Members walk_yourpath Posted February 4, 2009 Members Posted February 4, 2009 Hello all, I was wondering what the average going rate for a Indie bands CD sold at a show? We are about to release our CD this spring and we are having some dispute over the price we should sell for. Some say 10$ others say 5$, there are 10 songs on the CD, we figure a buck a song right? Although we have always adopted to sell good merch for cheap, in order to look more applealing to the considering patron. Plus we dont like the idea of gouging and having over priced merch on the table. Is it wise to sell a full length album for cheap? Does anyone think it will have an impact when trying to gain a larger fan base? Lastly with regards to our future endevours would it not make sense to try and gain our initial investment back whilst trying to build more capital for the future? After all music sales and merch are an indie bands life blood, the fuel for the engine. Just trying to get as many opinions as possible. Personally I like the idea of being the band that is very affordable for everyone to enjoy, but at the same time the business part of my brain is forcasting future plans, and we definately need more funding for those ambitions. Any opinion is welcome, thanks again for you time. Keep on the path
Members LAPennell Posted February 4, 2009 Members Posted February 4, 2009 How much did you spend to record your CD? That has to be the driving factor behind your price. If it's a garageband recording and you only spent a few days start to finish, you can afford to sell it cheap. If you spent a lot of time in a studio and the final product is top notch, the price needs to reflect that. Obviously your sales will be what you finally end up basing your price on. Just remember, it's easier to come down in price than to raise it.
Moderators daddymack Posted February 4, 2009 Moderators Posted February 4, 2009 A decent quality CD should go at $10 (at your shows)...because if you sell it any lower, it says you don't value the music.
Members austikins Posted February 4, 2009 Members Posted February 4, 2009 A decent quality CD should go at $10 (at your shows)...because if you sell it any lower, it says you don't value the music. i dont necessarily agree. for 10 songs i think you could justify $10, but only if it was packaged nicely. if its just a CD-R in a paper sleeve it should be sold for $5, even if you went to great lengths to record it. i think how you package your music shows how much you value it. even when i only had a home recorded 4 song demo it had a nice (stick-on) label in a nice thin CD case. even now with my EP, recorded at church and in friends apartments, i ordered CDs from kunaki.com so that the appearance is nice. i still only charge $5 for it because there are 5 songs (and a bonus track) and i didnt have to pay for recording and they only cost about $2 each. im not super concerned with making tons of money off of them, but rather with getting my music out there. there are lots of factors, but it the recording is even half decent and the packaging looks good i say charge $10 for 10 songs.
Members BlueStrat Posted February 4, 2009 Members Posted February 4, 2009 How much did you spend to record your CD? That has to be the driving factor behind your price.Actually it's the market that determines price, not your cost. The object is to make maximum profit to re-invest into your business. If you can make a CD for 5 bucks and sell it for 10 then great. If you can make it for two bucks and sell it for ten, all the better. Your biggest problem is going to be in competing with other guys in the market who haven't the foggiest notion of how business works and who habitually undersell just to get takers because they don't know anything else to do. Obviously your sales will be what you finally end up basing your price on. Just remember, it's easier to come down in price than to raise it. Word.
Members Steve Nixon Posted February 5, 2009 Members Posted February 5, 2009 I actually have a an alternative way at looking at things. Couple things you need to think about: 1) If you don't have a much of a fanbase then $10 is fair. Your primary goal at this point should be building your name and fan support. So, you'd get some money for the product and it's at an affordable price for the consumer. Who is your demographic is another thing to take into consideration. If you have a younger crowd you may consider a lower priced CD. 2) If you have a larger fanbase then I would go with $15 or $20. Announce you will be autographing the CD as well into between the sets. Another reason for selling the CD for more is that if you have an older fanbase they may have more disposable income.
Members Citizen_Insane Posted February 5, 2009 Members Posted February 5, 2009 I vote for $10 because that's what everyone is selling CD's for. As long as it's well packaged and looks nice. Every time I got to a show of local musicians they're all charging $10 for CD's. Personally, I don't buy CDs at shows if they're more than $10, and I think that's pretty typical. $10 is pocket change, but it's enough that it says you take your music seriously.
Members austikins Posted February 5, 2009 Members Posted February 5, 2009 2) If you have a larger fanbase then I would go with $15 or $20. Announce you will be autographing the CD as well into between the sets. Another reason for selling the CD for more is that if you have an older fanbase they may have more disposable income. i probably wouldnt by a CD at a show for $15, and certainly wouldnt for $20 no matter how much i liked the band. and ive always thought teens have more disposable income because they dont have a bunch of bills and stuff. have you seen the junk they waist their money on?
Moderators daddymack Posted February 5, 2009 Moderators Posted February 5, 2009 i dont necessarily agree. for 10 songs i think you could justify $10, but only if it was packaged nicely. if its just a CD-R in a paper sleeve it should be sold for $5, even if you went to great lengths to record it. i think how you package your music shows how much you value it. even when i only had a home recorded 4 song demo it had a nice (stick-on) label in a nice thin CD case. even now with my EP, recorded at church and in friends apartments, i ordered CDs from kunaki.com so that the appearance is nice. i still only charge $5 for it because there are 5 songs (and a bonus track) and i didnt have to pay for recording and they only cost about $2 each. im not super concerned with making tons of money off of them, but rather with getting my music out there. there are lots of factors, but it the recording is even half decent and the packaging looks good i say charge $10 for 10 songs.Okay, yes, but when I said decent, I meant with a jewel case, cover art, and anything less than 9 or 10 songs to me is a demo or an EP. Nowhere did the OP ask about selling demos or EPs. Again, if you are doing shows, and selling CDs, selling them in a paper or tyvek sleeve says that you don't value your product.
Members richardmac Posted February 5, 2009 Members Posted February 5, 2009 You'd be surprised at the amount of solo artists, actually, who sell their CD for $5. I went from charging $10 for my CD to charging $5 and I sold four times as many copies. But that depends on the performer, the audience, the venue, and so on. In some circumstances, a $5 CD would be laughed off. But in coffee shops, it's not that uncommon. Thankfully no one around this area is GIVING their CD away at coffee house gigs. That would suck. I can sell a CD for $5 and make $3 from the sale, but I can't afford to give them away...
Members Redsand187 Posted February 7, 2009 Members Posted February 7, 2009 $5 When you say indie band, I'm assuming fully independent and trying to grow a fan base. If I go to a show and a band has an album for $5, I will buy it, even if I don't really like them. At least that way I can give them a second listen and hear them in a clean environment with proper mixing. At $10 they have to earn my second listen. At $5 a band I like I will buy at least one copy of the album, if they have more then one, I will buy one of each. I may buy more then one copy if they are decent, to pass around. At $10 I will buy the one album. That's it. If it's a band that I like I don't care. If it's a band that I'm not totally digging, for $10 dollars the CD better be TOP NOTCH. I'm talking it should be the same quality of a CD from a big band in a retail store. Chinese Democracy cost over thirteen-million-dollars ($13,000,000 look how obscene that is) to record. I paid 13 bucks for it. It came with more then a dozen great sounding songs, and like 15-20 page booklet with full artwork. If I have to spend $10 for an album you recorded in your basement with 500 bucks of recording gear. And it's in a paper sleeve with a blurry picture on it, I am going to feel like I didn't get my moneys worth. If I am head over heels for your band, I will live with it and be happy I have the songs. If I'm not totally in love with your band, I'm not going to go out of my way to catch another show, or pick up another album. If you are really serious about building a fan base the cheaper, the better. I have more free cash then most people going to shows, who are mostly teenagers. Those teenagers might be buying your album with the last 5 bucks in their pocket. I have some buddies who have a band. They took some stuff from their earlier studio sessions, pressed 1000 CD's in paper sleeves with 3 or 4 songs on it. Gave them out for FREE at shows as they toured up the west coast, in exchange for E-Mail addresses. The CD's would launch directly to their web-page when opened on a computer and ask if they wanted to bookmark. They now had 1000 new fan's email addresses from 3 states who now have access to their website, their news, their show dates. Then when their album was done, they sent out a wave of promotion online. After the album was out, they sent out another wave of promotion online for an exclusive video of their first "single." All on their web-site. They ended up selling over 2000 copies of their album for $15, and a 5-600 copies of their album digitally for $10, plus a few hundred single downloads at a buck a piece. Do the math, they made enough money that all the money they invested in the first free EP, their tour, their video, their website, their studio sessions and rehearsal space was all recouped and then some. (mind you they do have some great connections) Not to mention any part of the door they got from their shows. Which oddly enough brings up that they mostly play places for the door, or part of the door, and in doing so they normally have an unlimited guest list, at least as long as the guests are their by a certain time. So they use their mailing list and website to get fans out to their shows for free. That is the best way I have seen a fan base grow from pretty much 0 to at least a few thousand in the course of a year. It takes some investment and some work but it can be done. If you can get people interested in your music and out to your shows it's not hard to sell music and merchandise. If you only have a 5% success rate of selling someone at your show an album, what is the best and easiest way to increase your profit? Sell for higher prices, which might hurt your success rate. Try to increase your success rate with better marketing, which will in turn cost more money, and probably lower your profit. Or you stay happy with you 5% sales rate and just get as many people out to your shows so your 5% is larger number wise. I'd rather have 5% of 1000 then even 20% of 100. Moral of the story, you have to invest in growing your fan base if you ever want a shot at taking it to the next level. (Whichever level it is you are shooting for)
Members pjrake Posted February 7, 2009 Members Posted February 7, 2009 I have some buddies who have a band. They took some stuff from their earlier studio sessions, pressed 1000 CD's in paper sleeves with 3 or 4 songs on it. Gave them out for FREE at shows as they toured up the west coast, in exchange for E-Mail addresses. The CD's would launch directly to their web-page when opened on a computer and ask if they wanted to bookmark. They now had 1000 new fan's email addresses from 3 states who now have access to their website, their news, their show dates. Then when their album was done, they sent out a wave of promotion online. After the album was out, they sent out another wave of promotion online for an exclusive video of their first "single." All on their web-site. that is a great idea! we had a gig last night and another band was selling their CD for $10 and onstage they mentioned that one of the CD contains $50 in cash! lol i thought that was pretty innovative. -PJ
Members richardmac Posted February 7, 2009 Members Posted February 7, 2009 that is a great idea! we had a gig last night and another band was selling their CD for $10 and onstage they mentioned that one of the CD contains $50 in cash! lol i thought that was pretty innovative. -PJ I agree - for a touring band, starting out, that IS a great idea. Once you've got an actual CD to sell, you probably don't want to give them the option of something free... UNLESS you give them a 2-4 song preview of your NEXT CD free with the purchase of your current CD. But then how do you get their e-mail address? The $50 trick is fine as long as you sell a whole bunch of CD's. If I tried that stunt at one of my little gigs, I'd be out $40...
Members bostonwal Posted February 8, 2009 Members Posted February 8, 2009 The $50 trick is fine as long as you sell a whole bunch of CD's. If I tried that stunt at one of my little gigs, I'd be out $40... But only if they chose the lucky CD to purchase! (I recommend you have more than a stack of 2 CDs to select from...)
Members Poker99 Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 The CD's would launch directly to their web-page when opened on a computer and ask if they wanted to bookmark. How do you do that?!
Members the stranger Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 2) If you have a larger fanbase then I would go with $15 or $20. If I was a big fan and the band was asking 15/20 bucks for a CD at the show, I would turn around and walk away. The cost of distribution was totally eliminated. That price would be out of line.
Members the stranger Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 I went from charging $10 for my CD to charging $5 and I sold four times as many copies. Bingo. You sold ten copies at $10 a piece. You made a hundred dollars. You sold forty copies at $5 a piece. You made two hundred dollars. Which makes more sense? And why can't the music industry figure this out?
Members pjrake Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 How do you do that?! +1. we give out samples at our gigs also, and it would be a great idea to have our site launched when they insert a CD to a computer. does anybody know how it's done? i looked at some autorun creator programs but it's a bit confusing. -PJ
Members Poker99 Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 Bingo.You sold ten copies at $10 a piece. You made a hundred dollars.You sold forty copies at $5 a piece. You made two hundred dollars.Which makes more sense? And why can't the music industry figure this out? Because producing a major album costs a lot more money than indies releases. Why can't you figure this out?
Members dildo Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 +1. we give out samples at our gigs also, and it would be a great idea to have our site launched when they insert a CD to a computer. i know you're trying, but what you're trying to do isn't what you think you're trying to do.
Members the stranger Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 Because producing a major album costs a lot more money than indies releases. Why can't you figure this out? The fact they wasted all that money is their fault. Why can't you figure this out?
Members pjrake Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 i know you're trying, but what you're trying to do isn't what you think you're trying to do. ? -PJ
Members Poker99 Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 The fact they wasted all that money is their fault. Why can't you figure this out? When you'll produce an indie album that sounds as good, and sell as good as major releases, get back at me. Until then,
Members dildo Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 When you'll produce an indie album that sounds as good, and sell as good as major releases, get back at me. Until then, the major releases, whose sales are trending towards zero?
Members dildo Posted February 9, 2009 Members Posted February 9, 2009 ?-PJ you think you're trying to promote your music but what you are really trying to do is annoy your listeners so they will never think of ever purchasing another cd, when all it's going to do is stick them on the web, where they can download all music for free.
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