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

[Bill Fox <billyfox@soundscapes.us>]

Loren saw my post but I didn't see it make it to the list.  Sorry if 
you've all seen this before but I just had to try again.

Cheers,

Bill

-------- Original Message --------
Loren Claypool wrote:
 > The concept of delivering songs one-at-a-time is fascinating and
 > something I'll continue to ponder. At this point I'm more project
 > focused, but I'm intrigued by the idea of deliverying a steady diet of
 > material in smaller pieces. I am interested in how folks are doing
 > this with non-mainstream material in a pay-for environment.

There's no rules any more. So why not do both when you are moved to do so?

I find it interesting to note that Marillion know exactly how large
their fan base is and how many CDs they can sell of each album. The
past few releases were financed by presales BEFORE Marillion would even
step foot into the studio. The names of the presale buyers appear in
the thick booklet that comes with the CD. On their most recent release,
digital files of all the songs were made available when the CDs were
being delivered to the presale folks. You don't have to buy the CD to
get the music. But you must buy the CD in order to get the booklet.

That last bit reminds me that Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) releases
stuff in 5.1 mixes in addition to regular stereo mixes. 5.1 and
booklets (and who knows what else) are not typically pirated the way MP3
files of "normal stereo" material is. So if you want to increase your
CD sales, one concept to explore is to include something that isn't so
easy to pirate but has some added (desired) value that a typical CD only
release doesn't have. Of course, the extra material increases
manufacturing costs to you and finished product costs to the customer.
I'm sure that there is a balance to strike somewhere.

Cheers,

Bill