With no updates from Brian Felsen since way back on October 13, and with a highly notable decline in complaints and posts at cdbaby.org (around 250 in almost three weeks), have things finally got back to "normal", however we might define that, nearly four months into this bug-plagued website relaunch?
Most of us would hope so! There are definite signs that DD sales are back on track, and I've heard rumors that CD Baby has resumed email notification of artist payments. Can anyone reading here confirm this?
While the frontline staff seems to have addressed the hundreds of individual glitches of complaining artists in a satisfactory manner, I can personally attest that, since Derek sold the company to Discmakers in 2008, sales of physical discs have flattened or plummeted. Is this because the new search functionalities are apparently useless to us? Is it more difficult for the casual browsing customer to find, and therefore buy, our music? Based upon no scientific evidence but plenty of anecdotal comment, my guess to that is yes.
If CD Baby is now back to "normal" for most or all of us, then I'm happy for the company and its couple hundred thousand artists. But now I am faced with the problem I had back in July: mustering up the energy & will to visit my account and relearn to navigate its confusing myriad of virtual hallways and rooms. I didn't like what was offered in July, and I doubt that I will like it much better today. As I have often stated before, it's tons easier (and more fun!) to administer this blog than it is to visit my artist account. Before July 2009 I visited CD Baby everyday for just a few minutes. Now I visit this blog every day, again just for a few minutes.
Given the choice, I'd still rather be visiting CD Baby than running this blog. But the pessimist in me suggests that it's far too soon to expect that this will be the case. Any thoughts on this? Leave your comments here. . .
Posts
The Times is broken
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It gives me no satisfaction to say this — indeed it fills me with
trepidation for the nation — but The Times is broken. I know some of you
are thinking,...
2 days ago
Sadly, most of us have given up on the idea of things being restored. It's pretty accepted now that physical CD sales are decimated - and there's no "cold sales" happening due to the layout/search set-up. Digital sales, most folks have to trust the numbers, and hope things improve, or alternatives can be found.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of postings reflects people moving on - and looking for ways to make up for, and get past, the losses suffered as a result of the relaunch earlier this year.
It's bad enough that things happened as they have, it's even less fun to linger on all the negative aspects.
So, it's accentuate the positive for most indies 'far as I can see.
I've had some pretty intense frustrations with CD Baby,and I feel like they've handled the customer relation aspects of the changes very poorly. That said, physical CD sales are dying everywhere, and my guess would be that digital sales at CD Baby have seen a serious uptick since 2008.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it's time to start what Richy's been suggesting: some sort of indie collective/cooperative dedicated to our own sales and indie careers.
ReplyDeleteThe internet in 2009 changes so quickly that it's difficult for many of us to keep up with it. Look at the major labels: ten years into big league e-commerce and they're still desperately trying to figure out how to evolve in this brave new world--and profit accordingly. It isn't going to be easy for any of us.
When we had Derek it was great because you always had the sense that, as one of us, he was looking out for us.
Now we really have to start "looking out for us" in a big way. We can't afford to wait for another clever entrepreneur to come along and take care of things because with the speed of changes these days we'll only get passed by and left in the dust.