T
trax
New member
How many cds have you sold on cd baby?
Outlaws
New member
There are some good CDs available there.....but its the same thing as the whole Payolla scandle of the '50s. The only difference is its legal this time.
Z
ZOWIE!
New member
I don't see how it is at all like Payola. Please explain.
Outlaws
New member
-Online indie CD Stores-
They sell you CD if you give them money. If you give them more money they put it on a special list.
-Payola Scandel-
Record companies bought airplay and DJs said "hot new artist" on the air. If companies paid more money they got continuous airplay.
They sell you CD if you give them money. If you give them more money they put it on a special list.
-Payola Scandel-
Record companies bought airplay and DJs said "hot new artist" on the air. If companies paid more money they got continuous airplay.
Outlaws
New member
In closing......the Hot List of CDs is just the deep pocket list.
[Edit]
MP3.com works the same way. You pay money...you get rotation on the their radio station. You pay even more money and you get even stronger rotation on their radio station.
[Edit]
MP3.com works the same way. You pay money...you get rotation on the their radio station. You pay even more money and you get even stronger rotation on their radio station.
Z
ZOWIE!
New member
It's only like Payola if the fact that you have to buy your way on to the list is hidden. Otherwise it's just paid promotion. Do you think its by accident that Coke and Pepsi get the big end of isle displays while Shasta gets shasted?
Outlaws
New member
Dude, Shasta sucks. 
...and they might not hide it to us.....but the people who just listen to music sure don't get a big warning that the "top of the charts" artist paid for that spot. (In most cases)
Back to the original question...
I have sold ZERO.
...and they might not hide it to us.....but the people who just listen to music sure don't get a big warning that the "top of the charts" artist paid for that spot. (In most cases)
Back to the original question...
I have sold ZERO.
M
monstermaker
New member
I suppose if you have confidence in your product it's worth the gamble.
B
bdbdbucksKID
New member
For the four bucks they are taking from you for each CD...you could set up a shopping cart interface on your own website with paypal and sell outta there! CDBaby forces you to jack up the sales price for you to be able to turn a post production cost profit which no one will buy because the price is too high.
You can also set up a merchant account at Amazon.com...think it's like 30 bucks a month. Now if you got enough faith that you are going to sell...that's the route.
Also, looked into Napster merchant accounts? Not too sure how that's set up but, I intend to do some research pretty soon...if I can stop downloading long enough to pay attention. Napster is super addictive. I never used it when it was free...never felt right about it. Now that's it's legal, I am guilt free and sinking deeper into debt.
CDBaby isn't going to push your product and for 4 bucks a CD, you'd think they'd do a little more other than make your stuff available to listen to in 2 minute bits and give you a generic page for you to write a little bio and attach a link to your website. I think they're a rip off.
I am planning on selling on Amazon, my website and Napster if their merchant accounts are label specific. You never know, they may not wanna waste bandwidth space on the unknown or nobody artists, only the hot ones supported by the big labels. Will have to see.
The payola scheme is sick...but it wouldn't surprise me that they would have to PAY a friggin program manager to put the sh*t that they do on the radio lately.
Anyway, good luck! Will keep you posted on the Napster research.
You can also set up a merchant account at Amazon.com...think it's like 30 bucks a month. Now if you got enough faith that you are going to sell...that's the route.
Also, looked into Napster merchant accounts? Not too sure how that's set up but, I intend to do some research pretty soon...if I can stop downloading long enough to pay attention. Napster is super addictive. I never used it when it was free...never felt right about it. Now that's it's legal, I am guilt free and sinking deeper into debt.
CDBaby isn't going to push your product and for 4 bucks a CD, you'd think they'd do a little more other than make your stuff available to listen to in 2 minute bits and give you a generic page for you to write a little bio and attach a link to your website. I think they're a rip off.
I am planning on selling on Amazon, my website and Napster if their merchant accounts are label specific. You never know, they may not wanna waste bandwidth space on the unknown or nobody artists, only the hot ones supported by the big labels. Will have to see.
The payola scheme is sick...but it wouldn't surprise me that they would have to PAY a friggin program manager to put the sh*t that they do on the radio lately.
Anyway, good luck! Will keep you posted on the Napster research.
ChristopherM
New member
Ha! I've sold like three on Amazon. In fact, see how it says "Only 1 left in stock--order soon (more on the way)?" My Amazon page has said that for the past several months. There aren't really "more on the way." They haven't ordered more. O'course, it's straight through them, not a merchant account, but I have sold more on CDBaby and CDStreet than on Amazon by far (now if I can only get PAID by CDStreet!).bdbdbucksKID said:
R
Rational Punk
New member
(now if I can only get PAID by CDStreet!)
I hear that...I have several units sold that are past due for payment. Hopefully this whole restructuring/takeover thing they have going on will get ironed out soon so they can start catching up on back payments. I imagine they've gotten some pretty irate emails in recent months.
http://www.rationalpunk.com
I hear that...I have several units sold that are past due for payment. Hopefully this whole restructuring/takeover thing they have going on will get ironed out soon so they can start catching up on back payments. I imagine they've gotten some pretty irate emails in recent months.
http://www.rationalpunk.com
G
glynb
Balladeer
Money makes money.
Why does a 'big' artist get to be big? Publicity. How do majors promote a new artist in order that he/she gets to be big? The spend a load of money on promotion. Noone pushes the unknown artist based on talent alone, they have to be 'introduced' to the public and initialy that costs, they hope in return to recoup that cost later through product sales.
So, for the Indie paying CD baby or MP3.com to be high up the ladder is not so different to doing what a major label would do, its just on a small scale.
What the chart scandals were in the past are that the list of record stores used to supply the sales info for the charts were targetted by companies buying up copies of their own artist's single in order to get it into the chart. i understand the Rolling Stones first record was hyped in that way in the early 60s.
If you are going to sell a lot of CDs its likely that at some stage you're going to have to pay for advertising in some way.
What is wrong IMO is where someone gets a rave review, purely because they've paid, that is corrupt. Paying to be a featured artist is OK, as long as its clear what the deal is for the reader/listener ie the artist is not necessarily there on merit, just there cos they have some money to spend, but then again isn't the mainstream business run on exactly those principles anyway!!
Why does a 'big' artist get to be big? Publicity. How do majors promote a new artist in order that he/she gets to be big? The spend a load of money on promotion. Noone pushes the unknown artist based on talent alone, they have to be 'introduced' to the public and initialy that costs, they hope in return to recoup that cost later through product sales.
So, for the Indie paying CD baby or MP3.com to be high up the ladder is not so different to doing what a major label would do, its just on a small scale.
What the chart scandals were in the past are that the list of record stores used to supply the sales info for the charts were targetted by companies buying up copies of their own artist's single in order to get it into the chart. i understand the Rolling Stones first record was hyped in that way in the early 60s.
If you are going to sell a lot of CDs its likely that at some stage you're going to have to pay for advertising in some way.
What is wrong IMO is where someone gets a rave review, purely because they've paid, that is corrupt. Paying to be a featured artist is OK, as long as its clear what the deal is for the reader/listener ie the artist is not necessarily there on merit, just there cos they have some money to spend, but then again isn't the mainstream business run on exactly those principles anyway!!
A
Ashura
New member
alot of good points here...in your opinion, you think it's worth setting up online purchases directly from your own website via penpal? i am at the final stages of releasing my album, and part of the services through discmakers is free distribution through cdbaby. after reading this thread, I'm kinda rethinking how I'm going to distribute, like, ya have a few there on cdbaby, but maybe do the rest through penpal; all this mention of amazon and these other vendors, any one avenue preference over the other, or maybe hit all 20 million methods at once?
M
Mountainmirrors
kaleidoscopic renegade
Don't get your visitors confused. I would choose one and go with it.
CD Baby kicks ass because Derek Sivers is a promotional Genious.
This guy is working in superhuman ways to get people to CD Baby in ways people like me could only dream about.
I just signed up for CD Baby to sell my forthcoming CD because of that.
The traffic of people shopping there is UnReal. And here is the main thing: people who shop there are looking to buy a cd. Not get a free download.
It's up to the artist to prove to them we're worthy of more promotion by sales. Not payola like MP3.com.
If you've ever bought a CD from them, you know why they are a kick ass company that you want to buy more CDs from.
CD Baby kicks ass because Derek Sivers is a promotional Genious.
This guy is working in superhuman ways to get people to CD Baby in ways people like me could only dream about.
I just signed up for CD Baby to sell my forthcoming CD because of that.
The traffic of people shopping there is UnReal. And here is the main thing: people who shop there are looking to buy a cd. Not get a free download.
It's up to the artist to prove to them we're worthy of more promotion by sales. Not payola like MP3.com.
If you've ever bought a CD from them, you know why they are a kick ass company that you want to buy more CDs from.
G
glynb
Balladeer
Disagree
As an independent and 'unknown' artist IMO you need to reach as many people as possible. therefore you should take any and every opportunity to push your album/self. By limiting yourself to one supplier its like and advertiser deciding to advertise the product only in one magazine or one TV channel. That would be very limiting. Having an exclusive relationaship with one outlet is like haveing a record deal without any of the benefits of being with a label, ie money for promotion and advertising.
What harm can it do to have a 'presence' on all the free distribution services, it can only do you MORE good than harm. Yes there's a small chance that some people may be 'confused' by the fact that you are on CD Baby and Soundclick, and MP3.com (whatever they are now) but that will be more than offset by the extra people who get to hear about you as an artist.
The main thing to achieve is people hearing about you and then your music, the more that do, the more chance that some will buy. Use EVERY opportunity to publicise yourself without using SPAM of course!
BTW I'm not talking about someone who is well established 'on the circuit' here just an unknown beginner (like me!).
I have to disagree with this strategy.Mountainmirrors said:
As an independent and 'unknown' artist IMO you need to reach as many people as possible. therefore you should take any and every opportunity to push your album/self. By limiting yourself to one supplier its like and advertiser deciding to advertise the product only in one magazine or one TV channel. That would be very limiting. Having an exclusive relationaship with one outlet is like haveing a record deal without any of the benefits of being with a label, ie money for promotion and advertising.
What harm can it do to have a 'presence' on all the free distribution services, it can only do you MORE good than harm. Yes there's a small chance that some people may be 'confused' by the fact that you are on CD Baby and Soundclick, and MP3.com (whatever they are now) but that will be more than offset by the extra people who get to hear about you as an artist.
The main thing to achieve is people hearing about you and then your music, the more that do, the more chance that some will buy. Use EVERY opportunity to publicise yourself without using SPAM of course!
BTW I'm not talking about someone who is well established 'on the circuit' here just an unknown beginner (like me!).
M
Mountainmirrors
kaleidoscopic renegade
Maybe "confuse" is the wrong word.
I'm assuming you already have fans. Already have a mailing list of people waiting to buy your CD.
And plan to market using reviews/interviews/press kits/airplay.
As far as your main website is concerned, sometimes you need to make people's minds up about where and how to buy.
It can take a second for someone to decide to buy - and another second for them to say, "maybe later".
I'm assuming you already have fans. Already have a mailing list of people waiting to buy your CD.
And plan to market using reviews/interviews/press kits/airplay.
As far as your main website is concerned, sometimes you need to make people's minds up about where and how to buy.
It can take a second for someone to decide to buy - and another second for them to say, "maybe later".
D
ds21
New member
I know this is an old thread and maybe answered somewhere else but, is anyone willing to give hard un-inflated numbers? (I not looking for opinions on if you think their a good company or not, just the numbers please) Hey a sale is a sale if it's 1 or 1000000 so don't be embarrassed if it's not that many, just looking for info that would be beneficial to all!
Thanks!
Thanks!
W
wargasms
New member
lol, i wish someone would answer the question too.
M
Mountainmirrors
kaleidoscopic renegade
I have one disc on CD Baby. It's sold just over 50 copies, and an additional ten or so through their digital distribution program (iTunes, Rhapsody etc.).
That's awesome, considering I sold two on CD Street and three on Amazon.com!
That's awesome, considering I sold two on CD Street and three on Amazon.com!
G
glynb
Balladeer
Clarification
I think selling 50 on CD baby for an 'unknown' independent is respectable.
I have now joined CD baby in advance of getting my album back from the manufacturers. I under no illusions about selling many copies. In fact I only really wanted 500 copies do8ing, but the manufacturer said there was no difference in price to have 1000 so it looks like I'll be storing a lot of plastic in my garage for years to come! LOL
Just to clarify something that hadn't quite clicked with me when i wrote my last post, CD baby are a distributor and an exclusive one. That is they don't want you to sign up with any other 'distributors' - they must be the only one.
They are OK with you offering your CD for sale with other retailers, that is web sites that sell but don't distribute your CD to other retailers. CD Baby are in fact a retailer and a distributor, they do both. But there are some sites out there that only sell, and it's OK to host your CD for sale with them as well as CD baby, as long as they are not on CD Baby's 'partner' list. iTunes are on the partner list for example, so if you've signed with CD baby you wouldn't also approach iTunes because CD baby will be doing that and you'd just be duplicating effort.
Took me a while to appreciate what CD baby were about, at first i thought they were just a retailer
I think selling 50 on CD baby for an 'unknown' independent is respectable.
I have now joined CD baby in advance of getting my album back from the manufacturers. I under no illusions about selling many copies. In fact I only really wanted 500 copies do8ing, but the manufacturer said there was no difference in price to have 1000 so it looks like I'll be storing a lot of plastic in my garage for years to come! LOL
Just to clarify something that hadn't quite clicked with me when i wrote my last post, CD baby are a distributor and an exclusive one. That is they don't want you to sign up with any other 'distributors' - they must be the only one.
They are OK with you offering your CD for sale with other retailers, that is web sites that sell but don't distribute your CD to other retailers. CD Baby are in fact a retailer and a distributor, they do both. But there are some sites out there that only sell, and it's OK to host your CD for sale with them as well as CD baby, as long as they are not on CD Baby's 'partner' list. iTunes are on the partner list for example, so if you've signed with CD baby you wouldn't also approach iTunes because CD baby will be doing that and you'd just be duplicating effort.
Took me a while to appreciate what CD baby were about, at first i thought they were just a retailer