PepperAlley

originally published in Kill Your FM (download it here)
used with permission

Derek Sivers single handedly changed the face of distribution for independent musicians. He makes no bones about the fact that it happened entirely by accident.

A musician himself, Derek tried to release his own CD on the Internet and discovered there were no outlets in place for artists without record deals. So, he taught himself how to design and build a shopping cart for his own website. Bear in mind there was no Paypal in those days, so he had to configure a program that could accept credit cards directly. No small feat.

Once Derek had all of the tools in place to sell CD's directly from his site, it makes sense that his musician friends started asking if they could sell their CD's on his site as well. The rest, as they say, is history.

CD Baby soon became Derek's passion and believe me, once you spend five minutes with the guy, you realize he has enough passion and excitement for all of us.

Derek Sivers is a perfect example of the kind of mentality one needs to adopt in order to succeed in today's new music industry. He's open and flexible.

With or without CD Baby, Derek Sivers is here to stay. Independent artists everywhere couldn't be happier!

KYFM: Having heard you speak at both the Future of Music Coalition Summit and the RockrGrl Festival this year, I realize that CD Baby came about entirely by accident. However, when you were working for major music corporations like Warner/ Chappell, was there a part of you that wanted to find a way to change the system?

Derek: You can tell the existing music business was NOT designed by musicians! It was designed by people wanting to exploit musicians. I felt that the musician is the king/queen of this entire industry - so why not let the musicians tell the industry how it should be?

KYFM: What did you dislike about being a musician?

Derek: That's like asking, "What do you dislike about being human?" Anything someone could answer is actually under their control to change. If you don't like performing the same material on stage every night, don't! If you don't like being a studio musician and playing on bad demos, don't! There are SO many ways to be a musician, that there's nothing to dislike. Just things to change.

KYFM: How do you feel about DRM (digital rights management) and things like Weed Share, which some might consider to be a middle ground between file sharing and traditional methods for paying artists?

Derek: Not a fan of DRM in general but I understand how it enables business models that could not exist without it: such as Weed and the subscription model like Napster, Rhapsody, and Yahoo Music.

KYFM: What are the three most important things you would recommend an artist do to market their music?

Derek:
#1 - look at what you do from an outside perspective.
#2 - learn how to read books on marketing.
#3 - be as creative in business as you are in music: your marketing should just be an extension of your art.

KYFM: Are CDs going to go the way of vinyl and, if so, where does that leave CD Baby?

Derek: My passion in life is helping musicians do what they need to do. If it means sticking plastic into envelopes to mail it around the world, that's fine, but I'm not attached to it. We're here to do whatever people need.

KYFM: With CD Baby, how were you able to develop a payment system that is so transparent and enables such a fast turn around time for distribution of funds?

Derek: It's easy. Money comes in, we don't touch it - we pay it right back out to the artists. Any company that tries to pretend that the money made from selling your product is their money to spend is evil.

KYFM: What role will CD Baby play in relation to Podcasting?

Derek: We have an amazing library of 25,000 songs that our artists have told us are OK to use royalty-free for things like podcasts, in return for the promotional benefit. Any podcast-enabling company who wants access to our amazing catalog of music should contact Gray Gannaway : gray@cdbaby.com

KYFM: Being that there is no licensing structure for Podcasting as of yet, how do you feel about the fact that ASCAP and BMI are already collecting payments for the utilization of their unsigned artists' music in podcasts?

Derek: As long as they pay it to the artists, that's fine. If they're going to act like the RIAA, though: where they sue "in the name of the artists", but then never pay a dime to the artists, that's evil.

KYFM: In this digital age, how do you think an artist will be compensated for music?

Derek: The movie model is good: how there are many many levels of income. The initial release. The video release. The cable licensing. Airplanes. Merchandising, etc. Many different places that an artist's music can be valuable.

KYFM: How do you feel about the major labels and what do you wish they'd do at this point?

Derek: They still have their place as marketing machines. Hopefully the same revolution will happen in music as it did in movies in the 1950's. Movie studios used to OWN actors. Then the actors revolted, flexed their power, and became free agents, not tied to any particular studio.

KYFM: What are your ultimate goals for CD Baby?

Derek: No plans, really. Whatever the musicians need us to help with, we'll be glad to do.

Special thanks goes to Derek Sivers for taking the time out of his insane schedule for KillYourFM.

Samantha Murphy is a KYFM Staff Writer, Podcaster, Musician, and all around beautiful human being.

CD Baby! http://cdbaby.com