“CD Baby News” Articles

Introducing CD Baby’s MusicStore for Facebook, Version 2.0

May 15, 2013{ 4 Comments }

mainimage Introducing CD Babys MusicStore for Facebook, Version 2.0

Selling Your Music on Facebook Just Got Easier. 

If you’ve already been using CD Baby’s MusicStore to sell your music on Facebook, you know it’s an ideal way to get your tunes in front of people and make sales on the world’s most popular social network. If you haven’t, now’s a great time to start.

We’ve been in the lab fiddling and tinkering, and it’s safe to say we did more than just slap on a new coat of paint. We kept all the features you love, made ’em look even nicer, and also added new functionality that makes sharing your music even easier.

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Introducing CD Baby Pro

April 16, 2013{ 56 Comments }

CDBPro BlogPost Introducing CD Baby ProCD Baby Pro revolutionizes how artists get paid for their original music

Since 1998, it’s been our mission to help independent artists build a career on their own terms.  This is why we’re very excited to announce a new service that gives independent musicians more control — and more ways to make money from their original music.

CD Baby Pro represents a huge step forward, giving independent artists the ability to collect both international and US royalties they were previously denied, while still retaining 100% of the rights to their music.

The concept is simple: every time a song is purchased, streamed, or played in a public setting (including radio, TV, internet, venues, and more), the songwriter/composer is owed a publishing royalty. But until now, it’s been nearly impossible for independent artists to collect all these royalties on their own. We created CD Baby Pro to solve this problem and make it easy for artists to get paid what they deserve.

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Why You Need CD Baby Pro

April 16, 2013{ 6 Comments }

62842 10151532278754330 804104493 n 150x150 Why You Need CD Baby ProDo all of these criteria apply to you?

* You record and release original music.

* The music you’ve written is being sold, streamed, or performed live.

* You like being paid money that you’re owed for the usage of your music (who doesn’t?).

* You have NOT inked a deal with a major publishing company.

If the above describes you, you need CD Baby Pro!

We created CD Baby Pro to help you solve a problem you might not have even known existed in the first place —getting paid all the publishing royalties you’re owed for your original music.

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CD Baby Artists’ Music Now Available in FLAC, MP3-320, or Standard MP3

April 10, 2013{ 20 Comments }

shutterstock 40434679 CD Baby Artists Music Now Available in FLAC, MP3 320, or Standard MP3CD Baby now offers your music in a “lossless” audio format

Good news for CD Baby artists (and audiophiles): your fans can now choose between FLAC, MP3-320, and standard MP3 when they purchase your music on cdbaby.com.

So what exactly is the difference between these file formats?

Audio file formats offered by CD Baby

MP3  — CD Baby encodes MP3s using the standard preset of the lame encoder, yielding Variable Bit-rate MP3s with a target bit-rate of around 200kbps.

MP3-320 — According to ISO standards, MP3-320 is the highest bit-rate MP3 file that audio decoders are required to produce (though some encoders can create MP3s up to 640 kbit/s).

FLAC  — FLAC files are “lossless,” meaning they’ve been compressed without any loss of audio information. They’re CD-quality!

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How to Do an iTunes Pre-Sale for Your Music

March 20, 2013{ 21 Comments }

itunes logo1 300x300 How to Do an iTunes Pre Sale for Your MusiciTunes Pre-Sales Now Available for CD Baby Artists

With over 28 million tracks in their catalog, 25 billion songs sold, and billions in annual revenue, it’s no secret that iTunes is still the major player in the digital music game. And we’ve got good news: CD Baby artists will now be able to make their music available for pre-sale on iTunes.

What’s an iTunes pre-sale?

An iTunes pre-sale allows your fans to order your music from iTunes in advance of its release. Then, on the official release date, your pre-sale customers will receive an automatic download of your music into their iTunes player. All pre-sales will be credited on the official release date, so the more pre-sale purchases you get, the higher your sales ranking on the day of the official release.

Artists who have albums with 11 or more tracks are also eligible to choose an “instant gratification” track.  iTunes will make that track available for preview and purchase on the date your pre-sale begins. The instant gratification track will be available for purchase as part of the pre-sale album, which means any iTunes customer can purchase this track by itself, or have it instantly downloaded when they purchase your complete album during the pre-sale period!

A pre-sale must run 1-4 weeks before the Current Release Date (the actual release date you set in your CD Baby member account). In order to be eligible for pre-sale, your Current Release Date must also be at least 30 days in the future.

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Come Say Hello to CD Baby This Week at SXSW

March 12, 2013{ No Comments }

SXSW MusicianEmail v2 406x650 Come Say Hello to CD Baby This Week at SXSWCD Baby’s Official SXSW Day Party & Evening Showcase

Once again, CD Baby is headed down south to Austin for SXSW!

We want to get some “face-time” with CD Baby artists and our industry pals, so we’re hosting a couple big events while we’re there. Hopefully you’ll come visit with us for a bit.

First,…

CD Baby / Rumblefish Day Party at SXSW

When: Wednesday, March 13th  2-5pm
Where: Darwin’s Pub: 223 East 6th Street, Austin, TX 78701 (@ San Jacinto)

Bands:

2-2:30pm – MC Frontalot

2:45-3:15pm – Seryn

3:30-4:15pm – Chaos Chaos

4:30-5pm – The Black Lilies

RSVP info: http://cdbabyrumblefish.splashthat.com
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Second,… Read more »

CD Baby Partners with Shazam, the World’s Most Popular Music Discovery Mobile App

March 6, 2013{ 35 Comments }

shazam iphone android app1 CD Baby Partners with Shazam, the Worlds Most Popular Music Discovery Mobile AppHow to get your music on Shazam

Exciting news: CD Baby is the first independent music aggregator to partner with Shazam— and, more importantly, music by CD Baby artists will soon be discovered using Shazam’s popular music IDing app.

[Important note: CD Baby recently began delivering tracks to Shazam, so it will take a while for our entire catalog to be ingested and activated in Shazam's database. If you cannot ID your music using Shazam right now, try back in a few week.]

You know Shazam, right? It’s a magical mobile app available for iPhones, iPads, Droids, etc.

How Shazam works: if you’re curious about a song that’s playing on the radio or on someone’s stereo (in a bar, cafe, restaurant, car, etc.),  you just hold your phone or tablet up to the music source and Shazam will automatically tell you the name of the artist, song, and album — plus give you a direct link to purchase the track from stores  like iTunes and Amazon. Shazam drove over $300 million in iTunes and Amazon sales last year!

CD Baby artists can now be Shazam’d

Shazam’s audio recognition technology revolutionized the music discovery process, and we’re psyched that CD Baby artists will now be included in Shazam’s database, greatly increasing the chances that their music will be discovered, shared, and purchased. With Shazam, a new fan is only a couple taps away.


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This Week’s CD Baby Artist Payout Crushes Record at $3,800,000

March 5, 2013{ 2 Comments }

shutterstock 61830025 This Weeks CD Baby Artist Payout Crushes Record at $3,800,000CD Baby’s highest artist payout ever

This week we paid out 3.8 million dollars ($3,821,326 to be exact) to independent musicians around the world. That’s the most CD Baby has ever paid to artists in a single week, and we’re thrilled, of course.

As exciting as this news is, it’s not surprising.

There are now more ways of making money as a CD Baby artist — digital distribution; physical distribution; CD, vinyl, and MP3 sales on cdbaby.com; and sync licensing (so you get paid for the usage of your music in film, TV, commercials, games, and on YouTube).

It ain’t advanced economics: with more ways of making money from your music, musicians are making more money. 

License your music for TV, film, video games, YouTube, and more

Have you signed up your music with CD Baby’s Sync Licensing Program? As a CD Baby member, it’s included — so there’s no additional cost beyond the initial submission fee. Click HERE to find out more. Read more »

It’s March Madness at HostBaby: Get 13 Months of Web-Hosting for Only $199!

March 4, 2013{ No Comments }

banner It’s March Madness at HostBaby: Get 13 Months of Web Hosting for Only $199!

It’s that time of year again!

March Madness at HostBaby is here, and that means it’s your chance to lock in a year of hosting for way below our normal price. All you have to do is log into your account (or create one!), pay $199, and you’ll receive 13 months worth of hosting credits.

We double-checked the math on this, and it equals a sweet deal. But here are the hard numbers: Only $15.30 a month, instead of the standard $20. You’ll save $61, plus, you’ll get the 5 free CD Baby submissions that are included with your year of hosting.

Already paid ahead a few months? No problem: the 13 months will get added to your total.

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Sync Licensing for Independent Musicians: Get Synced, Get Paid!

February 25, 2013{ 2 Comments }

CDBSync021813 mainimage Sync Licensing for Independent Musicians: Get Synced, Get Paid!

CD Baby is on a mission to help you make the most money from your music, and that’s why we’re so excited to see our new sync licensing program generating so much revenue for artists. We’ve paid out over $200k in less than a year, and we’ve just begun to scratch the surface of its potential, so we want to make sure you don’t miss out.

Sync licensing comes free with your CD Baby submission, so after you sign up, you just need to log in to your account and opt in.

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