For a musician without a label, it’s hard work getting known. The only way to make money is by selling homemade CDs at small shows in poorly publicized venues. Internet file-sharing programs like Limewire and Kazaa offer an opportunity for the public to hear a band but no way to compensate the musician for their work. How do bands without much money get the word out to people?
Dave Stein, a senior at SUNY Binghamton, has the answer: CDarmy.com. CDarmy is a web site where independent bands can post their albums and hopefully build a fan base. Musicians also have the option of selling merchandise, which CDarmy will produce with their logo. The web site only charges the band $30 to post a CD for life, and $2.50 for each piece of merchandise sold. The result is “a real music community, where different bands—even across genres—feel a connection through the site and get the word out about each other’s bands” Stein says.
A web site designer by trade and an admitted “music freak,” Stein could not resist the temptation to combine both interests and satisfy a need in the music community: “Looking for new and interesting music on the radio has always been impossible. And going to battle of the bands or wherever to hear new things is great, but sometimes people want to hear music from outside their immediate area. So a site that fills this need was an eventuality.” CDarmy’s quick ascension to popularity supports Stein’s reasoning: now a Yahoo! search for the term “sell music online” returns CDarmy as the third hit.
An improvement in the quality of the site’s music has come with the new recognition, with The Redbook Standard and the Grumps both demonstrating the burgeoning talent level represented on CDarmy.
Stein promises that CDarmy’s future is bright. He’s scheduling a “total revamp” of the site in the next couple of months that will include the addition of peer-to-peer reviews, a more efficient categorical system and a general improvement in the site’s usability. All the new features stem from Dave Stein’s simple philosophy about the wants of his customers: “It’s all about getting to the music. We don’t try and gussy up the site with fancy bells and whistles or anything. We try and get people to sample the music. If you like it, you can buy it. It’s as simple as that.”
