Wednesday, 19 May 2010

Paying for companies to distribute your music vs. 'DIY' distribution for free

1. "These companies rely on their own affiliates to promote the artists that they have and really don't do anything to promote the artists. As an ex-affiliate for iTunes, I used to sell digital downloads for a five percent commission, so for a ninety-nine cent song that equates to a nickel. The artist in turn gets sixty-nine cents, leaving a twenty-five cent profit for iTunes, who are just an online warehouse cataloging music in hopes that their affiliates are successful in promoting them."

2. CDbaby is a bit similar in that they are also a music warehouse that relies on other distributors, affiliates and the artists themselves to generate the sale while taking $4 for each CD sold to drop it in the mail. I can see artists with a CDBaby Logo on their website or MySpace page to buy their CD. If an artist wants to make $7 per CD sold, then the cost to the consumer is $11 through CDbaby. Why not just sell the CD directly using PayPal, add in their processing costs and sell it for $7.50? An independent artist will probably generate more sales at the lower cost."

3. My own band, the Lime Green Snorkels, distributed our entire recorded live album from a gig on YouTube. In total we have had 237 hits covering 9 songs over a period of 3 months. Our highest number of hits on a single video was 49 on our cover of Sweet Child Of Mine by Guns N Roses

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/666683/new_cd_distribution_channel_for_independent.html?cat=33

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