CD Baby, I Love You Too

Now that I'm firmly a member of the iPod generation and my collection is mostly on my Mac's iTunes library, I listen to music more than I have in years, but at the same time don't often buy a CD any more.

I usually buy one or two at the Vancouver Folk Festival if there's an act that particularly inspires me; that didn't happen in 2006, but I bought 4 the year before. I'll also always buy the latest from a few select performers whenever they put out something new, Al Stewart for instance.

Beyond that, between iTunes, my increasing interest in classical music (bred in part from my academic pursuits, in part by my taking up bel canto singing) and my general disinterest in the vast majority of what's playing on the top 40 airwaves these days, I might buy a few CDs a year.

Rodney Sharman, my favorite professor, is also a composer - indeed, it is better stated that he is a composer who also teaches at SFU as a sessional instructor. When I talked to him about my papers the other night, I mentioned that through various circumstances I had not yet managed to hear anything he'd done, including missing a premiere of a flute and piano piece on the 12th when everyone in my house was down with some bug or another.

He asked me if I liked Mozart, which for the most part I do, and recommended a CD called "Mozart and Well Beyond", recorded by Michael Sweeney, bassoonist for the Toronto Symphony. In addition to a Mozart piece, it includes three modern pieces, including one by Rodney. Following all the links to purchase the CD took me to the site for CD Baby.

The transaction was completed with the usual internet shopping efficiency and I thought little more of it until I got my email to confirm the order. First off, the from name was "CD Baby Loves [L'Etat]". The top part of the message was the usual transaction log (item, price, net total), but then the rest of it was brilliant:

Your CD has been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with
sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CD and polished it to make sure
it was in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over
the crowd as he put your CD into the finest gold-lined box that money
can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party
marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of
Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in
our private CD Baby jet on this day, Thursday, January 18th.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as 'Customer of the Year'. We're all
exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you once again,

Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music
phone: 1-800-448-6369 email: cdbaby@cdbaby.com
http://cdbaby.com

Well, that was probably one of the funniest things I've read in a long time, and it led me to go back to the site to check them out in more detail.

They have a great collection of stuff based on my idle browsing. I particularly like the Flavor section of the site, which has suggestions based on an astonishing array of fun categories. For instance, under the "Match Your Mood" rubric, they have a category for "Sick of all Normal Music", described as "Sick of music? Tired of verse/chorus pop songs, major/minor keys, 4/4 rhythms, or ANYthing predictable? I know the feeling. These CDs defy any expectations, and blow your mind wide open."

This is a site after my own heart, and I'll definitely be shopping there again. They're also down in Portland, OR, so now I have two reasons to go (the other being Powell's Books).