End of an era

I’m actually going to talk about something other than manga today. Hopefully this does not mean the end is near.

So, I got an e-mail this morning, letting me know that Derek Sivers is selling CD Baby. I knew it had to happen someday. Derek never really intended it to become what it did, and the site was never going to be his life-long passion. He’s selling to Discmakers, and while I’m not exactly sure what to think of that, they are at least a company that depends on independent artists for their business, so they should understand who they’re working with. After all the drama with Livejournal selling to SixApart a few years back, I suppose I should be much more jaded over all this “they’ll do a better job” type of talk, but I can hardly think of any person I’ve known in any business with more integrity and real sincerity than Derek Sivers, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt here. Yes, I’m sure that there will be changes at CD Baby, and probably some of them I’ll like, and some I won’t, but that might have happened even with Derek. Now I admit, I don’t have as much at stake as many other artists on the site. My cd is out of print, I’m not marketing it (as if I ever did, heh), and I’m only collecting digital sales from CD Baby at this point anyway. But I really believe in and care about what CD Baby stands for, so I do have some stake in preserving that. I hope Tony Van Veen at Discmakers feels the same way. Also of interest, the birth of CD Baby comes in at #1 on CMJ’s “Ten Moments in Ten Years : a celebration of independent music.”

On a more personal note (because that’s what I do, I personalize everything, and hey, I’m managing to bring in manga after all), Derek also posted today Abraham Maslow’s 8 Ways to Self-Actualize, which really struck a chord with me this morning. When I look at it, I think, wow, that’s the way I’ve always lived my life! And then I have to correct myself. That’s the way I used to live my life, and what I’m trying to work toward once again. I’ve always thrived on change, on risk, on leaps of faith. A lot of that changed when I made the choice to live a more domestic life, but I think I went overboard in that direction. What I’d like to do now, is find a way to balance everything, so that I can still move forward. I’m a person who needs to do things in life that are meaningful to me, and without that I am completely miserable. Luckily, I’m also a person who seeks out these things, and I’ve never been afraid to change my life in order to go after them. That’s what I’m doing with my manga (comic, whatever). Trouble is, I’m a little rusty, and I need to keep reminding myself to allow the things I want to happen, and to not let my fears and insecurities get in the way. I need to believe in things I already know are true, and shed the rest.

I’m sharing all this here, just in case that link can help someone else start the day with the spark they need to move forward. Happy reading!