indierhythm.com

[nomiyah]

Katie,You're very right that it's easy to "get lost in the pile". That's one of those things that has nothing to do with who distributes your CD. Getting people to buy your CD is a marketing thing that you have to do for yourself (or with a team or label). Same with gigs, you can get a show in a great venue but that doesn't mean people will buy tickets to your show. Personally, I love CD Baby. They just hooked up with a distributor to put the CDs in brick-and-mortar stores. Plus someone can find my CD practically anywhere online. The thing that I really like about CD Baby is that you pay only $35 to set up a new CD and that's a one-time fee. For that, they put up a page and upload the audio and set up the distribution and do the paperwork. The only way they make money is if I sell CDs, there's no monthly fee. That's the best deal out there and besides makes me feel good to know there is a music business that treats the musicians so fairly.Nomi

[edteja]

You didn't even upset me Katie, much less do anything with expletives I just wanted to clarify what CD Baby is and isn't. Like Nomi said, it is a distribution tool. And you bet you can get lost in the thousands of CDs they sell. But I had my CD in Waterloo Records in Austin and it got lost there too. (My fault, not their's.) Anyone who promises you won't be getting buried in the pile, however you go, better show you one heck of a marketing plan to go with the distribution.

[53mph]

Ed, even someone with a marketing plan can't guarantee you'll sell.I had a major distribution company behind me pushing my single nationwide, a label run by two marketting executives, a poster campaign, radio play and still the label made a loss on sales.....where as another label who had no budget, no marketing sense and no major distribution deal managed to sell out of my other singles.....go figure!There are no guarantees (unless you get signed up by a major and they buy back their own singles to guarantee you reach the No1 spot on MTV..) Katie,Selling at gig is a whole different party. It's like Ed's example of buying the Taco dips because they're sold next to the Taco's. If you go to a gig you often buy the single swept away by a general feeling of euphoria, then get home and regret it when you put it on. Just my 2 pennies

[katievogel]

I guess I'm still new enough to be starry eyed about all this music biz yet, and a lot of really cool exciting things have been happening to me recently so yeh I'm buzzin from the minute I wake up, so thats why I prolly put my foot in it and say things without thinking. I havent got a cd ready to sell yet but I do get lots of folks asking to buy my tracks on myspace and other sites, which has really pumped me up, course I cant sell em yet, so I just mail em out anyway to everyone who asks, and I'm totally thrilled to be getting asked, belive me !!!!!but I honestly do play all the cd's I buy at gigs and never regretted one yet, but then I always go and see 2or 3 shows of a band or artist before I buy anyway.I just love it all, every minute of it !!!! sad innit !Katiewww.myspace.com/thatvogel