CD Baby has expanded into India

CD Baby, Inc.,the largest online distributor of independent music in the world, has officially opened shop in India with Ritnika Nayan heading thier India operations. Ritnika, who wrote the book Indie 101: The Ultimate Guide to the Independent Music Industry in India, will represent CD Baby as well as its sister companies, including DashGo. The company has been described as an “anti-label” by Tracy Maddux, CEO of AVL Digital, helping millions of independent artists in the world to distribute their music digitally. US-based CD Baby represents over 750,000 recording artists, 170,000 songwriters, and over 9 million tracks across 800+ genres. CD Baby is the only digital aggregator with top preferred partner status with both Spotify and Apple Music.

This news comes on the heels of CD Baby’s recent expansion into Canada, Columbia, Southeast Asia, and the UK over the last 16 months. It also follows last week’s news that CD Baby has partnered with Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) in China to deliver its catalog of streaming-eligible tracks to three TME services, QQ Music, KuGou Kuwo.

“India has some of the richest music cultures in the world and artists are eagerly looking for opportunities to share their creativity with audiences around the globe. We encourage artists to stay independent and to access our world-class promotion tools to help them propel their music careers. Education is a top priority for CD Baby. Our mission in India is to simplify the process for artists and composers, and to give them the practical steps and information they need to successfully market and sell their music.”  said Heli Del Moral, VP of International Development at CD Baby. 

Ritnika Nayan said: “I have always been passionate about the independent music scene and music education has been my focus in the last few years. I feel CD Baby is one of the few companies that genuinely shares the same vision of empowering artists. CD Baby is for the artists and it helps artists take control of their music, not just through digital releases, but also through education. I feel truly blessed to be able to help the indie scene in India through CD Baby, this is exactly what our country needs right now.

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Tracy Maddux, CEO of AVL Digital, parent company to both CD Baby and DashGo, added: “India is a huge, vibrant market and presents a great opportunity for CD Baby. We believe that Ritnika is the right person to help us grow and learn about what artists and labels need in this diverse, intensely creative country. This is a very exciting expansion for us that marks our commitment and belief in the future of the indie music market in India.