Selling your music online

[DuX]

and both, Maxxxter, indeed, everything you said. I've been into it even longer... it would be nice to at least somehow cover the expenses of the equipment, which is not so much these days, thankfully. In the old days, what I have now, would cost 100s of thousands quid, I reckon. Times are really good regarding music making equipment/tools.

hmmm but when you look at it a little closer, isn't that kinda proportional to the kind of money that we can make these days? I mean, tools have become less expensive, and it's hard to make money as we used to? Seems logical and even fair. However, I should point out that the expenses of life in general have sky rocketed, on the other bollock.

Also, the ways of how to make money from music have changed a lot. However, I'm not really into [or even up to?] doing live shows any more. With each passing year it gets harder regarding doing live shows, eh? Should we start doing it in care homes?

[maxxxter]

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[4damind]

You must use some of the electronic distributors like CDBaby, Feyr, Audiolife.
Maybe somewhere is a listing about the costs and stuff. They will also provide a label code, sometimes offering mastering, artwork etc.

Anyway, don't expect too much. Without a always existing fanbase it makes IMO not many sense. If you have a fanbase (potential buyers) and a very high audio standard than yes, try it.

[andrew71]

Personally, I write for my own enjoyment...

Well that's all nice and peachy, but if (like me) you've been busy with it for more than 20 yrs, invested a pile of money in the set-up and spent a significant amount of your time and space on it, then the enjoyment side becomes less pronounced and money becomes important because you need to justify it all to yourself and your surroundings. Obviously you still enjoy it, but feel the existential pressure as well.

I've been writing and recording for well over 20 years and have spent far more than I could really afford on both on hardware and software. The trouble was that projects would start and never get finished, then a relationship and family came along and everything got sidelined.

The turning point for me was last year when I was turning 40. I decided to finally try and release something before I was 40, which I managed to do surprisingly quickly. This year I've taken time recording my first album, which I've just released. If it sells, that will be fantastic, but I'm not in a position where I need it to sell. I know that I am very fortunate to have a job and am financially stable, but I'm not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination and work very hard to make ends meet. I don't need to conform to whatever genre of music is popular this week, I can write and release whatever I like.

[4damind]

I think that people should realize, that nobody is interested if Jane Doe has some tracks on Amazon or iTunes. For fun and the own pleasure yes, but if there is also some economical interest this will not work.
It needs always existing fans/interested listeners and the own tracks should have a quality (audio, arrangement, interesting idea) which is comparable to the commercial stuff (and this is IMO very often not the case)

[andrew71]

I think that people should realize, that nobody is interested if Jane Doe has some tracks on Amazon or iTunes. For fun and the own pleasure yes, but if there is also some economical interest this will not work.
It needs always existing fans/interested listeners and the own tracks should have a quality (audio, arrangement, interesting idea) which is comparable to the commercial stuff (and this is IMO very often not the case)

Exactly. I like to think that with my latest output, I've achieved a reasonable standard, and the only yardstick that I have is that the paid plays I'm funding on Jango and Last.fm seem to be getting the thumbs up. However, my livelihood doesn't depend on my music being successful, unlike people who work in the music industry full time.

That said, plenty of 'amateurs' like me, pay for plugins, and if we didn't they would probably be a lot more expensive for the Professionals. Developers have to eat too...

[1DMF]

Interesting replies, many thanks.

I first and foremost write music for pleasure, and for myself, I sequence sounds I like in a manner I enjoy hearing them, and work for a living.

I also enjoy what I do for a living, so it's no drugery to get up and go to work to pay for my hobby.

I also am 'too old for that shit' in regards to giging (can't play anyway!), but I'm not really interested in going to raves / festivals and giving out flyers, or promotional t-shirts!

For 12 years I've messed about, and for my 10th album decided I would go to the studio and pay to have it professionally mastered (well they did more than mastering), as they helped with some mixdown issues and mastered from stems.

The studio liked what I was doing and so offered to help, at a reduced rate and the engineer has even asked for permission to do a remix of one of my tracks!

So I thought, they can't be that bad! so now I have a decent quality album, why don't I see if I can make enough money from it to at least pay to have another one of my albums mastered, I'm not greedy and certainly don't want to be the next X-Factor or Pop Idol!

I love making music, I enjoy the music I write and I love the feeling when others enjoy it too, having one of my white labels played in a club and watching everyone dance to it was a great feeling and quite humbling, money can't buy that!

I'll check out all those sites, but paying to have my music played seems wrong, I'm happy to give it away to be played, which is what I do on my site, but paying so someone can listen to it, I don't pay my boss so I can go to work, it's meant to be the other way round?

As for fans, how do you know if you have a fan base, I have had thousands of downloads of my music, I assume they liked it so downloaded it, but they have never emailed me, so does that mean they aren't fans?

I'm not sure I want 'fans', it's short for 'fanatic', do I want fanatical people following me?


Love the music, don't love me! But is that the problem with today's 15 minutes of fame celebrity culture, and all the reality TV shows, people who want to be loved regardless of talent?

Famous for being famous has never been something I have sought nor would want, earn enough from my tracks to pay for more and people dancing to and enjoying the music I make, what more could a musician ask for?

I'm certainly not interested in musicians who have to throw TV's out of hotel windows, that's criminal damage and dangerous and has nothing to do with music!

[drtikov]

recordunion.com
tunecore.com

[satYatunes]

Interesting replies indeed, some harsh truth. I have one question on Tunecore, CDbaby type of service. Do they follow certain standards? Genres? Do they have any qualifying criterion? or Do they distribute each and every tune that comes their way?
For example, lets say I pay the membership fee and then also pay for the amount they charge for one album, then submit the songs.. so are they just going to take those songs / albums and send it to iTunes, Amazon, etc for distribution? Or they are going to evaluate first?

I know those who have used that type of service can only answer that or the representative of those companies. Just wanted to put my thoughts/questions into the discussion.

[Nighthawk77]

CDBaby offer a 50$ package that get your music distributed on all the major websites (iTunes, TuneCore, Amazon, etc...).

I would be careful about CDBaby, it has gone downhill. I have been a member since the first owner but since it was sold I have experienced erroneous "charges" to my account several times(without notification) and substantial funds removed.

They claim this is a web and system error but have not fixed it after 1.5 years of knowing it is removing funds from users accounts.

The problem exist for Hostbaby users.
When you claim your Hostbaby/Cdbaby coupon for a CD release, what happens is that when you pay for your barcode, the same funds are then deducted from your account.

You end up paying twice. If you are a Hostbaby and Cdbaby user you should check your account balance for barcode purchases being removed from your sales after you pay for the barcode.

This is a serious issue they have known about for a long time but have not fixed it or notified customers.
They will keep your over charged funds if you dont email them.

This is not a rant but unfortunately factual information that has been confirmed by CDbaby. Be sure to check your account.