CDBaby.com, a web retailer of music created and distributed by independent musicians, is launching a new merchandising relationship with BestBuy.com.
Under the arrangement, CD Baby, No. 324 in the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide to Retail Web Sites, will list its entire library of more than 100,000 CDs on BestBuy.com. “Customers of BestBuy.com can now browse and purchase music from the CDBaby.com catalog which features independent and unsigned artists from all over the world,” says CD Baby president Derek Sivers.
The CD Baby music catalog will be integrated into Best Buy’s site search application. When customers select a song or title on BestBuy.com they will be redirected to a co-branded page on CDBaby.com where they can complete the transaction, says Sivers. “Our titles are in their search results, but when someone clicks on a result, he will go to a CDBaby.com page that has been co-branded with the Best Buy look and feel,” he says.
Sivers says CD Baby will pay Best Buy an undisclosed affiliate fee in return for listing its music inventory. The deal helps Best Buy round out its music library and gives CD Baby a retailing outlet on BestBuy.com, which attracts more than 15 million monthly visits, according to comScore Networks Inc.
“Customers that have experienced difficulty finding music from smaller artists they may have just seen play at a local venue can now come to BestBuy.com to find that music,” Sivers says.
CD Baby, which expects to generate web sales of about $12 million in 2005, has a similar merchandising relationship with Tower Records and is developing at least one other affiliate sales arrangement, Sivers says.
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