Tracy and Kathy began Main Street Music in 1999 as a physical store located in Duvall, WA, and a website, mainstreetmusic.com. The decision to create both in parallel was made right from the start, both opening their doors on the same day. The internet-based music service allowed visitors to the website to purchase CDs from the MSM stock and interact with activities in the store. A few months later the website was able to offer music downloads as well, making MSM one of the earliest entries into the new world of music downloading, even preceding Napster which began operations in the same year. In 2000, after only one and a half years, it was decided to close the physical store and focus exclusively on the online business. Ironically, the lackluster sales at the physical store were at least in part attributable to the illegal free downloads that were being offered by Napster.

MSM, the website, evolved to become recognized as a down-home, family-run business with very attentive customer support. As an online retail service provider, MSM has been dependent on its relationship with a wholesale content supplier, Liquid Digital Media (LDM) since 1999 when it became one of LDM’s first affiliates. Contact with LDM actually began in 1998, only two years after LDM opened its doors in 1996 as Liquid Audio. LDM was the first company to deliver secure digitized music over the Internet, including both copy protection and copyright management.

All was going well. Then Walmart bought the parent of Liquid Audio in 2005 and the dream was over.