Planning for CD release - I need help

[M Peasley]

Ok, I'm planning the release of my CD, hopefully early in 2004. The basics of my act are simple: it's all me, done at home. No band, no gigs, just me and my little CD. Here's my plan: 1. Burn an EP. 3 tunes about 5 min. each. Dup about 1,000. 2. Get main artwork done. Here I'm totally ignorant. Who does this kind of thing? Where to start? What does it cost? How much can I do myself? 3. Wrap up final mix of full-length CD, get it mastered. Burn 1,000 copies with artwork, shrinkwrap, the whole enchilada. Questions: can I dupe these things cheaply if I buy one of the CD duplicators I see in the catalogs? Are those things a mistake? 4. Setup website. The EP has the website where the CD can be purchased plastered all over it. I do have a buddy who will help with this. Very simple site: a few pics, a couple of things to stream, and a link to credit card purchase. I'm thinking of using CCNow. Anyone use this outfit? 5. Pick official release date. Must have all ducks in a row before then. Such as: send out mass emails, one-sheets, phone calls, record store contacts, all the miscellaneous places to plug the CD, etc etc. Send EPs to various and sundy. 6. On official release date, have the usual release party. I'm not giving away the CD - that's what the EPs are for. Then I suppose sit and wait? If it sells at all, I'm sure the bulk of the sales will be soon after the release date when I will hopefully will have created a minor buzz. So, assume the CD is decent quality and I sell a few over some months - who knows maybe 100, maybe 1,000. And then sales drop to practically nothing. What to do then? What am I missing in my ignorance? M Peasley

[marsmgr1]

Did you simply forget the "mastering" stage for the EP or are you not planning on doing that? If the EP isn't properly mastered you run the risk of affecting the potential sales of the upcoming full CD!

[sparksongs]

I'm sure there are others, but you can check out Discmakers, at least as a place start: http://www.discmakers.com

[Deathtoallwhoopposeme]

[quote]Originally posted by M Peasley: [b]Ok, I'm planning the release of my CD, hopefully early in 2004. The basics of my act are simple: it's all me, done at home. No band, no gigs, just me and my little CD. Here's my plan: 1. Burn an EP. 3 tunes about 5 min. each. Dup about 1,000. 2. Get main artwork done. Here I'm totally ignorant. Who does this kind of thing? Where to start? What does it cost? How much can I do myself? 3. Wrap up final mix of full-length CD, get it mastered. Burn 1,000 copies with artwork, shrinkwrap, the whole enchilada. Questions: can I dupe these things cheaply if I buy one of the CD duplicators I see in the catalogs? Are those things a mistake? 4. Setup website. The EP has the website where the CD can be purchased plastered all over it. I do have a buddy who will help with this. Very simple site: a few pics, a couple of things to stream, and a link to credit card purchase. I'm thinking of using CCNow. Anyone use this outfit? 5. Pick official release date. Must have all ducks in a row before then. Such as: send out mass emails, one-sheets, phone calls, record store contacts, all the miscellaneous places to plug the CD, etc etc. Send EPs to various and sundy. 6. On official release date, have the usual release party. I'm not giving away the CD - that's what the EPs are for. Then I suppose sit and wait? If it sells at all, I'm sure the bulk of the sales will be soon after the release date when I will hopefully will have created a minor buzz. So, assume the CD is decent quality and I sell a few over some months - who knows maybe 100, maybe 1,000. And then sales drop to practically nothing. What to do then? What am I missing in my ignorance? M Peasley[/b][/quote]Alright Maybe I can help you sort out a few things having done this a couple times myself. First off, you are not gigging and I assume you have little or no Fanbase outside of Friends and Family from what you wrote...Well, you can still have a very successfull release party if you have a lot of friends and family to be sure. Ok, let me get into a few technical things first. Get the website set up several months before and get some Song clips up there. Submit to all the search engines and get yourself on as many Music sites as you can like MP3.com, IUMA, GarageBand, etc..I must be on well over 50 of these although I only know a few of them as my manager takes care of all that!!! It will establish a web presence for you after a while though. When you get your site up, start telling everyone you know to check out your tunes and give you feedback. Email everyone you know or have ever met with you link when you get it. Try to create a little buzz for your art. Next thing will be making some promo CD's and sending them to all the entertainment Mags and Newspapers in your area as well as all inde and college radio. As far as the tunes go, you can send out a preMastered Version for promo but make sure someone has at least done some basic leveling and EQ/sweetening to your promo tunes that knows what he is doing. If you know someone with ears that uses, Peak, Sound Forge, TRacks, Pro Tools etc have them do it. Or you can attempt to do it yourself if you have the skill, but I like to have a fresh ear. As for the promo CD's that you will be sending out, I doubt at your stage you will 1000 of them and they can be plain in jewel case or sleeve with Black printing on the CD.Nothing Fancy. This is pretty standard. Save the Cash for the Real CD..You could get 100 or so duped in 24 hours from Musicians friend for about $100 or so. I would do this as opposed to buying the CD's and burning them all myself unless you have a CD duping rig and printer. So at this point you aren't worrying about the Artwork yet as you don't need it for the promo CD's. I would start looking for someone do to it for you on the cheap though. Check kids at art colleges and ask friends and family if they know someone who could cut you a deal. So start getting interest with a nice promopack including promo EP CD, website, and online presence several months out. Next thing you need to do after you have that all sent out is follow up and try to get some press and reviews out of it..Maybe a little airplay as it could get you more interest and press...After that finish up the full length CD. I would submit if you are not gigging or touring and do not have a following DO NOT GET 1000 CD's duped....They will come in about 8 boxes and it's really a lot and you will probably never get rid of them any time soon. I would instead start smaller and go with a Small run of Burned CDR's instead of Glass Mastered CD's. Just like the promo CD's you can get your full featured CD with all the artwork etc etc done but with Burned CD's. I would get an idea of how many people you are going to sell to that will come to your release etc and base your initial order on that. Maybe 200-250 CD's to start with. Probably cost you under 4 bills or so if you do it with a 2 page insert. Again there are lots of places that will do this for you.. Look on the web. They will come packaged and shrinkwrapped just like any other CD, ready to sell. Get the CD's continue to make calls, try to get press and reviews, fax one sheets etc etc....Have your release party, sell to everyone that comes...Keep the momentum going after by exapanding your promotions as budget allows...Go regional with press, and radio...send promo CDs again or even your final CD in your press kit...Do all the follow ups calls, faxes, etc etc..This takes months.....then after some success go National....Hit all the college markets, press, radio etc etc etc.....daunting task...very time consuming and costly with mailing etc...You decide how far you want to take it. I hope some of that helps.

[M Peasley]

Good advice. I have friends who have released their CDs, but it seems the process suffers from being too dragged out. Or they are just plain dumb about the whole thing, simply hoping that "something will happen" by magic. I'll probably master the EPs myself on my Finalizer and Sound Forge. Don't know yet about the final CD yet - I'm limited as to upfront money (aren't we all). What I'm really focused on is making it really easy for people to buy without waiting. They get the EP, listen to it, see the website on the EP, access the website and there's a shopping cart link to buy it right away. Bing bang. The credit card link will be expensive, but at least the expense will come with a sale to cover it. I hear you about not getting carried away with too many dups at first. Where can I get lists of radio stations and other promo places to send EPs and one-sheets? Thanks for the help. M Peasley

[Deathtoallwhoopposeme]

[quote]Originally posted by M Peasley: [b]Good advice. I have friends who have released their CDs, but it seems the process suffers from being too dragged out. Or they are just plain dumb about the whole thing, simply hoping that "something will happen" by magic. I'll probably master the EPs myself on my Finalizer and Sound Forge. Don't know yet about the final CD yet - I'm limited as to upfront money (aren't we all). What I'm really focused on is making it really easy for people to buy without waiting. They get the EP, listen to it, see the website on the EP, access the website and there's a shopping cart link to buy it right away. Bing bang. The credit card link will be expensive, but at least the expense will come with a sale to cover it. I hear you about not getting carried away with too many dups at first. Where can I get lists of radio stations and other promo places to send EPs and one-sheets? Thanks for the help. M Peasley[/b][/quote]I would check out any of the Musicians guides to touring and promotion that various Magazines put out annually..Also, check out the Indie music Bible...http://www.indiebible.com/.....Very comprehensive.....There is the Recording Industry Sourcebook...

[DRi]

some good thinking and planning in there. heres a few thoughts of mine as i read your plan: 1. dont press 1000 of the EP. press 500. 2. 40 or 5 tracks on the EP is better then 3. 3 is almost a single. 3. im a commercial graphic artist and id be happy to help with your art (no cost). my company expanded recently and our contracts are a piece of cake at the moment... id like to give back to the musicplayer community. dri@analogik.com 4. we dont shrinkwrap things here in australia. not sure why you yanks do. 5. professional mastering on your full album is essential, plus its always good to have your first album pro mastered. it is all part of the learning experience. 6. professional manufacturing can be cheap, DIY duplicating may not be as effective for your full album. again, here in australia i can get 500 run of cds with 4 colour pages, 3 colour cd art, see through tray and all art proofing (film proofing) for a little less then one american dollar each. delivered. thats a viable option for me and un-missable when you count the fact that my time is money, and DIY is all about time. 7. you talk about selling your EP... sell enough to cover costs, and give the rest away. this brings me to 8... 8. create a VERY expansive list of local promoters, djs and venues, key peoples, international magazines, online music/music culture websites that relate to your sound, radios etc.... make this list and promo them. your EP is your first calling card. use it well, use it liberally. 9. dont be afraid of international promo. we sent a demo to a UK magazine called Future Music who featured us as demo of the month. when the album came out they featured us again, and then did a 2 year retrospective on us again, following our pretty quick uprising in the scene. remember, we're in australia. all promo is good promo. unless youre mariah carey. 10. "no gigs" means you need to build your cred through your EP alone. 11. network, network, network, network, network, network, network, network. network. again.... network. most important thing in the universe. anyway, just some thoughts from a very minor pro-muso whos done the DIY thing and then done the being signed thing too. did ok but engineering is where my heart is. good luck with the album... hope any of this helped.

[M Peasley]

Found a copy of The Indie Bible on half.com for $14 plus shipping. Thanks! M Peasley

[marsmgr1]

[quote]Originally posted by M Peasley: [b] Where can I get lists of radio stations and other promo places to send EPs and one-sheets? M Peasley[/b][/quote]From personal experience, mass mailings to radio stations is a waste of time, product, and money. If you are gigging in the area (or known in the area) would suggest you personally visit various stations within a reasonable radius of your location and ask for a listen. (Smaller areas around Austin will be more likely to give you a shot). That's a really tough nut to crack nowadays because many smaller stations are satellite or syndicated and the larger stations in Austin are restricted to a very tight list. Check the local college stations and try to get in with them. Good luck!

[lrossmusic]

M Peasley I agree with DSamp on his second point. Put more then three tracks on your CD. I say forget about an EP altogether. Go ahead and complete a complete album. An album is much easier to market across the board. Put at least 7 to 10 tracks or 35 to 40 minutes of music on the disk. You will be able to charge more and your maunfacturing expense will be more cost effective. Also I agree to start out with 500 instead of 1000.

[M Peasley]

[quote]From personal experience, mass mailings to radio stations is a waste of time, product, and money.[/quote]I'm hoping the Indie Bible will help me target stations that might go for my style. I agree the mass approach is probably a waste. The restricted playlist situation is a plague and blight on the radio industry, and the college stations are, well, often very weird and amatuerish and have their own brand of tunnel-vision. The EP is just to make them want more. I buy CDs based on hearing one or two tunes by someone and I assume other people are the same way. If I'm going to give them away, I want at least the chance that the recipient will want to buy the complete product, even if it's only the guy who empties the trash at the radio station. On the other hand, maybe three tunes isn't enough for someone to find the one they really like. Hmmm, I'll have to think this over. Is there such a thing as piggybacking on someone else's distribution channel? Like finding someone whose style is similar (but not too similar) and giving them a piece of the action for letting you send some promo copies out alon with their shipments? M Peasley

[boosh]

If you ever need a cool remix as a bonus track I'd be happy to assist ;)

[marsmgr1]

You didn't answer whether or not you're playing anywhere...That's a vital part of your endeavor. Also, do you have a MP3 sample of your work that some of us could listen to? Sorry, just re-read your original post "no gigs, no band"...You should look into addressing that...Don't wanna burst your bubble but...How're you even gonna get a few people to the website to order the CD...You're talking some serious money for "across the board" search engine presence, and, that's no guarantee that any search will turn up your site unless people are looking for YOU! (P.S. If you try to "cheat" the search engine by using bogus Meta-Tags or Keywords you're gonna piss off the search engine provider AND anyone who arrives at your site by being misled as to what it contains...) Austin is a GREAT music town with a wealth of musicians and venues spotlighting a plethora of musical genres (don't overlook SXSW)...Why not try to put together a trio and work up some "covers" similar to your style and throw in your originals during sets...That, IMHO, is something you absolutely MUST give serious consideration to... Finally, check the local yellow pages for studios there that have their own labels or distribution services...I know Austin quite well and I'm sure there are more than a few who are in that end of the business...Chances are they will be interested in your project and offer you a "deal" of some sort... Again, Good Luck! :cool:

[M Peasley]

[QUOTE]Sorry, just re-read your original post "no gigs, no band"...You should look into addressing that...Don't wanna burst your bubble but...How're you even gonna get a few people to the website to order the CD...You're talking some serious money for "across the board" search engine presence, and, that's no guarantee that any search will turn up your site unless people are looking for YOU![\QUOTE] To get people to the website first I just hit all friends and family with emails and handout EPs. I also have a lot of acquaintances thru business and having lived a bunch of places. My initial list of people to email and/or give an EP will total around 400 people. Second I'm thinking of trying to get the EP into local record stores if they'll have me. Also maybe a few of the funkier local restaurants with a counter-top display. Then I give away a bunch of EPs and one-sheets to targeted radio stations, music mags, BBS friends who ask for one, reviewers for newspapers, and anyone else I can think of as a decent target. Again, the EP will have the website all over it and the website will have a quick credit card purchase link. But you're right, without gigging, I will run out of promotion opportunities pretty fast. I might consider putting a small group together for performing, but I'm not willing to burn a few years getting nowhere. If my success is small, at least I made my musical statement. I'm "humbly-proud" of my material, and I think there are a lot of people who would respond to it, if I can just get their ear. M Peasley

[M Peasley]

[quote]Also, do you have a MP3 sample of your work that some of us could listen to?[/quote]Thanks for asking. I'm not set up yet. If any of you have a site I could upload to and link to that, I'll be glad to upload a couple of MP3s. M Peasley

[marsmgr1]

Why not email a copy?

[MattC]

I'm doing a similar thing: it'll be a christmas cd featuring a carefully screened list of friends. We are going to raise $1000 and have [url=http://www.discmakers.com/music/products/j100.php]DiscMakers[/url] make 1000 copies. These copies will come in at about $1 a piece and will be distributed to the financial contributors as they paid in (we buy as many copies as we each want at $1 a piece and do with them as we please. There will be a web site devoted to this project, although there won't be any gigs. The idea is to have a professionally reproduced, interesting CD out there, although not much money will be made. For my part, I intend to buy about 300 copies. Most will be given away but I will also have copies for sale at local business I frequent for some riducilously low price such as $3. Of course all the recording, graphic design and session time won't cost me a thing. The entire project should come in at under $1200.

[Anifa]

I've not read the majority of replies here, just a few, so forgive me if I repeat some things. Thought I'd add a few thoughts... [quote] 5. Pick official release date. Must have all ducks in a row before then. Such as: send out mass emails, one-sheets, phone calls, record store contacts, all the miscellaneous places to plug the CD, etc etc. Send EPs to various and sundy. [/quote]Mass emails are considered to be SPAM and will possibly get you tagged by Feds or IP Security. I routinely receive introductory letters through my website, or letters seeking exposure, and they are deleted instantly without review. They annoy me more than anything else. Before moving with the shrink wrap, be sure to apply for a UPC code to place either in the design of the artwork, or adhered by sticker. This is to track sales and also identify the success of your release to potential MI professionals who might find interest in your works. Beware, the tracking of sales also makes you accountable to IRS for earnings. Keep good strong records of your expenses paid out to show as losses, so to balance out your profits. Keeping a record of the sales can be good when writing your biography, especially if sales take off. Take a look at picking up a subscription to A & R Registry if it is within your means to do so. It's not at all cheap, but well informed on keeping up with current contacts inside the Music Business. My advice would be to go with a single issue at first to see if you like it (but be ready to move with it when you order it, as the issues are updated every eight weeks.) http://www.musicregistry.com Never drop demos to established labels without solicitation, otherwise it is a guaranteed waste of time and expense. I'm out of time.... hope these suggestions help.

[RDuke]

The average CD time length is forty minutes, and you're going to release three tunes for a total of fifteen minutes of music? Get more material. Obtain the proper mechanical license if you plan to do covers. See the National Music Publishers Assoc and Songfile.com. You can do this online. Minimum purchase is 500 copies at $.08 per. Check out OasisCD, Discmakers, or something like that. They offer a total solution, or partial. They also include a UPC barcode. It's acutally their barcode they're letting you piggyback on. It's much too expensive to do yourself. Don't get 1000 unless you want to take up closet space. You'll have a hard enough time moving 300. Unfortunately, there's little price difference between 300 and 1000. You can do you own artwork, but you need some graphic design softwares like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator, and the knowledge to use them. OasisCD does provide graphic templates for this purpose. If you do all dupes yourself, there is a difference between CD-R copies and pressed audio CD copies. The CD-R's may not work in all audio CD players. Labels on CD-R's can also be a problem for CD players (peeling off and jamming the player!). I've found getting reviews and local press attention to be quite hard, but you do need them. Place stock with CDStreet, CDBaby, Homemade Music to name a few places. Set up a Paypal account for direct credit card purchases. Make sample MP3 tracks available. Rick (been there, done that)

[sparksongs]

In addition to all of the great suggestions, you may also want to pick-up a copy of the book, "2004 Songwriter's Market", which lists a lot of publishers, labels, music libraries, etc., what they're looking for, if they accept unsolicited submissions, etc. (you may be able to find the 2003 edition for less, as they're very similar from year-to-year). You can find it at most bookstores or at Amazon.com; just another avenue to look at when marketing your material.

[Anifa]

Located on this page http://musicbizbuzz.net/legal/links.htm in my site you will find an interactive box labeled "Contact Congress" There are 3 input boxes in the larger box where one of the selections are titled "Contact Media" If you enter your zip code in the area provided, it will bring up all the Media publications in the area specified. Just to get you tracking in the right direction as to how many resources you have available to acquaint yourself with. Don't make a fool of yourself, but learn who is available in your target areas to provide coverage once you reach that point.

[Barandine Vondenger]

you really have to have some goode well written songs (that work)and then a great promotion to get the word out. The internet is a great way to (potentially)reach a WIDE audience as is playing out. TRY to get your ceedee in local jukeboxes. promote,promote ,promote.. Play out and be seen. Try to keep from being discouraged if thangs ain't moving as fast as you hoped. These thangs are like flat-field snow-balls that take a firm and steady hand to keep rolling but the longer you keep it rolling the harder it is to push. So BE SMART, find some wise help and get some goode folkes on your band wagon. Of course being a world class player will help. The final thang is: stick-to-it-ness. Keep It Simple Stupid, only spend what you need to get to point B and keep trying,keep trying ,keep trying.you will NEVER SUCCEED iffen' you give up. . I'll see you on the Radio.

[M Peasley]

Wow, what a wealth of great comments. I'm reading and re-reading and adjusting my plans accordingly. [quote]Mass emails are considered to be SPAM and will possibly get you tagged by Feds or IP Security[/quote]Thanks, Anifa, for your pro perspective. Actually, when I say "mass email" I just mean sending all the emails to friends and family and acquaintances all around the same time. People who know me already. [quote]Why not email a copy?[/quote]I don't want this thread to be perceived as a cloak for self-promotion. But since you asked, if you email me at mbpcpa@hotmail.com, I'll reply with an attached MP3 of one of my tunes. If anyone wants to discuss the merits and demerits of my material, the "post your music here" thread would be the place for that. I'm grateful for your interest. M Peasley

[marsmgr1]

MP - I must address this to the forum in general...You can also consider it addressed to you.. ;) [b]Fellow Forum Members:[/b] MPeasley sent me an MP3 of one of his tunes. Very interesting stuff - Well written, arrranged, and produced (from what I could tell from an MP3), however, I am now TOTALLY at a loss for giving him ANY further tidbits of advice. The tune is all instrumental, eclectic "new-age" kinda stuff (but, I repeat, VERY good!)...Personally, I would like to hear more of his stuff but I haven't the slightest idea what he needs to do to market it! I can only offer this (without having heard any of his other stuff) I haven't a clue where he'll be able to get a "gig" (even if he had a band) to showcase this kinda stuff! I'd love to be able to help him but I'm clueless! His stuff is definitely worth listening to...Suggest anyone interested in the genre I descibed above really should email him and request a copy be sent to you... Best of luck, MP - You're stuff is very good!

[Anifa]

Okay, now you've got my curiousity up. Peasley, send me your e-mail address through my PM's here and I'll respond back with an email address that you can send an mp3 file to. If I like it, I might consider hosting it for a while provided you would be willing to sign releases that authorize the publication of such without penalties or infringements. However, you might check into IUMA or MP3.com as a host first.

[marsmgr1]

Anifa, His email addy is posted a coupla posts above...

[Anifa]

I see it now, Thanks!