CD Child president Molly Neuman (Picture: Downtown Music Group)
Downtown’s CD Child distribution mainstay, now a part of Virgin Music Group, is increasing its core distribution know-how to incorporate full-service, hands-on assist for choose indie artists. Right here’s extra on the just-unveiled ‘Levels Selects’ providing, spearheaded by CD Child president (and Riot Grrrl pioneer) Molly Neuman.
Distro mainstay CD Child is now pulling again the curtain on ‘Levels Selects,’ a high-touch, full-service providing for a choose group of self-releasing artists. The launch shifts CD Child past its strong DIY distribution chops and into the realm of strategic profession improvement.
Spearheading the initiative is CD Child President Molly Neuman, who’s constructing the idea with the following technology of unbiased expertise in thoughts. With profession improvement as the first aim, Levels Selects plans to supply way over only a pipe to Spotify, with precedence distribution, focused DSP advertising and marketing, paid digital marketing campaign assist, and high-level launch planning all within the offing. As a part of a broader partnership, Downtown not too long ago tapped DMN to assist announce the growth.
Though Levels Selects is a brand new initiative, artists are clearly getting an additional oomph from a longtime distributor who is aware of the ropes in terms of platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music.
Kicking off the initiative is Morgan Nagler, whose debut solo album, I’ve Obtained Nothing to Lose, and I’m Shedding It, is getting the Levels Selects hands-on therapy. Past Nagler, CD Child plans to assist a cohort of ten artists all through 2026, providing a devoted bundle of promoting and monetary sources throughout a variety of genres and geographies.
“Morgan Nagler’s debut album is a testomony to the ability and fervour of human creativity on this sophisticated time,” Neuman relayed. “The purity of her voice, musicianship, and songwriting make this album the right manner for us to launch Levels Selects. CD Child has all the time stood for artistry and offering direct entry for the musicians we work with.”
Neuman is an acceptable choose for championing artists and rising scenes.
A uncommon multi-hyphenate whose profession spans the evolution of the fashionable music enterprise, Neuman minimize her enamel in a 90s-era Northwest scene that in the end gave start to cultural icons like Nirvana.
Initially hailing from Washington, DC, Neuman first made her mark because the drummer for Bratmobile, a cornerstone of the formative Riot Grrrl motion emanating from the Pacific Northwest. When not on stage, she was penning ‘zines’ and driving underground tradition with a pre-digital zeal we’ll by no means expertise once more.
Waxing with DMN concerning the early days, Neuman stated her entry into the music enterprise was born of necessity somewhat than company ambition.
“Labels had been the one manner you may get distribution,” Neuman shared. “It was mainly DIY, nevertheless it was our neighborhood. Being a enterprise particular person wasn’t the large incentive there.”
That neighborhood, DIY-focused ethos led her to co-own the legendary Lookout Data and handle artists earlier than transitioning into the digital frontier. Skip forward a decade or two later, and her resume reads like a map of the trade’s digital transformation, with management roles at eMusic, Rhapsody, A2IM, Kickstarter, and Songtrust earlier than helming CD Child.
CD Child itself has fairly the storied DIY historical past, with Derek Sivers beginning the operation within the late-90s with – you guessed it — stacks of selfmade CDs and a nondescript warehouse to retailer all of them. A number of possession modifications and format evolutions later, and CD Child is kind of a special animal.
Since assuming the presidency of CD Child in 2024, Neuman has centered on cleansing up the ‘piping’ whereas sustaining the platform’s unbiased spirit. Below the Downtown Music umbrella, she oversaw the migration of CD Child’s huge provide chain to FUGA, a transfer that freed up inside sources to concentrate on the shopper expertise.
“We’ve actually spent most of this time attempting to determine what was working and what wasn’t,” Neuman explains. “We’re actually attempting to construct high quality management into the platform. If we’re a extra credible place for artists who imagine in success and high quality, that ought to assist us market to them as a result of it’s truly real.”
That emphasis has borne fruit, with CD Child routinely rating among the many most dependable distributors – as decided by key distribution platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. However past all of the blocking, tackling, 1s, and 0s, there are nonetheless extra essential and strategic challenges required to correctly evolve and break an artist.
In the end, anybody can add and distribute an album on Apple Music whereas holding tabs on analytics and royalties. However then what?
In opposition to an avalanche of content material uploads and the actual threat artists face of getting drowned out, Neuman’s imaginative and prescient for CD Child is to supply ‘holistic’ assist—bridging the hole between a viral TikTok second and a long-term profession. Whether or not it’s making certain metadata is ideal or navigating the complexities of the MLC and SoundExchange, she desires to present artists the leverage they didn’t have 30 years in the past.
“Artists have a lot extra leverage and functionality now,” Neuman shared. “And we wish to be ready to assist that transformation. That’s a part of our values and what we try to reposition; we’re right here to supply flexibility and provides artists the house to develop on their very own phrases.”
