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Looper's Delight
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I think CD Baby is a little dangerous for musicians trying to get online. Not because they're doing anything wrong, but for 3 reasons: 1) It lets you publish music online without a quality control process. 2) Once that's done, musicians tend to think "There, now that's done!" and expect the listeners and fame to result. 3) Audiences, reviewers and radio stations will frequently pigeonhole you based on the first thing they hear from you. Even though it's not good for the environment, I still believe that people should think about putting out albums on CD. It's expensive, but hopefully it gets you to thinking, "If I'm going to spend $1000 to put this out - I'm going to make it the best statement I can make". That's not to shoot down bandcamp pages - since bandcamp doesn't go to itunes and the whole web, it's a great way to distribute music globally while on a local mindset. For that reason I think bandcamp is excellent. Putting something out on a record label puts you in a community of musicians. That helps because people who like the record label will often check out more artists on the same label. Also, many (but not all) record labels will be the first chance to have an honest critic listen to your music. As musicians, we get used to listening to our music a certain way - we may be more forgiving of a certain track or mix because we've trained ourselves to listen "around" the flaws. A new ear won't have the same experience. It's not a matter of making your music conform - it's a matter of presenting you at your very best. It's way better to release a 40 minute cd of all excellent music than it is to release a 60 minute cd in which 40 minutes is excellent. In the Bay Area, there's a number of small record labels. The one I'm on makes me pay for the CDs, but they take care of all the mailing and promotion, and I get the lion's share of any income. If you want to go this route, check in with bands around you who are at your career level. Some may have hooked up with these small record labels. Without a record label, the best thing I can think of to do is to make efforts to tie your music to that of live musicians. Do live shows with bands like yours, make a podcast, etc. Send your CD to reviewers who listen to music of folks at your career level. (Find out who they are by googling for reviews of bands you identify with who are also amateurs.) A note - many reviewers won't review web-only releases because 1) there are so many of them and 2) They tend to not have the same quality control of CD releases. Honestly, I don't know what one does these days to get known. Those are just a couple stabs in the dark. When I think of myself as a target audience member, I'm probably typical in that I'm very unforgiving of non-excellent music. I have only so much time to look for new music, and many many artists who have music. If I don't latch on to something within a few 30 second samples, I'm probably not going to hear that artist again unless someone whose opinion I trust tells me I should give them a second chance. -- Matt Davignon mattdavignon@gmail.com www.ribosomemusic.com Podcast! http://ribosomematt.podomatic.com http://www.youtube.com/user/ribosomematt Per Boysen <perboysen@gmail.com> was like: > > Neither CD Baby nor Bandcamp makes your music sell more. If it doesn't > sell now it won't sell just because it is made available. The classic > truth for selling recordings of music is that 90 percent of the work > has to be put in at the promotion and administration level. The final > 10 percent you can spend composing, recording and gigging. Among > amateurs it is popular to skip over the 90 percent that can make your > music sell, you can do so in order to gain more hands-on music time > but it's good to understand that such a decision is counter-productive > from a business aspect. > > Greetings from Sweden > > Per Boysen > www.perboysen.com > http://www.youtube.com/perboysen > > >> On Jan 31, 2012, at 6:20 AM, openjam@aol.com wrote: >> >>> My goal is to offer digital distribution (sales) of my music - what is >>> the >>> best way? >>> >>> Can anyone share a some tips or experience regarding digital >>> distribution >>> or online sales? >>> >>> I'm considering adding an album via CDBaby for $40 which grants me >>> access >>> in Itunes, Amazon etc. On the surface this sounds like a great >>> opportunity. >>> But just because it's on Itunes doesn't mean it will be seen yet alone >>> sell, >>> it will just be available thanks to technology. I realize sweat >>> equity and >>> self promotion are highly involved. >>> >>> Is getting to Itunes via CDbaby the right way to go? >>> >>> tq >>> >>> >> >