How to Sell More Physical Albums through CD Baby

By
September 17, 2012{ 19 Comments }

Screen shot 2012 08 08 at 11.23.32 AM How to Sell More Physical Albums through CD BabyHow can you be successful selling physical albums through CD Baby? 

Follow these 3 simple steps:

1. Send us your CDs –  This first step is kinda obvious. Sign up for physical sales and send us your CDs.  If you haven’t pressed CDs in a while, CD Baby offers a number of affordable disc duplication and replication packages.

2. Opt in to our physical distribution program –  This is a great way to extend your sales reach to a worldwide audience.  We’ve expanded our distribution network to include Alliance Entertainment, the largest wholesale CD distributor in the world, making your CDs available to over 15,000 music stores and major on-line retailers.  We continue to work with Amazon.com, Super D, and other distributors and resellers, too, adding new ones every week.

Are you part of CD Baby’s physical distribution network (including Amazon, Alliance, Super D, and more)? Opt in now.

3. Keep your album priced right and in-stock — Offering a 20% physical distribution discount and restocking promptly when we email asking for more CDs are two great ways to maximize your sales.

Our warehouse gurus crunched some numbers after the latest sales figures came in, and they figured out that the artists who sell the most (through our partners like Alliance, Amazon, and Super D) have set a 20% physical distribution discount to improve pricing and sales volume.

Not sure if you have a physical distribution discount set up?  Login HERE to set or change your percentage discount today. 

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Your physical albums now have a greater reach than ever before, and CD Baby’s increased year-to-date sales figures prove that a greater reach leads to greater sales. We want to encourage you to participate in all of our physical and digital sales channels. Fans have countless options when it comes to buying your music, so make sure your music is everywhere!

 

Chris Robley's Author Bio

  • http://twitter.com/chrisbrooksgtr CB Guitar Solutions

    The only thing that sucks is when you send a restock request for small quantities. I just paid $25 to send 5 cds to you when I can send 20 for about $40.

    • http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/author-chris-robley Christopher Robley

      Well, we usually try to have 8 weeks of stock on hand. But if you feel like we’ve not requested enough (if you’re going on tour, or have an ad campaign coming up, TV appearance, or something like that), give us a call and we can talk about adjusting the inventory request.

      • http://twitter.com/chrisbrooksgtr CB Guitar Solutions

        Thanks Chris, will do!

    • CeVon Musique

      You can send them media mail, if there’s no rush… With nothing but CDs inside the package, it’s usually under $5 to mail 5 or 20!

      • http://www.facebook.com/josephkimbrell Joseph Kimbrell

        What about international artists? Shipping is way more expensive. Any advice for shipping from Europe and selling more cds? International artists cant really afford to sell cds at $9.99, etc.

        • http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/author-chris-robley Christopher Robley

          Many music buyers (especially ones outside the US) are perfectly willing to pick up a CD for $15 or $16 if they know the artist.

  • Tony van Veen

    Big up, Chief! You’re a legend at CD Baby…

  • Ben Makinen

    Cool Chris – like your ideas;-)

  • Gary

    Thanks Chris – regarding physical CD sales – would love to hear some data of physical versus digital sales…Are there certain demographics purchasing more physical than digital & vice versa? etc. etc. Keep up the great work!

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=12420763 Matthew Bain

    One quick thing I noticed: When the CD is selling through Amazon or other third party distributors, they may have HIGHER prices than what is offered on CDBaby despite volume discounts. I figured the distributor discount would help my CD be more competitive in terms of price. I guess that isn’t really the case and the distributor may get a much bigger cut from the sale. Just something to look out for. I recognize we don’t have any control over distribution program pricing.

    • http://members.cdbaby.com/ CD Baby

      Yeah, there’s not much you can do, but remember that people won’t buy overpriced CDs for the most part. When you can get a download for 9.99, 25.00 bucks for a CD seems like highway robbery. So resellers that overcharge are mostly just hurting themselves.

  • http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/author-chris-robley Christopher Robley

    Plenty of our “international” artists charge higher prices for their physical CDs and I think the customer is pretty understanding, especially if you mention in the album notes or style description section that they’re imports. If they want the physical disc, they’ll buy that for the higher price. If not, they can purchase your MP3s for a lower price.

  • http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/author-chris-robley Christopher Robley

    We’re obligated to report all digital sales to you, as stated in our terms of service. Our digital partners are contractually obligated to get us sales data within a reasonable amount of time and we report it to you as soon as we get it. Your accounting overview will show all sales reports, for both physical and digital sales.

  • http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/author-chris-robley Christopher Robley

    And I should add to that, we’re all artists here ourselves. We would never do anything to jeopardize the trust CD Baby has built up over the past… 14 years? Wow—almost driving age!

  • http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/author-chris-robley Christopher Robley

    Hey Tommy, we don’t handle marketing for our artists (that is still up to the artists/labels/etc.). With 500k musicians in our catalog, it’d be impossible to offer effective, personalized marketing services for each artist. That’s a big reason why we offer free informational resources on the blog and PDF guides—so artists will at least have an awareness of how to get the marketing piece in place on their own. We did recently start a new distribution partnership with Alliance Entertainment that should help generate more sales for our artists, but in the end it’s up to the artist to create demand.

  • http://www.facebook.com/jackbrownsings Jack Brown

    Tommywright, is right… There must be a better link to sell from CD baby.. Thanks Tommy

  • http://www.facebook.com/dave.carroll.77920 Dave Carroll

    so how do I find out if I’m part of CD Baby’s physical distribution network.I’ve logged in and simply can’t see what tells me. Obviously I sell physically through CD baby and also get a steady trickle of digital payments. I’m fully opted in for digital but where is that ‘physical’ info on the CD baby site.? Or am i automatically fully opted in for physical Cd sales because i sell CDs through cd Baby?. ?