I'm begining to look for several "net labels" and was wondering what were your experiences..
cdbaby looks pretty ok, but any other experience?
anyone knows ubersonik? is it only for 'artists of the eighties that do not have conctracts anymore?" they sell on ebay (i guess it is a bad point).
Thanks in advance to share your good/bad experiences.
Mehdi
ps: yes, i am too lazy to go and find a "real" producer... (plus i am not blond with big tits, nor heiress of some hotel chain so... - but if you know label that is specialized into "electronic stuff that sounds like in the eghties but with a sound of the 2000, nevertheless being pop song", then drop me a line or two, i might be interested).
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2006-09-12 17:31 ]</font>
self production experiences ?
with an internet distributor you will still need to let people know where your product is and that it is even available. internet distributors are not pr firms and it'd be foolish to expect anyone to discover your cd amongst all the others and buy it. it might happen from time to time but it is unlikely that it'll happen often. then again, maybe it will....
the important thing is that for those who want it, the product is shipped properly and promptly and that you are paid the same way.
for someone to go out of their way to make you successful, they will need to be paid. traditionally, the label or distributor who made sales happen(radio play, ads in the proper publications, reveiws, point of sale materials, etc)provided that service as a billable expense and did the business via a loan to the artist, recoupable through sales(the motivation for the company to get their money back). if you don't have an investor for those costs, you must pay the money yourself. if you don't have the money, you will have to be the pr firm yourself.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2006-09-13 01:08 ]</font>
the important thing is that for those who want it, the product is shipped properly and promptly and that you are paid the same way.
for someone to go out of their way to make you successful, they will need to be paid. traditionally, the label or distributor who made sales happen(radio play, ads in the proper publications, reveiws, point of sale materials, etc)provided that service as a billable expense and did the business via a loan to the artist, recoupable through sales(the motivation for the company to get their money back). if you don't have an investor for those costs, you must pay the money yourself. if you don't have the money, you will have to be the pr firm yourself.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: garyb on 2006-09-13 01:08 ]</font>
I hear you garyB...
Braincell, I have braodcasted free music for years. I have nothing against it, but now I find it more fun/challenging to try to go commercial again ( that was so easy in the 80's - pre-CD era, when there werea lot of independant record shop and people taking hours listening to obscur record releases. now things are different) , ie, a few records in shops, video on tv etc (lots of new music channels on cable, that only wait for your own video to broadcast - at a relatively average quality of image)... well, if i can
. For free music, there are hundreds of solutions, but again, it's more interesting for me to try to release something the old way (just another challenge, for the beauty of the "sport", not really expecting to become a superstar now . (ok, there is the recent "artic monkey" experience but... )
Here in France, there are enough different radios that do play independant/self productions . But it is true that a record label/company would be needed for producing more copies, distributing over the territory, and a bit of promotion (and organizing live tours or even finding musicians (it's so hard to find a good drummer here in paris area, a city full of angry neighbors...)
Alfonso: if you are around, i would like to hear about your cd-baby experience (i hope not to disapointing).
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2006-09-13 02:21 ]</font>
Braincell, I have braodcasted free music for years. I have nothing against it, but now I find it more fun/challenging to try to go commercial again ( that was so easy in the 80's - pre-CD era, when there werea lot of independant record shop and people taking hours listening to obscur record releases. now things are different) , ie, a few records in shops, video on tv etc (lots of new music channels on cable, that only wait for your own video to broadcast - at a relatively average quality of image)... well, if i can
. For free music, there are hundreds of solutions, but again, it's more interesting for me to try to release something the old way (just another challenge, for the beauty of the "sport", not really expecting to become a superstar now . (ok, there is the recent "artic monkey" experience but... )Here in France, there are enough different radios that do play independant/self productions . But it is true that a record label/company would be needed for producing more copies, distributing over the territory, and a bit of promotion (and organizing live tours or even finding musicians (it's so hard to find a good drummer here in paris area, a city full of angry neighbors...)
Alfonso: if you are around, i would like to hear about your cd-baby experience (i hope not to disapointing).
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2006-09-13 02:21 ]</font>
Hi Mehdi,
My experience with CD Baby is that I had some sales due to some interest of people in some communities, but I'm still waiting for my site to be ready and to have some live activity to...spread the word somehow.
What Gary says is gold, CD Baby is a service for sales, with some limitations that make it a bit uneasy for artists not living in the states due to the fact that they can hold very limited quantities of your product and keeping sending it in small quantities makes the whole thing not so economically worthy.
I think that for my next project I will turn on download strategy only, while selling, maybe, uncompressed files or cd image files on my own if requested....
The expenses of a commercial CD are such that if you don't have a promotional strategy (more$) backing it it can be a loss, if you think that on planetz where people know me from long time only 3 cd's have been purchased until now, you can imagine what happens in the "outer" world...almost nothing!
The same thing happened on a couple other forums I've put an advertising signature like the one I have here, few copies an nothing else, so you really have to work hard to promote your stuff.
I'm happy for another aspect of this CD, that the italian national broadcasting company is using this music both for radio and for tv stuff and it's a pretty good thing for the copyright royalties.
But if i had to choose again I'd go the download route only (....zero expenses!), at least if you are not a trendy group with a lot of gigs and some presence in the media.
My experience with CD Baby is that I had some sales due to some interest of people in some communities, but I'm still waiting for my site to be ready and to have some live activity to...spread the word somehow.
What Gary says is gold, CD Baby is a service for sales, with some limitations that make it a bit uneasy for artists not living in the states due to the fact that they can hold very limited quantities of your product and keeping sending it in small quantities makes the whole thing not so economically worthy.
I think that for my next project I will turn on download strategy only, while selling, maybe, uncompressed files or cd image files on my own if requested....
The expenses of a commercial CD are such that if you don't have a promotional strategy (more$) backing it it can be a loss, if you think that on planetz where people know me from long time only 3 cd's have been purchased until now, you can imagine what happens in the "outer" world...almost nothing!
The same thing happened on a couple other forums I've put an advertising signature like the one I have here, few copies an nothing else, so you really have to work hard to promote your stuff.
I'm happy for another aspect of this CD, that the italian national broadcasting company is using this music both for radio and for tv stuff and it's a pretty good thing for the copyright royalties.
But if i had to choose again I'd go the download route only (....zero expenses!), at least if you are not a trendy group with a lot of gigs and some presence in the media.
thanks a lot,
it's true that between device making and writing music (and a third job) , i've put myself a bit out of "the scene" (no going out = less connection and awareness of who does what etc)... I have the impression that the medias themselves can be approached fairly easily (radios and tv) but that it is also something that is difficult for a single person (for exemple, i am not a video maker at all) and they want "official" releases anyway... (plus financially it is something that is out of reach right now).
I also beleive (right or wrong) that you need to have a physical product that is available in some shops, in addition to the downloads etc...
I am not very surprised of the low sales you mention alfonso. But i thought that cdbaby took care of making the tracks available on itunes etc...
As emzee said, I also thought that it is on the long run thata label/producer actually come and see you (vs trying to get a contract yourself).
Well, i thank you for sharing advices and experiences. In general i am in favour of a "do it yourself" philosophy and may be it is worth waiting to do it better myself.
I will let you know.
Keep avices/experiences coming, i am sure it is useful for everybody.
edit: + lives are essential in my opinion, both for meeting an audience and for the great time.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2006-09-13 11:20 ]</font>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2006-09-13 11:42 ]</font>
it's true that between device making and writing music (and a third job) , i've put myself a bit out of "the scene" (no going out = less connection and awareness of who does what etc)... I have the impression that the medias themselves can be approached fairly easily (radios and tv) but that it is also something that is difficult for a single person (for exemple, i am not a video maker at all) and they want "official" releases anyway... (plus financially it is something that is out of reach right now).
I also beleive (right or wrong) that you need to have a physical product that is available in some shops, in addition to the downloads etc...
I am not very surprised of the low sales you mention alfonso. But i thought that cdbaby took care of making the tracks available on itunes etc...
As emzee said, I also thought that it is on the long run thata label/producer actually come and see you (vs trying to get a contract yourself).
Well, i thank you for sharing advices and experiences. In general i am in favour of a "do it yourself" philosophy and may be it is worth waiting to do it better myself.
I will let you know.
Keep avices/experiences coming, i am sure it is useful for everybody.
edit: + lives are essential in my opinion, both for meeting an audience and for the great time.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2006-09-13 11:20 ]</font>
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: spacef on 2006-09-13 11:42 ]</font>
CD Baby do the iTunes stuff and a lot of other download sites besides. I haven't got anything on there yet but have communicated with them via email and they've been very responsive.
I believe the deal is that you initially send them 5 CDs only. If they sell out fast then they may ask for 10; if they sell fast then 20 etc etc. That's so they don;t have boxes of CDs sitting around for years that maybe the artist will then want shipped back...
The only negative I've heard about them is that there can be a long delay between submitting your CD and the tunes getting onto iTunes - sometimes 6 months or more.
edit: As regards "download only versus CD" I think that depends 100% on what your market is. If the target market is young people then download-only is probably fine. If it includes older people then I think you really need a CD.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Spirit on 2006-09-13 15:58 ]</font>
I believe the deal is that you initially send them 5 CDs only. If they sell out fast then they may ask for 10; if they sell fast then 20 etc etc. That's so they don;t have boxes of CDs sitting around for years that maybe the artist will then want shipped back...
The only negative I've heard about them is that there can be a long delay between submitting your CD and the tunes getting onto iTunes - sometimes 6 months or more.
edit: As regards "download only versus CD" I think that depends 100% on what your market is. If the target market is young people then download-only is probably fine. If it includes older people then I think you really need a CD.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Spirit on 2006-09-13 15:58 ]</font>
Video schools need people like you to make videos for. A 6 month course in video in my town includes making a music video for a band!!! Contact some schools. Put up some notices on boards (or get friends to).
A CD burner with a decent printer goes a long way. Or you can print on the CD. It's all cheap. Build a great website. Give away CD's at gigs with the web address. Build a following. Get your stuff on college radio. Interview yourself or get a friend to and include that.
So many ideas..... so few I've actually done myself~~~~~~~~!
Edit: Or Lordy, I forgot the obvious. There is an association around the world called the Association of Independent Record Labels. Become one and you can join. They will help you access a massive amount of resources from info to merchandise. Country representatives meet to discuss strategies, they go to Midem and other music trade fairs, they usually have compilation CD's..... and the standard is high. Checkemout.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: emzee on 2006-09-14 04:21 ]</font>
A CD burner with a decent printer goes a long way. Or you can print on the CD. It's all cheap. Build a great website. Give away CD's at gigs with the web address. Build a following. Get your stuff on college radio. Interview yourself or get a friend to and include that.
So many ideas..... so few I've actually done myself~~~~~~~~!
Edit: Or Lordy, I forgot the obvious. There is an association around the world called the Association of Independent Record Labels. Become one and you can join. They will help you access a massive amount of resources from info to merchandise. Country representatives meet to discuss strategies, they go to Midem and other music trade fairs, they usually have compilation CD's..... and the standard is high. Checkemout.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: emzee on 2006-09-14 04:21 ]</font>