Ableton Forum

Which is better and why?

I think with CDBaby you have to have an actual physical CD and with Tunecore you don't. But I dunno, everybody is just looking for the quickest route to get their music in the itunes store.

Yes, with CD Baby you do have to send at least one copy of the physical CD to them, they convert that into mp3s for digital distibution.

CD Baby has distributed my tracks all over, including iTunes and Amazon, I am happy with them. I get money for paid listens, from sites like Napster and Rhapsody, as well as money from downloads. It is a one time fee to register a disc with them, it is available in their catalog forever, if you want you can also get a barcode for a little more. They do take a percentage per sale.

Tunecore charges you over time for storage, it is a much easier setup. but I don't like the idea of paying rent for my tracks.

mikemc wrote:Yes, with CD Baby you do have to send at least one copy of the physical CD to them, they convert that into mp3s for digital distibution.

Can you just burn your own CD or does it have to be all fancy and factory pressed?

Tunecore doesn't give you an option to sell physical CDs AFAIK.

It also charges annual maintenance fees as described, whereas CDBaby is more to setup but that's a one-off fee, although if you are selling CDs, you have to pay postage to send them to CDBaby - 1st they want 5, then next time 10, then 20 etc. so they are not overstocked.

I personally like CDBaby's model better but look at what each has to offer and see which one suits you best. CDBaby does allow digital only sales now, although if you have CDs pressed, you might as well do both. CDBaby and Tunecore take a similar amount for digital downloads which is reasonable. CDs are a bit more - CDBaby takes $4.00 off a CD sale. But they store it indefinately and do all the mailing etc, which is a lot of hassle.

You are advised to have as professional looking product as possible, but you can burn your own. Most CDBaby releases are CD-R - they accept CD Stomper. LightScribe or inkjet printed cd media - I don't know about writing on a cd-r with a Sharpie like System Of A Down though

You should take a look at Audiolife:
http://www.wiretotheear.com/2009/01/30/ ... ont-costs/

And
http://routenote.com/

I use Tunecore for my larger selling releases.

I guess I can always start as digital only and then duplicate CDs later for retail if I decide it's worth it.

From what my album-release friends say, CDBaby seems to be the way to go because of the set it and forget it nature of their business. Thanks for the links Oliver, I haven't seen these yet.

is there a beatport friendly version of this?

the_antagonist wrote:is there a beatport friendly version of this?

forget I asked

the_antagonist wrote:is there a beatport friendly version of this?

forget I asked

I think I'll start with Tunecore for digital release, then if it seems like it's worthwhile I'll get some duplicated and use CD Baby for physical CDs. The thing is I'm going to need some "professional looking" physical CDs anyway, because I want to submit some to radio and record labels etc., so if I end up duplicating 100 or so at someplace like Diskmakers, I might as well try and get them in stores via CD Baby at some point.

beats me wrote:

mikemc wrote:Yes, with CD Baby you do have to send at least one copy of the physical CD to them, they convert that into mp3s for digital distibution.

Can you just burn your own CD or does it have to be all fancy and factory pressed?

Sorry, didn't see this quesiton-- yes, you can just burn your own CD.

Pretty impressed with Tunecore so far. $35 and a few weeks later, my album is now on Amazon and iTunes:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001VO ... 998&sr=8-1

I published an album through tunecore last year, but chose to go with CD baby on my new album, the one time only fee and the easy access to purchase a barcode and the ability to upgrade to physical CD sales later just made them a better value and option.