CD Baby

Talkin' Music Policy with FMC

It was a great weekend for listening to FMC folks talk about our favorite subject: the intersection of music and policy.

On Saturday, FMC Policy Director Michael Bracy chatted with Windy City music scribes Greg Kot and Jim DeRogatis on "Sound Opinions" — a weekly talk show from Chicago Public Radio and American Public Media. read more

New Business Models

...and how musicians, labels and songwriters are compensated

Kristin Thomson

Thursday, October 8, 2009

In 2007, I was invited to McGill University to guest lecture at a cross-disciplinary class taught by producer Sandy Pearlman. Since the students had been tasked with designing a workable new music-related business model for their final project, I decided to put together a presentation that focused on the back end of the music business model: how performers, songwriters and labels were each compensated when their music was either streamed or downloaded. read more

DIY Digital?An Up Close Look

FMC pal Charles McEnerney of Well-Rounded Radio (a very cool podcast site that conducts interviews and connects listeners to what’s happening outside of mainstream music) recently spoke with Jeff Price, founder/CEO of TuneCore — a service that allows musicians to distribute their music to all the online retailers and on-demand streaming sites such as iTunes, Amazon MP3, eMusic, Rhapsody, Lala and Napster.

With so many cool and interesting panelists on board for our upcoming DC Policy Day on February 11, it?s hard to choose which guest to be more excited about. That said, there is one speaker that every musician attending should take special note of: Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby and the mind behind DIY music info hub Sivers.org.

For those of you who don?t know, Sivers founded CD Baby in after quitting his job at Warner Music to become a full time musician. Instead of trying to score a record deal and conventional distribution, Sivers began selling his CD on his personal website. Soon he was helping his musician friends do the same, and CD Baby was born. Since those humble beginnings, the site has grown to include more than 267,000 acts, sold more than five million CDs to online customers and has paid more than $98 million directly to artists. read more

The new indie artist

The New York Times Magazine had an interesting piece over the weekend on how musicians are building new distribution networks and fan bases via the Internet.

The piece kicks off by profiling Jonathan Coulton, a former computer programmer and unsigned Brooklyn indie artist who is making a "reasonable middle class living" by selling CDs and music downloads via his web site, iTunes, and CD Baby. Coulton built a fan base by recording a song a week for all of 2006 and then posting them on his blog. They ranged from odes to Tom Cruise ("Tom Cruise Crazy") to pieces about the dead-end life of a programmer ("Code Monkey"). read more

Senate bill introduced to save webcasters

After having a near-death experience a few weeks ago, webcasters got another dose of good news. Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced a bill that would vacate a recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board. The ruling would have increased royalty rates for webcasters by 300 to 1200 percent (according to Savenetradio.org).

This comes after a pair of representatives introduced a similar bill in the House a few weeks back.

Webcasters had complained the new rates would sink many of their operations. The new rates were slated to go into effect on May 15 , but the CRB decided to push the deadline back to July 15 after an outcry from webcasters. read more

The sky is falling for the music industry? Not so fast…

A lot of ink is spilled on the declining fortunes of music industry. It seems like every other day a new report shows album sales are down for this period or in that country. In the wake of all the doom and gloom, the always informative Digital Music News posted an interesting report showing the sky isn’t exactly falling everywhere.

The researcher eMarketer is projecting revenues in the North American music industry sector will grow at a rate of 2.8 percent annually between now and 2o11. Revenues will climb from $23.1 billion to $26.5 billion largely on the strength of live concerts and publishing. eMarketer also predicts mobile and digital assets will offset decreases in physical sales. read more

It's The Future, Baby

How CD Baby helps indie musicians with digital distribution

Kristin Thomson

Wednesday, October 8, 2003

CD Baby embraces the co-op model, where artists can share common resources, and takes it to a new level. They offer independent musicians a whole range of tools to help them with their musical livings – from promoting and selling CDs online, to their customizable Host Baby website hosting service, to networking opportunities, down to helping bands get barcodes for their records. The results are inspiring. Currently over 47,000 artists sell their CDs through the store, and $4.7 MILLION has been paid out to artists since the store’s launch in 1998. read more

CD Baby

Talkin' Music Policy with FMC

New Business Models

DIY Digital?An Up Close Look

Meet the Policy Day Panelists: Derek Sivers

The new indie artist

Senate bill introduced to save webcasters

The sky is falling for the music industry? Not so fast…

It's The Future, Baby

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