SOUNDOO.COM : europe's first record shop for indie music

[dolby]

Soundoo.com is the first real european alternative to cdbaby. Based in Poissy (France) with its operation center in Brussels (Belgium), Soundoo.com is an online record shop where independant artists and labels can sell their CDs. As long as they wish to be included in Soundoo's catalogue, artists are in control of all content and pricing concerning them and their CD's. The deal (which by the way is non-exclusive) is quite simple:
- you become a member ("publisher") via http://www.soundoo.com
- you send 6 copies of your CD to Soundo.com in Belgium
- Soundoo handles the stock, packaging and shipping
- Soundoo keeps 4€ on each CD sold, the rest goes to the artist

The site just got launched, so Soundoo.com is offering free inscription until december 31st 2004. From 2005 on, one-time inscription fee will be 35€.

I'm a member of the soundoo team and truly believe in the advantages and new possibilities that our service has to offer. We are very open for comments and suggestions, don't hesitate contacting us. We are continually improving our site; right now we are focussing on a workable download and vinyl solution.

[experimental.crow]

nice site ...
some good music to be had here ...

hope you stick around , and interact a bit ...

[chagzuki]

Seems a bit pricey when the CD must be manufactured by the artist.

[dolby]

Seems a bit pricey when the CD must be manufactured by the artist.

Well, first of all, no one MUST manufacture their CDs. As a matter of fact, soundoo offers the possibility to sell home-made CD-Rs (audio only).
And even if you make the effort to have your CD manufactured, I'd like to see a record deal where a label gives you (artist) 8€(!) on a CD sold for 12€.
You can also chose not to auto-produce your CD and earn 1€/CD instead (if you work with a label). In that case, the label does all the work for you, so 1€ can be justified.

To be or not to be auto-produced, that's the question...

[chagzuki]

So if soundoo make the cd then the whole cost is 11€?


Of course, with a record deal the artist may receive a small percentage of the cd sales, but the label will have all the connections necessary to promote the music and make sure it reaches an audience.

[dolby]

I don't quite grasp your math...

Again, we don't FORCE artist to make CD's, nor do we FORCE labels to work with us. We are just a record shop, although a special one. We have developed (and still do develop) our site for month to give it a multilingual interface, a powerfull search engine, a review system...
If you are happy with the service of http://www.homemademusic.com (your online distributor), that's allright with us. I believe we do have bigger ambitions than homemademusic.com, which explains why our service is not for free (from january 2005 on)...

FMPI: how much does it cost you to send your CDs to the US?

[chagzuki]

I'm not at all satisfied with homemademusic.com, so I'm very interested in an alternative. Also, I'm UK based, not USA as it says on my homemademusic.com artist's page, so a european company would be preferable.

Maths? - I though you said that the artist would earn 1€ per 12€ cd?

I don't send cds to the US. Homemademusic take care of cd duplication and packaging, or atleast that's the deal. I've been waiting for my first copy for the last 5 weeks, and at this point there's no sense in trying to promote my album if buyers have to wait that long to receive it. So I need an alternative.

[dolby]

About the 1€: it's just a figure (the real deal is a percentage) about what approximately an artist will get if his CD is sold in a regular record shop at a regular price, that means ca. 18€.

We do not offer the possibility to do CD duplication at Soundoo.com, even though it's a nice idea. But let's be honest: what shortrun music offers are well made CD-Rs, something that you could handle probably all by yourself if you would give it a little effort. 375$ for 100 CD-Rs, ok, but how do you get them back to europe for selling some "on location"?

I guess our philosophy is different, and the service we propose goes with it. I hope you understand that what we do has its price and conditions, and that our goal is to give independent music an additional chance of being discovered and bought, not to rip off people. Our service is constantly matter of discussion to make it as attractive as possible for everyone: artists, labels, and music lovers. If we can move, we will.

[mauseoleum]

I have some unpublished (not saying it sounds pretty) material - both live and from my desktop, one or two "real" studio - and have been thinking about how-to-get-it-out ever since mp3.com died.

Q1:
However, CD ain't finished yet NOW and it probably won't in next month or so - can I be a weasel and apply for free NOW and send stuf LATER?

Q2:
How about collecting societies? Can you pay them directly so all taxing is tip-top superclean?

[mauseoleum]

Q3:
You're not *Aliens ate my Buick* Thomas by any chance, are you?

[Steven West]

If he was, he'd be in a courtroom getting sued by Dolby Labratories still.

Fantastic site Dolby, I'm in/on/rarin' to go. A couple of questions though to ask. On the 'verification sheet' I'm to mail in, it doesn't say whether it should be the 'head office' in France or Belgium? Also, the bank info makes no sense as I'm in Canada. So does a cheque just get mailed to me when sales quotas reached? That would be my preference atleast.

Other than that - straight foward easiness. Just need some Jerry Curls now before I press 'Activate' and I'm good to go.

[dolby]

I have some unpublished (not saying it sounds pretty) material - both live and from my desktop, one or two "real" studio - and have been thinking about how-to-get-it-out ever since mp3.com died.

Q1:
However, CD ain't finished yet NOW and it probably won't in next month or so - can I be a weasel and apply for free NOW and send stuf LATER?

Q2:
How about collecting societies? Can you pay them directly so all taxing is tip-top superclean?

Q1: Well, we can't stop you from doing, can we?? What did you just say again? I don't remember...

Q2: If you mean author's societies, we only have to pay for the pre-listening mp3 excerps on our site, nothing else. Because the company is french, we pay to SESAM, which distributes the money to its sister societies which thereupon pay their members.

Q3: No, I'm not Thomas "Liquid Audio" Dolby. I'm Brian Eno's little brother, Ferdinand... (not!)

[dolby]

If he was, he'd be in a courtroom getting sued by Dolby Labratories still.

Fantastic site Dolby, I'm in/on/rarin' to go. A couple of questions though to ask. On the 'verification sheet' I'm to mail in, it doesn't say whether it should be the 'head office' in France or Belgium? Also, the bank info makes no sense as I'm in Canada. So does a cheque just get mailed to me when sales quotas reached? That would be my preference atleast.

Other than that - straight foward easiness. Just need some Jerry Curls now before I press 'Activate' and I'm good to go.

I guess you've got already an answer from my dear colleague Nicolas, but here's one for the forum:

Q1: All verification sheets should be send to the Belgian address.

Q2: All money transfers happen via IBAN to a bank account you specified. It's just standard
procedure (even in Canada ). It's also the best solution to get your money automatically. Our
system provides automatic payments, so you don't have to wait for us to do
it manually. It's best for everyone, isn't it? No lost mail, no delays.

[Steven West]

Thanks Dolby. I was lost, but now I'm found.
Everything squared away with the bank, and forms are mailed. Item #'s are locked and loaded, and just awaiting the GO command from Capt. Nicolas, and I'll let loose the first volley to light up the Belgium skyline - musically speaking that is.

Thanks again.