by A Customer on Saturday August 01 2009 @ 09:17AM PDT [ reply parent ]
While I don't agree in locking down these forums in any way, I do believe that many of the more aggressive posts here are indeed fake, potentially posted by the competition in an attempt to fan the flames and take advantage of this great opportunity for themselves. If CD Baby truly did mean that much to you, why do you want to see it destroyed? Why post threats? I'm ashamed by some of the attitudes on here. Are these really the artists I am supporting when I shop at CD Baby? Yes, this is a really, really bad situation, no doubt about that. But CD Baby has been there for us (both the artists and customers) for years and years. Why abandon them over a, comparatively speaking - short, rocky transition that was forced upon them? Wouldn't it be better to SAVE CD Baby? Instead of all this negativity, why not work together to help pull out of this mess? I want CD Baby to survive, because they have been good to us - really good to us. It doesn't help any of us to drag them down. Pony & the rest of the folks at CD Baby. Please hang in there. I'm pulling for you. And for the record, I have NO complaints for you, rather - you have my undying gratitude for all you are doing.
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Newspapers can be jerks
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In my paper on the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA), I examine
the history of newspapers’ hostile reception of new technologies and
competit...
4 days ago
I felt this was an important post at cdbaby.org and good addition to the debate. I don't think the typical CDBaby artist wants to see the company destroyed. And I personally? I'd be happy to do what I can to help save it because I want to see it survive, too.
ReplyDeleteBut upper management aren't asking us to help save it. They're urging us to give them a little more time, which I'm more than willing to do. But meanwhile, we hear rumors regarding the technical aspects ("Linux to Windows!? When everyone else is going to Linux?"), and rumors galore period! It's really similar to the fog of war because Brian and Tony are doing nothing to answer rumors that this bungled relaunch will require Pony and Katy et al to address each of 200,000 artists' individual bugs.
As one concerned client put it yesterday (I'm paraphrasing): "If this is so, please tell us so that we can collectively give you the break you need to pull through all this."
Thr frontline staff are dealing with all the little details, and they're doing a great job of it, by the posts I've read, under enormous strain. But the management folk need to give us a clear picture of what the Big Picture really looks like. Until they do so, there will be more rumor, more temper tantrums, and more flame. None of us want to see that.
In any case, CDBaby will survive, bruised perhaps, but hopefully better for everyone. It's business, after all, and they're one of the biggest in that business. Other companies will step into the breach, sure, but I don't see a mass exodus happening here.
I see really frustrated clients who are caught in some kind of informational black hole.
CDBaby Corporate Office (and Discmakers, too, of course): Please enlighten us so that we can know more about the medium-term to longer term outlook, so that we can make our own judgments, and hopefully not jump to conclusions based upon hearsay, rumor and speculation.
There is a long tradition of musicians being expected to just accept the status quo and shut up. People seem to be forgetting that the musicians on CDBaby are CUSTOMERS who pay CDBaby to provide a service. I really believe that in no other industry would the CUSTOMERS of a business be asked to stay quiet.
ReplyDeleteI get an impression from all of CDBaby's communication on this issue that they think their customers should just be grateful and that they are annoyed at complaints. The company since being acquired by Diskmakers (last year FYI) has been quite patronizing in all their responses.
Also, while CDBaby might have been the first, there is a lot of competition out there now. They need to do a better job at keeping the loyalty of their long-time customers, and if they can't then they have only themselves to blame if they go out of business.
Sadly, with people like this in charge, I don't think there's a chance in hell. Has anybody visited Brian's website? No? Please visit today and sample some of the pseudo-arty pompous rubbish contained in the pages of brianfelsen.com
ReplyDeleteI find this type of charlatanism offensive, and certainly don't want a prat like this making decisions about my art. Check his photography too. It's really uninspired and deeply creepy.
A person who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and often voluble claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud.
ReplyDeleteI've posted lots of anon posts over there, i'm the one usually asking for straight answers and single song upload prices... and no I do not work for another company... I am 'just' a muso...
ReplyDeletebtw add this to your competitors I just found it this eve: www.zimbalam.co.uk, maybe of more use to UK folks but wow they do PROPER single pricing £20 for a 1 or 2 track 'single' now THAT is flexible (even better then tune core cos it allows a proper a/b side single like the traditional format, which excites me :) and as it's non recurring it's worth 4 years in tunecore money...
also www.recordunion.com (good / flexible costs - larger cut but FREE / $10 sign up per release, which is purely for the UPC) - they take $5 from your first sales of that title then reset each year.. if you don't earn they don't take, even if you do they only take $5 a YEAR and $10 sign up... they also take a 15% cut on all sales but it may work out better. I prefer zimbalam at this time as it seems cleaner/easier to get my head around.
ReplyDeleteAlso add www.dittomusic.com - apparently 'FREE' for itunes/spotify and £25/euros for full distribution.. £2 monthly fee for the free option I think... again lots of options/flexibility
any feedback on these suggested sites would be great as I'm very tempted to look further at these 3
oh and a comparison pdf of various services costs.. CD BABY looks very expensive according to this..
ReplyDeletewww.artists-first.net (click on the link that says 'here' to see the chart)
of course artists-firsts looks like yet ANOTHER competitor so add it to the side there ;)
may be best to ignore my dittomusic link, further googling reveals it to have poor service AND expensive costs once everything is factored in.
ReplyDeleterecord union and zimbalam seem the best to me now (with Tunecore if only it was more international and not US biased)
The big problem I'm finding is lack of physical CD sale sites. Yes, it might sound last century but, lots of folk still want a disc. Went out and bought a book today on how to build a website.. desperation or what?
ReplyDeleteWell for me, with physical it's easier to just sell myself from my site (paypal). It's not 'high volume' for me so easily do-able.
ReplyDeleteIt's very easy to set up a website and secure cart/paypal etc (they provide the tools) these days. Aside from the physical thing, almost every other provider is as good or better than CD Baby.
Artists-First sell physical cds I think (and take far less money from you)
to done gone, your zimbalam link is wrong btw (you put zimbalIm) so dead link thanks
ReplyDeletecheck Nimbit.com they have both physical and digital sales plans with merchandise also. But go over the plans cost , it looks ok but I haven't taken the time to figure out yet.Nimbit did take the time to call me and I set up a free account and widget to see how it worked. I have a Nimbit widget on my midnightpassmusic.com site on my cataloque page where I have 3 test songs that I can sell to customers , no sales yet but it seems to work fine.Their suggestion to me was let them handle what cdbaby doesn't do which sounded like a good idea and I'm considering. I hope this info helps.
ReplyDeleteIt's a real shame to see CD Baby in such a mess, as, for years, it did, both, CDs and digital sales so effectively. From what I can see, so far, the alternatives tend to do one or the other, and it can seem like comparing apples and oranges. So, it's much appreciated what all you folks are posting by way of comparisons.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have experience with iMusicianDigital.com?
Anything is better the Zimbalam who randomly charges for their own errors
ReplyDelete