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Selling Music Downloads?
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GaryRea



Joined: Feb 22, 2009
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 22, 2009 6:28 pm    Post subject: Selling Music Downloads? Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Hi, everyone. My first post here. Very Happy

I have an album I'm currently selling as a digital download only, via CD Baby. I'm wondering if you welcome such sales here? I note that this site seems to be CD-driven. I guess that makes sense, as all I'd have to do here is place a link to my CD Baby page every now and then, right?

Gary

http://cdbaby.com/cd/garyrea
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thebananarepublican



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 10:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Yeah, that is something I was wondering about, too. I am all for giving stuff away for free, but it is also nice to make a buck here and there.
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GaryRea



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I guess we're stuck waiting for someone to answer us, then. Wink

Gary
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opg



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Take a look at www.tunecore.com. My jaw dropped when I first heard about it. I'll let you know in 15 days if I've made any money Wink
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GaryRea



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

opg wrote:
Take a look at www.tunecore.com. My jaw dropped when I first heard about it. I'll let you know in 15 days if I've made any money Wink


Thanks! I've been on CD Baby since 2004 and have made a whopping $60 or so, so far. Sad
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mosc
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 6:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

welcome

CDs sales on this site are dismal and getting worse every year. I can't be too encouraging about people selling CDs unless they perform and make sales at those times.

As for selling downloads, that may make more sense. I have to get some software to do that. The problem is, it takes a lot of work to rip CDs and put up pages. I'm not sure it will be worth the effort.

In bad times experimental music falls on hard times too.

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Mohoyoho



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 7:58 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Gary, I believe I have only sold 2 CDs from this site. It's not the fault of electro-music, because CD sales are not its reason for being. I have had much better luck at CDBaby where I have sold quite a few CDs as well as downloads (from 3 CDs). I think sales are connected to what kind of music you are selling and how you market it. Our music is labeled as progressive ambient/experimental. Whenever we (or I) produce a CD we try and get it played on radio stations as well as internet stations. We promote it on several sites and try and get respected reviewers to voice an opinion. Playing live also helps promote your music. We played the The Gathering concert in Philly last Sept. and sold more than 30 CDs at the show. We have also played live on Stars End three times which has helped sales as well. By the way, we are not from Philly. It's a 500+ mile trip to Philly for Michael Peck and I, but that's what you do if you want to play and get your name out there.
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http://www.reverbnation.com/markmahoney
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Mohoyoho



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

One other thing: I notice you don't have your CDBaby link on your forum signature. That is a missed opportunity for promotion. At CDBaby I have had several thousand hits from the electro-music forum.
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GaryRea



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 10:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

mosc wrote:
welcome

CDs sales on this site are dismal and getting worse every year. I can't be too encouraging about people selling CDs unless they perform and make sales at those times.

As for selling downloads, that may make more sense. I have to get some software to do that. The problem is, it takes a lot of work to rip CDs and put up pages. I'm not sure it will be worth the effort.

In bad times experimental music falls on hard times too.


Have you thought about CD Baby? They've got great distribution worldwide, especially for downloads. I've sold more of those than CDs.
www.cdbaby.com

My page is at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/garyrea

My poor sales can probably be attributed mostly to a lack of promotion on my part, plus I don't perform. It's mostly a hobby to me.

Gary
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GaryRea



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 10:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Mohoyoho wrote:
One other thing: I notice you don't have your CDBaby link on your forum signature. That is a missed opportunity for promotion. At CDBaby I have had several thousand hits from the electro-music forum.


Thanks for the tip! I've just updated my profile. Very Happy

Gary

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GaryRea



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PostPosted: Mon Mar 02, 2009 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Oh, by the way, I've just joined a site called Artist Server:
http://www.artistserver.com/index.cfm

It's not really set up for sales, but you can put a "tip jar" on your page and if you don't want people to download your music, you can set it for streaming only. I'm using the site to promote my CD Baby page and have a few tracks from Things Remembered on there. I've maxed out my upload limit at only five tunes, so it's rather limited, unless you pay for premium service. But it seems to be a very active site with lots of traffic, mostly from young people. It has quite an array of electronic music styles and genres there, also.

Gary

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GaryRea



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PostPosted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 9:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Found yet another site where you can sell either CDs on demand and/or MP3 downloads:
https://www.createspace.com/pub/l/music_value_detail.do?rewrite=true&ref=294528

Createspace.com is affiliated with Amazon, so distribution is excellent., plus, there are no fees to pay.

Gary

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ASNAZZY



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PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 7:00 pm    Post subject: CD's a tough Market Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Yes right now..it is a tough market to sell CD's....my sells on the internet are very low...I sell alot more downloads on many sites all over the world. CD's to come in handy to mail to Radio Stations though...
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GaryRea



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PostPosted: Thu Jun 11, 2009 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I've kind of given up on the idea of realizing an income from my music, so, rather than place my second album with CD Baby, as I did the first one, I have gone with Aimee Street this time. Their concept is that everyone's music begins as a free download and, the more your music is downloaded, the more the price rises, to a certain maximum figure (I forget how much). Right now, the first two tracks of my latest album, Reinvention, have been downloaded enough times that they are now selling for 9 cents each. The rest of the album is still free, though. Maybe in a few years, all the tracks will have a price on them and the most popular will have risen to the maximum. Oh, well. It's better than putting out an album at a set price and then no one buys it. At least, this way, I know people are downloading my music and it's getting played by people who like it. That may lead others to do so, as well. This is actually better than the net label route that some artists are using, in which they release their music entirely free and it remains that way.

Gary

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Untilted



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

mosc wrote:
I can't be too encouraging about people selling CDs unless they perform and make sales at those times.


this is a good point. the absolute best point of purchase is at your gig when the audience has experienced your live performance.

with the sales of music decreasing in general, musicians may have to look into alternative revenue sources-- like licensing music to independent film, for example. and live music especially
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nobody



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 10:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Gary, thanks for the links to artistserver and createspace. I'm always looking for places to put my music.
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opg



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PostPosted: Wed Feb 03, 2010 9:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I would still recommend Tunecore. You get the most money from sales than other sites: 70 cents on the dollar for a song and $7 out of $10 for an album. And that's iTunes' rate. Tunecore doesn't take any additional money out of that. Other sites, such as Amazon and Rhapsody may actually be higher, but so far, people have only used iTunes to purchase my music. Tunecore's "catch" I guess you could say is that it costs $20 a year per album for storage/maintenance. My first album made enough to cover that (but not much more Smile ).

I can't complain, though. I did absolutely no promotion with the exception of word-of-mouth to friends and family and postings on electro-music.com and some other artist-based sites like Micromusic.net. I try to keep my mySpace page going, but I feel like mySpace is a bloated, fading social networking site (much like Facebook and Twitter will be in a few years). Last.fm seems to be popular right now.

From my experience with Tunecore, I've learned that it's easy as hell to sell your music. Promotion will never be easy. Of course, I think those who mentioned it are absolutely right: The best way to promote yourself and sell more is to perform. But how can I perform music that's made in the bedroom and is for people who like to listen to it in their bedroom rather than go outside and be around people? scratch

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nobody



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 6:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

opg wrote:
But how can I perform music that's made in the bedroom and is for people who like to listen to it in their bedroom rather than go outside and be around people? scratch


What about doing live internet performances? You can do those on EM radio and on your own.
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opg



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 7:42 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

For a second there, I thought you said live internet video performance.
I guess that could get some attention. Shocked

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nobody



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Why not? Jazz up your bedroom in psychedelic colours, strew some Bauhaus-like knick-knacks around, dress in something funky, and you're good to go. A light show in the room is a plus.

afro shakng2 cyclops cheeeezeeey transformer jackson dancing banana Popcorn time dancing dancing well-done
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opg



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 8:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

Wow. I just got an emoticoncussion. Shocked
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nobody



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PostPosted: Thu Feb 04, 2010 9:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

*evil chortle* I am Dr. Emoticoncussion!
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Antimon



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 12:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I've put up stuff on Tunecore as well - it's pretty smooth. I can't really compare with other sites, since I haven't tried them. I'm not selling anything, but I never really expected that either, it was just a fun experiment

/Stefan

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nobody



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 4:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I'd love to try Tunecore. My only problem is that there is any fee at all. For a po' broke musician, that's a brick wall. So is a good filter, but hey, theory is all well and good, but brick walls are brick walls.

Hey - I don't even need to be drunk to ramble and make no sense! shakng2
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opg



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PostPosted: Fri Feb 05, 2010 7:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote  Mark this post and the followings unread

I don't want to sound like a Tunecore salesman, but it's actually pretty cheap. Each year after your first year, you only pay $20 per album per year for "maintenance" or "storage."

When first submit an album, you pay these one-time fees:
the $20 fee, $10 for the album, and $1 for each place you want to sell it. Mind you, iTunes is broken down into several global regions: US, Japan, Europe, etc. I think there are 5. They have a good selection of stores, including all the big ones like Amazon and Rhapsody, etc. I like Tunecore so much because if I didn't have it I have NO idea how I would ever get my album on iTunes. So, what is that - $35 for an album when you first submit it, then $20 a year after that? No contracts or commitments, and you can sell your music any other place you want. OH! And free UPC and ISBN codes!

Now if I could only get on Boomkat. With a review.

Now I've gotta look into this live video performance idea.....Is it bad that the first thing that comes to mind is puppets? Confused

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