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Alternative to CD's


PaulWarning
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We're about to re release our long sold out first CD, remixed, bonus tracks etc.

These days quite a lot of people don't have a CD player, so what's the alternative apart from downloads and streaming? which don't produce much revenue, and like a lot of small bands we sell most of our music at gigs

Anybody tried selling them at gigs from a memory stick or something similar?

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I think people like a physical product so perhaps a free download code with the CD. I find on the rock scene vinyl doesn't fair too well but when I play with more niche genres - rockabilly, Americana, goth, vinyl is really popular. Not part of a big study, just an observation with the bands I have played with. 

 

I think it depends on the demographic of your fan base. I don't really ever seem to play to young crowds so it's never been a problem. 

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It's a tricky one and most probably depends on the genre of the band. 

 

For your's I would have thought that CDs were still perfectly acceptable. It was certainly my experience when The Terrortones played "punk" gigs that our CDs were the most popular format.

 

In the case of one of my current bands - Hurtsfall - what we have discovered works best is to release each song separately as a single for streaming and download only. The way each song gets the attention we think they deserve, unlike an album or EP where normally only one track will get any publicity (usually the first one). At some point we'll probably collect all the songs together for a physical release on vinyl which will be sold along with a download code.

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2 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

We're about to re release our long sold out first CD, remixed, bonus tracks etc.

These days quite a lot of people don't have a CD player, so what's the alternative apart from downloads and streaming? which don't produce much revenue, and like a lot of small bands we sell most of our music at gigs

Anybody tried selling them at gigs from a memory stick or something similar?

 

Have you got many gigs lined up for this year?

 

It's a really tricky situation.

 

I would buy a CD over a memory stick, but I own a CD player and like to keep listening to music as far away from the interface of laptop/phone as possible.

 

My merch sales nosedived through 2019, to the point it wasn't worth lugging the stuff to gigs anymore (even sales of downloads at shows).

 

I haven't got many shows planned for 2022 and really don't know what to do. I miss the money from merch sales so want to maximise the chance fans will buy something, but minimise expenditure.

 

Download codes included with whatever you sell is mandatory really, in which case maybe stick to CDs?

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7 minutes ago, Woodwind said:

 

Have you got many gigs lined up for this year?

 

It's a really tricky situation.

 

I would buy a CD over a memory stick, but I own a CD player and like to keep listening to music as far away from the interface of laptop/phone as possible.

 

My merch sales nosedived through 2019, to the point it wasn't worth lugging the stuff to gigs anymore (even sales of downloads at shows).

 

I haven't got many shows planned for 2022 and really don't know what to do. I miss the money from merch sales so want to maximise the chance fans will buy something, but minimise expenditure.

 

Download codes included with whatever you sell is mandatory really, in which case maybe stick to CDs?

We've got a few Festival gigs lined up this year as well as the usual pub gigs, so CD's are the best bet, just that the last CD we released I did have people saying to me "I haven't got a CD player".

I hadn't thought about a download code with the CD, I'll have to investigate how this is done, through our website maybe?

Edited by PaulWarning
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6 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

We've got a few Festival gigs lined up this year as well as the usual pub gigs, so CD's are the best bet, just that the last CD we released I did have people saying to me "I haven't got a CD player".

I hadn't thought about a download code with the CD, I'll have to investigate how this is done, through our website maybe?

 

The best way to get download codes is by doing a Bandcamp release. You get 200 codes free with your Bandcamp account, and you can either buy more or you'll get another 1000 for every $500 of Bandcamp sales.

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1 minute ago, BigRedX said:

 

The best way to get download codes is by doing a Bandcamp release. You get 200 codes free with your Bandcamp account, and you can either buy more or you'll get another 1000 for every $500 of Bandcamp sales.

Cheers, so when I upload the CD to Bandcamp (we already have an account)we get 200 free codes that we could give a way with every CD purchased at a gig?

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1 minute ago, PaulWarning said:

Cheers, so when I upload the CD to Bandcamp (we already have an account)we get 200 free codes that we could give a way with every CD purchased at a gig?

 

No you'll need to use the 200 you got when you first set up the Bandcamp account (unless you've already used them in which case you'll probably have to buy some more). 

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2 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said:

A mate of mine sent me his new album recently... It was a cassette! So I got in touch and after calling him a sad retro hipster dude he told me to look under the flap where the tape was and to swing out the USB connector.

But the thing even rattled like a cassette!

 

The Terrortones 3rd release was on cassette and download only. Despite the fact that the download version was initially free and the fact that I doubt many of our fans actually had cassette players we still sold a significant number of cassettes. Enough to cover the cost of getting them produced in the first place. Make what you will of that!

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58 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

We're about to re release our long sold out first CD, remixed, bonus tracks etc.

These days quite a lot of people don't have a CD player, so what's the alternative apart from downloads and streaming? which don't produce much revenue, and like a lot of small bands we sell most of our music at gigs

Anybody tried selling them at gigs from a memory stick or something similar?

We had a debate about this before releasing our last cd and decided to ask our fan base, who mostly wanted a physical cd. 

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And finally...

 

Whilst I think that for a physical release, as a tactile artefact, an album pressed on 12" vinyl in a nicely produced sleeve is a very lovely thing of wonder, you also have to consider the practicalities of where and how your are going to sell them. 12" albums are fine if you are headlining/playing last or someone will be on hand to man the merch stand until the end of the night, but it is my experience that CDs are more practical for putting into a coat pocket or bag if you've sold them mid-way through the evening, and remember that your main selling times will be immediately after your band has played and just before everyone gets kicked out of the venue at the end of the night.

 

Also remember that if you intend to also sell physical product on line (through bandcamp or similar) a CD fits into a D1 size Jiffy Bag which are cheap to buy and go in the post as "large letter". 12" vinyl will require more expensive packaging (12" record mailers and you WILL require stiffeners as well to protect them in the post) plus the postage is significantly more. 

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I think as mentioned above that it does depend on the demographic of the band’s audience. My band appeals to an older age group, and we still sell a few CDs and DVDs. Whereas none of our three kids ( all in their 30’s) have any sort of disc drive in their houses. 

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2 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

And finally...

 

Whilst I think that for a physical release, as a tactile artefact, an album pressed on 12" vinyl in a nicely produced sleeve is a very lovely thing of wonder, you also have to consider the practicalities of where and how your are going to sell them. 12" albums are fine if you are headlining/playing last or someone will be on hand to man the merch stand until the end of the night, but it is my experience that CDs are more practical for putting into a coat pocket or bag if you've sold them mid-way through the evening, and remember that your main selling times will be immediately after your band has played and just before everyone gets kicked out of the venue at the end of the night.

 

Also remember that if you intend to also sell physical product on line (through bandcamp or similar) a CD fits into a D1 size Jiffy Bag which are cheap to buy and go in the post as "large letter". 12" vinyl will require more expensive packaging (12" record mailers and you WILL require stiffeners as well to protect them in the post) plus the postage is significantly more. 

we found this, our last album was produced on vinyl and CD, we've sold far more CD's, while not regretting doing it on vinyl (it looks great on my lounge wall and I made a clock out of another copy 😀 ), sales were disappointing in that format and we'd think long and hard about repeating it

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It's amazing how quickly tech changes.  When I used to attend country music festivals and gigs in the 90s everyone wanted cassettes (tapes as they would say) to play in the car.  CDs then made an impact but now downloads seem the in thing.  If you want to get your music played on the radio a CD may get more attention as it is a physical product and cannot be lost among a load of emails.  The booklet that comes with a CD (or Vinyl sleeve notes) provides useful information and gives a better "connection" between the artist and the punter. 

 

I work in radio and would much rather have a CD than mp3 attachments to emails.  Emailed tracks may get played once but then get forgotten about because they are not constantly in front of me. If you want airplay the station will need a lot of info from you i.e.; Song Title, Performer, Composer, Music Publisher, Record Label and catalogue number.  Without that information you stand little chance of your songs being played or receiving royalty payments.

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Personally I would never plug a USB drive from an unknown source into my computer, and after watching MR Robot I would now think twice about any CDR 😉

 

Given that my experience with CD production brokers is that they only do the most cursory of checks regarding the copyright of the music on the CDs they are producing, it would be fairly simple for a malicious band to stick some serious malware into their CDs if they wanted. Maybe something that silently streams the band's back catalogue in the background all the time the computer is on.

 

That's a whole new can of worms...

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