Over at David Hooper’s weblog, a debate: should you use your photo of yourself on your CD cover art? David says no, and I agree. This was something I debated each time I got ready to release a new CD.…
Category
Selling CDs
Oh baby! CD Baby at a store near you…
From now on, you’ll be able to buy CD Baby albums through BestBuy.com or in the store itself. For those of you unfamiliar with CD Baby, it’s an online record store based out of Oregon that sells CDs by independent…
Derek Sivers on music marketing
Years ago, Derek Sivers of CD Baby created a website called Marketing Your Music, and it remains one of my favorite bookmarks. I consider it a must-read for anyone try to “do something” with music. Why more people don’t know…
Your CD on Amazon? Yes!
“Dude, how did you get Amazon to carry your CD?” There’s no secret to getting your CD sold through Amazon. Kevin Kelly wrote a step-by-step guide over at his Cool Tools website over a year ago. For US$30 a year…
Tip: Keeping track of merch sales at shows
As a solo artist I often lose track of how many CDs I sell at shows. When I’m busy chatting with people it’s too easy to just slip the cash into my back pocket, and a real pain to puzzle…
Indie label growing pains
It’s not often that I see a blog post that draws public responses from the brass at hot indie labels like Merge and Secretly Canadian. Patrick Monaghan of Carrot Top Distribution was dismayed to discover CDs from Merge and SC…
The Orchard’s Rebirth Catches the New York Times’ Attention
That Robert Levine spends two pages talking about digital distribution without mentioning the runaway success of CDBaby boggles the mind. However, the article does frame up the interesting position that the Orchard has taken. Instead of focusing on the onesy-twosy…
Selling records to your MySpace Friends
Scott Andrew relates the story of an independent band that spent an entire week featured on the front of MySpace.com — and managed to sell zero CDs. This is not uncommon, and not unxpected. Here’s why: It takes a typical…
Rob Thomas Remembers the Struggle
Even a record that goes on to sell ten million units (like the Matchbox 20 major label debut) can start out by selling only 600 copies. It takes time and patience, as Thomas attests. Track these topics:
Hanson Wants You to Stay Independent
If you had told me ten years ago that the country’s biggest proponent for an aggressive independent music community would be Hanson… I can’t even think of what I’d do. Yes, it’s true. The boys are back, they sound great,…
Columbia House Closes Its Doors
And good riddance. What most consumers didn’t know is that artists have to take an even bigger hurting on sales from “record clubs” than they do on regular retail sales. Ostensibly, being included in a record club was considered a…
Avoiding Debt, Running a Label, and Making Time for Yourself
I just uploaded three great recordings from last week’s live calls to the member area. One of our members wants to know how to run the zone strategy of booking more gigs without eating up his profits. Another member has…