“Worse than being a cog in a machine…”

…is being a cog in a machine that doesn’t work”.

–my coworker Pony, just now

My friends, since I’m back in town I’m making a serious effort to draw a line between the work I do at work and the work I do with the rest of my time.

On that note, here is the Discussion

surrounding the changes at CD Baby. This shit went down the day I got back. We are reeling, and I am trying to figure out what role I can and want to play. Here are my comments. I will continually be forming thoughts about this, and talking about them. I think that’s important.

It is good to see the community taking so much interest in what’s going on at CD Baby, as it can feel reaaaal far away from the Portland action all the way out here by the airport (we’re hoping to bridge that gap soon, though).

I’m writing from the perspective of someone who spends their days on the phone & e-mailing the clients & customers of CD Baby. Since being hired last September, I have seen not hair nor hide of Mr. Derek Sivers. Yet he has been entirely present, in the culture he created as the company’s founder and president for the last decade, as well as in the aftermath and legacy of the decisions he has made in recent years and his continued involvement by way of an Adam Smith-esque “invisible hand”.

Throughout my time here there have been speculations and postulations galore as to the future of CD Baby, as well as that of compact discs and music itself. From what I understand, this company was not intended to occupy the place it does in the “music industry”, but has it ever carved a niche for itself, and knowing where to go from here is, I can imagine, a real task.

Undoubtedly all action that is taken will influence the opportunities available for independent musicians in the years to come, and thus continue to shape the way music is made available with the incredible magnitude it has thus far (need stats on this? Just ask!). By the time I hit the scene, the CD Baby model seemed to me to be one of overwhelming inertia. Derek had created this great service with an immense reputation and client base; the idea was to keep it going and maintain the fundamental ideas & principles of making independent music profitable for artists.

As a new employee this was inspiring to be a part of, but there was significant discouragement in areas where the company had seemed to reached its limits. Growth was hindered by disorganization, confusion and lack of progress in day-to-day operations [by “growth” I mean not the generation of revenue, but of expansion of what we have to offer, and what role we play in making music available and possible].

In my opinion what we most sorely needed was an overarching vision for the future. Derek’s fundamental program had brought the company to it’s current place. All musings on the nature of the “music industry” and music-for-profit considered, this company needed an idea of where it wanted to go, and what it wanted to achieve if it was to go anywhere.

Discmakers now owns this company and stands to make money from it, yes. But with new leadership comes an opportunity to make good of the “CD Baby vision” as originally dreamed by Derek, with a commitment to the continued evolution of a vital service. According to Tony the mission is still to make artists happy– as it’s always been about. To do so, they recognize the need to keep staff happy as well, a large part of which is acknowledging the position the current employees are in to influence and contribute to the new era.

That’s exciting for us here, and Tony is dammmmn right when he says we’ll let him know how we feel (copy that, TVV?) We’re going to keep letting him know. We are still here on the ground floor with the musicians and the people that love music. It’s with sadness that we’ve lost some of our ranks, but a great many of us are sticking around to make sure we do what we can to see this thing through.

Because the employees have come to know through many adjustments and changes that we ARE CD Baby. We take everything about what we do to heart, which makes us all a little crazy and a lot passionate. Expect to hear from us as time goes on, and know that while it was never the plan to be where we’re at today, it’s where 89 of us are. Rest assured that we intend to be a part of the formation of the new face of CD Baby (get it? new face? no more baby…?), and that we are going to make the most of it to the best of our ability.