@a-boy-called
To sell or not to sell
<p>Been wondering recently when <em>is</em> a good time to start selling your music?</p><p>I've always had the conception, misguided or otherwise, that you start to sell when you have a big enough fan base, but on my internet travels there's been a lot of information that stamps on my theory like a large workboot on top of a roach, so the question still stands.</p><p>A lot of <strong>authorities</strong> on the subject say an immediate profit should be made from your music, others say keep the barn door shut for a little while. I have to add the ones who say sell, sell sell like a Money dealer on uppers are part of independant record labels<img title="Yell" src="http://www.mixposure.com/include/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/img/smiley-yell.gif" border="0" alt="Yell" />.</p><p>One comment I found was to sell your music on one site and have for free on another! To me this is a little like giving the locals a freebie while ripping off the tourists.</p><p> </p><p>Any suggestions?</p>
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Well guys, thanks for the input. First sensible things I've heard all day.
I'm going to run an experiment.
First off, like Dazed said, YouTube a song, see what flicks their switches. If it grabs them by the literals and my MySpace page gets a good battering (plus here of course lol), then the next track I have lined up will go on sale and see what attracts.
Like I said, just an experiment. I'm quite happy being free, lmao.
I'll keep y'all posted.
A.B.C.
(Ya know that's kinda catchy, unfortunatley there's already a band by that name lol. Could always stick small case a,u,s in there to spell ABaCus!!! hehe)
This is a subject that fascinates me not because I want to be a professional musician (well if i could get mega quids then yes) but because OMD and the internet is a whole new universe and needs to be understood. In days of yore you sold physical records from shops, got radio plays, packed out gigs, got a front page in NME and went on TOTP. Now what? The problem with the internet, unless you are in a minority which sells big (so why are you on the internet?) is it is so hard to perceive where you are at and what your fan base is. Some people who sell their music I would pay to stop playing! I think the problem is to understand the difference between a potential audience and a real one. Example, my most listened to tune here ended up in a German twitter, why? Because it is so universally appealing? No more likely because it has a German title (I am English)!!!! The internet is utterly wonderful and absolute crap but most people cannot see the difference. as I said elsewhere this week, this will work itself through but I think we are only at the beginning. ftlpope PS Wanna buy a used German pop tune?
Tough subject as you can see by top name artist trying to sell or give away their own music. With that in mind, for us indie artists it is very difficult.
I think if you are selling beats, you go right away. If you are selling music though, I think you need a fan base first. Mainly for the reason that if you have no fan base and start selling your music, who are you selling to? How are they finding you? If you post a video of your music on youtube and get a million hits and goes viral, you sell immediately obviously. But my fear is always artists who put their music up for sale with no fan base and have 1 or 2 sales or none at all. Then they start questioning themselves as an artist and getting depressed and question their music careers.