KVR Audio

tedinmexico · Post by **tedinmexico** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 4:16 pm

I completed a new album. I am not rushing it to the market. Instead, I am carefully looking at all the alternatives for releasing it - which do not include streaming. My preference is sale by downloads and the actual CD. If Itunes chooses to introduce "forced Streaming" for all artists in June, I will avoid Itunes.

I am not sure if I should approach the market in steps, meaning that only the CD album will be made available for sale, initially, followed by download sales later. Still thinking about that.

Here are my steps:
1. Make a music video of just one song for youtube. The only song to be offered for free, to interest people in my composing style. The music video has been completed.
2. Make a 90 second demo of each song, putting all of them together in one mp3 for my album demo on Youtube. Of course, refer people to the amazon store for the CD and to my website for MP3 downloads.
3. Use Amazon's Createspace software for creating the CD of the full album for sale on Amazon. They make the actual CD and fill the orders.
4. There are numerous software programs for designing a website for selling MP3 downloads. And they are for automatic sales. See this link:
http://www.vandelaydesign.com/selling-digital-products/
I'll pick one and design my own website for selling MP3s of the album, single songs or the whole album. Right now I am looking at Selz, SendOwl, Sellfy, 3dcart, and Gumroad.
Any input is appreciated.

RunBeerRun · Post by **RunBeerRun** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 4:38 pm

Might be hard to do.

I hope people DO stream my music, feed your soul. I can't buy a friend.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 4:56 pm

broken records are always the most compelling.

tedinmexico · Post by **tedinmexico** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 5:07 pm

If you want to stream your music and make nothing, that's up to you. As for me, I put a lot of effort, and resources into my album. I have a number of songs that have very talented pro vocalists singing my songs. It took 1 and 1/2 years to put it all together. It is not a toy to me. I am not a hobbyist. The album will be sold as any other product in the market place with a fair price, just as Taylor swift and all those who have walked away from streaming. Anything for free in this world is usually not worth the price.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 5:12 pm

tedinmexico wrote: just as Taylor swift and all those who have walked away from streaming.

bzzzzt. wrong. Taylor Swift has just signed a new streaming agreement.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 31911.html

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/03/25/enter ... usic-feat/

cryophonik · Post by **cryophonik** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 5:15 pm

We're in a similar situation. Our album will be released in a few months and we know for sure that we will make a short run of CDs, but we still haven't decided if the album will be available for streaming, purchase by download, or both. I don't expect to make money off the release, but I would like to at least cover our production expenses (i.e., break even), so I personally favor the idea of making it available for sale as a download (mp3s), and making it available for free streaming on our own website, SoundCloud, ReverbNation, etc. for people who just want to listen to it. My hope is that some people will listen to the entire album a few times, and hopefully get hooked on it enough to purchase the download or CD version.

That Amazon CreateSpace looks like an interesting concept, but I'm always leery of services like that because they're usually not transparent enough to allow the album creator to know the actual sales numbers.

Aleatoriac · Post by **Aleatoriac** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 5:26 pm

I can respect that. I truly hope you have success.

It's not the route I will be taking. The world no longer values music recordings. People value a celebrity image and a concert, and associated merchandise. They value "hype" and "spin" and drama. Speaking generally, of course there are exceptions.

Sometimes I wonder what percentage of people actually lie still and do nothing but listen to music for any period of time anymore? Everyone I know who does not make music considers such an act a waste of time.

Music is a ringtone. It's background. It's that (free) catchy bit that runs in your currently favored commercial.

fedexnman · Post by **fedexnman** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 5:59 pm

I'm kind of sad about the streaming taking away from peoples profits but ...... at the same time music has to be put out somehow some way . If I ever put out an EP or Album which I'd like to do , Id go all out and use Bandcamp, Youtube , SoundCloud , and use Distrokid to get it up on all the MP3 stores and streaming sites . Free or Not free you have to make it available in as many possible ways even if people get it free . You have to make fans and friends to make it a business IMHO .

sprnva · Post by **sprnva** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 6:40 pm

Haven't gotten to that stage yet but I'd probably go with Bandcamp. You can have limited streaming from what I can see (where only certain tracks can be streamed) so people wouldn't be able to stream your whole album, just enough to see if they want to buy it or not.

You can also set a minimum price so it's low enough to encourage sales but people can still choose to pay more to show support.

Sticking to an established distribution platform helps in that many people will already have an account there. I know I've passed up offers (even freebies) because I just couldn't be bothered signing up to yet another site that I may never return to. I don't have an account for any of those services you mentioned so chances are if I wanted to buy your album and found myself being asked for name, address, email, password, cc details etc I'd just close the page and move on. It's very easy to turn away a potential sale these days.

RunBeerRun · Post by **RunBeerRun** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 6:43 pm

My music skills came after a long term relationship with a girl, around 14 years long. So, no, money doesn't come first. Stream it all you want.

Hink · Post by **Hink** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 6:46 pm

whyterabbyt wrote:broken records are always the most compelling.

I was thinking along the same lines but you put it far better than I could have

jancivil · Post by **jancivil** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 9:19 pm

tedinmexico wrote:not streaming. If Itunes chooses to introduce "forced Streaming" for all artists in June, I will avoid Itunes.

I am not sure if I should approach the market in steps, meaning that only the CD album will be made available for sale, initially, followed by download sales later. Still thinking about that.

Here are my steps:
1. Make a music video of just one song for youtube. The only song to be offered for free, to interest people in my composing style. The music video has been completed.
2. Make a 90 second demo of each song, putting all of them together in one mp3 for my album demo on Youtube. Of course, refer people to the amazon store for the CD and to my website for MP3 downloads.

Good luck with that.
You are removing pretty much any chance to sell this thing.
If you're super-famous you might get away with little demos of the thing being enough of a taste for somebody to think about purchasing a download.
Just one song all the way through. Well, that's streaming. I think generally people will see demos that are going to cut out and move to something else on the net, tbph.

If you have hopes of making money instead of this being a hobby, you're going to need support and a marketing arm. And you're going to have to stream by every available mechanism.
Context for this 'broken record' is your vehement opposition to these services which pay pennies. I don't do that, it isn't worth my time, but I know people that make a living in music that make pennies off of those services, and it isn't the point what you make, it's one more way for people to FIND their tracks and be able to hear them and MAYBE a taste develops. This being part of a whole thing, a resume essentially which helps support actual work in the world.

I know people that sell a few records, that are pretty well-known, and you know what? They TOUR CONSTANTLY. Selling recorded music has always been dependent on being out in public and contact. I know of people that are super-famous and out there continuously and their record maybe breaks even.

I don't know you from Adam so be assured, nothing personal, but this is a delusion you're operating under.

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Sat Mar 28, 2015 9:29 pm

if a tree falls in a forest and theres no one around to hear it, can i still stream it on the itune?

mutantdog · Post by **mutantdog** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 7:33 am

Ted, I *really* want to hear your album in full. If it were on Spotify, I'd listen and you'd get a couple of pence, if i like it I may play it again several times earning you a few more pennies, not a lot I know. But here's the alternative, if you release your album as download only I won't get the chance to listen to it and I certainly won't buy it off the back of your forum posts or 90second previews. This way you get nothing. Here's the third option, someone out there buys your album, loves it so much he wants the whole world to hear it and puts it up on a well-known torrent site. Somehow I come across it looking for Game of Thrones, download it and give it a listen or two. You receive no money.

I know nothing of your fan-base or their loyalty, perhaps you'll sell loads. Maybe you'll get 5* reviews across a number of respected blogs, perhaps you'll get a lucrative spot on the new Coca-Cola ad. Maybe you could end up on a joint-headline tour of the world alongside Taylor Swift and Thom Yorke.

For now though, what is clear is that you have decided that you don't want a certain demographic to listen to your music. But be assured while the majority of Spotify users are just after the hits there's a sizable portion of people who actively search out new music, often promoting it to their friends, some even have playlists with thousands of subscribers. That's a lot of plays and some reasonable money there. I'd mention that you could gain loads of new fans this way but it appears you don't care about these fans unless they fit into your neat little category of "paying customers".

4damind · Post by **4damind** » Sun Mar 29, 2015 8:58 am

I would not avoid streaming. But to be honest: if you are not already very successful in the business the chance is very small that some people will listen to your music/search for it on such platforms like Spotify.
There are platforms like Bandcamp where you can sell the album but without a existing big fan base I would not expect many sales (it's the same with Amazon Createspace or if you use a aggregator like CD Baby).
With my own experience self-marketing is often not very successful, you need support by other people (marketing guys, graphic/video talented people) or a label.
Youtube can be helpful because it's a part of the Google universe, so people can find you only because of a Google search. A great video can be very helpful to push a album/artist to the public but this needs also often some support from people with a bit knowledge in the video department.

Selling your new album without getting involved in Streaming