RUI Musik wrote:There's really only real reason to put your music online or make CDs. Promotion. You will not make any money unless you're a major act.
Not true....unless you consider me a major act?
It is a good way to promote if you're a new band...and most major label bands wouldn't see a financial reward until their 3rd or 4th album, but the secret to being successful in sales for the music biz
now is longevity and a back-catalogue. You have to produce a lot of music to get a reputation.
To survive today you have to think like a business man and act like an artist.
Any businessman will tell you that there is always the risk of an initial investment required to produce a product that people would consider buying. Since 1998, I've written/recorded/produced original content for 12 CDs and appear on more than a dozen compilations. Most of those I self-funded, sometimes with help from people who trust me to deliver. I've built a fan base of people who are anticipating the next CD & tour; because I've been consistent about producing new content over the last 15 years. Anyone can do it, but if it were easy everyone would be doing it already.
Sold more than 1k in CDs last Saturday night in Kansas City, and have been averaging more than $500 in merch sales per gig since my last release came in June. The "secret" is that I produce high-quality recordings of music that no one else is making. It's a small audience compared to someone like Taylor Swift, but I'm serving a niche that is under-served, and that audience is therefore going to buy anything that comes out. Learned that lesson about narrow-marketing from Jerry Abbot in my days as video producer for Pantera, when they went from mainstream rock to hard-core.
Every gig is an excuse to set up a store in the venue. You want to have as many products to sell as you can gather. On a driving tour I will also carry VR glasses, books, t-shirts, LPs, etc...but you can be creative and carry cups, jewelry, whatever. Just as in any business, offer something that people will buy and you'll accumulate loyal customers. If you can keep producing something for them to buy, you'll establish a profitable company.
If you're playing cover songs in a bar then you're competing against beer & whiskey. You will likely lose that battle,
but if you can find a venue where people go JUST to listen to the music, you'll have an audience of people who will want a souvenir after they have enjoyed the artist.
Streaming is the modern version of radio airplay but easier to obtain. Consider it an advertisement that gets people talking about you. My only gripe against streaming is that I have to abide by a deal that Spotify made with the same major labels who have always ripped off artists. They want ALL of an album to be made
free on demand, if I want ANY of the songs to be made available. The "on demand" part is what makes this different than radio of yesteryear.
So a couple of years ago, I decided to tour my new album(s) for a couple of months before I release them for streaming. That strategy has come to be known as "windowing" and many of the major labels are doing it now. That means for a couple of months when it first comes out the only way to hear it on demand is to own the music/disk.
I seem to average about $100 a month from Tunecore for two CDs I have with them. Not a single penny from CD Baby for another CD (which sells great at concerts and is in the 3rd pressing), and practically nothing from Symphonic so far on the newest one. That means Tunecore is the only one who actually gets results. They are also the most expensive but more than pays for itself, whereas I can't say the same for CDBaby or Symphonic.
