Again, more people read this baby than I ever imagined (not that it was #1 on Google or anything). And I’m not at this time using my blog as a platform for discussion/dissemination of what’s gong on at CDB.
That said, here is Tony, president of Discmakers, responding to my previous post. Although I’m not going to use this as any time of forum right now, it’s only fair that his response by accessible for anyone who read my words.
It would be inappropriate for me to comment on staffing changes in a public forum such as this, but I’m happy to address any and all concerns personally and privately.
It’s understandable that people are upset about a situation like Kathryn’s. These kinds of decisions are the most difficult decisions a manager has to make. They are absolutely horrible. But sometimes they’re necessary.
When running a business we need to balance at all times the needs of all the stakeholders: the staff, the customers, and the shareholders. All need to be happy at the same time for the business to flourish.
I know this kind of outlook is not something that had been communicated much (if ever) when Derek owned the company. He didn’t think that way. But the fact is that it’s very simple: My number one priority is to make sure that the staff feels good about working at CD Baby. All other good things will flow from there, if the staff feels good about being at CD Baby.
Right now, on the heels of a surprising announcement that Derek has sold the business there is some understandable anxiety about the new direction of the company. But the staff – customers – stakeholders relationship works very simply like this: The staff needs to be happy. That allows them to make the customers happy. Happy customers means more business. More business means a growing profitable company, which makes shareholders happy. Growth and profits mean there’s room for raises, bonuses, additional employees, marketing, training, etc. It’s a positive cycle that keeps reinforcing itself.
Regardless of how we call it, it all boils down to having a great place to work, and taking care of our clients. That’s what we’ve been doing at CD Baby for years. I intend to continue to do that – in fact, I hope to do it better than ever before. You can dismiss this as idle words, and only time will prove whether I’ve succeeded or failed. I very much hope you’ll stick around and see it for yourself.
Tony
That’s all on this, until further notice 
From here on out I will be discussing songs I like etc. If that enthralls you, READ ON.
