Re: What does it mean to you, to "release a record"?

["Warren Sirota" <wsirota@wsdesigns.com>]

That's good information Per (I especially like the comment about the unrecallability of anything you put out - I'm still getting occasional inquiries about a program I put out in 1995 that became useless in 1997!), but there's another question implied here: why release an "album" at all?  Is there any reason to do that other than to have something to hawk at gigs? Why not just "release" (another term with a meaning in transition, like "album") individual pieces as you finish them? 

(you may notice my underlying assumption that it's impossible to make any money worth thinking about doing these things, at least if your aim and style are not hit-friendly - therefore my goals with releasing music are always (a) to have a labeled, finished artifact that pleases me and maybe will still please me in 5 years, and (b) to see if I can get it exposed to more others who might be pleased with it. Money does not enter the picture except I don't want to lose too much.)

Warren

On Mon, Dec 29, 2008 at 5:14 AM, Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com> wrote:

On Mon, Dec 29, 2008 at 6:39 AM, George Ludwig <sfmissionman@yahoo.com> wrote:
> In the digital age, what is your standard procedure, as an independent artist, to "release an album"? Where do you send it for review? What kind of promo kit do you put together? Do you bother having it physically duplicated? Etc?
>

> -George


Digital promo kit (zip archive):
- mp3 excerpts from the songs,
- short description of the artist and he music (may include qoutes;
"what others say...")
- artist biography
- short video clip, if avaiabel
- pictures, resolution high enough for paper priniting

Research all players of the media that are active in the relevant
musical field - magazines, fm radio stations, internet radio stations,
free lance journalists, even producers etc etc. Email them and offer
them to request your digital promotion package. Send back the zip file
to those who want it. Wait - do not spam them. Do not deal with
players that are not active in a relevant musical field, you will only
waste their time and piss them off. Doing that will make them file you
into the n00b category. Go for quality and be persistent! Keep track
of everything. Analyze responses statistically.

IMHO this digital age also means that you should be even more careful,
than in the old days, to only release the top quality of your work.
The reason for this view is that with digital distribution there is no
limited issue that will sell out at some point in the future, as with
physical media like CD, vinyl and DVDs. Digital releases will stay
available for ever. A smaller quantity of music is just as easy to
find in search- and recommendation engines as a huge artist catalog.
This also may makes it more relevant to talk about "launching" than
"releasing".

Greetings from Sweden

Per Boysen
www.boysen.se (Swedish)
www.looproom.com (international)
www.ubetoo.com/Artist.taf?_ArtistId=6550

-- 
Warren
http://www.ubetoo.com/Artist.taf?_ArtistId=6679
http://www.warrensirota.com