for Premium, and they often have sales. With Distrokid, if you don't pay, your online songs disappear after a year? Not sure if its that. or they no longer collect the streaming money.
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CDBaby is $69 :P for the Pro Album. Then you need a barcode which is $20. That's $89. From how CD Baby reads (I could be wrong. I am so often), you won't get paid without a barcode.

For each question I get answered, I think of two more. That's what made not getting answers from CDBaby so frustrating.

CDBaby seems the route to go if you don't plan on releasing songs throughout the year. Distrokid seems better if you're constantly releasing. It's $29 for the legacy. I didn't check if it's $29 per song or everything you put up throughout the year. It better be for everything.

For folks that have CDBaby. I don't plan on creating actual CDs. I just want the music to be on all the online places. Do I need a barcode? They make it seem like you do.

CHILI: Where do I find the sales? I made a Distrokid account and because I didn't do anything after signing up, I got a 35% off first year code in my email.
 
About barcodes. You don't need to get them from CD Baby. I used a free site. They're out there. Didn't pay anything for my barcodes.
 
Snowman999 said:
CDBaby is $69 :P for the Pro Album. Then you need a barcode which is $20. That's $89. From how CD Baby reads (I could be wrong. I am so often), you won't get paid without a barcode.

For each question I get answered, I think of two more. That's what made not getting answers from CDBaby so frustrating.

CDBaby seems the route to go if you don't plan on releasing songs throughout the year. Distrokid seems better if you're constantly releasing. It's $29 for the legacy. I didn't check if it's $29 per song or everything you put up throughout the year. It better be for everything.

For folks that have CDBaby. I don't plan on creating actual CDs. I just want the music to be on all the online places. Do I need a barcode? They make it seem like you do.

CHILI: Where do I find the sales? I made a Distrokid account and because I didn't do anything after signing up, I got a 35% off first year code in my email.
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Oh, guess CDBaby bumped up the 'Pro' Premium plan price. BUT every year they offer a 'sale' of at least 25% off - usually twice a year - and you can buy ahead of time to take advantage of the sale price when you are planning on an upcoming release. Yes, CDBaby requires a barcode, and as Chili says, there are many places to get a free one - I just scan the barcode into a jpg and drop into the CD cover artwork - but all CDBaby requires is the number from you. The $29 is 'lifetime' - once out there, your album is online with no more costs to keep it out there. Distrokid's $29 is per year - you need to pay every year to keep your songs online, whether you release new stuff or not. If you plan on releasing singles or EPs on a regular basis (every month or 2), Distrokid could be the way to go, just keep in mind the annual cost to keep your music out there.
 
It ain't easy, I've heard really bad stuff about every one of the indy distributors. I think I'll just pick the one that's been around the longest and seems to have a lot of options, and is affordable, not a fan of the name, but I think I'm going with this one. I'm not going major, that's actually worse. If I'm not going anywhere with this, then at least I'll own my brand, masters, and copyrights. At least some tracks will be posted to sites people use, even if it's a handful of listeners, I can say this is what I tried to do, and then I can go reapply for my CDL and hit the road.
 
Songtradr has a marketing side - your music can be submitted to people looking for specific stuff. So they do have people who go direct to them to search for particular stuff, but of course most people use them as a distributor. That's what attracted me to them - and they've been pretty good to be honest and I'm making a bit which is slowly increasing.
 
I’m thinking of switching to LANDR. I heard Distrokid is pulling music if you receive a spike in listeners, whether it was genuinely by pay to play or if there were legitimate reasons. I’m going to market my newest album again and I’m not dealing with tthat.
 
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