(Hypebot) — Once a top destination for independent music, the CD Baby online store is closing on March 31st.
CD Baby has warehoused, sold and shipped indie and DIY and indie CDs and vinyl for 22 years. In 2009, online store sales accounted for 27% of the total revenue CD Baby paid to artists. But by 2019, those sales were less than 3% of artist earnings.
“It’s clear that our store just isn’t where fans want to engage with their favorite artists and discover new music,” according to CD Baby. The demise in physical goods certainly hastened the demise along with competition from Amazon, Bandcamp, Bandzoogle and others.
Physical Distribution Will Continue
The majority of physical goods orders that CD Baby currently ships are through Amazon and wholesalers like Alliance Entertainment and those sales will continue.
If the artist or label has stocked CDs and vinyl with CD Baby, they will still warehouse the product and fulfill orders from those vendors
Coming Soon
Along with the store closing announcement came a promise to launch new sales opportunities with partners like Bandzoogle to enable artists to sell physical formats from their own website and still have CD Baby handle fulfillment.
More details on the CD Baby store closure here.
