The right price to sell your album online? (Suggestions)

[kidkage]

Isn't that how they've always done it?

I've heard so many horror stories of successful bands who get into a cycle of debt where as long as they keep making hit records they keep owing the label more and more money.

This is always what I've thought.

There are plenty of people that have hits and aren't selling.
Look at a guy like Flo Rida. He's got plenty of hits. But his records aren't selling.

 

[robgreen]

The current state of play with music being both given away --- recently received an account from CDBaby where it listed some songs from an old catalogue, that had been sold/streamed/whatever for $0.0001 --- is crazy and in my opinion has only come about and is now expected by the music buying/acquiring public because WE have let it happen.

Back not all that long ago, public heard an artist's songs then went out and paid the full price to obtain the artist's latest recording/CD simply because they liked the material, they generally did not expect to get it for nothing or virtually nothing --- sure there were some people who took a copy onto cassette from a friend's purchased recording, but most people had their own purchased copy

If all the record companies and independent recording artists banned together and told the online distributors (both paid and free) that they wanted the full price for their product and if the online distributors refused to agree, then the artist/record company pulled all their product and refused to deal with them, they the distributors are eventually going to go broke or will agree to sell product for the correct price.

If this does not happen, then record companies will in the very near future not be able to invest in professionally made and sounding recordings, they will not be able to sign artists and the world will be left with either no purchasable music or music that has been amateurishly produced and sounds crap.

The possible end result will be that we will get 24Hr talk-back radio on virtually every radio station as they will generally not accept rubbish or bad sounding product.

There is absolutely no way that this will ever happen though, so I think it's just wishful thinking David. The genie is well and truly out of the bottle when it comes to how people consume music and I don't think that somehow getting musicians and labels together to act as a cartel is a practical or viable solution.

Musicians and labels as a whole are too disparate a group to form a single consciousness and even if the majority did, then all it would do is provide opportunity for the few who chose to carry on giving away for free/very low cost. If the Chinese government struggle to control online content, then we have no chance.

I don't think that it necessarily spells doom for music or radio content in the future - technology and individual ingenuity/talent will always find away of producing a good record whether there is money in it for the majority or not. Some of those will make money and some won't but due to the aspirational nature of putting out a good record, there will always be a new crop just waiting for that opportunity.

This leads on to the other side of the coin - that it is harder to make money from music than ever, because there are more musicians, DJs, rappers, songwriters, remixers etc. than ever. You have sub-genres of sub-genres of sub-genres and I think this is why there will probably never be another Bowie or Beatles again that has such broad appeal. For one, there's very little unexplored musical territory left but also for people with an active interest in music, the breadth of available music means that tastes can be refined to the point where they can be immersed completely in a genre or band that 99.99% of the world is totally oblivious to (crunk? grindcore? post-rock?). It's been enabled by the internet, technology and recording equipment being more affordable than ever before in the same way that these factors have eroded profitability.

I think your post is interesting and you've certainly got more insight than me into the music industry than I have from actually being in it for many years, but I don't think the future's too bleak in terms of output.

 

[TheComposer]

Just to clarify CSP post, I could get a professional recording for less than 800USD, because, like you were saying, I recorded, composed and arranged everything on my album, and there must be a bunch of producers here capable of doing this too, technologies allow us to do that.

I think the main point of the Thread is getting lost.

It's not about making a living selling your digital album, it's about selling it at the right price so people actually buys it and avoid ilegal downloading. and creating some kind of Label conscience would be great too...

I think it was just a Yes/No question, it wasn't about the "passion for music" and that stuff, I think that super long posts like the one that CSP aren't that important for the topic, but of course for debating and other purposes, just saying. Of course I know that playing live and selling merch would generate money, but as I stated above, it wasn't the real point of the thread.

Resuming, 5 USD for a digital download of 8 songs, good or bad?? I'll give free copies of course, but I expect this eventually becomes something bigger, what you think??

 

[kidkage]

Just to clarify CSP post, I could get a professional recording for less than 800USD, because, like you were saying, I recorded, composed and arranged everything on my album, and there must be a bunch of producers here capable of doing this too, technologies allow us to do that.

I think the main point of the Thread is getting lost.

It's not about making a living selling your digital album, it's about selling it at the right price so people actually buys it and avoid ilegal downloading. and creating some kind of Label conscience would be great too...

I think it was just a Yes/No question, it wasn't about the "passion for music" and that stuff, I think that super long posts like the one that CSP aren't that important for the topic, but of course for debating and other purposes, just saying. Of course I know that playing live and selling merch would generate money, but as I stated above, it wasn't the real point of the thread.

Resuming, 5 USD for a digital download of 8 songs, good or bad?? I'll give free copies of course, but I expect this eventually becomes something bigger, what you think??

I think CSP had good posts.

The debates and discussions that come up when they probably shouldn't are the best part about this site.

As has been previously stated. And like you've said. If it's not about making a living and money then why price it all?
Why not put it up for free download yourself? Tons of people are doing it now and as a result are professional touring musicians. In various forms and genres. Look at The Polish Ambassador. Or an even better example with some dudes I know like Drugstore Fanatics. Recorded by themselves in a basement, and given for free download. From that alone they've got shows, radioplay, developed a following, sell merchandise, and have had some stuff included in Rock Band. Drugstore Fanatics [official website] - HOME

But to avoid taking away from the thread anymore, and to answer your question, and end the thread I guess. 8 songs, $5 = good.

 

[chuckduffy]

But to avoid taking away from the thread anymore, and to answer your question, and end the thread I guess. 8 songs, $5 = good.

Yep as requested by Composer, the original poster I'll do the same thing. I think 8 songs $5.00 = good if the material is solid, recorded well, professionally mastered and holds up sonically in a playlist of similar artists.

Because I think it's slightly on topic, and I think others will find it interesting - this is my basic plan:

1. I'm breaking my stuff into sonically and topically linked EP's of five songs.
2. I can handle all the recording and mixing. I post rough mixes here and on GS for feedback and tweak. No budget there other than time.
3. I will have each EP professionally mastered. This will cost about $250 per EP.
4. Selling on BandCamp. I'm going to use the 'name your own price' option with a suggested price of $4.00 per EP.
5. Sell all songs as singles with a suggested price of $0.75
6. I'm going to start playing live again. I live in DC. Gigs are very hard to come by. As an unknown I have no shot at a booking. I plan on hitting the open mic scene with a buddy of mine and basically playing the EP (15 minutes). I'm going to attempt to record every show.
7. I'm going to do a small run of the EP initially for handing out at the first few open mics. 100 in full color sleeves for $249. I'm going to treat this as an advertising budget and to start to build a mailing list. The CD will have facebook, blog, bandcamp info.
8. I'm going to start a new blog, link it to facebook and religiously update it with new audio content - either works in progress or the live versions recorded from the shows.

So here is my real goal - If I can get through this initial plan, *and* make back the $500 projected spent with online sales, *and* start to get gigs based on the open mics, *and* start to get an online following actively downloading the fresh free content then I will move on to the next EP. If I can't then fek it all...

 

[TheComposer]

Free is a good choice as well, I'll think about it, and probably use it to promotion myself!!

 

[VomitHatSteve]

I still think $5 for 8 songs is a bit much. It is less than iTunes, but it's MORE than e-music. As an independent musician, you really need to undercut the big companies' prices. (Of course, it's an artistic project rather than a manufactured one, so maybe that logic doesn't apply at all.)

 

[Ian Cirame]

Free, release it on your own site, add adverts, and then look to have a bigger release for the follow up. Definitely, have to be lower than five dollars though, if its your first release, and you don't have a following.