Before I get in to the meat of my paean here, I've got to tell you that this is a review of a on-line store that I really like. I like their products, the breadth of their selection, and especially their level of service. This has obviously colored my perception of this store. I am reasonably sure you will feel the same.
OK. I'm going to let you in on a little secret. It is known only to me, you, and a just a few others (well, a few million others).
Despite the best efforts of the RIAA and the bureaucracy, and no matter what Don MacLean sang, the music didn't die. The better, or quality, part of it moved on to a little company in Portland, Oregon - I know, (Portland?) but still, there it is. This company, started a few years ago (ca. 1997), is CDBaby.com, and they have the bad habit of delivering what they promise: good music reliably and quickly, and that is your definition of ”good music“. According to their Web site, they have sold more than 3.1 million CDs on line to customers like you and me.
So why are they different? Quality, quantity, breadth of catalog, and even their attitude (but more about that later). Their second selling point is that they deal with independents, not manufactured stars - for that, just go down to any mainstream ”music“ store such as Barnes and Noble, Hastings, or Borders and look at the Billboard Top 100 - blech! So, by shopping there, you are doing a good thing: Giving the artists whose works you enjoy more money. (According to the Web site, they give back to the artists $6-$12 per CD, unlike ”Big Music“ where they might be lucky to get $1 or $2 per CD. This has enabled them to give back to the artists more than 45 million dollars for the CDs they sell and more than 16 million dollars for the digital distribution. It's a lot per.)
Their first and biggest selling point is that they have more than 175,000 independent artists selling their CDs on CDBaby. If there is a particular genre of music, they probably carry it. (Note to self: For a painful experience, put ”teen idol“ in their search engine - won't find J.Lo, Britney, or even Marc in here. Whew!) In fact, if you look hard enough, you may be able to find the artist you want. A word of warning here: Be sure you have enough time to search their selections; your first few visits to their Web site, you won't be able to just do a quick search and leave - like potato chips, you'll have to do just one more.
Above, I made the claim that you can probably find the genre you want if you look at CDBaby.com. Well, everyone carries Urban, Hip Hop, Rap, Blues, Classical, Country, Easy Listening, and so on - though we may discuss exactly what fits in each of those. How about ”Ballroom“? Anyone remember Frank Yankovic? How about Glenn Miller Orchestra singer, Julie Rich? (She started with them in 1985.) How about modern ”Celtic“, my personal favorite? Marc Gunn & The Dubliner's Tabby Cats: Irish Drinking Songs For Cat Lovers. Still, we are pretty mainstream. Well, how about Texas Hippie Folk Soul Rock? CDBaby.com breaks Jazz down into fourteen (14!) different sub-categories, Metal into seventeen, and Rock into twenty-eight. These people are severely, almost fanatically, into their music; after all, they (the small staff of CDBaby.com) listen to each and every piece of music that shuffles or speeds its way through their warehouse.
As you peruse their Web site, you may get the feeling that they don't take themselves too seriously - just the music. This feeling is enhanced when you actually place an order and get several confirmation emails, especially the one that says your CD is on its way. I quote:
Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.
A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure it was in the best possible condition before mailing.
Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle, and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.
We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards, and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved ”Bon Voyage!“ to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day.
Of course, their private CDBaby.com jet is actually the Postal Service, unless you want it faster than three to five days after you order, but your music will get to you fast enough that you will still remember ordering it. I believe the longest I have had to wait is about nine days, and that was due to an inconvenient holiday slowing things up in there somewhere.
As with almost any other music provider, parents may want to take a look at what the site has before allowing their children to shop there. There are quite a few ”adults only“ albums available on CDBaby.com. Oddly enough, I'm not just talking about the Rock or Rap sections either. They have a selection, under ”Flavors“ called ”To Make Love To“ (my euphenism), though as they describe the type of music there, I'm not sure I'm adult enough to listen to their selections: ”... somewhere between Barry White, Sade, and the Girl from Ipanema. Sensual and sexy.“ Of course, there is always the ”Smash! Burn! Destroy! Rage!“ selection.
Well, lest you think that all they have is music that you may or may not like or even adore, they offer a lot of artists who are in the business of teaching, from the pre-schooler up through the grades - with an empahsis on the younger set. For you who have grumpy babies, there is even a CD of white noise that they guarantee will calm that baby right down: ”The White Noise Album“. How about trying to get the kids to learn their multiplication tables? Having lots of fun with that? “Liz Robinson & Musical Mathematics featuring Skip Counting (mulitplication facts)” will be more than happy to help your young student learn. These are but two widely separated examples of what type of CDs CDBaby.com has for the much younger set.
So, you don't have any kids, you really don't like Hip Hop, Urban, Rock, Rythmn and Blues, or even Country. How about laughing to comedy CDs - you know, the spoken word? While I don't know any of the comedic artists CDBaby.com lists, that really isn't a detraction of their offerings; rather, it means that I've got a lot of catching up to do. Perhaps you would enjoy Jeff Duran or even The Naked Cowboy? Take a look at their listing: there is a lot there for you to enjoy!
Classical, Blues, Gospel, New Age, Jazz, Latin, and on and on and on. Trying to write a short, accurate, thorough review of CDBaby.com to get you to go take a look is like writing about Mount Everest to someone who hasn't even seen the pictures of that overgrown hill. Go into your favorite big box "multimedia" store, look at all the CDs in stock, and instead of the multiple copies of what they have, imagine that each and every CD is a unique title, with even more hidden in back. Your job: Find something you like in that pile.
So, after all that, are you still curious about why you should shop at CDBaby.com? Besides the obvious attractions I've discussed above, one massive reason jumps out at me. As I write this, I am listening to an Internet radio station that may soon be forced to shut down due to the outrageous and onerous new fees they will soon have to pay thanks to the Library of Congress, big business, and the RIAA. I still want to hear good music untainted by the corporate world - actually, those two sentiments go together quite well: good music and untainted. One way of making sure that happens is to support indies like CDBaby.com so I can keep hearing the music I want. I do, and I really hope you feel that way as well.
Take a few minutes, and visit CDBaby.com. Bet you can't choose just one.
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Copyright 2007 James M. Emmons; all rights reserved. Please contact me if you want to talk or schmooze about the article or if you want to reproduce it in one format or another in one or more media in one or more languages. Good luck.
Date Revised: 19 April 2007
