CDnow Business Model | Business Model Navigator

Overview:

CDnow operated an online shopping website that sold compact discs and music-related products. In April 1998, during the dot-com bubble, the company was valued at over $1 billion; however, it was acquired by Bertelsmann Music Group in July 2000 for $117 million. In November 2002, Amazon.com began operating the CDNow website, and later shut down. At its peak, it employed over 750 people and had offices in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, New York City, London, and Los Angeles.

Industries:

Information Technology

E-Commerce

Similar firms (based on pattern co-occurrence):

2 shared patterns

4 shared patterns

2 shared patterns

3 shared patterns

2 shared patterns

3 shared patterns

2 shared patterns

Business Model Patterns:

Affiliation

How they do it: CDNow was a pioneer in the affiliate program space. The concept of CDNow’s BuyWeb program was that sites could join their program, link to their content and earn a commission from any purchases made from their site. Such commissions could be paid out via check or as compensation to purchase products through their site.

Digitization

How they do it: CDNow, a pioneering Internet retailer of CDs, started exploring streaming services initiatives after being acquired by Bertelsmann Group in 2000. After being acquired by Amazon two years later, it was absorbed into Amazon.com.

E-commerce

How they do it: CDnow, Inc. operated an online shopping website that sold compact discs and music-related products. For instance, customers could order music CD’s via their E-Commerce store, which were then delivered via mail.

Long Tail

How they do it: CDnow, Inc. operated an online shopping website that sold compact discs and music-related products. In 1995, it already provided listings for over 100,000 music CD and cassette titles via its website.

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