Tedster Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 Okay...we've figured out a long time ago that for most of us, we're not going to sell a lot of CDs by getting a lot of radio airplay. MP3.com and CD Baby are great for getting stuff out there to the general populace...but billions of bands! And you still have to get 'em to your site in the first place. Then there's selling CDs at gigs. "Okay, okay, you guys aren't bad, I'll shell out ten bucks for your CD if you'll shut up and leave me alone"..."WOW guys, we sold THREE CDs tonight!!!" "Yeah, but weren't those your parents that bought two of 'em???" What we need is a more efficient marketing strategy. Brainstorms??? "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 unfortunately, like everything else, effective marketing cost money. (even ineffective marketing does)... if i press a thousand cd's, i build my budget based on pressing 500. that way i have 500 to give away to press, radio, girls, etc., and don't have to ever worry about it affecting my wallet.... -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duhduh Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 There is one VERY effective way to market your music: Give it away. Very few people will turn down a free cd and you'll play for a ton more people if your not so concerned about getting paid for gigs. This message has been edited by Duhduh on 06-03-2001 at 08:55 PM "Meat is the only thing you need beside beer! Big hunks of meat and BEER!!...Lots of freakin' BEER." "Hey, I'm not Jesus Christ, I can't turn water into wine. The best I can do is turn beer into urine." Zakk Wylde http://www.hepcnet.net/bbssmilies/super.gif http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15_1_109.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricknbokker Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 How about a money back guarantee?. (announcer voice) "If you don't like it...we'll BUY IT BACK!!!! What the hell, you can always sell it again. I've also read that it is relatively inexpensive to get bar codes for your CD's. This makes in possible for local retail outfits to carry your stuff and sell it for you. I'm sure they would appreciate the guarantee, too Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted June 4, 2001 Author Share Posted June 4, 2001 Well, interesting points... Marketing costs money...and... If you want the widest mass distribution...give your stuff away. Marketing costs money...so does a guitar, amp, sound system, recording time...how can we have the money for one, but not the other? Okay...now, let's turn it into another commodity...you're not making music anymore. No guitars etc... You're now making furniture. Nice furniture. You've invested in your woodshop...wood...taking the time to learn how to use it (just like the time you've invested in playing your instrument). Okay...now you're making nice furniture. You say, "Well, people NEED furniture, they don't NEED music". Furniture is like any other commodity though. Sure, they need furniture, but they don't really need YOUR furniture. You've got to promote your furniture so they want it (given that it's a quality commodity). Are you going to say, "Marketing costs money"? Are you going to give away your furniture, pieces that you've put a lot of time into? Now...let's get off the "personal tunage" thing, and pretend we're all making beautiful mahogany cabinetry, dining room sets, chairs. How are we going to sell it? Cabinets, music...certain principles should apply either way. First of all, (we're assuming a modicum of quality here)...your neighbor Joe has a woodshop too...and he's making beautiful furniture as well. Your job is to convince people they want YOUR furniture more than your neighbor Joe's. Now, some of you are thinking, "Tedster's finally lost it". But have I really? To me, this is important, because there are scads of "woodshops" (bands) across the country, all putting out furniture (original music). Styles for all tastes. Some pretty damn good. Some better, even, than name brand manufacturers are putting out. Some kinda so-so. Some not as good, because the woodcrafters are new at their trade. But, if there's a market, it will sell. Now, flame away... "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted June 4, 2001 Author Share Posted June 4, 2001 Good point, Steve...now we're cooking... Geez, my last post rivals Chip in length... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted June 4, 2001 Author Share Posted June 4, 2001 Sorry...I just had to make one last point. How many local woodshop owners would try and sell their stuff to big name "furniture labels"...like Bassett, Broyhill, Lane...etc. (Columbia, RCA, Capitol)...and shoot for national big name exposure? Nope...most of them would be trying to do it on the local market, having their own showroom for their creations (like what local and regional record stores would be, if we were talking about music, that is)... I'll shut up and go to sleep for awhile now...g'nite... "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
- Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 Originally posted by Duhduh: There is one VERY effective way to market your music: Give it away. Very few people will turn down a free cd and you'll play for a ton more people if your not so concerned about getting paid for gigs. I'll play devil's advocate for a second, if only because interesting ideas can sometimes come out of it... http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif Did you ever get those free AOL CDs? Or CDs in the mail or in cereal boxes featuring demo versions of software? If so, how often do you actually put those CDs in your computer? If you did put one of those CDs in your computer, what prompted you to try it out? Nice packaging? A genuine interest in what the CD was offering you? Can't find the quote right now, but I remember reading something where Quincy Jones said that in the mid '80s he sometimes would give out free CDs to people on the street and they would be excited about getting them... But when he did that in the late '90s, people were like, "What's on it? What would I do with *another* CD?" People were actually turning down Quincy Jones down for a free CD! This message has been edited by popmusic on 06-04-2001 at 07:16 AM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nawor Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 Originally posted by Tedster: What we need is a more efficient marketing strategy. Brainstorms??? TAKE OFF YER KNICKERS!!! "WARNING!" - this artificial fruit juice may contain traces of REAL FRUIT!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duhduh Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 If you wanted to get your furniture making known, you could always 'give away' some samples of your work to a very populated place like, a restaurant, bar, office, etc. (Not very good examples, I know) People would see the furniture and say, "Hey. This is nice stuff. Where did you get it?" Let me tell you a little story. A friend of mine was on a buss in Baltimore. He met a guy on the buss from Denmark. They started talking and soon ended up on the subject of music. The Denmark dude told my friend how they were starving for new music where he lived. So, my friend handed him one of my bands tapes that I had given him. He told him to check it out, he might like it. They exchanged addresses and that was that. Shortly after my band broke up. Well, a few months later my friend gets a letter from the guy. He explains how much he loved the tape. When he showed it to his friends they loved it, too. They started making copies. The next thing you know they had distributed 1000's of copies of our tape throughout Denmark, Germany, Holland, etc, and he wanted to know if my band had any more albums or were planning on playing there. I am not the least bit angry that I didnt make money off all those copies of my music. That wasnt the point. I was SOOOO happy that that many people liked it. My only regret was that we had broken up. Having heard that news and saved up a few bucks for plane tickets, we could've traveled to Denmark and been friggin' David Hasselhoffs! Now, I'm not saying stand on the corner and hand out cd's like flyers for your next gig. But by all means, give them away! "Meat is the only thing you need beside beer! Big hunks of meat and BEER!!...Lots of freakin' BEER." "Hey, I'm not Jesus Christ, I can't turn water into wine. The best I can do is turn beer into urine." Zakk Wylde http://www.hepcnet.net/bbssmilies/super.gif http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15_1_109.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duhduh Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 I just noticed that I spelled bus wrong. Not 'buss'. I sure hope the grammar police arent watching. LOL! "Meat is the only thing you need beside beer! Big hunks of meat and BEER!!...Lots of freakin' BEER." "Hey, I'm not Jesus Christ, I can't turn water into wine. The best I can do is turn beer into urine." Zakk Wylde http://www.hepcnet.net/bbssmilies/super.gif http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/15_1_109.gif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted June 4, 2001 Author Share Posted June 4, 2001 Good points, Duhduh...high profile samples...which in effect is what major labels do as "promo copies"... And "buss" is a natural mistake for audio guys to make http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif I always thought the transportation people were spelling it wrong... "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkehrermsn.com Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 Well, I'm going to espouse the Gratful Dead/Phish philosophy about marketing music and it applies to everything. Your fan base is built one fan at a time. Whenever anyone responds positively to a song on a web site(that's the only place you find me lately) I make sure that I offer them a CD,so, that they have one to play and also play for their friends and colleagues. Since I do a lot of electronic dance music I also contact tons of DJ's all over the world and convince them to play my cd's(sometimes vinyl) in their sets. I've heard back from fans and Dj's that they have shared/burned cd's for their friends/other dj's. I've done this before when I was in bands with great success.Only diff.here is that I'm no longer playing out which is a great marketing tool. I now have my music playing all over europe and a lot of college and underground stations plus in some dj's set lists. Not a lot of capital outlay here besides postage and supplies to creating my cd's(blank cd's, printer cartridges, cd labels etc...) and time spent online and emailing people. I'm not famous or selling a lot of CD's yet,but, my name and band names are getting known. Anyway, that's the Kamakaze marketing plan. I also compile a email mailing list for all my project with all the people that have expressed interest and /or received cd's so I can keep them up to date on new releases and my progess. One fan at a time! Kamakaze Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 < ted i think you might have missed my point. i was trying to say that you should make sure you do have the money to market it. and that including allowing for "freebies." i try to spend at least the same amount of money and time that i spent recording the thing on pushing it. the funiture analogy is fine, but let's take it further. yes, i would give away furniture. why? because i'm not really giving it away. i have big name competitors and to compete i need to advertise. a 1/4 page ad in the town paper cost 300 bucks a week which is roughly what it cost me to make my furniture (perhaps a nice sofa which i retail at 1000)...so in effect it would cost me a sofa a week to advertise in the paper for a 1/4 page while my competior is a huge chain and regularly takes out full and 2 page spreads. giving away sofa may actually cost me less. it might be more prudent of me to give a free sofa to a popular interior designer in town, one for the waiting room of a prominent doctor (or other high traffic sitting area), one for the local cable tv talk show guests, etc.... then as a publicity stunt maybe i'd put a sofa in front of city hall and pursuade 2 goodlooking 21 year olds to sit on my sofa and try and break the world's record for the longest romantic kiss... -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 oh damn, i forgot to mention. if you really want to market your cd, give away free furniture with every cd purchase.... -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted June 4, 2001 Author Share Posted June 4, 2001 Oops, tremendous faux pas...DGauss...yep. I missed your point. And it's a good one. Sorry... I got really interested when you said "two good looking 21 year olds to sit on my"...and then I lost it when you said "sofa". But...all points well taken. To these ends...giveaways are good. The newspaper might not be the best advertising medium...but I think some sort of advertising would be in order??? "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F7sound - Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 Giveaways are OK, but if you want to get some of your money returned on your investment of recording your music, pressing your CD, marketing it.... Here's a few tips that have worked for me and SOLD my CDs: Send copies to magazines (trade, indie, major, web-based) to get your CD reviewed. Some will end up going nowhere (don't take it personally). A few (or more) will pan out. When you do get reviewed, you can use that to get even more reviews (here's how: say Mr./Ms. music editor, "I've been reviewed in these magazines x,y, and z, and I think your readers would be interested too"). Send a professional looking press kit and a few copies of the CD. FACT: review coverage is FAR more VALUABLE than if you paid to advertise in those same magazines! Make sure you have a web site. Again, make sure you have a web site (I can't stress this enough). Make it look professional and have clips of your music (or links to music clips). Include the fact that you've been reviewed, and any feedback from fans (and reviewers) in the form of quotes. Include interesting info about you (or your band). You have heard this all before, but IT WORKS! TIME: This stuff takes time. It takes time to write press releases. It takes time to send out promo copies. It takes time to create an effective web site. Print magazines have lead times of months - what you send in today may not be published for several months. Don't expect things to happen right away, but with effort, and a professional attitude, you can market your stuff effectively on limited budgets. Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision http://www.f7sound.com Michael Oster F7 Sound and Vision http://www.F7sound.com http://www.regurgitron.com http://www.LaptopNoise.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D. Gauss Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 < yes it is, but don't pay for space in the paper if you can get in for free. hence the little sofa kissing stunt. years ago. i worked for a fairly popular celebrity tv show and dealt with a lot of publicists. you may or (may not) be amazed at the stuff they do to keep their clients names in the papers. half of those gossip things you read about are fed to the papers by the star's own people. sometimes they are to keep interest level up and other times they are to cover up another potentially damaging story. either way, free press rules! and for rock, the most popular tactic has been the "bad boy" thing be it eminem, motley crue, guns n roses-, rolling stones, gangsta rap, etc. trivia tidbit: in the early days of the clash, their manager took them aside and told them to stop writing girl/boy songs and do something political. then he staged the band robbing a bank so they all got arrested and into the papers onto the front page, "deparate punk rock band holds up bank for money."..... now i'm not suggesting you rob a bank, but if you do, can i have a few hundred bucks?... -d. gauss Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Walters Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 Someone--I think it was a book publisher--once said: "I know half my advertising budget is wasted. I just don't know which half." In other words, you have to throw a lot of stuff at the wall to get some to stick. But you'd be nuts to take advice from me--I've never sold a bean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tedster Posted June 4, 2001 Author Share Posted June 4, 2001 Tim... Some of that could perhaps be remedied by those little surveys "How did you hear about this?"...you'd have a better clue as to what advertising was working. "Cisco Kid, was a friend of mine" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Walters Posted June 4, 2001 Share Posted June 4, 2001 Maybe... I have to say, though, that I never fill those things out, and I don't like badgering the customer. I'm actually a bit nutty about that... I don't use bar codes because I believe the customer shouldn't have to be reminded of commerce every time he or she plays the CD (plus they're ferociously ugly). I'm sure if I ever get signed I'll have to give on this point, but it'll bum me out a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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