The Short Answer:
CD Baby is the largest online distributor of independent music. CDBaby.com (the site you’re on right now!) is our quaint little record store where you will discover your next favorite artist.

[In•de•pen•dent: (adj.) Not having sold one's life, career, and creative works over to a corporation.]

The Long Answer:
From our humble beginnings more than a decade ago as a small, one-man operation in a garage, to our current standing as the world’s largest online distributor of indie music, CD Baby has always been a company run BY musicians FOR musicians.

Inside the fortified walls of our warehouse (a virtual Wonka-world of music) in rainy Portland, Oregon, we listen to every single album we carry before it is posted for sale so that we can help you find other new artists you’ll love, too.

No distributors. No major labels. We only sell music that musicians send us directly. We ship CDs from our warehouse. We sell downloads from our site. And we also deliver our artists’ music to other download retailers, as well (iTunes, Rhapsody, eMusic, many more.) We sell you the music and then we pay the artist right away.

Cool thing: in a regular record deal or distribution deal, musicians only make $1-$2 per album, if they’re ever lucky enough to get paid by their label at all. When selling through CD Baby, musicians make $6-$12 per album and get paid weekly.

Current Numbers
278,510 albums sold by artists at CD Baby
5,339,025 CDs sold online to customers
$107,769,092 paid directly to the artists

CD Baby primarily carries music by independent artists (artists without a major label or major distribution deal). Occasionally, we carry albums by artists who were once on a major label if the rights to the recording have reverted back to the artist (thus, they’re now INDIE!) But seriously, you can turn on classic rock radio any day of the week to hear Jimi Hendrix. Check out our site and find some new music by undiscovered artists that are just as good! To find other artists that share similar musical qualities to your favorite famous artists, use our sounds like search function.

Absolutely. We make 30 second streaming audio clips available for you to preview the music. The artist determines which tunes they want to make available for preview.

Unfortunately, you can’t. Because of the whacky ways of the file sharing public, we need to protect our artists’ copyright and ensure that the music is only available for download inside the account of the purchaser.

The most likely reason is that the artist did not send us enough stock to cover multiple purchases coming in on the same day. If you’d like to cancel the order and be refunded, please contact us at cdbaby@cdbaby.com. We’d be happy to take care of that.

However, artists are generally very quick about getting us restock. If you would still like to receive the out-of-stock items you purchased we will notify you the moment they ship.

Debit or Credit (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover), Check, PayPal, Chocolate (Well, maybe not chocolate. But we do like chocolate. Lots of it!)

No.

Since we deal with the artists on a consignment basis, we don't do any wholesaling (we can't change their prices without their knowledge). Some of our artists do offer a percentage discount for people ordering multiple copies of a CD, though.

Also, you might be able to work something out with the artist directly. If you go to their album page on our site, you can usually email them directly by using the "Log in to email this artist" link at the bottom of the page

Good luck!

We have a $5 Sale that artists can elect to place their albums in. Artists opt into this sale with the goal of reaching music fans who want to sample a few indie artists. The $5 price only takes effect if you order 3 or more DIFFERENT titles from the sales bin. Otherwise, each of those albums will be listed at their normal selling price. Try adding 3 titles to your cart from the $5 Sales Bin and see if the listed price changes to $5 at that point.

Because we receive product directly from the artists, we sell music that comes in a variety of formats and packaging types. Some discs are shrink wrapped. Some are not. Some discs are gold-pressed CDs. Some are CD-Rs. We display the product type (CD, CD-R, Vinyl, etc.) on the album page, so check there if you need to know ahead of time what kind of item it is.

As cheap as we can possibly make it and still keep the shirts on our backs. Our shipping rates are listed here.

Absolutely! Every day. Click here to see our shipping rates.

Several ways. Click here for our shipping options. As far as the shipping materials, it depends on your chosen method and the quantity, but we always use sturdy, environmentally friendly, protective packaging that will keep your order safe.

Once you’ve added items to your cart and select the “checkout” button you’ll be able to give us a billing address (that’d be YOU) and a shipping address (the gift recipient).

It all depends on what shipment method you choose and how far the package has to travel. Check out our shipping chart here for details.

However, please be aware that these are expected delivery times only. We can’t be responsible for the actions of the postal and delivery services of the world, customs offices, foreign governments, or other acts of God.

If you place your order by 3pm (Pacific/California time) it will ship the same day. Otherwise, we’ll get it in the mail first thing the following morning.

We do have an office on Neptune but it was abandoned eons ago. Unreliable space cadets! Besides that, we pretty much contain our mess to the CD Baby warehouse and office facility in Portland, Oregon.

Go to the album page on cdbaby.com of the album you’d like to review. Towards the bottom of the page click on the link that says Please log in to review this album.

Please remember to keep your comments specific to the album you’re reviewing. If you need to contact the artist, use the link at the bottom of the album page that says Please log in to email this artist.

We let the artist see who is purchasing their music. So if you buy an artist’s music they will see your name and email address (unless you elect to remain anonymous in your account). Besides that, we will never sell or give away your personal information to anyone for any reason- EVER!

Nope. We’re an online company trying to save trees.

Not yet. But we are toiling away to make gift certificates available soon.

When CD Baby first started, one of the most important aspects of our mission statement was to never censor content for any reason. We want to be a distribution service open to all independent artists. At first, this was mostly a stance we were taking in order to avoid judging people’s music based on subjective criteria like style, quality, or appeal. But we are also firm believers in free speech. CD Baby objects to the lyrical content of some of the albums we carry, but we are not willing or prepared to make determinations on the difference between objectionable content and art. That is a slippery slope.

However, CD baby does not wish to profit from the proliferation of hate messages, so for every dollar we make selling racist or white supremacist music we donate the profits to organizations that combat racism and inequality.

Well, we need to get your contact and shipping information if you’re going to purchase music from us. So in the same amount of time it takes to give us that info, you’ve created an account you can use in the future and save time by NOT having to provide the same information again.

All your info is totally secure, though, and we won’t share it with anyone (except that we give your name, email address, city, and state to the artist whose music you buy).