# Derek Sivers
Building since 1998. Not reviewed by Derek.
Page: https://mrrmaker.com/@dereksivers
Sold CD Baby for $22 million (2008), then wrote five books
In their words: "Author of “Useful Not True”, “How to Live”, “Hell Yeah or No”. Former musician, circus performer, entrepreneur, and speaker." (bsky.app)

## Numbers
- Revenue: about $20M /yr, CD Baby (● last reported Dec 2009)
- Total revenue so far: about $100M, CD Baby (stated · 2008)
- Sold 1 product for $22M in total (sum of stated prices)
- Products: 10
- Building since: 1998

## Products
- HostBaby (1999 – 2008): sold, sold to Disc Makers
- CD Baby (1998 – 2008): sold, sold to Disc Makers for $22,000,000
- Now Now Now: dates not stated in any source
- MusicThoughts: dates not stated in any source

## Timeline
- Dec 2015: On The Tim Ferriss Show, episode 125 [stated]
- Oct 2015: On “The Outsider” on the builttosell.com podcast [stated]
- Feb 2010: On TED2010, “How to start a movement” [stated]
- Aug 2008: Sold CD Baby to Disc Makers ($22,000,000) [verified]
- Aug 2008: Sold HostBaby to Disc Makers [stated]
- Aug 2008: CD Baby: Paid musicians more than $81 million over its first 10 years [stated]
- Mar 2008: Stepped away from daily work at CD Baby, still its owner [stated]
- 1999: Launched HostBaby [stated]
- Mar 1998: Launched CD Baby [stated]

## How sure
10 verified by someone other than Derek, 46 stated by Derek in public, 3 outdated. Read on 11 Oct 2026.

## Sources
- Derek Sivers, sive.rs: https://sive.rs
- about Derek Sivers, sive.rs: https://sive.rs/about
- Derek Sivers /now, sive.rs: https://sive.rs/now
- github.com: https://api.github.com/users/sivers
- bsky.app: https://bsky.app/profile/sive.rs
- Happy 10th Birthday to CD Baby — and an announcement, sive.rs: https://sive.rs/bilbo
- Why I gave my company to charity, sive.rs: https://sive.rs/trust
- Wood Egg (my new company), sive.rs: https://sive.rs/eg
- Anything You Want (my first book), sive.rs: https://sive.rs/ayw
- Disc Makers Acquires Leading Online Independent CD and Download Seller CD Baby, discmakers.com: https://www.discmakers.com/community/about/press/080508.asp
- Meet Innovators by Adrian Bye, sive.rs: https://sive.rs/2009-12-bye
- Infinite Loops - part 2 by Jim O’Shaughnessy, sive.rs: https://sive.rs/2023-10-il2
- Derek Sivers on Developing Confidence, Finding Happiness, and Saying No to Millions (#125), tim.blog: https://tim.blog/2015/12/14/derek-sivers-on-developing-confidence-finding-happiness-and-saying-no-to-millions/
- CD Baby's $22M Sale & Derek Sivers' Impactful Exit, builttosell.com: https://builttosell.com/?p=737
- Derek Sivers | Speaker | TED, ted.com: https://www.ted.com/speakers/derek_sivers
- Site checks on 2026-10-11, MRRMaker: https://mrrmaker.com/how-it-works#checks

Labels: "verified" means confirmed by someone other than the founder; "stated" means the founder said it in public. Method: https://mrrmaker.com/how-it-works