CD Baby

CD Baby is a trusted service for independent artists throughout the world. Their mission is to give artists and songwriters the tools to get their music everywhere. Owned brands include Soundrop, HearNow, Show.co, HostBaby, AudioMicro, AdRev, and DashGo.

Founded in 1998 in Portland, Oregon by Derek Sivers, by accident in 1997 when he was selling his own CD on his website, and friends asked if he could sell theirs, too. The company has had Tracy Maddux at the helm since 2010.

CD Baby distributes 9 million sound recordings and administers publishing rights for 1,000,000 songs globally. They serve over 750,000 artists and more than 150,000 songwriters worldwide; providing services that help them sell, stream, and promote their music.

While “revolutionary” is a word that gets thrown around too often in the business world, it is no exaggeration to say that CD Baby changed the music industry forever. They were among the first eCommerce sites and continued to stay on the bleeding edge of that revolution; today, with BookBaby, they expanding into other publishing markets and, in particular, books. As the first online digital AND physical music distributor to open its doors to independent artists, CD Baby was a major force in the dismantling of the major-label system.1

CD Baby produces an annual conference for independent musicians. DIY Musician Conference is hosted throughout the U.S., in cities such as Nashville and Austin, in August.2

References


  1. About CD Baby↩︎
  2. DIY Musician Con 2018↩︎
Last updated byAnonymous on March 10, 2020
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