A question on digital distribution:

> > > A question on digital distribution:

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Byte-Mixer
Member Since: Dec 04, 2007

I'm not entirely sure just where this sorta thought process should be posted, so I'm placing it here.

So, I'm thinking about putting together either an electronica or celtic album in the very near future. I probably won't get started until after I move next year (should be not long after next April)

Anyhoo, I've been doing some research on different digital distributors such as CD-Baby, Tunecore, Foxy Melody, etc. And I was hoping to get some ideas as far as what would be good for me.

I do not plan on selling physical CDs in and of themselves as it would probably cost me too much to burn them, and mail them, bar-codes, etc. etc. Even though it appears some distributors will handle the barcoding and such themselves.

So, I guess the question comes down to who's hot, and who's not? I'm looking pretty hard at cd-baby and tunecore right now, since I liked them the most out of the list on AmazonMP3. However, I'd like some suggestions for other distributors as well, since they're all a little different for monthly fees and whatnot.

It's not like I plan on making a lot of money with this, just some extra padding on the sides to go with the day-job hehe. Although if my stuff turns out to be popular, I won't complain :D

On a side-note, the 61 has turned out to be a pretty good confidence builder for me so far, which is what got me started thinking in this direction.

-Jim

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Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
Member
Since: May 10, 2002

Apr 20, 2008 11:12 am

That will probably change a few hundred times before you get your album done. I've heard of a few folks that have sold some on the internet. HeadSpace is filling up with "for sale" stuff. I guess the distributor gets somewhere between 30 and 40 percent. Havn't heard anyone who has sold any. HeadSpace is doa at this point. Just a ton of musicians begging other musicians to buy my stuff. I think the key is marketing not distribution. People are used to being told what is good. The "good music athorities" are extreamly varied dependant upon genre and target market segment. If you can find out where folks who like and more important BUY music similar to what you create; find the "good music athority" they utilize and then you're on track. You have to get to the source of the chain reaction. I would venture to say most will say "Billy played it for me". Somewhere up the sheep chain someone heard it on a radio station, or at a concert, or something and the credentials of that "source" promoter were substantial enough to start the ball rolling.

Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
Member
Since: May 10, 2002

Apr 20, 2008 11:59 am

Just hit me. Here's a good example for the electronica genre. A young woman in the area got hooked up with COP international a few years ago. COP was or maybe still is an indy cyber label. She was snaging about 40K/yr from sales in primarily countries that were westernizing at the time (change per Russia). Those folks had kinda of a 60's/underground/awakening thing going on and COP managed to estabilish themselves as an "authority" with those folks. I have no idea if they have been able to sustain their edge or no. Last I was in that area (Budipest/Kazakstan/etc.) those folks were all hot on stuff from the west. By now I would imagine they're as inundated as we are.

'The Flying Dutchman'
Member
Since: Jan 11, 2006

Apr 20, 2008 12:15 pm

www.downloadpunk.com/redmusic

www.blastmymusic.com/redmusic

I've been searching alot for digital distribution, these are the ones I've found (so far) that have no setup fees or anything. You just create an acount, upload your stuff and withink a few minutes it's online. downloadpunk.com sends checks to your address and blastmymusic uses pay-pal.

Czar of Cheese
Member
Since: Jun 09, 2004

Apr 20, 2008 12:22 pm

I have been very pleased with my CDBaby experience. I've had one CD on there for about a year, and I just put another one on there last week. Their list of Digital Distribution partners is impressive. Because of CDBaby, my music is available on iTunes, Napster, Amazon, and all the rest of the heavy hitters. It costs $35 per CD for setup, and $20 for a barcode. I've easily recouped that. My first CD was a very specialized project, without much mass appeal. I'm hoping that my more recent project does better.

Anyway, two big ol' thumbs up for CDBaby!

Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007

Apr 20, 2008 04:13 pm

Thanks for the feedback guys. All very informative, and I'll be sure to try and keep an eye on things over the next year or so. And I'll take a look at COP, and the links that Izzy posted. Though, I don't mind a setup fee if it's reasonable, since I don't really believe in "something for nothing" but I'll probably pass on the monthly-fee based subscription types.

Thanks again for the suggestions, and the feedback. :)

-Jim

P.S. Glad to hear you're having a good experience with CDBaby, Jim. That tips the scale/pointer in their direction a little more for me, since I was already looking in their direction hehe. ;)

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Apr 20, 2008 06:43 pm

I'll second the CDBaby thought as well. They are right now the most organized and well thought out digital distribution out there at the moment. I'm sure there are others that are pretty fair but they seem to keep better record and are more up to date. J-bot, make sure and keep us posted. I'll be the first in line for your stuff when it comes available.

Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007

Apr 21, 2008 03:20 am

Well, that pretty much nails it down for me. CDBaby it is. I like their policies anyway. Now I just need to make time for myself to actually start churning ideas en masse. It'll probably be about a year or so before I can really get down and delve into it, but I'll do my best to start generating some ideas very soon here. And thanks for the vote of confidence Noize. I'll be sure to keep you all updated. My ESI Juli@ finally shipped in too, so It'll hopefully be delivered tomorrow. Happy Day!

I may do some vocal work to spice things up a little as well, even though I just have a dynamic mic. I'm sure I can rig up a makeshift pop filter too.

I also have a couple ideas that i've written some lyrics down for, one of them being a mini-tribute to the game Stalker, which I'm entitling "Children of Pripyat" The other one was spawned from an incident on the drive up to North Carolina for the wedding. I'm calling it "My Crazy Girlfriend Driver" (she ran a redlight into merging traffic as we got back onto I-95. Yikes!) Those two I may release as singles if they turn out well enough :)

Ah, inspiration is a good thing. Now to try to get to the perspiration part, i.e. getting off my duff and making things happen. :P

-Jim

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Apr 21, 2008 09:15 pm

Sweet, I hope you'll like the Juli@. I've been using ESI for several years now and love their gear. dB was the one that turned me onto them and both interfaces have performed great and stable for years.

Byte-Mixer
Member
Since: Dec 04, 2007

Apr 22, 2008 01:29 pm

Well, I'm definitely liking it so far. I still need to flip the end around to use the 1/4", but the initial setup was pretty easy. Also, removing the ribbon cable and and such that connected my SB Live to the live bay i'm sure has promoted some air flow in the case (not to mention the gaping hole in front where the live bay was previously mounted, haha!)

I'm looking forward to messing with Tassman as well, particularly building my own sounds. Should be a fun learning process.

-Jim

Czar of Midi
Administrator
Since: Apr 04, 2002

Apr 22, 2008 09:58 pm

Ya, that end flipping thing is a huge selling point for many. Ain't it just a pretty looking thing though. Both my ESI PCI cards go to break out's but they are really stunning as well. And so is the daughter i/o card that is on my smaller ESI interface.

And ya, Tassman is one hell of a software synth. It can get very deep if you have the full on version, building your own modules and stuff. I've been using it since their very first version back about 10 years ago I think. It was the hugest software synth at that time and is still one hell of a powerful analog modeling bit of software.

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