so...is anyone actually selling CD's?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mixmkr
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mixmkr

mixmkr

we don't need rest!!
especially ones recorded for the most part at home...

and looking for numbers... like MOST of the CD's of a 2000 order at Oasis or Discmasters...or some (take your money, but do a good job) place like them...
 
The latest band I recorded was a coverband, who didn't want to end up with a lot of cd's in their closet. they decided to sell only at gigs and not to have it duplicated at a plant, but manually printed and burned. They started selling yesterday at a gig and sold almost 70 copies. They play about 90 times a year, so I guess they made the wrong choice.
 
we'll be getting our new cd in this week, i'm hoping to sell a few of the 1000
 
Hey mix,

Market correctly you sell 1,000. Your stuffs good I can't see why you wouldn't be able to move them. I've only eaten CD's once in my life-time because the manufacturing facility made a great product, but I paid for it and had to overprice the disc.... I eventually got rid of them at cost, but it took awhile, so since then I started my own duplication facility
 
With the amount of 1000 I can't believe you can fabric them yourself for just even near the costs of a real productionplant. Just look at the coverprinting costs.
 
Yes I sell lots.

Please go to my website and order one so I can sell more.
Thanks,
Rich

www.richbischoff.com

But seriously, it is real hard as an independent artist to get your name out and your music heard. The key is don't ever give up.

BTW, I recorded my entire CD in a single wide moble home. JFYI
 
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My band's first CD sold about 400. Not too shabby for a non-touring band.
 
As a non-touring band? That's pretty good!
What do you attribute those sales mostly to? Besides, of course, kickass tunes I'm sure.
 
Mountainmirrors said:
As a non-touring band? That's pretty good!
What do you attribute those sales mostly to? Besides, of course, kickass tunes I'm sure.
Click to expand...
Well, number one is price. We sold the record for $5. My cost was just a little over a dollar, so no big deal there. The other factor was that we were lucky to get some decent press. One zine said that one of the songs on the album was "the song of the year." We also got some distribution via K, Carrot Top, Twee Kitten, and Southern. They sold at least 150-200.

I guess that's it.
 
I'm hooked up with distro for my forthcoming LP with Meteorcity in the states and Freebird Records in Europe.
Never really understood how powerful it was to have distro. I guess that is a case-in-point!!
So dealers buy from distro for cheap money and re-sell at their markup.
If the dealer gets stuck with them, they own them, no?

Of the places you used, which was the best for you?
 
Mountainmirrors said:
If the dealer gets stuck with them, they own them, no?

Well, yes and no. Dealers have a limited amount of items they can return, and if your CDs are one of them, you don't get paid by the distro for it. This has only happened a couple times to me, though, to the tune of, maybe, $50. Of course, if distros can't get stores to buy your stuff, you don't get paid for it. What sucks is when the distro pays you, returns your unsold stuff, and bills you for the difference.

another thing that sucks is getting your damn money from these distros! They are always late!

Of the places you used, which was the best for you?

It depends on the record. For my album, the best seller was Twee Kitten. For the other albums my label has released, it's been distros like Darla, Revolver, and K. That will vary depending on what type of music you do.
Click to expand...
 
How about a Led Zeppish, post rock psychedelic/space folk sound?
Twee Kitten?
Now, they're distro or catalog?
 
Mountainmirrors said:
How about a Led Zeppish, post rock psychedelic/space folk sound?
Twee Kitten?
Now, they're distro or catalog?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure where you should get your stuff distro'd. Call up the labels of bands you fit in with and ask them. The distros I mentioned before specialize in indie rock and indie pop.

Twee Kitten is a mail-order. From what you've told me about your stuff, they wouldn't carry it. They're very indie pop oriented.
 
my band escape velocity (www.escapev.tk) just recorded an album... we're selling it for 4$ both around town and online. we already sold every one we printed, but we still take online orders as we can print a new one every time an order comes in... we recorded, mixed, produced and distributed all ourselves. there's a free sampler on the site. we're getting more pressed soon for more sales locally.
 
Guess I'll stick with AllThat's Heavy for distro and keep it simple!
 
I have *sold* 5 copies of my debut album. (and given about 50 away)

I didn't gig, and I don't spam it..The only people who know it exists are the people who stumble onto the cdbaby page where it's for sale..

Most people that have heard it, enjoy the music, so I think most of the poor sales are due to me not pushing it enough..

Maybe it's the orange cover:eek:
 
Yup

Our cds sell well at live shows. They are full length and we sell them for $10 a pop. Don't sell many off the web yet though. Hopefully that will change. But we've definitely made a profit with our cds. We've recouped our costs fairly easily.

Hey Vox - you've sold five cds off your cdbaby page with no promo at all? How long did that take? That doesn't sound too bad to me...it's paid for having the cd on there by now so any you sell from here on out should be profit right?

Tucci
www.locuststreettaxi.com
 
I was stupid enough to sign a contract with Rocket Entertainment to be my EXCLUSIVE distributor for one year when my first CD came out. What that turned out to mean was that any CD I sold on my own, I had to send them their commission!
I guess I walked into that one. During that year - they sold not one single unit! I won't mention how many I sold - could get me into accounting trouble!

My next release I did locally only, manufactured them all myself and sold about 250 of them over a year... not bad but a lot of work and no real outside exposure.

My next album is almost ready to go to duplication... haven't figured out my appraoch yet...

http://mattyaki.com
 
My last EP sold 20 copies of the burn-to-order MP3.com CD's.
Not bad since their base price is $7.99, and it only had 4 songs on it... and you could download all songs on the same page for free.
Last year I made the mistake of "spamming" a few various Yahoo Groups to promote my music, now I've chilled out. I started own group which now has 90 members from the past 6 months. And it's a great feeling to have a personal relationship with people who subscribe specifically to hear updates.
So I'm optimistic about my forthcoming LP because of that - and a vast improvement in songwriting and sound quality (greatly due to this forum!).
 
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