Looks like a few outdoor gigs are popping up. Maybe I'll actually sell a few CD's. Whoopee!
Thinking about creating a musical empire. Trying to consider the marketing approach beyond gigging and selling CD's at the gig.
Many Topics Web Page FaceBook Instagram YouTube Patreon/VenMo/Tip Jars SoundCloud Amazon CD Baby. etc
It looks like it would be easy to get quite a few irons in the fire, spend a fair amount of time and $$$ and end up with a bunch of hot pokers... metaphorically anyway.
Wondering if there are any folks out there willing to share music marketing roadmaps they have found successful in the marketing area. I guess things people have found not successful would also be useful
I would like to put together a marketing playbook I can work for the next year or so as we return to live music.
An incremental approach is what I'm after. Anyone willing to share a little to keep me from touching the stove too many times, I thank you in advance. Will be happy to publish plan and report back on progress if any interest on forum.
Admin: if this belongs off topic, please move as necessary. thanks.
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CD Baby did very well for me for years, but they no longer (as of January 2020) sell CDs. They did however keep their accounting business, and keep track of royalties for you.
For a retail CD storefront, I moved to Bandcamp. You can see mine on mattfinley.com
I consider YouTube the biggest problem out there, as they will make their own free versions of your songs.
Facebook does nothing for sales for me, but it's great for publicizing concerts.
BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Slate VSX, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.
FWIW some of our music that we found on YouTube was actually put there saying CDBaby was the source, which was a little disappointing. However, we also found out that it led to sales in Russia that we would never have gotten. Always a caveat. That said, all they got on Youtube was mp4 files, not the full CD product. Apparently it enticed some to actually pony up and buy the product.
My first question for you would be, if you plan to sell CDs can I assume you're working with original songs? Or are these covers?
Our biggest boost in sales and attendance came from radio and social media (and having a few thousand strong email list). But we were marketing originals, hence the above question.
Getting your stuff played on a radio station that serves your target audience was huge for us, and we learned a few tricks to it, but I've posted those here before.
Not knowing your target demographic, or target market makes it a little harder to offer advice. We also made 'almost' as much $$ off T-shirts as CDs at shows. For an extra CD sales boost at shows, offering a signing session for any CDs bought at the show sometimes helped too. Seemed silly to us at first (who would want my autograph), but it did increase the sales so we kept doing it for a while <grin>.
Our latest CD, which we've yet to market, has a typo on the back of it .. in our minds we will correct that, making this a first run collector issue <grin>. If you buy this one it proves you were in early. Be creative; figure out how to turn everything into a sale!
Last edited by rharv; 04/20/2110:34 AM.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
There is a ton of misinformation out there about CD Baby and its relation to YouTube, especially where copyrights are involved. Nearly all of it is from CD Baby account holders who do not understand what goes on because they have never read—and therefore do not understand—the User Agreements. This often leads to, among other things, people having their own songs taken down because of something they did.
Weird? Yes. Avoidable? Absolutely. You have to do the work: read and understand what you're doing. Using CD Baby as an example: Start with their EUA (end user agreements) and read them—if you don't understand something, ask for clarification.
The music business is a business. Unfortunately, there are no easy pathways to success. Internet threads are terrible places to get good advice—unless you know enough about a subject to ask pointed questions. How else will you know if you are getting good advice?
This is one area where Knowledge is Power. Ignorance is grief. Talent can only go so far. Hard work involves getting an education on the business itself.
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I just said it was a little disappointing .. as you mentioned, you need to read everything and then consider their position. I didn't fight it, or even suggest I should. Certainly didn't mean any misinformation, just saying Youtube had/has use of our content and the source was CDBaby. Guess we're kinda saying the same thing.
/Matt mentioned Youtube being a problem, I was just pointing out it may have been self-inflicted. Yet it still nudged sales for us! //Still, was disappointing to me to discover that without notice
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome Make your sound your own!
My longtime band last performed in 2019. For 2020, we planned one final hurrah with a few dates to say goodbye to our fans.
I was looking at custom USB sticks and had been re-mastering, unearthing never released live performances etc. Although I have been compiling and mastering CD box sets, no way I was going to do that for us—way too expensive for the number of sets I expect to sell. The quarantine happened just before I was to put down a deposit on the merch. Dodged that bullet, sadly. A couple of us are getting too old for this and it’s quite possible that 2019 was it.
BIAB 2025 Audiophile Mac 24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia, M1 MBAir, 2012 MBP Digital Performer11, LogicPro, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScorePro64/Notion6 /Overture5
I prefer to get the full CD product. I prefer to have the full CD
As a consumer, most understandable.
Content creators need to justify the costs, however. In my earlier post, I explained why new CDs for my old band are out of the question. I didn't mention that I have a CD printer and can make new copies of the old ones for a few bucks apiece—and I do when an order comes in. But new ones? box set? Ain't gonna happen unless it's on someone else's dime.
To quote Mick & Keith:
You can't always get what you want You can't always get what you want You can't always get what you want But if you try sometimes, well, you just might find You get what you need.
Oh yea.
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I prefer to get the full CD product. I prefer to have the full CD
I prefer to the have a CD as well, as a consumer.
As Mike said, as the person creating and marketing the music, it's different. I can't justify the expense & hassle of having CDs made for the handful of people who might want them - I make them myself as I go. The industry has transitioned (unfortunately) into the streaming world and probably isn't coming back to physical product (at least in the sense of it being the primary unit of sale).
Maybe I should really be a rebel and release my next album on 8-track tape.
I prefer to get the full CD product. I prefer to have the full CD
You and a tiny handful of other people! Everyone I know under 60 gave up CDs years ago. They don't even have a CD player. Most PCs don't even come standard with a CD player. Gaming consoles are starting to drop CD/DYD drives.
For sales of your music at gigs you would have better luck with usb/thumb drives or maybe even a download card. Something to physically hand them that costs less than $2 each (usb drive) or next to nothing for cards.
From my experience, engaging with other users and actively promoting your tracks on social media can really make a difference. I've noticed that posting new tracks during peak times, like evenings or weekends, tends to attract more listeners. Also, using relevant tags and descriptions helps improve visibility in searches. As for paid promotions, I haven't delved into that yet, but I've heard mixed feedback. If you're looking to give your tracks an initial boost, I've come across https://growmyprofile.com/free-soundcloud-plays/ which seems promising.
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