Let's Break It Down: How Many CDs Have You Sold?

[Robertt8]

Good to hear it Robert. 1000 is very respectable, you are "somebody"

How long has it been out? If memory serves, maybe 8 months?? I dont know much about I-tunes, but I am learning that it is an important player in the overall picture. I am selling some on i-Tunes, more than on actual CDs.

ah...well thank you sir. yeah we basically got our CD right around the new year. and another 4 months after it was submitted through CD baby to Itunes, but yeah. our Itunes numbers are way more than we thought and they seem to be increasing, so that's always good...no overhead. it's nice to sell CDs digitally as you don't need to mail them or deal with production costs...of course we do that as well, but it's one less physical CD we need to worry about. we also have been selling quite a few single tracks of songs. it's kind of interesting to see which ones are popular. some you could have guessed where others are kind of shockers. kooky.

cheers!
tait

 

[rfire]

You Gotta Work It....

We're trying something different, with the idea of running a more or less communistic label/studio on a totally profit-sharing basis, with no up front expenses to artists. We've done 4 or 5 CDs for folks so far, and have a pretty full schedule. We both produce and market them in a variety of ways, depending on what we have for a recording. Some are pretty good, some not so hot, but we support them all as far as they want to take it. Our site kinda blows right now, but once we get all the features loaded, we'll do a real design instead of the host template. We also help them beat the bushes for gigs and airplay opprotunities, in a number of ways, depending on the niche they work in. So far it's not making anyone a huge stack of change, but we are covering our nut, so to speak. And every artist makes money on every CD that gets sold, from the get-go. So far, no one's broken the 1000 barrier, but we're working on it. I'll get back to you all in six months or so and let you know how it's working out.
www.electrohick.com

 

[wargasms]

i really dont understand selling 100 and sitting on 900 extra cd's.


i mean, seriously, i can see why you are doing so few numbers if you have that many cds sitting around in your garage. Move those cds...stock online stores..get reviews..


shit go out of the house, liquidate the cds for a dollar or two...just get the music out there, expecially if youve already recouped....



you should be able to sell 1000 cd's at 2 dollars each in a couple of weeks at the least...especially if youre in a "band" with several people to move the cds...if you are sitting on a ton of cd's thats just plain slack. No excuses not to get that music out there

 

[DavidK]

I have sold 300 of my new CD, came out on Sept 19.

 

[Robertt8]

I have sold 300 of my new CD, came out on Sept 19.

nice! we've kind of lost count of what we're at...i guess we should check that out again. it gets kind of complicated once you start adding in albums and individual songs from itunes and other digital outlets, cds sold at shows, through CD Baby and paypal...we've started figuring 12 individual songs (digitally) would equal one album as that's as many songs we've got on it. i know we're over 1000, but we haven't counted in a while.

Well done davidK!

 

[elly-d]

not many at all really. a couple hundred sold in a couple a years. self release with no real promotion. only done about five gigs in that time, and usually feel too ashamed to plug it after a performance.

got label backing for the second album though so hopefully we will do alot better this time. due for release in US, UK, japan and europe april or summet like that.

suprising not many mentioned myspace - last.fm - magazine/webzine reviews - etc.

 

[Mindset]

I only ran 7000 last year total.

 

[Robertt8]

suprising not many mentioned myspace - last.fm - magazine/webzine reviews - etc.

what's up?!

Just curious what you meant by this. These are all fairly random things, but here's how they relate to us as a band...

MYSPACE:
good place to promote and put up links to sell your tunes.
(our page... http://myspace.com/bagoftoysmusic )

LAST.FM:
I'm not even totally sure what this is. We apparently have some stuff up here, but we've never put it up there. i'm guessing that some listeners uploaded a couple tracks of ours.
(here is where a couple of our tracks are... http://www.last.fm/music/Bag+of+Toys/Nooner ).

MAGAZINE/WEBZINE REVIEWS:
I think we've got like 3 total reviews... reviews by decent places seem to be pretty damn hard to get. Sure you can get a shitty review by any knucklehead, but by someone or some group that you actually care about can be tough. Here are the 3 that we've gotten (and 2 of 3 we actually stumbled upon online. they didn't even tell us they were reviewing us). Then of course, there are some we want and never get.

@ The State News: Entertainment Section: Choosing top 5 albums of '06 difficult:
http://www.lansinglowdown.com/index.php/article/504
@ This is Modern.net:
http://members.aol.com/thisismodern/hearthis3.htm
@ The Owl Mag:
http://theowlmag.com/cdreviews.asp?...Page=1&month=2&year=2007&date=2/2/2007&id=212​

We were also fortunate enough to be used in a Microsoft Zune commercial, so that helped our Song "Share" get a bunch more exposure.

There are tons of things you can do to sell CDs. i think if you're not selling a fair amount of CDs (assuming you have good music), then you either don't care if you're selling CDs or you're doing something wrong.

 

[LfO]

I've held off on replying to this thread for a full year (when I released my album) to gather a reasonable bit of info.

Sold over 1 year: 11 (10 CD Baby, 1 Amazon)

Genre: Ambient/Electronic New Age

Promotion:
*MySpace - between 100 and 150 friends, many of which are other artists, and I probably sent unsolicited friend requests to potential fans (based on their listed musical tastes) to 75 people.
*About 40 CDs sent to Downtempo/New Age internet radio stations and reviewers.
*music.download.com profile
*1 month banner advert at NewAgeReporter.com (industry site)

I don't play live at all, so I'm not exactly surprised by my sales (which are actually a little higher than listed above, but I'm not including friends and family who bought multiple copies). Let this be a warning to those optimists among you...

 

[cusebassman]

Hmm... haven't finished an album yet... so what am I doing here, you ask?

Entertaining myself during lunch at work, of course

Like some people who have posted, though, I like the idea of pressing a run of the CDs and just giving them out... it isn't cost feasible to many groups; especially those that are working at the music full time and don't have any other financial outlet, but it might be viable to some. In my case, I started working a 9-5 after college, and Im single, so I have some time and money to invest in this whole mess... so, I wouldn't mind savin up maybe a grand, getting a heap a CDs pressed, and giving them out at local shows, asking some music stores to stock em at counters if they would be so kind, etc.

I guess however you go about getting the music out there, its something more than nothin.

An interesting anecdote (to me, anyway )...

My brother and I recorded about 10 songs back when I was in high school and he was in college... I played bass, he played guitar and sang. Mostly original stuff, blues and pop-blues sounding stuff, some of it actually catchy songs, some of it, well - filler.

It was "recorded" on a cassette-based 4-track Portastudio with a couple RadioShack dynamics, and I think I plugged my active-pre bass right into the 1/4" input on a channel (I didn't know what a preamp or a DI box was back then - just plug in and turn up the gaaaain)

After mixing down (haha), we burned I think 20 copies on CD-Rs with hand printed and cut sleeves for the CD cases, and gave em out to people. 8 years goes by, and of course we hear nothing back on this, as we didn't promote them, didn't perform live... it was a novelty since I had the Portastudio sittin there either way.

A couple of months ago, someone comes into my brother's class (he's a HS teacher now, back around Scranton where we're from), and he starts handing out burned CDs to other kids in his class... turns out this student was at a local record shop, and found a copy of our album in a used CD bin - bought it for the couple bucks, ripped and copied it, and now its all over his school.

Really got a kick out of that, regardless of not expecting it to yield any result. Just funny how things travel and reappear as life goes on

 

[Acousticles]

This is for my main band Acousticles (linked in my sig).

How many CDs did you sell? We sold our first batch of 200 out in about 2 weeks...then we've never made another large batch, lol...so only about 50 or so after that

Did you have a record company backing you?
Nope, we did everything independently (writing, recording, mixing, and mastering)

Release it yourself? Yep, we produced all 200 copies at my buddies house in about 14 hours (including cover art and and a label on the CD)

Any advertising? If so, what type? Did it work? Advertising was with posters everywhere, Myspace, T-shirts and a few shows...I'd say word of mouth got our name out most though

Where did you sell them (at shows, online)? At our school and other local schools, to coworkers, friends, at shows, etc.

Did you get screwed ordering too many or too few? Nope we set out to sell 200 and sold 200, then needed more and never got around to it, so we just started burning copies and giving them away....We're working on our second album now though, and we might go through a company to mass produce this one, we'll see

 

[Mindset]

To really break it down,

How many CDs did you sell? 7000

Did you have a record company backing you? Yes

Release it yourself? Yes, It was two album releases, one by artist Vyrous, one was a compilation album. Vyrous album (Arch Enemy - 6600 sold) was released October last year, and the compilation (400 copies sold)

Any advertising? If so, what type? Did it work? Automobile decals on 8 vehicles, banner's, window static cling advertising, website banners, 1 magazine article. Flyer's/posters, T-Shirts/hats, and other crap/

Where did you sell them (at shows, online)? 25% online, 25% out of the blue, 25% at shows, 25% brick & mortar companies her locally.

Did you get screwed ordering too many or too few? Once copies get to a certain amount, I ordered 500-1000 more.

range it +/-50

 

[gullyjewelz]

Great Job Mindset - What Kind Of Auto Decals And What Is A Window Static Cling Ads?

 

[cusebassman]

A static cling decal is basically a sticker for glass - it feels like rubber, and sticks to glass without leaving a mark, and can be easily peeled off, unlike a conventional sticker.

 

[demensia]

I'm up there.

Now I'm up to a little over 100.
Woot.

 

[danny.guitar]

Lucky bastards..........

 

[sonicpsyops]

Your Definition of Success

To just elaborate on what others have been posting here.

I gave up on trying to be a rock star a long time ago and now I just get joy out of reading comments that people post about my music. Although I do appreciate the, I dare to say, very occasional unit that I sell, whether it's my CD or my downloads, but feedback is gratification enough. Just the thought that I'm making a noise and somebody out there is listening and giving me their honest opinion of my noise, even bad opinions, is success enough for me.

After reading this survey a reasonable person would come to the conclusion that in order to sell CD's and generate a profit, you need to play live. Well, it kind of depends on the type of music you play too. If you play what I like to call "analog music" (Punk, Hard Rock, Classic Rock, Folk, Country, Americana, Acoustic, some New Age, Bluegrass, Traditional Jazz, Traditional Classical, Singer/Songwriter, Polka, Big Band, and any other genre that requires real life players playing on real instruments) then you really need to play live because it's your bread and butter and it will have a great impact on your "units sold."

However, if you play what I like to call "digital music" ( Dance, Trance, Techno, Electronica, most of the time Rap and Hip Hop, Ambient, the rest of New Age, Virtual Orchestra, basically anything that can be created using synthesizer workstations or computer soft synths without the need of real people and is usually recorded in home studios) you can actually be more productive by promoting your work online than playing live. And have ever been to a concert by a Dance/Trance group? Unless there are half naked chicks shaking their things on stage, and expensive sets, costumes, etc. they're pretty lame.

Of course, then there are genres that are a combination of both analog and digital (Pop, Soft Rock, New Wave, Dark Wave, Goth Rock, Hip Hop, Rap, some Country, basically anything played on commercial radio stations). Most of the time, the combo genres also have to play live in order to generate sales.

Location! Location! Location! Notice that all of the comments on this thread are in English? One thing that I have noticed, over the years is that most music lovers in North America, Australia, most of Central and South America, and some in western Europe find something fascinating about seeing somebody up on stage strumming simple chord progressions on a 6 string and wailing away into a microphone (analog music) However, music lovers in Asia, eastern Europe, most of western Europe, Some in Central and South America are more interested in Dance, and relaxation genres (mostly digital music)

Of course, I've never actually sat down and crunched the numbers and perhaps I'm over generalizing in some areas but if you look at the top 40 charts in places like Romania, you'll notice most of the high ranking songs are from the digital genres.

There are actually instrumental, Dance and Trance groups in Russia and the Ukraine, that make a living off of selling, not CDs, but downloads. So if you're a one-man show recording a digital genre music in a home studio and you don't tour because the wife won't let you, there is still a market for your music, online.

Just an observation.

 

[cusebassman]

Location! Location! Location! Notice that all of the comments on this thread are in English? One thing that I have noticed, over the years is that most music lovers in North America, Australia, most of Central and South America, and some in western Europe find something fascinating about seeing somebody up on stage strumming simple chord progressions on a 6 string and wailing away into a microphone (analog music) However, music lovers in Asia, eastern Europe, most of western Europe, Some in Central and South America are more interested in Dance, and relaxation genres (mostly digital music)

Perhaps you should find a forum that caters to electronic music then, and turn down the smug knob a few notches... not all those things have to go to 11

Besides, I don't think anyone here is bashing downloadable music. It is one of the best ways to get your content out there, and in my case, I play everything on my recordings, so I couldn't perform my material live to the extent that it was written just the same. However, the fact that the majority of us enjoy "band" music - some guitars, drums, keys, etc etc, doesn't make us the groundlings to your electronic royalty sitting atop the clouds with the Gods of synth technology...

Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with electronic music just the same as I am with, err, "analog" music... it seems a touch repetitive at times, but the stuff I've heard is probably on the same level as the drivle you lumped the entirety of non-digital music into. However, the fact that you play one type of music that is in the minority where you live doesn't give you the right to bash what everyone else likes. I grew up in an area dominated by high school punk bands. I didn't like it, but I didn't blame punk...

As for the fact that this bbs is in English? Im not entirely sure what to say to that... its a site devoted to recording. If you have a digital recording question, ask. Im sure someone here will know the answer - a lot of the members have lots of useful experience to share. As for all those countries that embrace electronica, you'll have to move there and learn their language to be part of their scene. Sorry if ours is too narrow-minded... us silly peasants, speaking the language we were born around

 

[sonicpsyops]

Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa!

Perhaps you should find a forum that caters to electronic music then, and turn down the smug knob a few notches... not all those things have to go to 11

Besides, I don't think anyone here is bashing downloadable music. It is one of the best ways to get your content out there, and in my case, I play everything on my recordings, so I couldn't perform my material live to the extent that it was written just the same. However, the fact that the majority of us enjoy "band" music - some guitars, drums, keys, etc etc, doesn't make us the groundlings to your electronic royalty sitting atop the clouds with the Gods of synth technology...

Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with electronic music just the same as I am with, err, "analog" music... it seems a touch repetitive at times, but the stuff I've heard is probably on the same level as the drivle you lumped the entirety of non-digital music into. However, the fact that you play one type of music that is in the minority where you live doesn't give you the right to bash what everyone else likes. I grew up in an area dominated by high school punk bands. I didn't like it, but I didn't blame punk...

As for the fact that this bbs is in English? Im not entirely sure what to say to that... its a site devoted to recording. If you have a digital recording question, ask. Im sure someone here will know the answer - a lot of the members have lots of useful experience to share. As for all those countries that embrace electronica, you'll have to move there and learn their language to be part of their scene. Sorry if ours is too narrow-minded... us silly peasants, speaking the language we were born around

Let me just give you, cusebassman, and all who enjoy "band music," myself included, my sincere and humble apologies.

At first, when I read your response, I was a bit perturbed, and ready to lash back, but after reading the part of my message that you quoted, you're absolutely right. I was a bit too harsh, I think, and it really wasn't necessary nor my intention. I love band music (analog). I played in a band when I was younger, albeit keyboards and programming, but I think I paid my dues. In fact, 90% of my CD library is comprised of what I think you mean when you say "band music." I'm just a one man show now and I enjoy what I do. I certainly don't enjoy insulting or belittling other musicians which apparently I did and, again, I apologize.

When I'm talking about "analog" music, I mean to say music that is normally performed by real players rather than computer generated. I never said nor did I mean to say that "analog" music was drivle. I was just trying to use the word, analog as an analogy. You say "band music" I say "analog." You say tomatoe I say tomatoe too. But analog isn't necessarily a bad thing just like digital isn't necessarily a good thing. Perhaps you disagree with my analogy?

The point that I was trying to make, although not so eloquently I agree, is that you don't have to play live to sell your music. I think there are one man show musicians out there, like myself, who would read this thread and think, ' oh man, it's just isn't worth the trouble. I might as well give it up because I don't play live so I'm not going to sell anything.' When, in fact, there is hope. Somebody will listen. What difference does it make whether that somebody doesn't speak English. The point is, to get the music out there right? When I was talking about most of the people on this thread speaking English what I meant was don't just confine yourself, or your music, to the English speaking market. Elvis is a big hit Japan. His lyrics are gibberish to most of his Japanese fans but it really doesn't matter does it? I'll grant you, cusebassman, I probably could have chosen my words more wisely in retrospect. I guess I was trying to give a pep talk, if you will, to those of us who, for family reasons, stage fright, or lack of will, record electronic styled music and would rather not perform live. You are correct, cusebassman, when you say that the majority of us enjoy band music. That's a fact. But another fact is that when you are talking about selling music online, the majority of us (meaning the world over) buy relaxation, ambient, dance and electronic styled music.

There came a point when I realized that if I wanted to market the music I composed, I needed a change of venue because the market I was trying to sell to, wanted to hear a more acoustic (analog, "band music") style of music. So I started marketing to eastern European countries and found some success in downloads that I wanted to share to anybody reading this thread as a light of hope. Has it always been that way in eastern Europe? No. Will it change? Probably. Will it change here in North America? Probably. I get fan mail from people in eastern Europe speaking Slavic. I have no idea what they are saying. Hell, maybe it's not even fan mail, maybe it's hate mail. Maybe they're writing just to tell me how much I suck LOL. But they're listening, they're buying, and they're giving me feedback. I guess my point is to find your market and language shouldn't be a barrier.

I hope that clears things up. Again, if I offended anybody with my analog, digital analogy, or the comment I made about "wailing away into a microphone," I sincerely apologize. Bashing or offending you was not my intention. Cusebassman, I really hope there are no hard feelings but I honestly think you just misunderstood my message because maybe I didn't communicate it well enough If you really want to know my message, go to sonicpsyops.com and give my music a listen. Tell me what you think. I think you'll find it not so, "repetitive." I'd be interested in your opinion even if you hate it.

There is one thing that I must take offense too, cusebassman, and that is your assertion that I'm royalty sitting atop a cloud with the synth gods. When it comes to technology, I don't know my head from my arse. I got this new programmable coffee maker the other day and I tried to program it to make coffee at 8:00 this morning. Well, you know what happened at 8:00 O'clock this morning? My automatic garage door mysteriously opened. Go figure.

 

[cusebassman]

Man, I wish I could figure out how to actually market stuff without playing live, because we are in the same (or a similar) boat... the stuff I record I definitely couldn't play on my own, and I can never seem to find the right musicians to play my stuff.

If you hit on any decent methods for getting stuff out there, purely on the 'net, be sure to post em here. It definitely sucks that the most you can do to get material out there is play live due this circumstance...

Sorry for the misunderstanding! As for electronica specifically, why it is not popular in the states and other English-speaking countries so much, as opposed to live band-oriented music, which is king... I have no idea. It's always been around, but I think it has been in all those other societies as well...