Had an interesting comment come through as a response to this thread about CD Baby...
"I have to correct you on one thing about your post here... Mp3.com is not dead at all. It is still very much an alive free music download network and my band, Keygen, has around 12 songs listed there for free download. I can't speak for CD Baby cause we've never used their distribution service, though the reason would be cause they ask for money up front and for folks to send in disks that they can get charged for if they don't sell. These days there actually are plenty more distribution sites out there offering a lot more to artists for free. I know because I've got music for sale at two of those places right now and it hasn't cost us a cent to do so. Only one of those distributors asks for a percentage of our sales. The other is doing it for the love of musicia ns. Regardless of which distributor is a favourite or a good place to market your music, nothing beats the online presence of your own website, and for nearly $100 per year, we hope it's worth it."
My response...
1. mp3.com may take you to a website, but it's not the same company that it was in the mid-1990s, which is the best known version of the site. Journey is still around too, but they don't have Steve Perry singing. So is it really Journey?
2. Hell yes CD Baby asks for money up front. This is a business and they treat it as such. There are expenses involved with encoding an album, scanning a cover, setting up a web site, and storing CDs...which they incur even if your CD doesn't sell.
Just because somebody charges musicians to provide a service doesn't mean that they don't love music. You play music and charge for your gigs and CDs, right? Don't you love music?
CD Baby is the #1 site for independent music online. It costs $35 to get set up with them. If you can't see the value there, it makes me question whether you're really serious about doing this as a business.
And on a related note... If you're not going to invest in your music career, how can you expect somebody else to?
3. Agree with you on having your own website. You can get a domain for under $10/year and, if nothing else, point it to a hosted Wordpress blog for another $10.
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