Oct 25, 2004 02:27 am I just may sign up though I'm not much good on the telephone promoting stuff. LOL
A grass roots army for GarageBand.com
Posted on Oct 24, 2004 10:33 pm
Noize2u
Czar of Midi
Administrator Since: Apr 04, 2002
OK, now this may seem a bit strange coming from me. But I have been a member of GarageBand.com since its inception. They have been true to there word as far as what I get via emial, and I have been involved in a couple of their little campaigns.
Now this one hits home for me having been down this road before, and also because I see so many of you here that can take this same path. We just need a route and a little backing to make it happen.
Well, these guys seem to have done it with an artist by the name of Geoff Byrd www.garageband.com/artist/geoffbyrd and artist out of Portland, Oregon. He seems to have been able to make 4 tunes of his sit in the top 10 at GarageBand.com and is now becuase of that exposure getting radio airplay, and the backing of some syndicated radio shows.
Now this success has been really unheard of for a completely independant artist like Geoff. And I dont think he will be the last either. I think we are entering a new age of independant artists being heard more and more.
If you would like, go take a look at this page, and read it through. www.garageband.com/news/grassroots
I have wished for something like this to happen for years, and I for one put my name on the line and will do my part to try at least a bit. It costs nothing, and can help alot if you are one of those musicians that belong to GarageBand.com.
Or if you are just tired of the mass produced, corperate bred stuff we are fed on the radio, and in music stores these days. I for one am in the mood for something fresh, and I think this in one way to get it.
Maybe I am dreaming, but without dreamers it will never happen, for any of us.
Peace,
Noize
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Oct 25, 2004 02:27 am I just may sign up though I'm not much good on the telephone promoting stuff. LOL
Oct 25, 2004 05:43 am What an excellent idea, especially as the music industry hates downloading. It's nice to think that a world of music exists that people can access, and that it's completely out of the industy's control.
There are so many musicians out there that dislike the coperate thing, it's a kind of dumbing down of music, only ever hearing what the industry wants you to, or what will make them a quick buck. Maybe this garage band site is just the start of a new way of thinking for musicians and listeners alike. We could do with a site like this in the UK
Nice one
Oct 25, 2004 09:23 am Noize, I think you might be on to something there.
As an aside, a band called the John Butler Trio with their album 'Sunrise Over Sea', has become the first independently produced and distributed release ever to debut at No. 1 on the Australian charts, and the song 'Zebra' recently took the Grammy-equivalent Australasian Performing Rights Association Song of the Year award.
And DSD, I'm hearing you about the corporate thing.
Cheers,
BM
Oct 25, 2004 09:28 am OK, for those of you familiar with GarageBand.com and like site...what would it take to make HRC that type of site? I mean technically speaking, not havng a name like Sir George Martin on the front page...what are their features?
Oct 25, 2004 09:54 am Well, the way I look at it, HRC Pro hosts mp3's, provides a feedback/review feature and has "charts"...I am wondering what else to add to make it similar, or perhaps it's just a different way to present all the stuff we have right now...
Oct 25, 2004 11:33 am I think it needs to be accessible to everyone, if I wasn't interested in home recording I wouldn't have visited this site. Perhaps the mp3s need to be on another site for all to visit, and promoted as a credible place to get downloads.
The quality of the material needs to quite high too, though how you judge this I don't know, if the first thing that gets listened to is an 11 year old on his bontempi, people probably won't come back.
Then the important bit is the promotion of the music itself. This, I guess, would be best done by the members or visitors to the site. Ringing radio stations is a good idea, but I know in the UK many are not interested unless recommended by a label. Independent stations are more open to this, but few get listened to. Perhaps approach a small few with the idea of an unsigned top ten voted by visitors to the site, could be something that a station might be interested in taking up as a schedule in their show, and in turn promotes the site.
Crikey, there seems to be so many things to take into consideration, I could rant on all day but wouldn't know if any of them would work
Oct 25, 2004 12:02 pm Ok, I just got done mowing the lawn for the last time before the snow flies (I hope) and was thinking about this.
Ultimately it is just a matter of presentation. Like you say, it's the subject matter of this site that makes it different. So, if I would buy another domain name, take this same material (as far as the mp3's, member base, reviewing and such) and present it with just the music, profiles and reviews...hey, pretty much just a different front end to the same material without the articles and forums. Make it like a sister web site, sharing these profiles with the artist profiles of the other site. Artists then log in to....hmmmmmmm, OK, now I'm gonna start rambling so from here I will keep my thoughts to myself so-as not to confuse anyone try to read my ramblings...
[rambling ceases]
So, this is my thought.
- I buy a new domain name for just a music site
- the people that subscribe to HRC Pro and artists for that site are essentially the same thing. That way the artists have access to HRC and HRC Pro, PLUS are members of the new site
- The new sites targets more music fans rather than artists...
- all music and artist profiles are shared between the two...twice the web-based real-estate with the same database data.
Oct 25, 2004 12:12 pm Well dB, first a huge devotion / dedication of your personal time!
Not to "poo poo" the concept in any way or form, I am having "red flag" issues.
The primary postulate of having listeners "bubble sort" the available music and "choose" what they would like to see on the shelf is fabulous. Almost too good; hence one flag. I am thinking in terms of the numerous attepmts here to influence "hit counts". The second red flag comes up in terms of system administration. Man you gotta retain "production / production capacity" balance (you know the reference). The third flag comes in terms of the industry practices that are distastefull. These practices exist on many levels. The incumbant industry does have the influence and money. At this juncture having a few artists cercomvent their monopolized marketing avenue is no threat. If and when the numbers increase the ensuing battles will be bloody and extreamly distastfull. (obviously my crystall ball is influencing that statement a lot).
Again, just food for thought. This concept is relitively pure in it's inception, but can that inherent purity be maintained per practical application, or will we just create another competitive beaurocracy?
Oct 25, 2004 12:19 pm Well, that my next thought, now of clearer thought myself (grass fumes leaving my head from my mowing), what I would be doing is reinventing the wheel, as NoWhereRadio is pretty much exactly what I am thinking of, and HomeGrownVinyl is now trying to do as well as GarageBand, mp3.com and every other site there.
That said, me throwing HRC into the mix would be wasteful I presume, my first thought was simply that I already have so much of the data on hand it would possibly be a simple thing (in theory) to reformat it, pull it into a different more listener marketted domain, that it might be worth a try...but then I would be stepping on toes of people like NWR and HGV with whom I have developed a relationship over the years...
hmmmm, good thought I suppose, my intentions are good, but perhaps misplaced.
Oct 25, 2004 12:52 pm Oh my!
Remind me to put a cork in it next time I think I want to write. Now there's something you can be responsible for :)
I just took a shower and thought it over a bit. Questions I ask myself:
This is the second itteration of a grass roots music movement I have seen in my lifetime. I the 60's underground stations did well. What was their demise? When they went away I simply stoped listening to the radio. Someone yesterday told me radio still exists, so I guess I made no great impact.
I would submit that labels offer a valuable service. (sorry I don't know how to say this without sarcasm) The unappreciative, moron, masses, the rambling cloud in the desrt, the 80 of the 80/20 rule depend on the lables to decide what they listen too. They want to be cool, "in" accepted, and be invited to the next party. They would listen to dog farts to accomplish that. So I submit that in this effert we are appealing to the 20%. We are offering music for musicians.
Now per the P/PC balance, the average musician has another hertle and that is distribution. If you contracted the musician to sell only from your site for X period of time with a cut to you walla! balance. Be prepared to spend a lot of time hunting down the cheaters and persuing them. Musicians can justify most any action in the name of music.
Again, don't interperate my comments as your intentions being misplaced. There are just a few questions to be answered prior to leaping off the ledge, like "is anyone holding the net?"
Oct 25, 2004 12:57 pm Yeah, the fulfillment part of the operation is the PITA...I think I'll stick a fork in this project...there are too many others doing the same thing. Unless we could come up with a better way to do it, I don't see the value of it...I see bigger value in referring people to HGV or NWR and keeping it centralized.
Oct 25, 2004 01:18 pm You could always try it as a feasibility study. A small section of "pay for" music here would suffice for that. Folks manage their own process. Use Pro to promote, colaborate, obtain feedback. Go "pay" when they feel they actualy have achived a "product". I have heard numerous here that are at that level. Obviously the rest is pragmatic; monitor downloads, paypal, invoice monthly per downloads bla bla bla. You know the numbers. So they use garageband as well? It's just two forms of marketing. You can always decided to promote outside of the web site in the future if the results are positive.
Oct 25, 2004 01:26 pm eh, I'm just killin the idea for now.
I figured it wouldbe another way to promote HRC and HRC Pro, through another avenue, plus, help market indie music, which I have dedicated years to doing, but eh, I'll let the ones that are already doing it continue...I don't need the extra work anyway...
Oct 25, 2004 01:52 pm I have been giving this some thought too, managed to burn the stir fry as a result. I think garage band works because it selects music for you to listen to, rather than daunting task of trying to pick from 100s of artists. Limiting the amount of artists, initially, per genre, makes it more user friendly. I think the key is making the site credible via promotion and a good web address, lycos, yahoo, easy to remember and spell. It would be a task though.
Walt is right about collecting monies owed from sales from the site, but if in its conception no profit is sought, then anything that comes your way is a bonus. As long as the main aim is to help artists, by avoiding the industry that we know, then you could not possibly be stepping on anyones toes, or am I being naive?
Oct 25, 2004 01:53 pm Not to be a killjoy or take anything away from anyones ideas but I went away from Soundclick, etc and other such sites (even those with reviews) because they WERE commercial.
Thats why I love this place. Its a community as dB intended in every sense of the word. Its good fun, theres good music and everyone likes it. Everyone helps oot and the music is whats produced when folks all pipe in and help others i.e. mixing etc, advice.
The pro section is great too for those of us who have a little to contribute and get the extra features. Id NEVER pay for any of the other sites that host mp3's, have charts etc as they are too big for my liking. I like Indie, I like to hear mad old TonyD recording my posts, everyones different levels of music and Flames thread hijacking...hell, I even like some my own crap jokes!
So, I think putting the idea on hold is not a bad thing dB...also give ya more time to do other stuff - like record more music!!
However, we could go for some kinda CD compiled with HRC music or something (think I Suggested that before) and do whatever with it...dunno.
Anyways...keep up the good work and greetings from Bonnie Scotland.
Coco.
Oct 25, 2004 03:12 pm Quote:
As long as the main aim is to help artists, by avoiding the industry that we know, then you could not possibly be stepping on anyones toes, or am I being naive?
Well, I guess that depends on what you consider "stepping on toes". In the legal sense, no, I wouldn't be doing anything I could get sued for or anything.
However, in my own personal moral judgement it would be ill-advised. I have spent two years or so talking with Waldo from NWR even trying to start the AOIRA group for indie's, which seemingly has died, regardless, we have links to each other and have supported each others effort. With HomeGrownVinyl, a new similar site, very much in it's infancy, I have lended support to, advised in usability issues and become friends with.
In those two cases, I would not being doing anything "illegal", perse', but I would be "stabbing a friend in the back", so-to-speak, which is just kind of against my moral judgement.
Regarding profit seeking, well, Ihave never sought great profit from HRC, just to cover costs and buy some beers when Noize and I go out and on the rare occassion I get to meet another HRC member. If I was looking at HRC (or the idea in discussion here) to get rich with, I'd have given up many years ago :-) So profit isn't the goal, but it does have to support itself. While I don't expect profit, I don't expect to pay for it either.
Oct 25, 2004 03:20 pm I think that's a good decision to hold off dB.
The OMD market is saturated as it is, and while a grass roots movement such as GB is attempting of trying to get actual everyday listeners rather than artists is great, I just don't see it happening anytime soon for a number of reasons.
Dan
Oct 25, 2004 05:05 pm Thanks, I agree with you. Broadband, as a whole hasn't even been as widely accepted as the industry had hoped, much due to the cost of it I suspect. So, until broadband is commonplace, this market won't be everything it can be.
Oh well, it made for some good conversation to keep me busy on my day off. :-)
Oct 25, 2004 07:52 pm Agree wi Olddog wholeheartedly...man, I wish I would stop this goddam rambling and just cut to the chase!!
Anyways...as I say - agree wi Olddog.
Coco.
Oct 25, 2004 07:56 pm I spoke to someone not so long ago who used to be quite high up in EMI. During a long conversation she explained that the music industry is running scared of the internet and the fact that they haven't got a stategy to deal with the downloading. This has lead, so she explained, to the industry not taking many risks. Which sucks for artists. So I have been thinking quite a lot recently about ways of bypassing the industry route. Independent releases is perhaps the way to go. I have been thrashing out with other musicians in my area ways of doing this. The internet being a tool to promote the band regarding gigs but also the media and the gigs themselves, but it is a hard route. Back in the days of true independent record labels it seemed easier, the Buzzcocks released a single and only had a distribution deal and a good song, and sold thousands. so sites like GB are quite inspiring to me and I don't really know much about them, but they give me hope that all is not lost for music.
HRC is a good thing, it too is inspiring for me and I didn't mean to suggest that profit was the motivation for its existance. Its just that in my thinking about independent relases profit is my flaw. To make a profit, I become like the industry that I dislike, to not make a profit, I won't survive. But I am still thinking... and wouldn't it be great for musicians to be able to harness the power of the internet, that which the indusry doesn't know what to do about.
And I agree that stabbing a friend in the back is not desirable, again I didn't mean to suggest this and of course, you are right with your decision. No offence I hope
Oct 25, 2004 08:30 pm Oh, no, I didn't take it that you were saying anything about my motivation or goals, no offense taken at all, I just took that moment to explain my motivations further.
Quote:
To make a profit, I become like the industry that I dislike
Nea, nea, you are looking at it all wrong my friend. To make a profit is not making you like the industry. What would be making you like the industry is to expect to make a 900% profit. Making a profit is simply looking for some reward for your time and effort. NOTHING is wrong with that. The industry tries to make a huge profit of somebody elses time and effort. Therein lies a HUGE difference.
Oct 25, 2004 09:39 pm Quite franly, I like the idea of indy marketing and sales just as I appreciate any industry that is being frugal and competitive. It is simply a world market and there is and will continue to be a lot of leveling. Many of the industries practiced in the US are in serious trouble. When one person can make 1000 times more than another in a single industry there is imbalance. There is infighting and apathy on the part of the producer. Visit Mexico City to see the results of the elimination of the middle class. 100 families have the money and are garded 24/7 with armed guards. The rest of the population are essentialy homeless. A plea to the worker to take less and give more coming from the CEO who is perverbaly so fat he or she can't get out of his or her chair is a waste of breath. The refusal we are seeing in many industries to become competitive is a double edged sward. It cuts sales, which cuts jobs, which cuts the ability to pruchase. A very nasty downward spiral. When you win at monopoly, you put the game away and go home. Greed creates the "not enough for all" condition as it diminishes production. Obviously, this is all self righting over time, as the pendulum swings. Greed burns fast and dies fast. Oldest story on the planet. And on it goes, far into the night.
Oct 25, 2004 10:41 pm The more I think about it (I have been a lot today)
The world OMD is going to do the same thing the .com's did. OMD is getting to be a "fad", it's a new trend, just like .com's as a whole were 5 years ago. What will happen is that there will be tons of them, and there already is, so, what happens in the previously described "balancing" is that many will get shaken out and the strong will survive. As the .com craze crashed, the Yahoo, Google, Musician's Friend, Amazon and others that were "the real deal" made it, the rest went to hell, stock prices crashed and people lost work...
The same thing willhappen in this indie movement for online distribution. However, the good thing I see in this crystal ball is that the movement WILL work, and the labels, or the music fatcats will do one of two things; learn how to embrace the technology, or get tossed into being just another business without the huge pull they currently have.
That's how I see it anyway...
Oct 26, 2004 12:50 am Well dB you know I will back you 100% no matter which way you go. That said, HRC is as everyone has stated a community for independant musicians. We have been here to help in whatever capacity. With friends as dB stated like HGV and NWR that can offer things we might not. We can refer someone in need hopefully to someone who can help them, if we cant foot the bill. But with the community that has been built here, there is usually someone who can come up with the answer. And that is saying a hell of a lot for this place and how far it has come.
We have members here who range from the absolute beginer to guys like myself and dB and guitar jim and Walt, and many others who have done it professionally for anywhere from 10 to in my case well over 30 years. I am here not because I want to be rich but because I love music, but I love seeing others find the same thing I found in music all those years ago. And if helping them get it recorded, tuned, arranged, mastered, mixed or whatever gets the job done, then I am happy.
I agree completely with dB's crystal ball. The indie movement will work. I have watched this happening all over the place.
Now with all that said, HRC is the place people who see the independant artists getting listened to and saying to themselves,I just need to find someone to help me make my music sound good, or get it recorded proper. Those people will come here for the straight up help with now BS.
We are making friends in all kinds of places, we are reviewing gear and software and giving you the straight scoop on, no buffed up stuff because they pay us to say good thing. We just tell it like it is. If it isnt good we say so. If we dont think someone needs a $2000.00 pre-amp we will say so.
We got here because we have found that the music doesnt come from the most expensive gear in the world, it comes form you, the people who make it. I have listened to music on this site that was recorded on 10 year old computers using a Sound Blaster and the care that was taken to record it and mix it is what made it good.
That is what HRC is about. And if we can find a way to make the music posted here more accessable to the masses, so be it. This community is getting more members by the day, and getting noticed by more link trading and just getting the name out there. And you, the members have helped with that a great deal. By giving a little back to those who come here like you did, for that little bit of information that helped you get better at what you want to do with your music.
And I will end my raving with one last little note. GarageBand.com does let you post music for free. But you do have to earn it so to speak by reviewing others music. Yes you can pay to put it up as well. But they do offer the chance to get it up for free. And the music that makes it to the top isnt the stuff from the guy who pays the most. It is the music that the listeners picked. Not Sir George, or someone behind a desk. It is you and me and thousands of others who pop by that site and play someones tune and then give them the thumbs up or the thumbs down. And that is how it should work.
And yes, they are selling music, but I am guessing the they guy who recorded it is making more per sale then GarageBand is. I might be wrong, but I dont think so.
Lotsa Love to all the great member here at HRC.
Keep Rockin,
Noize
Oct 26, 2004 03:12 am Wow, there's a lot to respond to in this thread. But I guess what I want to say is that though I despise the major labels, I don't really see them going away. I consider them competition the way a farmer selling celery might consider a big potatoe chip company competition. We're in the same product category (music), but so different that I don't even really pay attention to them. Major labels provide a service to the majority of Americans the way Applebys provides a service. They bring the product to the people, so you don't have to go out of your way to satisfy your urge for that product. You don't have to think. "Where are we going for dinner friday night"? "How about Applebys"? "I'm not really fan of their food". "Yeah, but it's easy, and besides where else are we gonna go?" Stupid, lazy, unadventurous Americans. Don't you know there is a great brazilian bar-b-q spot that you would love, about to go out of business because no one thinks to go there. And it's only 5 minutes further in the car. But alas, such is the plight of the independent label. There are a fair amount of people out there willing to search for something new, but the majority are content to take the easy route.
With that being said, even though they serve a purpose, the majors are not risk takers and I believe will eventually become shriveled and irrelevant due to their lack of decisiveness. It is a fact that major labels have been releasing fewer and fewer records since the late 1990s and though overall record sales are up this year, they are still down from 1999, and top selling records are actually selling less this year. What I logically take from that is, if top selling records are down from last year, and overall sales are up from last year, then sales are being spread out over more albums this year (are you still with me?). Yet majors continue to put out less albums. Doesn't this seem like bad business strategy to you? It seems that consumers want more variety, but the majors have become too stagnant in their little routines to deliver. Hopefully the majors will not be able to pull their heads out of their nether regions any time soon. (by the way, I got these facts from an AP article in the SF Chronicle that I can't seem to find online). Oh yeah, and in addition, the price to the consumer of major label cds keeps going up. It's as if whoever is doing pricing at the majors have either forgotten the basic supply/demand rules of economics, or they think they are operating as a monopoly. Not yet busters!
As for garageband.com, I love the fact that they want to spread good independent music. They do sell music, but they do it through a partnership with CDBaby, so the artists do indeed see a fair amount of each sale (price-$4). Anyhow, as I've been very active at garageband over the past week or two, I've been thinking that though garageband does promote those who are musically the best (and there are quite a few talented groups on there as well as a whole gang of folks with little talent) as chosen by those submitting reviews, I'm led to believe that the majority of people on that site are other artists. So we are still stuck within a circle of artists. There is still a disconnect from the "fans" or the majority of society who doesn't create music. I see garageband as another grain of sand, that serves as promotion, to put in my pocket. Eventually if I pick up enough grains, I'll have a pocket full of promotion, and hopefully that will be enough to get the snowball rolling.
By the way, I agree with dB, that Online Music Distribution is somewhat of a fad with everyone trying to jump on the band wagon. Sure, the net will provide some revenue to labels and bands, but honestly, I think record stores aren't going to go out of existence any time soon. Though you can do cool stuff on the net, it is still being gassed up and it's potential being overestimated in my opinion.
jeez did I use enough metaphors in this stupid post. egads, that's enough out of me.
Oct 26, 2004 06:51 am I do think for most of the time that what we have achieved as a band is quite amazing, been together for 10 years, gigged all over the place, like so many other bands, have done this without industry support. I like the thought that music is being created for the sole factor of creating music and playing it, and this is being done all over the world by thousands of musicians. I also like the fact that this is how it exists. And I am content with what I have in music. But this industry thing. Like you say Coolo, if the brazillian bbq was a bit closer to town then people would have greater choice, and you never know, may prefer the bbq to mac D's. So if people won't go that extra 5 minutes, then the bbq needs to be moved so that people know its there. And I feel sure that people are getting fed up with macdonalds and applebys and are looking for a new place to eat, look at the success of bands like the strokes and white stripes. There must be a way of moving that bbq?
Thanks for the bit about profit dB. your right there is a middle ground. Profit can so easily be confused with greed and maybe that is where my thinking is going wrong. If the internet is not the way to go, then I feel sure there must be another way so feed those hungry music fans somehow. I get the feeling that I will be thinking about this for a long time.
Oct 26, 2004 12:50 pm I do agree with Noise at the core level. I love the group of people that have become HRC. Very primciple oriented folks. Reading this thread is like "watching" the process of soul searching and principle application to make a decision. Truely a highly developed group involved.
At a more shallow level, that being academia, I am very titilized by the evolution of the industry. It has went many miles since pre secular music where the successfull musician was fed and housed by the church. Even that is a very questionable statement as by far the greatest number of musicians have to practice their art as a sideline or hobby very much limiting their ability to grow in their art. The infrastructure, and vicisitudes involved also intrigue me at an acedemic level. I would truely love to talk to the owners of an "underground" station of the 60's. What was the demise? I suspect to some degree availability of the music. You heard the music a few times and could not purchase it, or as per SaltDog, it took a lot of research that most folks could not or would not afford.
There are some very interesting things happening in the current "indy" movement. Theyrone, the personality of the "Bone Conduction Show" was canceled by NPR after many years as his show was dubed "personality based". This is pure bunk as NPR is a series of personality based programing. Theyrone is now syndicating in the "private" sector very successfully. I would love to know the politics behind that succession of events. The bone conduction show did highlight a lot of indy music, but quite frankly did not address the "how to purchase" aspect well. I would also love to be privy to Theyrone's marketing approach. Who is his tarket audiance? Who advertises per the airing of his show?
As dB mentiones, limitiations of the web, acceptance of broadband, a degree of technical difficulty in finding things, etc. currently renders the web "not yet ripe" for mass distribution of music. The Jazz genre is a very interesting case study. Try to hear Cyrus Chestnut on the radio...Say what? Yet he and many others live comfortably making music. What diciplines could be applied to the rock indy genre to make it a living wage endevor? Drop by any music store and pick up his cd's.
I submit that we are all subject to the paradigms that defeat the growth of the indy musician. Look at the threads here of best produced album, best group, bla, bla, bla. You won't find "Tony D's rock till you drop" or the "Noise makes noise" album in the listing. You will find only publicaly acknoledged entries. Public acceptance is a nonsequitor in relation to quality music. What activities will or could initiate a paradigm shift to highlight the indy?
All very interesting to me. Like advertising; I used every form of advertisement known to promote an automobile repair shop. The winner? A post card! Bright colors, limited verbiage, a rigid media; Tons of the things where pulled out of purses in the front office of the shop. It works in the Landscaping industry as well per my friend's audit post recomendation. Obviously not applicable to cd sales.
Just food for thought.
Oct 26, 2004 02:01 pm Quote:
Public acceptance is a nonsequitor in relation to quality music. What activities will or could initiate a paradigm shift to highlight the indy?.
Tis true, tis true.
As for post cards advertising cds, I do it, and have seen others here in SF do it (though mostly hip hop artists). Once or twice a week I stand outside our local indie mega record store where my compilation is stocked and hand out 4x6 flyers with info about the compilation and play selections from the compilation on the boombox. And I am not the only guy who does this. However, it hasn't really been successful for me yet, as I don't think I've sold any cds at that store. I have sold a few to people on the street though.
Oct 26, 2004 07:24 pm About a year ago, John Ottaway, who hadn't had a hit since the 70s, played a gig and asked the 2000+ audience for them and all their friends to buy his single in the first week of release. He secured a top 10 hit in the UK, albeit for only a week, but he received airplay and tv coverage, he got his music heard by audiences that might otherwise never have known about him. However, the Creatures did a similar thing but sold the majority of their singles from one shop in London. The chart return decided that this was a fix and disregarded the sales from that shop, losing them a top 10 hit and any recognition for the singles they sold. And both of these artists are established with a fairly loyal fan base.
With every CD we sell or give away, comes a slip to fill in to join a mailing list. This has been quite successful for us. If we gig in a certain area we do a mail shot for those people in that area. But I am now starting to think that this is perhaps not the best use of this mailing list.
A friend of mine had a batch of CD singles pressed up and sold an initial amount to cover his costs, then went into indie based chat rooms at different places in the country asking if anyone wanted a CD for free. From that he built up an email list that he uses when he has a gig in those areas.
And Coco made a good point, there is something nice about music that isn't commercial. As soon as lots of people hear it and start buying it, by definition, it becomes commercial. So maybe I am striving for something that I don't even want.
Anyway, just thought I'd share a few ideas that have been occupying my thoughts recently :-)
Oct 26, 2004 09:58 pm Well I sure started something here didnt I?
I guess the topic did get peeps thinking outside the box just a bit. Not that any of us were not doing that.
It all boils down to what do you want to get out of it? I for one do like the money I make with the studio and the music I make. It isnt enough to support a family on, but it does give me enough to buy most of what I want, or I should say, need.
I am one of those who does as Walt stated, just like to let peeps hear my stuff. I dont mind giving it away so to speak. In fact I have probably gotten more jobs out of what I have given away, then any other form of advertisement.
Anyway, I am glad to see so many differant views on this subject. It effects us all inone way or another. wether we are selling or buying, the internet, and the fallout thereof gets those of us who look something new and unheard of. My favorite thing to do is to take music I get from you people here, or someplace like GarageBand or wherever and bring it to work. People freak out and want to know where they can get it. When I tell them who and where, they usually get that puzzled dog look and say. I didnt know that kind of stuff was out there, I will have to surf the net more often.
Thus the circle gets added to, as they turn someone else on to it, and so on, and so on.
So in theory it will work in the long run, but it could be a long wait.
Oct 27, 2004 04:10 am You sure did Noize, and thanks for that, I found reading everybody's views on this subject really interesting and useful.
Dan
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