CDBaby Relaunch Debate: July 2009

Friday, July 31, 2009

Friday Update from Brian

Friday Update (iTunes Australia, uploader, accounting, etc.)
posted by Brian at CD Baby on Friday July 31 2009 @ 12:50PM PDT
We’ll still be here through the weekend working on the new site, but we wanted to do a quick update on Friday knowing that many of you will be putting the internet away for a couple days. Firstly, payments from iTunes Australia have been reported and are viewable in your accounting. Money for those sales has been added to the balance we owe you and will be paid out when that balance goes above your chosen paypoint. We’ve received some feedback on the uploader that artists would like to know right off the bat whether or not their image will upload. While it is not in place quite yet, we’re working so that you’ll know immediately if your art uploaded correctly, and if not, it will tell you the exact reason for the failure. In the meantime, I wanted to note a tip that has worked for all the artists who are having issues with their photos. If your photo is even a pixel or 2 off, which can happen to anyone, it won't upload correctly. If this happens (meaning, you don't see your artist photo on the website even 3 hours after you've uploaded it), you should resave your photo, setting the size to 200 x 200 pixels (or larger as long as the picture is perfectly square). You can do this with any photo editing software or at a website like www.picresize.com. Then upload this newly saved and resized version. Also, if you were one of the few artists experiencing a glitch that displayed incorrect balances in their accounting sections, that has been corrected and we really apologize for the confusion. We’re continuing to make improvements to the website on a daily basis, and again we apologize for any frustration this has caused you. As always, feel free to write us at help@cdbaby.com with any problems you’re experiencing on our site. Please be as detailed as possible in your email so that our IT and customer service teams can help you quickly and prevent the issue from happening in the future.

Best,

Brian Felsen, CD Baby President

Derek as "Consultant"?

Since Pony left his comment here and at cdbaby.org, it appears that Derek has come out of the woodwork to weigh in for the debate. Or, at least, some people seem to hope so. For my part, I've been wondering for quite awhile if we ever would hear from him. Naturally, he may feel that it isn't his place to opinionate at this time. But mightn't it be excellent PR for this beleagured company if our old buddy were to make some sort of dramatic reappearance?

Do I hear John Williams-esque music in the background? If so, are we still in Fantasyland? We can't rule it out.

Of course, skeptics are right to point out that anyone can submit "pseudononymous" posts, and that's true here as well as there. Up til now we've heard barely a peep from Mr. Sivers, or at most, a terse "no comment." Despite how he may feel about this wacky relaunch, he's probably correct to stay mum: it is, after, "not his business" anymore . . .

Links to the Competition

Very interesting comment so far. Thanks for posting parts of two articles below in CDBaby Relaunch Debate.

Check out the links on the lower left for "the competition." If you mention any site, I'll link to them there.

The DD (non) payments truly are a puzzle, it seems. My income has always come in dribs and drabs, but I sell a lot more thru iTunes than I ever have of compact discs. On a fairly consistent basis, however, I've managed to earn enough to pay for my Starbucks habit (where I get to pick up the "free" iTune of the week and wonder why I'm never featured!).

Now my barista asks me why I rarely go see her anymore; I tried telling her, "it's only business. . .or lack thereof "

Thursday, July 30, 2009