What you should know about the retirement of CD Baby’s retail store.

CD Baby's mission is to help artists monetize and promote their music in the best ways possible. In order to provide the tools and services you need to succeed in an evolving music ecosystem, we’ve made the decision to retire the CD Baby retail store on March 31st, 2020.

We’re going to focus on what is making a difference for musicians today: our distribution, monetization, and promotion services. There are some exciting developments in process, and we’re delighted to be able to launch new tools and expand existing services, more quickly in the coming years.

Will CD Baby still warehouse and ship my CDs and Vinyl?

Where should I send fans to buy my CDs and Vinyl? 

Do I have to do anything if I want to continue with physical distribution?

What if I bought Download Cards? Can my fans still use them?

Why did CD Baby retire its retail store?

Will CD Baby still warehouse and ship my CDs and Vinyl?

YES! Although we’re retiring our own retail store, we’re continuing our physical distribution program.

CD Baby will continue to:

• warehouse your CDs and vinyl
• fulfill orders placed through Amazon, Alliance, local record stores, and other outlets
• send you re-stock requests when we need more discs

A couple of things have changed:

• All physical stock must be Retail Ready. If you are selling homemade CD-Rs, we’ll need you to provide professionally duplicated or replicated CDs if you want to be eligible for physical distribution.
• UPC barcodes are required for all physical products.
• You will need to change any CD Baby store links on your website, social profiles, or EPK to Amazon Marketplace links. We’ll still fulfill those orders!

Where should I send fans to buy my CDs and Vinyl? 

You should send fans to where your CDs are being sold. This could be the Amazon Marketplace, your own website, or more! If you are directing fans to your website, social media platforms or EPKs, you'll just want to be sure to remove old CD Baby store links and replace them with links to one of the examples mentioned.

That said, the Amazon Marketplace is not your only option. If you are currently selling physical through CD Baby, that means you are opted into our physical distribution program that partners with Super D and Alliance. Just ask your favorite record store if they partner with either of those physical distributors. You read more about that here. 

Do I have to do anything if I want to continue with physical distribution?

• If you already opted in for physical distribution, there’s nothing else you need to do. We’ll continue to manage your inventory in our warehouse the same way we have been, and we’ll keep fulfilling orders that come through Amazon, Alliance, etc.
• For new titles, you will still be able to opt-in for physical distribution and send us an initial quantity of CDs or vinyl to stock.
• For existing titles not yet opted in for physical distribution, you can do so at any time from your CD Baby dashboard at no additional charge. It’s included with all album distribution through CD Baby. 

What if I bought download cards? Can my fans still use them?

YES! Your fans will still be able to redeem their download cards. Our retail store will remain available through March 31st, along with the function to browse and buy music. Starting on April 1st, our retail store will transition into a download portal where fans can download previous purchases and redeem download cards. 

Why did CD Baby retire its retail store?

20 years ago, when CD Baby launched the online store, it was revolutionary to help independent musicians gain direct access to their fans and the market. By 2009, sales through our store accounted for only 27% of the total revenue we paid to artists every week. By 2019, sales on our store comprised less than 3% of our clients’ total earnings. With a few exceptions, the store is no longer a money-maker for most of our artists.

So, we’re going to focus on what is making a difference for musicians today: our distribution, monetization, and promotion services. We WILL continue our physical distribution program because the majority of orders we ship are coming through Amazon and other retailers. If you’ve stocked us with CDs and vinyl, we’ll still warehouse your product and fulfill those orders for you. We’re just retiring OUR store.