Any experience releasing a record/CD in Ireland? (2 Viewers)

[roxy]

And that's why the Patrick Freyne and His Bad Intentions album costs £49.99 (old Irish punts only)

Oooh. Add that to the albums' naturally rapid appreciation in value and I got meself a serious good deal!

By the way dude, just to make you feel better, I left my keys in work and didn't notice until I was nearly home. Wanted to scream. Happy fuckin days. What's the buzz with today - whose god did we smite?

 

[MDR]

That's probably true for some people. I know that some bigger independents deliberately charge slightly more because this says "premium product".

There's sneaky psychology at work.. If you're going to buy the new Grizzly Bear album, you're probably going to buy it whether it's 15 quid or 20 quid, meanwhile random punters think that if it's expensive it must be good. Whereas if something is going for cheap people often think there's something wrong with it or that it's not that important. I have on occassion bought indie releases at gigs because they were dead cheap and then not even listened to them or particularly cared if I lost them, because "it was only 3 quid"... but that could be my own shallow problem

I personally go over and back on this issue. Sometimes I think "who am I to charge for these CDs at all" and other times I think about all the effort that's gone into the creation of this thing... also in the greater scheme of things anything we release is by it's very nature: "limited edition".

And that's why the Patrick Freyne and His Bad Intentions album costs £49.99 (old Irish punts only)

Yeah, maybe you're right. In economics it's called the market for lemons, where if a car is cheaper you assume it's a dud (it's an exception to the rule that demand increases as price drops). Maybe €10, as conor suggests, would be better.

Although, I remember everyone telling me (for the same reasons) that I was crazy to give my first album away free with the admission price at the album launch and now everyone does it - ahem (puts thumbs behind braces).

 

[MDR]

yeah, seriously ro, if you sell it for €5 people will think there's something wrong with it or that it's not a full-length album or something. I'd say go for €9.99 if you want to make it more affordable.

Actually - you're right - people might think it's a cd-r.

 

[Pantone247]

Poor panty - that's not a dig at you. Most of the time is taken up with me not really knowing what I'm asking for or looking at other people's suggestions.

you bought me lunch all over the place too, so I didn't really mind at all


[EDIT] thats an important tip actually, feed you designer well... for they are like cats and only loyal to whoever keeps their belly full... [/EDIT]

 

[snakybus]

You should shake your flowing locks and say: "It's Mumblin' Deaf Ro - and I'm worth it"

 

[egg_]

Ro, everyone who's going to buy your album will probably buy it whatever you're charging. I'm sure there are no more than a few hundred people in Dublin who own a local release put out by someone they don't know

Frobisher - if you're releasing an album, put out singles off it, and get behind each of them like they themselves were albums. Radio is interested in SONGS, not albums

 

[mark]

if you're releasing an album, put out singles off it, and get behind each of them like they themselves were albums. Radio is interested in SONGS, not albums

I've always wondered about that. Acunanthingy got loads of airplay from Phantom when it was released. But is it worth the additional cost? do you make money offa singles/EP/whatever?

Incedently i really like the packaging on the free rednecks EP. It goes to show that you can be cheap and classy. Like Ian.

 

[Frobisher]

Lots of responses here, good stuff. I think the price issue is an important one. Music being sold in a shop becomes a product like any others but I think it's a product around which there is a lot of pre-conceived notions on behalf of the consumer. An album for €5 is going to be perceived as somehow lesser quality.
To be honest I'm actually thinking of doing a single rather than a whole album. My aim is to get it as much media exposure as I can get across the board. Anyone here ever used a promotion agency or heard of anyone who has taken this route?

 

[psycho]

We sell all our cds at €14.99 which i think is fair.Would agree with the suggestion that if the cds were sold at €5 or even €10 people automatically think its a cdr or not a full length!

Unfortunately if your to make any decent amount of money back from selling your cds in HMV,Virgin,Tower you need to sell it at a higher price instore (which i refuse to do)

So the final message is Keep it independent!!

K

 

[Bad Intentions]

Lots of responses here, good stuff. I think the price issue is an important one. Music being sold in a shop becomes a product like any others but I think it's a product around which there is a lot of pre-conceived notions on behalf of the consumer. An album for €5 is going to be perceived as somehow lesser quality.
To be honest I'm actually thinking of doing a single rather than a whole album. My aim is to get it as much media exposure as I can get across the board. Anyone here ever used a promotion agency or heard of anyone who has taken this route?

I have used press agents for some releases and done press meself for other releases and I reckon the results you get are very similar. If you're working and don't have a lot of time to do it yourself then go with a press agent, if you're underemployed, have time to do it yourself, and can't afford to pay a press agent anyway, the results you get will actually be quite similar. It's very time consuming though. And press agents are also picky, so just cause you're willing to pay the cash doesn't mean you'll get one.

For niche music (ie meself and most folks here) Ireland is a small country with a limited number of media outlets. My band's not going to get on the late-late show or the cover of Hot Press, with or without a press agent. My band's not going to get playlisted with or without a press agent. All these things happen after you've grown an audience or have serious industry support or Henry Mount Charles managing you (that's just how it works in this country). So you will get all the reviews/small interviews a press agent will get you doing it yourself, and radio DJs will only play it if they like it and no amount of press agent pushing will get otherwise.

This is my experience. We've used Friction PR in the past and they are very good. They go for a soft sell which definitely works way better for our type of music. There's a few other PR companies out there doing music now. According to music journo friends at least one of them is a little "over-pushy" resulting in some releases unfairly going straight into the bin. And once we made the mistake of going with a more general PR person who didn't understand that selling music is not like selling Daz. He faxed Tom Dunne a hundred times in one day and boasted to us about it... Mortifying it was. He got his marching orders.

My God even typing the word "faxed" makes me feel old.

 

[Bad Intentions]

Oh and according to my music journalist friends as well... the PR companies (like Friction) with high standards about what they promote are taken way more seriously than the companies that take anyone who pays. To quote "after being burned by ten really shit bands in a row, I'm not going to make that mistake again." Whereas Friction get the benefit of the doubt everytime.

 

[Bad Intentions]

Oooh. Add that to the albums' naturally rapid appreciation in value and I got meself a serious good deal!

By the way dude, just to make you feel better, I left my keys in work and didn't notice until I was nearly home. Wanted to scream. Happy fuckin days. What's the buzz with today - whose god did we smite?

Hi Roxy I do feel better! Being clamped is always offset by the misery of others. And in answer to you're question: I think it was Mercury the God of public transport. Or Ra the sun god who seems to have fucked off again for the day leaving Seamus the Irish God of Rain running the show.

 

[egg_]

I've always wondered about that. Acunanthingy got loads of airplay from Phantom when it was released. But is it worth the additional cost? do you make money offa singles/EP/whatever?

You don't make money - but we put em out on CD-R and did all the printing and cutting and burning at home so it didn't cost us that much (hard, tedious work though). Thinking of putting out another download-only one for Christmas (with hard copies for the radio people) so it'll save us a bit of time and effort if we can figure out how to do it

 

[Beanstalk]

Maybe €10, as conor suggests, would be better.

Definitely...€9.99 minimum...otherwise its gonna be mistaken as an EP, or rubbish.

Maybe even something like €12.99, just so folk know its a "serious" album release, and then use the money from extra price to put a sticker on it saying "eagerly awaited 2nd full-length album from MDF", or summit...maybe even get a few hacks to pre-view it and include quotes from their reviews on the sticker too.

 

[MDR]

Definitely...€9.99 minimum...otherwise its gonna be mistaken as an EP, or rubbish.

Maybe even something like €12.99, just so folk know its a "serious" album release, and then use the money from extra price to put a sticker on it saying "eagerly awaited 2nd full-length album from MDF", or summit...maybe even get a few hacks to pre-view it and include quotes from their reviews on the sticker too.

Yep - all good suggestions.

Isn't it lovely to have these chats about releasing independent music - just like thumped in the old days.

PS: it surprising how often people refer to me as MDF rather than MDR.

 

[snakybus]

the double life of Ro Hession: guitar-plucking songwriter extraordinaire and adequate, non-expensive shelving

 

[Beanstalk]

PS: it surprising how often people refer to me as MDF rather than MDR.

Jayney, thats mad...glitch in the human brain...kinda like this...


How many "f"'s in the following sentence:
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS.

Count aloud the ' F' s in that sentence.
Count them ONLY ONCE; do not go back and count them again.


ANSWER...




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There are six F's in the sentence. One of average intelligence finds three of them. If you spotted four, you're above average. If you got five, you can turn your nose at most anybody. If you caught six,you are a genius. There is no catch. Many people forget the OFs. The human brain tends to see them as "V's" instead of "F's".

 

[cyclotron]

1. Make sure you have a pretty big room for storing all the unsold cd's. You might need a garage or a very tall bed for vinyl.

2. Head down to City Discs and wonder why all the Irish stuff that's second-hand sells for less than anything else apart from cheapo jazz and blues comps.

3. Mutate into a web-groop.

 

[Flux]

Bad Intentions (Patrick?) -

I'm not sure charging full whack is the right idea either. I was in Tower t'other day, and saw your album...I love everything I've heard from it and I know it's quality, but being an impoverished student thought €19.99 was just a little bit steep. If it was €12.99 however, I would probably, nay, definitely have picked it up.

That's just from my perspective, but with so much competition out there, maybe dropping the price a bit would entice more impulse buying?

 

[the departed]

we're thinking of putting out a free debut double cdr album.