CDBaby - albums needing buyers!

Subject: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: Anne Lister
Date: 07 Jun 17 - 06:26 PM

CDBaby have asked me to either cover the shipping costs to return a total of three CDs to me or allow them to junk them. Neither of these options are very attractive, as I originally paid the shipping to them when they requested stock (and sent them the stock they'd asked for!). So if any Mudcatters don't already possess a copy of my albums "Singing on the Wind" or "A Flame in Avalon", could you possibly visit CDBaby to buy one in the next 48 hours or so? There's one copy of "Singing on the Wind" (which Scott Alarik featured as one of his top ten folk albums in the Boston Globe in its year of issue) and two copies of "A Flame in Avalon", which includes my re-recording of "Icarus" with Julia Lane on harp and Steafan Hannigan on whistles.

I'm disappointed with CDBaby, who I've been with for a long, long time now. I understand they must have gazillions of albums, but seriously -I've just moved house and know from first hand experience how very little difference three CDs make to the great scheme of things.

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: Helen
Date: 08 Jun 17 - 05:35 AM

I hope you can find a good home for your CD's, with people who appreciate your talents. And asking at Mudcat is a very good place to start.

Helen

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: vectis
Date: 08 Jun 17 - 06:15 AM

I would gladly buy a copy Anne but have one already. As a professional singer and musician I can't see anything wrong with a bit of decorous begging when the situation calls for it.

Anonymous guest should make constructive suggestions instead of just trolling IMHO.

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 08 Jun 17 - 06:57 AM

https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/AnneLister

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 08 Jun 17 - 10:24 AM

I mean to add to all posts...

---

I don't read posts from 'GUEST         ' or 'GUEST,Guest'

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Jun 17 - 06:59 PM

Snagged a disk and did a little tidying while I was at it. Thanks!

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 09 Jun 17 - 07:02 AM

Anne - hope you solve your problem, but can I also suggest you investigate Bandcamp? It's a much much more useful platform for selling your music. I don't know precisely how it works in terms of CD stock, but thousands of musicians use it to sell both physical CDs, vinyl and downloads. It's more interactive than CDBaby, you can follow recommendations... it just seems more friendly in general.

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: Anne Lister
Date: 09 Jun 17 - 09:14 AM

Thank you for all the supportive comments and suggestions, here and on FB. I have always had good dealings with CDBaby, who have reached a buying public I could not have done on my own, so I'm reluctant to end my association with them and would not want any of my comments to be seen as criticising them overall. I'll look into Bandcamp, Matt, and hope it could be an addition to CDBaby rather than a replacement for it.
I'm hoping to get a new album together within the next 12 months or so - some of you will know that I'm engaged in work on a PhD at the moment and so it's not the top priority right now. Once it's on the way I'll keep the 'Cat informed, indecorously or decorously. But not begging.

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: GUEST,Pat Cooksey.
Date: 09 Jun 17 - 03:44 PM

Have had a long association with CD Baby and I find them pretty OK. It's sometimes annoying to have to send more CD's at short notice and I allways ask that CD Baby ask for a price that covers this, works OK and they pay within two days of a set I limit.

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: Anne Lister
Date: 10 Jun 17 - 08:44 AM

Pat, that sounds like my experience too. However, they now seem to limiting their stock to one album per title, and they're either sending back or junking the "leftovers". It's annoying, as I've only ever sent them the stock they've requested (because it's expensive sending stuff from here), so they've obviously changed their policy. I have to admit when I look at sales over the years they've done well for me, as well as setting up the downloads with a number of bodies that would have been impractical and time-consuming for me to do as an individual artist. Which is why this isn't an overall criticism, but it was a plea for buyers in this instance.

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: GUEST,Adrian
Date: 20 Jun 17 - 05:57 PM

Same situation we're dealing with - we've only sent those CDs ordered/requested by CD Baby and now they change their policy and retroactively expect us to pay for the return of CDs they ordered from us this past November. Or, they threaten to destroy our CDs which they ordered. It does not seem fair or right. I wrote them on May 22 about this issue and have yet to receive any reply. Seeing your post here has prompted me to write them again.

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: GUEST,Adrian
Date: 20 Jun 17 - 08:52 PM

p.s. we, too, have long enjoyed a positive and mutually beneficial relationship with CD Baby. This current concern is anomalous and I trust it will all be worked out.

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Jun 17 - 08:53 PM

My CD arrived, I'll be listening to it this week. Thanks again, Anne!

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: Anne Lister
Date: 21 Jun 17 - 11:00 AM

Just to put a concluding note on this from me ... as you might have guessed from Life and its ways to be irritating, Acme's purchase of the CD came too late to save CDBaby from posting my albums back to me, and the consequence (wouldn't you know it) was that I then received a restock request from CDBaby while I was still waiting for my albums to arrive from them. I contacted them, first to see if they had already posted the albums and then to see whether they would refund my costs, as I was now in for around $12 for shipping the albums back and a further £3.50 for posting the restock. My second email appeared to be ignored - I sent a further message via Facebook. That too went unanswered, and I was considering my options when I finally had a response yesterday. They have apologised and said that if they had known I was going to "push" sales of my albums they would have given me 6 months grace before anything else needed to happen. (If I had known that was an option I would never have responded promptly to their original message, of course!). They say they can't refund mail charges but have offered me a couple of options of payments in kind, neither of which are particularly useful to me but I understand this is their attempt at being helpful. I will make an account with Bandcamp as an additional distribution outlet, and make a decision nearer the time about what to do about any future recordings.
Acme - thank you for the order, and I hope you enjoy the CD!

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Jun 17 - 11:07 AM

I had the same thing happen to me with CD Baby: send the CDs back to me at my expense, or junk them. Through some fluke, the cost of shipping them back to me was listed as one cent. I chose that option. They sent me back four CDs for the grand total of one cent. Don't tell them.
I am overall very happy with CD Baby.

Subject: RE: CDBaby - albums needing buyers!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Jun 17 - 02:26 AM

I guess the message is that the CD is dead. I don't have room to store the CDs I have, so l much prefer downloads.
But the artwork on Anne's CDs is so terrific, that you really should buy her CDs.

I do think this is a bad business decision on the part of CDBaby, and someone should nicely tell them so. The cost of overseas shipping is a great burden, so CDBaby should keep in stock the CDs they got from overseas performers.

-Joe-