I don’t understand why CDBaby and Magnatune don’t team up.
CDBaby is an online record store that sells albums by independent musicians; the musicians take a significant percentage of the sale, unlike traditional CD sales through retail vendors.
Magnatune provides a similar service; they market and license music by some excellent artists, at incredible prices (read: my student loans have come due), and in a variety of open formats. For example, when I purchased the Bach cello suites, I was able to download MP3s and WAV files of the audio, both DRM-free.
I think the CD is dying; the only reason I’d consider buying a CD anymore is to get a high-quality version of one or more tracks without DRM. But in truth, I don’t want the CD, I just want the music; and, as a result, I’m just not likely to buy the music if my only option is to go out and buy or order a CD.
So when are CDBaby and Magnatune going to get together? CDBaby has a huge catalogue, and Magnatune is slowly growing into a bastion of good practices in the online music retail business. Can something be done to benefit CDBaby, Magnatune, and the artists?