Obvious Diversion

65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.

This seems to be more or less the same across most online music stores as can be seen on the CD Baby digital distribution price list. A few notable exceptions include Musicmatch, MusicNet (AOL’s service) and BuyMusic who pay a dollar less or more per album.

Two Easy Predictions

1. I’m surprised at the sheer number of stores on the price list, most of which I’ve never heard of. We can probably expect a pretty big shakeout over the next couple years, reducing the number of stores to a small handful.
2. This whole situation is poised for a breakout hit from an unknown artist who makes a fortune owning their hit song and selling it online through a service like this. They will immediately sign with a major label and disappoint everyone who saw them of an example of change.

CD Baby Who?

For those unfamiliar with CD Baby, they’re an online CD store that has been smart enough to offer a way for independent artists to get their music into services like iTunes. They seem to push all the right buttons including making sure you keep the rights to your work, only taking a 9% cut of the earnings, and offering a huge list of online stores you’ll appear in. I’ve purchased the occasional CD from CD Baby over the years and have always appreciated the artists they’ve supported (Grant Lee Philips) and their fantastic customer service.