Without getting ripped off..
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/t/10825/0/
Posted by Fletcher :
Now, I generally work with smaller sized artists doing "demos" or seriously "budget" [as in zero budget] records. The bitch of the beast has been "distribution" of the product, promotion and merchandising upon the completion of the product.
They can press up 1000 CD's and give them to their friends [and any press, etc. who have about as much interest in listening to another local CD as putting their hand in bath of boiling oil], and hope for the best... or they can go to an internet distribution source and have their CD available to a larger segment of the world's population [because there are people who actually buy CD's for the name of the artist or the cover art or some damn reason other than having seen the band live].
So that's great... you have your CD all signed up with a nice distribution service... they charge 10 bucks for your CD, you see 6 bucks of it [which right there is 3 times better than the best label deal I've heard of which paid the artist "2 bucks a record"].
Cool... show me the money!!
Now... for a small extra fee... and a small percentage of your earnings that aggregator can put your music on iTunes or Napster or Rhapsody, yada, yada, yada.
Why the hell not?
It's free money isn't it? People actually paying to download your music instead of just file sharing it [which is what has ruined the music industry if you're some jerkoff accountant who wouldn't know a song if it bit them on the ass and need an excuse of why your label is hemorrhaging money instead of earning for the shareholders... but I digress].
So now our friendly distribution service is taking 40% of the retail price of our CD... plus anywhere from 9 to 50% of the digital distribution of YOUR MUSIC... for what? Do they actually drive any traffic to your music? Kinda... your product is in the big music mall... but with iTunes [etc.] I know I do a whole lot more shopping for "songs" than I ever did with looking for full CD's of independent music.
OK... MP3's sound like ass... but they still sound better than cassettes did and I know I had a bazillion cassettes all over the car. With my new car I have a port where I can plug in the output from the iPod the ol' lady got me for X-mas... so goodbye CD's... goodbye talk radio... hello Marilyn Manson, The Meters, Hank Williams, NWA, Mungo Jerry, etc., etc., etc.
Again I digress... damn ADHD.
So how about a "let's cut out the middleman" solution? Sell CD's off your website... keep 100%. Get your shit on iTunes... keep 100%.
ooops.
iTunes won't talk to you because then they'd have to talk to 10,000 independent artists a day which would send their overhead costs through the roof and $.99/song becomes totally untenable [especially if they're going to pay those damn artists]. Let's face it... sooner than later everything is going to be "digital downloads" so you really have to get with the program and get your shit on the internet [in a manner that earns... you can always give the shit away, that ain't rocket surgery.
So now, in order to do digital distribution you're back with the aggregators who are going to want a backend piece of your pie.
Solution!!
TuneCore.com
Here you pay a flat fee for their service plus $.99/song per service... so there are 5 iTunes sites worldwide... there is Napster and Rhapsody and MusicNet and blah, blah, blah and blee, blee, blee... but there are no backend royalties.
A one time fee [OK, it renews annually, so for an annual fee] a one time solution to get your stuff onto whatever digital delivery "music mall" you'd like without giving up a piece of your action!! Finally, a way to "be your own label" without someone doing a reach around and taking money out of your pocket that you didn't earn.
From there you can link to other services that offer "Merch distribution" and "CD distribution" [and damn near everything else except tour support].
DISCLAIMER: I have recently become affiliated with "TuneCore" because I believe in what they're doing. In the interest of full disclosure, so nobody thinks I'm trying to pull a snow job... know that I am affiliated with this company, and might have something to gain somewhere down the line. At the moment my time spent ain't putting dime one in this man's pocket... I'm basically a volunteer who believes in the process.
http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/t/10825/0/
Posted by Fletcher :
Now, I generally work with smaller sized artists doing "demos" or seriously "budget" [as in zero budget] records. The bitch of the beast has been "distribution" of the product, promotion and merchandising upon the completion of the product.
They can press up 1000 CD's and give them to their friends [and any press, etc. who have about as much interest in listening to another local CD as putting their hand in bath of boiling oil], and hope for the best... or they can go to an internet distribution source and have their CD available to a larger segment of the world's population [because there are people who actually buy CD's for the name of the artist or the cover art or some damn reason other than having seen the band live].
So that's great... you have your CD all signed up with a nice distribution service... they charge 10 bucks for your CD, you see 6 bucks of it [which right there is 3 times better than the best label deal I've heard of which paid the artist "2 bucks a record"].
Cool... show me the money!!
Now... for a small extra fee... and a small percentage of your earnings that aggregator can put your music on iTunes or Napster or Rhapsody, yada, yada, yada.
Why the hell not?
It's free money isn't it? People actually paying to download your music instead of just file sharing it [which is what has ruined the music industry if you're some jerkoff accountant who wouldn't know a song if it bit them on the ass and need an excuse of why your label is hemorrhaging money instead of earning for the shareholders... but I digress].
So now our friendly distribution service is taking 40% of the retail price of our CD... plus anywhere from 9 to 50% of the digital distribution of YOUR MUSIC... for what? Do they actually drive any traffic to your music? Kinda... your product is in the big music mall... but with iTunes [etc.] I know I do a whole lot more shopping for "songs" than I ever did with looking for full CD's of independent music.
OK... MP3's sound like ass... but they still sound better than cassettes did and I know I had a bazillion cassettes all over the car. With my new car I have a port where I can plug in the output from the iPod the ol' lady got me for X-mas... so goodbye CD's... goodbye talk radio... hello Marilyn Manson, The Meters, Hank Williams, NWA, Mungo Jerry, etc., etc., etc.
Again I digress... damn ADHD.
So how about a "let's cut out the middleman" solution? Sell CD's off your website... keep 100%. Get your shit on iTunes... keep 100%.
ooops.
iTunes won't talk to you because then they'd have to talk to 10,000 independent artists a day which would send their overhead costs through the roof and $.99/song becomes totally untenable [especially if they're going to pay those damn artists]. Let's face it... sooner than later everything is going to be "digital downloads" so you really have to get with the program and get your shit on the internet [in a manner that earns... you can always give the shit away, that ain't rocket surgery.
So now, in order to do digital distribution you're back with the aggregators who are going to want a backend piece of your pie.
Solution!!
TuneCore.com
Here you pay a flat fee for their service plus $.99/song per service... so there are 5 iTunes sites worldwide... there is Napster and Rhapsody and MusicNet and blah, blah, blah and blee, blee, blee... but there are no backend royalties.
A one time fee [OK, it renews annually, so for an annual fee] a one time solution to get your stuff onto whatever digital delivery "music mall" you'd like without giving up a piece of your action!! Finally, a way to "be your own label" without someone doing a reach around and taking money out of your pocket that you didn't earn.
From there you can link to other services that offer "Merch distribution" and "CD distribution" [and damn near everything else except tour support].
DISCLAIMER: I have recently become affiliated with "TuneCore" because I believe in what they're doing. In the interest of full disclosure, so nobody thinks I'm trying to pull a snow job... know that I am affiliated with this company, and might have something to gain somewhere down the line. At the moment my time spent ain't putting dime one in this man's pocket... I'm basically a volunteer who believes in the process.
