CD Baby - Anyone else having problems?

[Tosh Marshall]

I ordered David Surette's 'Green Mandolin' and Don Julin's 'Mr Natural' from CD Baby and after five weeks have still to receive them. OK so they could have got lost in the post or Royal Mail could be holding them for import duty, fair enough......Out of frustration I noticed both were available for download so as I was desperate for the music, I took the plunge and paid for the down loads. I got David Surette's album OK (brilliant), but Don Julin's I did not and got this message:

Download Not Available


Sorry - we still haven't gotten your download together yet.
Please give us a few more minutes and try again.

After a couple of days, they still haven't got it together and I've paid for Don Julin twice and still nothing to listen to !!!!

[Steve L]

What kind of response did you get from the company?

[Tosh Marshall]

emailed them twice and have had no response.....not very good customer service. This is the response I got on the 4th August:
Thanks for your email! We have received it and will be getting back to
you as soon as possible.

Right now we're extra busy because of our re-launch so it might take a little longer than you're accustomed to.

Please bear with us, and if you haven't heard from us in a few days, please be in touch. Thanks for your patience.

We love you,
the CD Baby Team
They seemed to be more concerned with their website relaunch than they do their customers.....Not good.

[Steve L]

That really does seem unacceptable. I've gotten CDs from the UK in far less time than that. Hope this gets sorted out for you soon.

[John Goodin]

Tosh,

I'm sorry to hear that you're having this problem. Especially with getting Don's great CD. It will be well worth the wait when it arrives!

I have to say, though, that this is pretty odd for CD Baby. Their service to me (both as someone selling CDs through their site and as a frequent customer) has been nothing short of excellent. I often receive CDs faster than I anticipated.

John G.

[Tosh Marshall]

Nothing, not a sausage, just some cartoon character sticking his tongue out at me with the annoying message (see attached). Maybe they're trying to tell me something
I'm sure Don Julin's album is great but I sure would like to hear it! Still one lives in hope.......

[fiddler59]

Cdbaby has been nothing but one huge headache for me. They have had our bands cd Curley Maple "Shawneetown" for almost 2 months and it still is not listed on there site, nor on Amazon or Itunes. I have filled out all of the forms, and paid the money for digital distribution in good faith. I have only been able to get through to them over the telephone once and that was three or four weeks ago and they said it should be up in a few days. They have not responded to any e-mails and are impossible to get over the telephone. I am mad and very disappointed. I feel like I have no recourse. I don't know what to do to be honest about it. I am on hold as I am typing this and it has been over an hour and a half !! I will find another avenue for digital distribution for our next cd release....that is for sure. I think they have completely dropped the ball !!

David Blackmon

[alltunator]

We're having the aforementioned problems too. I think it's safe to say CDBaby is having problems right now. I'm not counting on them for anything right at the moment. We'll see how they recover, but in the meantime we've set up other means of physical and digital distribution of our stuff.

[acousticnotes]

Derek Sivers has moved on from the company. They re-launched the company under Brian Felsen. Some rules and fees also changed at that time along with a revamped web site. I also sell and buy music from cd baby and I never had a problem with the old management. Hopefully the new management can sort things out.

[sgarrity]

I hate to hear that about CDBaby. I've spent a small fortune with them and gotten some really good music.

[Don Julin]

Tosh, I am very sorry to hear about this. PM me your address and I will send you a Mr Natural. I guess a call/email from me to cd baby is in order. As far as I know, the downloads through itunes or many other music providers should be working. CD Baby was recently purchased by Discmakers. I am sure glad I am not the one re-building a site that big. That sounds like a head-ache.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Personally i'm sorry to hear about the troubles that CD Baby appears to be having. I've used them a lot in the past & i've had no trouble at all.I hope that they get sorted out for their customers & don't loose out long term.I'm pretty sure they're not lousing up just for the fun of it,but i understand the frustration that non-received orders can give,having been there a few times myself.
I'd just phone them direct & have a talk with whoever & find out first hand what the trouble is. Phone calls to the US aren't that expensive & it would probably take less than 5 minutes to get the full story,
Ivan

[Tosh Marshall]

Don,
Many thanks for offering to help out and I've pm'd you. It appears the company is going through some sort of transition and maybe not all is working as it should be. I don't want to see any company struggle, especially in these hard times because it is the staff at the lower end of the ladder I feel for and are the first ones to suffer hardship. Hopefully they will sort their problems out in the longer term, but they should start to sort out their customer service and look after the artists who provide them with a product to sell......without them they do not have much of a future...I feel for all those who are affected.
Tosh

[Tosh Marshall]

Don,
I managed to get my download tonight, brilliant. Many thanks for your help. I hope David and Alltunator get their problems resolved. The company is obviously going through a bit of upheaval and I hope they resolve the problems of artists and customers. Just to say my Mr Natural took two attempts to download, second time was successful and I am enjoying the album at last!
Wonderful!

[Roye]

I wish my problems were sorted..CD Baby don't answer the phones (except they say it stinks that I am on hold) they don't answer emails..or faxes.
I am at a loss what to do..my sales payment is 1 month late so far.
I live in the UK so nipping down the road to see what the problem is out of the question.

[Roye]

Still no joy contacting CD Baby..are they still operating?

[Tosh Marshall]

Hi Roye,
I emailled them three times and didn't get one response. I would say they are still operating but are having severe problems. As a customer, it has been a nightmare experience and from the feedback of artists here selling their wares it has not been any better. It seems to me they had a good brand and somebody else has thought I'll come in a do better. The moral is 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'! Hope you get some response soon, but wouldn't count on it. I will not use them again because they certainly have a lot of disrespect for their customers. Problem is certain product is only available through them so some of the artists on here are going to suffer. Also I am not a fan of downloading, I prefer something physical...........Anyway good luck with your order and I do hope they deliver.

[Adrian22]

Hi Tosh, everyone ~

You are far from alone in encountering such problems. We've been on CD Baby since 2002, and their digital service since it started, and there's a myriad of problems that have arisen since their site relaunch last month.

You'll find other artists and music-lovers discussing everything from downloads and CD orders not working to wonky accounting and missing site features. Seems like the switch from one computer programming system to another has resulted in a mountain of glitches.

If you post your story to the CD Baby forums @
http://www.cdbaby.org - that is one way to get a response from the company more quickly than by emailing or phoning. There's apparently a massivve backlog and people report it taking weeks for email responses and by phone, ending up on hold for so long people hang up in frustration.

Due to this colossal mess - a couple of online blogs have been started by artists to try and help keep people informed, and find solutions to their problems with CD Baby:

http://cdbabyrelaunchdebate.blogspot.com

http://midnightpassmusic.blogspot.com

I certainly hope you get some satisfaction and resolution. And, for all of us who use, and have loved CD Baby for years, here's to finding a fix for the big picture!!

cheers, Adrian

[Tosh Marshall]

At long last I got an email from the company and they have refunded my download cost and will re-send the CD's originally ordered. That is very decent of them and I know they have had a lot of problems, but they are a great source of good music which is unavailable elsewhere. I hope other people have had a reply and were treated to such a response. Obviously they took a great gamble when re-organizing their website, something in hindsight may have been better left as it was. But hopefully they are getting back on track and I hope the artists are getting some better treatment as well......