Paying to Promote

Some of the "artists" on the CD my band appeared on were abject shit. It's all about who pays. Pay more and you get further up the track list as well. I drew the line at that and I think we languished at 13...
 
VomitHatSteve said:
These are all such long shots that it's pretty inadvisable to make business decisions based on them.

That being said, your music might be heard by one of your "1000 true fans", which would be worth the $90 assuming your band has the longevity to produce at least $90 worth of merchandise.
As far as marketing goes, $90 for 5000 decent impressions (i.e. people skimming your interview) isn't bad.

The deciding factor I'd use for something like this is looking at their selection process. Did you actually do something to merit inclusion in the compilation, or is it entirely based on buy-in? If they let any crappy band pay and appear on the compilation, that means there isn't any quality control; most of the music will be terrible; and no one will listen. It's the same business model that companies used to use where they'd troll MySpace and get bands to buy into a compilation album.
Click to expand...

^^^ This.

In my line of work, local business review magazines offer similar articles to be written and featured in "best of" lists. You end up being compared to companies in your area no one has heard of, not the industry leaders. "Best of" the people who paid us $### to appear on this list. So there's no frame of reference and vetting in who you're being compared against. Like Steve says, it's borderline scam. [full scam would be if they didn't actually do what they say, but what they sell is akin to snake oil] It's likely you'll just end up on a CD no one really wants to listen to since much of the material will be meh.
 
I got a "Fresh Cuts" free compilation CD a while back from Guitar Center which features bands of GC employees. It was without a doubt one of the worst pieces of shit I've ever heard, furthering the common assumption that no one at GC knows jack shit about music. Bad songs, really bad performances, and some truly horrific recordings that have no business being distributed in any way. That's your typical free compilation CD. My wife and I still make fun of it to this day. When something is bad, it's "Fresh Cuts bad".
 
Seafroggys said:
The magazine is called Fireworks if you guys wanted to look it up, or have had past experience with them.
Click to expand...

The latest issue - #64 - the compilation CD has 73 songs in MP3 format, for those who buy the hard copy, they also offer a d/l version. So everyone's comments are right on - no one will listen to your song.

So if you want to see your band 'in print', use the quotes for other promo work, etc, at $90 it might be worth it. Note this is a UK magazine, and in Europe "Fireworks Magazine" is the #1 magazine about, you guessed it, fireworks.
They have a forum on thier online site, doesn't look too well used, many comments about font size in the printed version of the magazine.
 
Greg_L said:
I got a "Fresh Cuts" free compilation CD a while back from Guitar Center which features bands of GC employees. It was without a doubt one of the worst pieces of shit I've ever heard, furthering the common assumption that no one at GC knows jack shit about music. Bad songs, really bad performances, and some truly horrific recordings that have no business being distributed in any way. That's your typical free compilation CD. My wife and I still make fun of it to this day. When something is bad, it's "Fresh Cuts bad".
Click to expand...

That's too funny. Was that the local GC "Fresh Cuts" or was it like chainwide?

The latest issue - #64 - the compilation CD has 73 songs in MP3 format
Click to expand...

Christ, its worse than I thought, which was bad to begin with. If that isn't the final nail, I don't know what is.
 
More fuel for thought.... I have never bought any music based on a magazine article I might have read about a band or the compilation cd's that came with the magazine. And I used to subscribe to some songwriting magazines which wrote about a lot of bands and artists and gave away a comp cd every month.

However, I have bought several CD's from watching bands on Austin City Limits or Texas Music Scene or even YouTube. So, I guess video is the way to market music to me.
 
Seafroggys said:
That's too funny. Was that the local GC "Fresh Cuts" or was it like chainwide?
Click to expand...

I think it was chain wide. Had it been local GC bands it would have been all slop doom sludge stoner metal or screamo emo metal. Houston's music scene is mostly garbage.
 
Greg_L said:
I got a "Fresh Cuts" free compilation CD a while back from Guitar Center which features bands of GC employees. It was without a doubt one of the worst pieces of shit I've ever heard, furthering the common assumption that no one at GC knows jack shit about music. Bad songs, really bad performances, and some truly horrific recordings that have no business being distributed in any way. That's your typical free compilation CD. My wife and I still make fun of it to this day. When something is bad, it's "Fresh Cuts bad".
Click to expand...

I had one of those. It had a New Found Glory track, then a bunch of unknown stuff. There was a tattooed rocker with a chainsaw on the cover. I never even listened to it. A coworker gave it to me and said, "Hey you like music, right?" :facepalm:
 
In the 90s, before the internet, I used to read magazines like Magnet and CMJ. CMJ was a bimonthly that came with a comp CD featuring a lot of the bands that were in that issue. I listened to those quite frequently... and they got used all the time by college radio stations. That was a pretty decent one.. but those were different times. And you couldn't just pay to get on the CMJ comp. You had to rise above the riff raff to get on their radar in the first place.
 
fat_fleet said:
I had one of those. It had a New Found Glory track, then a bunch of unknown stuff. There was a tattooed rocker with a chainsaw on the cover. I never even listened to it. A coworker gave it to me and said, "Hey you like music, right?" :facepalm:
Click to expand...

New Found Glory is maybe one of the worst "punk", and I use that term very loosely here, bands in the universe. They are everything that sucks about modern mall punk music. They're embarrassing.
 
mjbphotos said:
The latest issue - #64 - the compilation CD has 73 songs in MP3 format, for those who buy the hard copy, they also offer a d/l version. So everyone's comments are right on - no one will listen to your song.
Click to expand...
Cheezy Petes, Knights of Mars!

fat_fleet said:
And you couldn't just pay to get on the CMJ comp. You had to rise above the riff raff to get on their radar in the first place.
Click to expand...
Which is all the difference.

I got a CD for free from a guy who'd signed onto one of those MySpace "starmaker" scam compilations. They told him that he could sell them for $10 apiece and make his money back. This was completely untrue, and he ended up giving them out.
 
VomitHatSteve said:
I got a CD for free from a guy who'd signed onto one of those MySpace "starmaker" scam compilations. They told him that he could sell them for $10 apiece and make his money back. This was completely untrue, and he ended up giving them out.
Click to expand...

Actually, it is a true statement, just misleading. He could sell for $10, but there has to be someone who wants to buy it.
 
DM60 said:
Actually, it is a true statement, just misleading. He could sell for $10, but there has to be someone who wants to buy it.
Click to expand...

Ha ha! Alright. He could offer them for $10 but the odds of selling enough at that rate to make up his costs are laughable.
 
BTW, can you tell me about your experience getting audio downsloads out via CDBaby, costs, etc.? I am doing an audiobook of my (printed) book, "How To Use The Digital Camera You Just Bought" and I am considering using them. While not a musician, I do know a bit about self-promotion. You have to be in the right place at the right time. It's tough.

Back in the early, days of home PC use, I did a bunch of audiobooks explaining Windows, modems, etc. Because everything was so new, and there was so little clear, simple explanation, I got a 1/2 page in Entrepreneur, was in WIRED, NY Times, London Financial Mail, some Aussie papers, and more than I can rememeber...all for free. But that was because I caught a wave and had something really unique. MS even flew me out to Redmond to give a talk and a radio broadcast on stage. But that's because it was all so new and there were so few people who could explain stuff to new users. Later, the rights to the content of my mixed media CD "How To Buy Your First Digital Camera" was purchased by a major player in the early digicam scene for $35,000 cash! Loved that dot-com bubble!

The sad news now is that there is a LOT of folks writing about cameras and plenty of music out there... and while maybe 1% is really, really great, it is a contest to get noticed. Getting "discovered" by a publisher is almosst non-existent (just like with folks who wirite books).

I've heard groups and singers in clubs with outstanding CDs that they sell right there, but their general exposure is minimal.

I promote myself by being a guest on Public Radio answering camera questions, etc. I wonder if you would get any traction by offering a "music clinic" for young kids with their first guitar, drums, etc? You might tie it in with some local charitable event?

What do you fell about a free track on Amazon?

Then, of course, there's always YouTube
 
My question wasn't geared toward promotion in general, it was just for this specific service and whether it was worth it.

I know how to promote....its just a matter of me not being lazy :D But besides, I let the singer of the band handle that stuff, she's the mastermind of the band. I have my own things I need to worry about.
 
For such small money, do it. You really don't have much to lose. If your song(s) are gonna be on a compilation CD of some sort that get released everywhere it's a lot of promotion for you. Also if you are on a compilation with other great artists, I think that bodes well for your rep rather than hinders it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top