CD Baby and Best Buy Join Forces

A press release courtesy of CD Baby:

CD Baby Brings More Than 100,000 Albums of Independent Music to BestBuy.com

MINNEAPOLIS, Nov. 8, 2005 - Best Buy is launching an independent music catalog at BestBuy.com that will give shoppers access to the largest online library of independent music. Through an alliance with CD Baby, Best Buy customers can access and purchase more than 100,000 hard-to-find albums sold direct from the artist.

CD Baby handles online sales and distribution for independent artists and labels. More than 75,000 artists sell their music through CD Baby, making it the largest seller of independent music on the Web.

"Best Buy believes the future of music depends on consumers exploring new music and connecting with new artists," said Gary Arnold, senior vice president of entertainment for Best Buy. "As the link between the artist and the consumer, Best Buy is in a unique position to help generate excitement by exposing people to talented independent artists. It's a responsibility we take seriously, and that's why this agreement with CD Baby is so important."

The alliance with CD Baby is part of Best Buy's overall commitment to provide consumers with as many entertainment choices as possible. Best Buy stocks a deep catalog of music that goes well beyond simply carrying new releases. Offering the CD Baby catalog online will provide an even more diverse selection of music to Best Buy customers.

"Best Buy selling deep catalog directly from independent musicians like this is the beginning of a 'long tail' revolution," said Derek Sivers, founder of CD Baby. "This will highlight the most amazing musicians in all genres of music, that are bypassing the record labels to sell directly from musician to fan."

The CD Baby alliance will be featured on front page of the music section on BestBuy.com. A link will take customers to a searchable library of independent and unsigned artists. Consumers can browse by style of music, check out the top selling albums on the site, and can even search by location to discover talent from their part of the country.

About Best Buy Co., Inc.
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is an innovative Fortune 100 growth company that continually strives to create superior customer experiences. Through more than 840 retail stores across the United States and in Canada, our employees connect customers with technology and entertainment products and services that make life easier and more fun. We sell consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software, appliances and related services. A Minneapolis-based company, our operations include: Best Buy (BestBuy.com and BestBuy.ca), Future Shop (FutureShop.ca), Geek Squad (GeekSquad.com and GeekSquad.ca) and Magnolia Audio Video (Magnoliaav.com). We support our communities through employee volunteerism and grants from The Best Buy Children's Foundation.

About CD BABY
CD Baby (cdbaby.com) was started as a hobby by musician Derek Sivers in 1998 as a way to help some friends sell their CDs online. CD Baby's democratic service gives any musician worldwide distribution for their music. Through word-of-mouth among musicians, CD Baby grew into the largest seller of independent CDs on the web, paying over $20 million directly to over 75,000 artists. Apple iTunes invited CD Baby to be one of their backend digital distributors, and now CD Baby's digital distribution catalog provides over 600,000 songs to digital music services like Rhapsody, Napster, MSN Music, Yahoo Music, and more. Esquire Magazine's annual "Best and Brightest" cover story said, "Derek Sivers is changing the way music is bought and sold... one of the last music-business folk heroes." Sivers is Winner of the 2003 World Technology Award.