Shawn T Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Hello fellow home based rock stars! Are any of you like me and have multiple recording projects that you just want to get out there for people to hear i.e. Spotify, Amazon music, Apple Music etc and not really concerned with selling the music? If so, have any of you used a service like Tunecore, CD Baby, Distrokid etc for this? I’m just curious because since I’m not concerned with selling the music I want to limit my costs. I welcome any opinions/experiences! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bapu Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 Standing on the street corner handing out free home burned CDs might be a way to go. But with COVID-19 that might be problematic too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vernon Barnes Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 (edited) I think its worth looking at Bandcamp. https://bandcamp.com/artists I don't have personal experience with the artist functions but I think they are pretty much the fairest when it comes to charges etc. I buy quite a bit of music through Bandcamp and I like the opportunity to download in different formats including MP3 FLAC and WAV. You get to set what is effectively a minimum price which can be as low as zero. The customer can elect to pay more and I understand many do. So it could be a good way of making your music available if you are not too concerned about making money. That's the easy bit. Publicity is the bugbear particularly if you ar Edited June 12, 2020 by Vernon Barnes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
synkrotron Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 I only use Bandcamp for flogging my stuff. I use SoundCloud for uploading pretty much everything I create and any tracks on there that are available on Bandcamp I add a link to it. I hate all the iTunes and Spotify stuff. I cannot give a valid reason why. I just hate them and never listen to stuff on those services either. Oh, I am not a rock star. Sorry. cheers andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulo Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 I find it hard enough to get people to listen when it's free so I've never felt inclined to pay to be ignored. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjornpdx Posted June 12, 2020 Share Posted June 12, 2020 I have two albums on CDBaby, both in actual CD form and also in digital distribution. Must be eight or nine years ago when I did that and it was just for the experience of putting together an album, album cover etc. Never expected any revenue and expectations were met. I just checked my account and over the years I've earned $81, about half of that through CD sales (and about half of that from family and friends). Digital distributions (streaming mostly) came from quite a few music sites - iTunes, Napster, Spotify, YouTube, Amazon, Tidal, Yandex, JB Hi-Fi, eMusic, MediaNet and probably more. Never heard of most of them (Napster is still around?) but you could say that people are listening to my music. You can also say a few people stumbled onto my albums and gave them a listen. Either way, fine by me. I forgot what I paid CDBaby. Wasn't all that expensive. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 13 hours ago, synkrotron said: I primarily use Beyond My DAW for flogging my stuff... cheers andy Fyxed! ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywtelejazz Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 The goal of creating finely crafted and recorded music that was done solely at ones own personal home studio is a noble aspiration ... Where else can I spend all my time and money on putting my best foot forward and creating the best music I am capable of . What a rush it is to finally post my new song . Now all of a sudden we are in the same league as all the professional bands and musicians that have gone before us ... I am always truly humbled to the core two or three weeks after posting my new song . WOW it may have gotten a hundred listens ... Yes all this adulation and fame can be a real challenge to keep in check ...... I don't know how some people do it ... Kenny 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertWS Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 (edited) 6 hours ago, kennywtelejazz said: The goal of creating finely crafted and recorded music that was done solely at ones own personal home studio is a noble aspiration ... Where else can I spend all my time and money on putting my best foot forward and creating the best music I am capable of . What a rush it is to finally post my new song . Now all of a sudden we are in the same league as all the professional bands and musicians that have gone before us ... I am always truly humbled to the core two or three weeks after posting my new song . WOW it may have gotten a hundred listens ... Yes all this adulation and fame can be a real challenge to keep in check ...... I don't know how some people do it ... Kenny I do it for the chicks. Still waiting! Edited June 13, 2020 by RobertWS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcus Curtis Posted June 13, 2020 Share Posted June 13, 2020 On 6/12/2020 at 8:54 AM, Shawn T said: Hello fellow home based rock stars! Are any of you like me and have multiple recording projects that you just want to get out there for people to hear i.e. Spotify, Amazon music, Apple Music etc and not really concerned with selling the music? If so, have any of you used a service like Tunecore, CD Baby, Distrokid etc for this? I’m just curious because since I’m not concerned with selling the music I want to limit my costs. Out of all of these you mention Distrokid is the best for a number of reasons. I have used CD baby but they closed their online store down back in march of this year. Anyone that has CD's should check to make sure that CD Baby is still selling them. They are also going to get rid of their download cards. They will still honor the ones that are out there for now. They still make CD's and band merchandise and they still do music distribution. This caused a great deal of headaches for me. First CD baby's website is hard to navigate and it is a bit confusing. I spent hours trying to update the music I had in their store only to discover that the music is no longer in their stores. The website still had the music and artwork listed, but said updates were needed. After getting a call from tech support I discovered that I had to re-upload my music because when they closed the store the took all the music out of their server even though it was listed as still being there. They don't really seem to know what they are doing. They seem to justify this by saying we sent out emails to everyone telling them what we are going to do. That much is probably true, But I deleted the email and never opened it because it probably came bundled with the endless advertisements they would send trying to get me to buy their custom merchandise and upgrade my music distribution. So anyone who still has a CD baby Account needs to check to make sure their music is still there. If your music or CD was only on CD baby it is probably no longer available. After doing some online reading I discovered that the founders of CD baby and Tunecore are no longer with the company. This is according to a few articles I read. In those articles both founders of those companies recommended Distrokid. I created an account with Distrokid and the difference was huge. First CD baby charges per album or song on it's distribution service. I think it's about 30 bucks a year per album for the basic service and $79.00 for the Delux distribution. Distrokid charges about 20 bucks a year and that is for all your music and full distribution. You can upload as much music as you want and it's unlimited. They get your music everywhere. My music is on Amazon, iTunes, Apple Music, Google Play, iHeart Radio, YouTube, Spotify, and the list goes on. You can even choose which venues you want your music to be available. Distrokid offers 3 account types. I went with a 35.00 a year account because it allows me to upload music from one more artist. You can even upload cover songs and split the commission among artist who wrote the song you recorded. The 79 dollar per year account on Distrokid makes you a record label and you can upload music from many independent artist. So all you really need is the Basic account. The cool thing about all this is Distrokid registers your music with YouTube. If anyone uses your music in a YouTube video Distrokid will get YouTube to put ads on that video and you get the ad revenue for it. This is a great way to monetize your videos if you have not yet reached the stats required for video monetization. Instead of getting paid from YouTube you are getting paid from Distrokid. All you got to do is put about 5 seconds of one of your songs in the video. You can even do it at the end if you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywtelejazz Posted June 14, 2020 Share Posted June 14, 2020 10 hours ago, RobertWS said: I do it for the chicks. Still waiting! ? I'm still waiting for the chicks , the check in the mail , the World Wide exposure the net can bring .The long over due invite to a guitar player magazine interview , a Jam with Joe B....and a whole bunch of other shit ? Oh well, I guess there is safety in numbers when it comes to a persons musical delusions . Kenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starise Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 If your looking for a comment that might help you get further in exposing your music, I'm sorry I can't offer you that. Back in the day , and even to some extent now pending a more normal playing schedule for bands, the best way to gain some extra $$ was to pitch your CDs and than have them on a table in the back of the room along with the T-shirts. Make sure you have a break or two during the concert. Direct people to the snacks bars and restrooms first and then also casually mention the CD table. The better more well known bands will do better. People liked you enough to show up for a concert and pay for it. Most people come to concerts with a little extra money thinking they will eat out afterwards etc etc etc... People like to have a keepsake. Even if that CD ends up as a doorstop or gets buried in a pile of junk eventually they will buy it. In my case, I buy them, listen once or maybe twice then forget about it. 5 years later I'm cleaning out my glove box to sell the car and come across it. Musicians think they have an edge now in selling online. It's really a disadvantage because no one knows who you are or cares. If you don't play out or get some kind of exposure or have some kind of a memorable schtick like playing naked or using dancing elephants in your act you will be "just another rock band" with "just another rock band" sound. The big acts were chosen and funded by large corporate interests with deep pockets. It's like you can strike gold in Alaska eventually if you're willing to put millions up front and take several years doing it. The older I get the more I see right through all of the crap. Famous musicians are often minimally talented shills who are simply "products" to be marketed. Use any angle you can , the devil, se** whateva brings in the dough. Don't think for one minute it has anything to do with music. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhonoBrainer Posted June 15, 2020 Share Posted June 15, 2020 Playing naked, and they think you're an elephant? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywtelejazz Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 (edited) 18 hours ago, Starise said: Musicians think they have an edge now in selling online. It's really a disadvantage because no one knows who you are or cares. If you don't play out or get some kind of exposure or have some kind of a memorable schtick like playing naked or using dancing elephants in your act you will be "just another rock band" with "just another rock band" sound. The big acts were chosen and funded by large corporate interests with deep pockets. It's like you can strike gold in Alaska eventually if you're willing to put millions up front and take several years doing it. The older I get the more I see right through all of the crap. Famous musicians are often minimally talented shills who are simply "products" to be marketed. Use any angle you can , the devil, se** whateva brings in the dough. Don't think for one minute it has anything to do with music. Great points you make . Everything in your whole post I identified with ...this quoted section above hit me the hardest .. I hate the way things are now ...for now let me leave it at that Kenny Edited June 16, 2020 by kennywtelejazz 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywtelejazz Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 13 hours ago, emeraldsoul said: Playing naked, and they think you're an elephant? ? Woah ! Are you packing a mean trunk up front ? or are you just happy to see me ! ..what ever one it is , please don't use my leg as a hump toy ...I'm getting old and I 'm getting brittle Kenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Ever see a one-eared elephant? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennywtelejazz Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 3 minutes ago, craigb said: Ever see a one-eared elephant? Kenny Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bapu Posted June 16, 2020 Share Posted June 16, 2020 Everyone tells me I'm the elephant in the room. I believe them since no one ever looks at me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starise Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 I guess I thought about the naked part because I seen a band on Vimeo and they were playing in the buff. I'm not sure where the elephants came from. I guess I was trying to think big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
57Gregy Posted June 17, 2020 Share Posted June 17, 2020 I got my music out there. It came back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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