Selling CDs at gigs

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mharr552000

New member
I've seen topics on this before, but search turned up nothing.
A little background:
A few months ago I recorded a 4 song demo for a local band. They didn't have a bass player, just a singer, drummer and two guitarists(one of the guitar guys played bass on the demo). This demo was intended to score gigs. I told them that if they got a gig and they needed a bass player to give me a call. We've got 5 gigs within the next 20 days! The first one is tomorrow night. :eek:

They wrote 3 more songs so they could fill a 30 minute set required by most venues around here(Indy). I needed to record the 3 songs so I could play along at home. So, last week at rehersal I threw up a pair of overheads on the drums, miced the snare, kick, both guitar cabs and the PA. I overdubbed the bass parts while my 2 year old daughter chased me around the kitchen.
The recording actually sounded pretty good(I'm listening to it right now trying to sear the arrangements into my brain).

Now, here's the problem. Selling CDs at the gigs. I'm of the mind that if you have something to sell, then you sell it. While the sound quality of these recordings isn't top notch, it's none too shabby either. If people like what they hear live they might buy a CD, take it home, listen to it, tell thier friends..etc. It's all about exposure and building a fan base. I wouldn't have any problem promoting my band with these recordings.

Everyone in the band agrees with me except for........the singer! He says they all sound like shit and he is embarrased by them. He wants to wait until they can "do it right" before selling a CD. I had solid support from the rest of the band before he showed up at rehearsal. They were really excited about getting thier music out.

I've decided that I'm going to run off 25 copies(with printed CDs and jewel case inserts), and take them to the show. I've been playing guitar longer than this little prima donna has been sucking air. None of these guys have any experience with the biz, so I'm making the call for them(as the sit in bass player!). Any thoughts?
 
Well if my bass player tried to sell recordings to the public with my singing on them without my permission he would be looking for another gig pretty shortly, but that's just me. though you may be a more experienced muscian, I doubt people will buy the CD to hear your bass playing. They will buy the CD to hear the songs the singer is singing. He may sound better on the recordings than he thinks he does. Bring in some objective 2nd opinions to reassure him or validate the way he feels.
 
Well, that's the problem. He HAS heard about ten people, including his band mates, say that the CD kicks ass(I can verify this because I heard them say it). It did a smash up job of scoring gigs too.

There are also four other people on those recordings, myself being one of them. I know people don't care about the bass player. The stereotypical bass player is a cat who couldn't cut it as a guitarist.
Well, I consider it as saving him from himself. When we were recording he would listen to the takes and say stuff like, "That sucks, that sounds like shit.Fuck it just use that take. I don't even know why we're doing this shit!" He's making business decisions based on emotion. Bad move.

Some of it does sound like shit.The funny thing about that is that he cannot carry a tune in a bucket. He can scream and growl well enough, but when he tries to sing he cannot stay in key. Those songs are not on the CD, but they are on the set list.

I've played it for at least three dozen people. The only two people who didn't like it were my fifteen year old daughter who thinks she just discovered this hot new band called The Ramones, and my wife who can't understand why they doesn't sing nice songs like Bon Jovi does.

So, I've got dozens of people who think it sounds good. I've also got dozens
of opinions of experienced musicians from personal contacts and various message boards that say to sell that damn CD. He is the only one who doesn't want it. Therefor, he is wrong! To blow off the recommendations of guys who have been doing what you are trying to do longer than you have been alive is outrageously arrogant. And to tell potential fans(customers)that they don't know what sounds good is just plain stupid. "You think my music sounds good and I think it sucks." Now be my fan! WTF?!?!

Hell, maybe he just didn't want to fork over the $3 each I told him he was going to have to pay me for them.
 
AS far as I know...if you have anything for someone to take home, even if it's poor quality; they will pay a price for it between 10 and 15 dollars. I sold a lot of 10ish songs per CD of solo guitar arrangements for jazz guitar, which wouldn't require much to record with, it was just something I threw on a portable HD 4-track. BTW: those things I really like.
Now...a while back, 4 Way Stop; which you wouldn't heard if you lived in Liberty here, played a lot. We were all high school kids (although in 8th, grade, i considered myself high school) who played blues, rock, and jazz rock stuff which was predominantly everyone in the high school jazz band's way to make money in the summer.
Word spreads fast in high school, and it was fairly easy to fill up the venue (a fairly-large pizza shop) there for a good 3 or 4 hours until the lights were shut off (And also, the power; so that legalities wouldn't get in the way). Now we made a CD from my external CD burner like you plug into the Home audio system and a mixer. And it wasn't too bad. We made about 600 dollars all profit from those, and then one night we also did a cover charge.
I don't think sound at all is a problem if you can really gel.

Someone out there likes your music...always. No matter what you play. Even if you play to the squirrels.
 
On the way to the gig I whipped out a copy of the CD and the two guitar players were like,"fuck him, we're selling these."
Got a pretty positive crowd response. I could not hear my bass at all. Sold enough CDs to pay for most of the after show trip to Denny's. Back in to the breach tonight!
 
Beer beats CD's every time!!!!

I'm well experienced in this topic.
Given a choice between impulse buying a CD or BEER... :eek:

98% of the bar patrons at your gig will shell out their hard earned cash for beer every time. :confused:

If you think you're going to make money selling these things at gigs...
WRONG!!!! :mad:

the only thing they are good for is giving them out as free promos.
so that people will remember you when they are sober. :)

what I do, is make a short run of 10 to 20 "sampler" low-tech CD-Rs that will get them to listen and maybe go to your website and buy your "legit" CD or other merchandise. :D

Good Luck.
RYAN
http://chemikiller.tk
 
Whether you sell them or hand them out, include your web address (whether your personal site or where your music is hosted) on the cd, so that the person can perhaps sign up to your fan club, newsletter, keep track of new projects, and perhaps purchase full versions or other CDs.
 
Well, the weekend tally is 19 sold, 2 "lost" and 1 swapped out with a club owners older CD. I have 3 left. Thats a profit of about $60!

From my own experience, giving them away makes them worthless. People will take them simply because they are free. When you leave the venue you will find the parking lot littered with your CDs.

I'm not just using them to promote the band. I use them as demos for my recording and CD production services as well. The bass player in one of the bands we played with couldn't figure out how I got the label to stick to the CD so cleanly! HA! It's called a printable CDR, you cur!

The bands email address as well as my URL(where more CDs can be purchased) are on the back of every CD.
 
mharr552000 said:
From my own experience, giving them away makes them worthless. People will take them simply because they are free. When you leave the venue you will find the parking lot littered with your CDs.
Click to expand...

If you don't give them to kids, they keep them. I realized this (most of our audience were kids) but the adults took to it and got us party gigs as well.
 
I've had similar problems with live recordings of my band. Everyone is there own worst critic! The recordings are decent but each member is a bit bashful about their own playing. The next time this comes up I will propose a rule:

You can only veto a take if you don't like someone ELSE's performance, i.e., you don't get to evaluate your own performance.

Don't know how well that will go over but I've done this enough times and put in enough unappreciated effort that I won't be offering my services again.
 
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