CD Baby
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| Available in | English, Spanish, Portuguese |
|---|---|
| Founded | March 10, 1998[1] Woodstock, New York, U.S. |
| Dissolved | March 2020 (retail store) June 22, 2023 (physical B2B Distribution)[2] |
| Headquarters | Portland, Oregon, U.S. |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Founder(s) | Derek Sivers |
| Industry | Digital distribution, music publisher, online music store |
| Products | Digital distribution, promotion |
| Parent | AVL Digital Group (Downtown) |
| Subsidiaries | Audio and Video Labs, Inc. (Soundrop) |
| URL | cdbaby |
CD Baby, Inc. is an online distributor of independent music. The CD Baby music store was shut down in March 2020 with a statement that "CD Baby retired our music store in March of 2020 in order to place our focus entirely on the tools and services that are most meaningful to musicians today and tomorrow."[3]
In 2019, CD Baby was the only digital aggregator with top preferred partner status with both Spotify and Apple Music,[4][5] and it was home to more than 650,000 artists and nine million tracks that were made available to over 100 digital services and platforms around the globe as of May 2019.[6]
The firm, as of 2018, operated out of Portland, Oregon, with offices in New York City and London.[6][7]
History
CD Baby was founded in 1998 by Derek Sivers.[8]
In 2000, the firm moved to Portland, Oregon, where they remain headquartered today. In 2004, CD Baby began offering a digital music distribution and became an early partner of iTunes.[9]
In August 2008 Disc Makers, a CD and DVD manufacturer, announced that they had bought CD Baby and their sister company Host Baby for 22 million dollars following a 7-year partnership between the two companies.[10]
In 2013, CD Baby Pro Publishing was launched as an add-on that assists independent songwriters in administering their composition rights and collecting global publishing royalties. The service is now available to songwriters in more than 70 countries and territories.[11]
In March 2019, Disc Makers sold CD Baby (as part of the AVL Digital Group) to Downtown for $200 million. AVL's physical product divisions, Disc Makers, BookBaby, and Merchly, were acquired in a separate transaction by the Disc Makers executive team as part of the newly formed DIY Media Group.[12]
On March 31, 2020, CD Baby ceased its retail sales.[8]
Services
The company also hosts the DIY Musician Conference nearly every year.[13]
In 2018, CD Baby paid over $100 million[4] to its artist community (a 25% increase from 2017[14]), bringing its total artist payouts to over $700 million. In addition to the services the firm offers under its own name, CD Baby also owns and operates HearNow, Show.co, Illustrated Sound Network, and HostBaby.[15] HostBaby closed in 2019.[16]
See also
References
- ^ "CDBaby.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info - DomainTools". WHOIS. Archived from the original on June 6, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
- ^ https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/cd-baby-to-stop-distribution-of-vinyl-and-cds-to-focus-on-streaming/
- ^ "CD Baby Music Store". Store.cdbaby.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2004. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
- ^ a b Dukoff, Spencer. "Spotify, Apple Music Helped CD Baby Artists Earn Over $100 Million In 2018". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ "Apple names The Orchard, Kontor and CD Baby 'Preferred Plus' music distributors as part of new program". Music Business Worldwide. November 13, 2018. Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ a b "CD Baby Expands Operations to London, Hires Rich Orchard & Steve Cusack". Billboard. Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ "About CDBaby.com | CD Baby Music Store". Cdbaby.com. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
- ^ a b Shadel, JD (August 23, 2020). "CD Baby's creative culture proves to be pandemic-proof: Top Workplaces 2020". Oregonlive. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
- ^ "Indie artist payments from CD Baby increase 33% in 2017, and other numbers you'll want to see [INFOGRAPHIC]". DIY Musician Blog. March 6, 2018. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ "CD Baby sold to Disc Makers - news, torrent, wikipedia, free MP3, download, lyrics". Archived from the original on August 13, 2008. Retrieved August 10, 2008.
- ^ "CD Baby now publishes over a million songs - and says it's 'helping solve the industry's publishing problem one songwriter at a time'". Music Business Worldwide. August 15, 2018. Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ "Downtown buys CD Baby owner for $200m". Music Business Worldwide. March 27, 2019. Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
- ^ "CD Baby DIY Musician Conference Moves To Austin, TX". Music Connection Magazine. September 4, 2018. Archived from the original on May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ "CD Baby, Now In Its 20th Year, Says It Paid Out $80M to Indie Artists in 2017". Billboard. March 6, 2018. Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ "Tools & Resources To Promote Your Music - Music Promotion". CD Baby. Archived from the original on May 20, 2022. Retrieved May 9, 2019.
- ^ Silva, Marsha (August 18, 2019). "Bandzoogle Takes Over Artist Page Hosting for CD Baby as 'HostBaby' Gets Transitioned". Digital Music News. Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
