Well I checked these guys out. CDBaby definitely has a better rep than the Orchard, which has some bad press associated with it. Also, reading through some of their obligations makes me a little suspicious (like the part where you have to sell a certain amount to get paid, an amount they've apparently raised without warning in the past). The thing about CDBaby is it doesn't do exactly what I want, as I'm more interested in digital audio than physical CDs. I already have (hopefully) an online distributor for our CDs lined up; it's the digital I'm interested in. I know CDBaby apparently gets your stuff on iTunes, but it's clearly not their focus.

So after talking this over with my friend a bit, I think we might give our own site a shot. We have the tools and the server space already available, so now all we have to do is see if we can strike some deals with independent bands to sell their music. The upshot of all this is we can do it with non DRM protected formats, and even make FLAC versions available for those who don't want sub-par versions of the songs. I've already run this by one indie band I know and the guy was pretty interested, especially since it'd enable them to record and sell songs one at a time rather than waiting to put together a whole album. We’ll start more as a service to bands so they have an outlet to sell music. My hope would be that bands will promote the site for us by posting links from their sites telling people where they can instantly buy/hear their tunes.

Anyway, still brainstorming at this point, but it feels like there is a need here that is not getting met and I need to decide if the reason is because it isn't a viable business or if no ones tried it the right way yet. . .