Selling your new album without getting involved in Streaming

[telecode]

The lamb lies on Broadway!

[tedinmexico]

My obsession is not to be used by industry twits and fast buck artists. My obsession is to place a value on art, not to give it away foolishly to millionares who want to use it to put big bicks in their pocket. My obsession is to write great songs. If that irritates you, Virt, deal with it. Again, I am not a hobbyist and music is not a toy to me. At $.006 per play, streaming is offensive. Remember Tidal exists because the artists who own it are getting 3% ownership. I applaud them because they are not being played for fools. The ultimate streaming horror story: P. Williams got 43 million plays for his song "Happy" and received a check for $2700. Ouch! That can't buy my synthesizer. It's a sick joke. That not be me.

[RunBeerRun]

Everything's broken now, walkmans worked, cd's break,mp3 purchase is an odd choice.

This Ipad hurts my fingers, this is advancement?

[vurt]

If that irritates you, Virt, deal with it.

is that aimed at me? if so, im not irritated, not in the slightest bit by anything. well not here anyway, too much in my real life irritates me to be worried about what pixels on a screen are up to.

[She Changed Her Mind]

Purple rain, purple rain..

[vurt]

now prince we can talk about! least i know who that is, not like taylor swift or p. williams? i dont listen to radio or watch tv, so modern stuff mostly passes me by im afraid, unless i happen across it in an actual record store, in which case its usually more underground type stuff as thats the main kinda thing the record stores i frequent trade in

[Frantz]

too much in my real life irritates me to be worried about what pixels on a screen are up to.

You see this red pixel here -> .

It's up to no good, I tell ya. It streams music without permission.

[She Changed Her Mind]

I do not listen to the radio or watch tv either, that's not my point in this discussion. Not that it matters.
I don't listen and I do not have a point of view:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q33SoblaZbU

[vurt]

well that was irritating!

[She Changed Her Mind]

Lol

[Katelyn]

My thinking now is that I will introduce my album in stages, and extremely slowly. I will start marketing the CD. Months later, I may try selling thru downloads on my own web site, and the new download sites that pop up. I don't see ITunes giving musicians the choice to opt out of streaming in June. Right now computer geeks run the music business. I'd rather sell 100 CD albums and get paid, rather than 20,000 streaming hits and get $50 bucks. That's just stupid to me. As for Tidal, I can't be a part owner and get equity in the experiment like the start artists, so I am not interested in that at all. Right now the music industry is kind of in the toilet. I will stick to my guns. I will not be played by the industry hucksters and fast buck artists. I own all my copyrights and am in the driver's seat. Ultimately, if very talented musicians across the world introduce their music only through normal selling channels, customers will be forced to compenstate them fairly for their work. It's up to each musician. For me, streaming is DOA: worthless.

What I'm wondering is, are all your songs about your obsession with music streaming, just like all your posts on KVR?

ooh i enjoy a good concept album

*starts rapping*

I don't wanna be havin' them kids streamin' my music
cause' thpse companies be abusin' it

Down and ruin artists' cash flow
Taylor Swift left Itunes dealt a fatal blow

Speak with me my music's mission statement
for all those indies makin' music in their basement

.....

Okay I'll stop now

[Katelyn]

My obsession is not to be used by industry twits and fast buck artists. My obsession is to place a value on art, not to give it away foolishly to millionares who want to use it to put big bicks in their pocket. My obsession is to write great songs. If that irritates you, Virt, deal with it. Again, I am not a hobbyist and music is not a toy to me. At $.006 per play, streaming is offensive. Remember Tidal exists because the artists who own it are getting 3% ownership. I applaud them because they are not being played for fools. The ultimate streaming horror story: P. Williams got 43 million plays for his song "Happy" and received a check for $2700. Ouch! That can't buy my synthesizer. It's a sick joke. That not be me.

So wait, what is more important to you, making money, or being serious about art? The two are not mutually inclusive.

I mean, you sound all serious business, which is fine. Some great artists are serious business:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGM8PT1eAvY

And some are just awesomely hilarious. Try to not take yourself too seriously. Art should be for the art. I think it's somewhat presumptuous to think that anyone's self could get 50 million hits without either something truly phenomenal and universal or without the industry promoting them, especially since music is becoming more niche over time.

"Music isn't a toy" what the heck does that even mean?

I'd also think that even if you don't get too much the fact that many people enjoy your music should at least mean something... but unfortunately our economy is set up in such a way that 99.99% of artists are f**ked over... but that's more or less been the reality for untold ages.

[andrelafosse]

Everyone has to learn this sort of thing for themselves.

The good news is that once the OP's music is finally released, he can stop speculating about what he feels SHOULD happen to his music, and start dealing with the concrete reality of what actually DOES happen with it. Until that happens, it's all speculation and philosophy.

Debating hypothetical scenarios on message boards is fine, but it's no substitute for actually putting the work out there.

Once it's released, and once it's been available in whatever channels the OP desires, THEN he can start making a meaningful, informed decision about how well it's working. And hopefully the OP, like any independent artist who sticks to their guns, will be able to accept credit for the successes they have, as well as assume responsibility for the mistakes they make.

[debra1rlo]

The ultimate streaming horror story: P. Williams got 43 million plays for his song "Happy" and received a check for $2700

No the ultimate horror story is having to listen to that song pretty much anywhere in public at least once an hour since it came out.

[Wildfunk]

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.

Leave out the downloads and only sell the cds!