Digital Distribution - CDBaby or Tunecore?

[tickdoker]

I already have my cd setup with CDBaby and was going to use their digital distribution, but I was checking out Tunecore and it seems like a better deal. Anyone have pros/cons about either that they could share?

[surflounge]

I haven't used Tunecore, but CDbaby has been in charge of two of my CDs for years, and they have done a great job. I wouldn't switch.

[Andraes]

Can't you do both? CDbaby is more for printed CD as TC is for DD?

[BevvyB]

Check out Nimbit as well

Tunecore has a bigger reach than Nimbit, but Nimbit also lets you sell CDs and merch, all accessed with a cool widget you can stick anywhere - on the widget you can set your own prices, Nimbit takes 20% of direct mp3 sales through the widget

Tunecore lets you sell videos on iTunes, Nimbit doesn't, Tunecore doesn't give you a widget

Why not check both out and use the best deals from both?

Oh, and Tunecore puts your stuff up onto Amazon now too

By the way, if you've got physical CDs to sell, you should open a seller account and sell them on amazon too - it's not too difficult

You can never be in enough places at the same time

[tickdoker]

Originally Posted by Andraes

Can't you do both? CDbaby is more for printed CD as TC is for DD?

Yes, this is what I was thinking. CdBaby takes 9% of sales whereas Tunecore doesn't take any percentage. CdBaby offers a lot of other DD outlets than Tunecore. Just wondered if anyone had any thoughts/experience with either as far as the variety of outlets and reliability etc are concerned. Thanks for the help everyone.

[henryrobinett]

I'm on Tuncore. My CDs just went up. I'll let you know.

[tickdoker]

[QUOTE=BevvyB;1811735]Check out Nimbit as well

Nimbit looks very enticing as well. Do you have experience with them vs. Tunecore?

[juicylime]

I'd love to hear from people that are using multiple outlets at the same time and what benefits or negatives this is bringing them.

[CDS]

You want to use every outlet that you can. This is the great thing about independent releases.

CD Baby is a great resource to sell your physical CD from, I have known a few friends to do well on CDB just from bulk international purchases (for retail). Their download option is convenient and the most important thing is having the ability to deliver a download to a user if they are at CDB and do not want to wait for the shipment.

TuneCore will eliminate the task (and headache) of listing to all the major locations yourself. A great service.

We offer a solution also, but between CDB and TC, your pretty much set!

A sale is a sale no matter where it come from, your job is to make sure there are many points of access to your product.

[BevvyB]

You should be on every available downloads site, on CD Baby, on Amazon for both physical and downloads, in fact everywhere you can

Put your stuff everywhere. It seems like a chore to start with, but within a month of messing about you'll be happily on top of it and you'll wonder why it seemed so tricky.

[juicylime]

Anyone ever have any joy with EP's or singles through any of these avenues or has it been album based?

[BevvyB]

Selling physical EPs is very much a break-even situation with CD Baby and most sites - once you take in the cost of packaging and the cost the sites take, you pretty much have to knock down your personal profit on the EP just to make it reach the ballpark of what people find acceptable to pay for an EP is reached

Obviously downloadable EPs are cool

A good route to go is to release EPs regularly, stagger the release of the physical with the downloads so that the income from downloads can actually pay for the pressing of the physical

And then release 'best of' albums of the EPs every so often

This way you cover a lot of ground, always have something to promote, have a regular release schedule, and won't spend money printing up physicals that didn't do so well on downloads

You will always have to press SOME EPs of course for promotional use with radio stations and magazine etc - most of these guys don't take notice unless it arrives in the post in physical form

Don't forget that the way to make the most money from anything is to sell it yourself - if you can get people to your site, sell them there - paypal have some much better tools for creating shops than the boring 'buy now' buttons - you could also look at sites like ShopIt and even Ebay, why not?