CDBABY
Mood:  a-ok

I am on vacation in South Beach Miami right now, and I have been visiting the restaurants and taking in the  local scene.  A couple of times I really enjoyed the live entertainment.  One guy was a Flamenco guitarist with Flamenco dancers, another group at a popular restaurant was playing great salsa music.  Turns out these two acts are on CDBABY! I went to their cdbaby websites and found them.  These 2 acts said they sold cds minimially on the site itself, but made a killing while performing live at these tourist attractions.  For them it was good to have their CD for sale, however, on a recognized music website CDBABY seems to be the preferred website for independent artists.  It's a good avenue especially when you have indecisive fans.  They can always go and thoroughly check out the act, and see that they are in good company.

The Music Distribution Myth

I was recently told to submit my CD and press package to a distributor.  I was extremely excited about all of this.  After all, I am just an indie musician who formed his own label with no history of real record sales.  Imagine my shock when I stumbled upon a book entitled "Million Dollar Mistakes -  Steering Your Music Career Clear of Lies, Cons, Catastrophies, and Landmines."  It made me realize I was heading in the wrong direction.  One of the chapters in the book talks about distribution and how no reputable distributor will take on an unproven, unsigned band with no history of CD sales.  And if they do, be wary, because they are probably not going to do anything with the CDs except store them in their warehouse and eventually trash them.

Now here's my issue,  I have a single on some radio sations across the country--mostly secondary markets, but still I am getting airplay.  I was told I needed distribution in order to be taken seriously.  My heart sunk when I read the information in the above mentioned book.  I would like nothing more than to believe that I could be the lucky indie act to get distribution to pick up my CD, but now I realize that unless I am a signed act  with a major label, or I have sold 100,000 plus units, I have no hope of realizing my dream with this particular CD.

The only shot of distribution I have is online.  And I am already utilizing a majority of the ones out there like itunes, Amazon.com, CDBaby, and the like.  The amount of CD sales generated from these virtual distributors are minimal.  And it makes me wonder just how many people are actually purchasing music online anyway.  I know that a percentage of consumers do, but there is still a big part of the country, and the rest of the free world, who shy away from purchasing music online.

So how does an indie act get distribution?  They have to pay for it, lock, stock and barrel!  And there is absolutely no guarantee that an indie's CD will be distributed as promised.  Unless you have some seriously deep pockets, what else can one do?