Watch Me As I Record And Sell 1 Million Albums!

[bcolburn]

There's only ONE I can think of, and it has nothing to do with music: http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

[ermghoti II]

It's been 6 days 23 hours since your OP. If you haven't sold 19,070 albums, you're behind schedule.

[tacdryver]

Ah, just what the world needs; yet another person who completely believes something to the extent that they feel empowered to persuade others to completely believe something, when they have nothing to back up that belief.

 

You mean like religion, politics, clubs, organizations, cults, sales, an idea for an invention....

[Surrealistic]

You mean like religion, politics, clubs, organizations, cults, sales, an idea for an invention....

Yep, something like that, especially for the first two you mentioned. Not sure to which kinds of "organizations" and "clubs" you're referring though. As for inventions - no idea what you mean by this. Over here in Europe we don't typically get inventors coming on like snake-oil salesmen ... maybe you do in the US of A?

[ckoehler]

I am in a similar situation. 37, married and three kids. I was only shooting for selling 10K to start with and will be very happy to just make a living at it.

 

As far as selling a million, go for it. But I'd love to see it happen.

 

Just keep your head up and don't let all the dudes pissing on your parade bother you, instead use it to your advantage.

[Poker99]

 

I am in a similar situation. 37, married and three kids. I was only shooting for selling 10K to start with and will be very happy to just make a living at it.

 

 

ONLY 10k!?

 

I hope to sell between 300 and 1000k this year... 10K is quite a high goal.

[Dancebass]

Hee hee, "sell" music? You guys crack me up.

[ckoehler]

 

ONLY 10k!? I hope to sell between 300 and 1000k this year... 10K is quite a high goal.

 

I should clarify. 10k eventually (18-24 months). For me, 1k doesn't seem hard since I feel - and get the feeling from many others - that my tunes are strong and if I work my ass off, network effectively and expand my market which I am doing already. I am almost done with my CD and with word of mouth, a modest amount of gigging (3-5 shows a month), help from family members and a little online networking, I would say I will sell about 200-300 out of the shoot.

 

Anyway, sitting here on a forum talking about it isn't gonna get it done, so I will get back to work.

[Poker99]

Do you mean 10 000 copies or 10 000$ ?

[ckoehler]

 

Do you mean 10 000 copies or 10 000$ ?

 

 

Copies! Bottom line. It isn't gonna happen by sitting around thinking about all the reasons why you can't do it. It is much more effective thinking about ways you can, and then putting them into action.

 

The great thing about the gentleman who started the thread is the fact that he is at the very least looking at how he can do it.

 

Let me ask you this, who will be farther along when the year ends?

 

a) the guy who is contemplating on how to sell a million and then taking action.

b) the guy who is sitting in the forum thinking of reason why he and everyone else can't.

[Poker99]

answer B

[Blackwatch]

 

Let me ask you this, who will be farther along when the year ends? a) the guy who is contemplating on how to sell a million and then taking action. b) the guy who is sitting in the forum thinking of reason why he and everyone else can't.

 

 

Well how's this....

 

My dream is to walk to the moon....I believe strongly that it can be done.

 

Now is that noble or just naive?

 

And I also believe that I have as much a chance of doing it as the OP has selling a million records....

[ckoehler]

 

answer B

 

 

I figured that!

[ckoehler]

 

Well how's this.... My dream is to walk to the moon....I believe strongly that it can be done. Now is that noble or just naive? And I also believe that I have as much a chance of doing it as the OP has selling a million records....

 

 

There is a great quote by Henry Ford - "Whether you think you can or think you can't you are probably right."

[daddymack]

a) the guy who is contemplating on how to sell a million and then taking action. b) the guy who is sitting in the forum thinking of reason why he and everyone else can't.

c) the guy who has the right material and the right connections to get his product infront of enough people to get media attention.

 

Here's what I failed to see from the OP, but I am giving him a place to explain here: what is the plan?

not the pie in the sky plan, the real PLAN...budgets and schedules...the recording budget, teh studio time, the replication time, the promotional budget, teh release party, ...well, hopefully you get the picture...this isn't just going to magically happen because he records a dozen songs.

[ckoehler]

c) the guy who has the right material and the right connections to get his product infront of enough people to get media attention. Here's what I failed to see from the OP, but I am giving him a place to explain here: what is the plan? not the pie in the sky plan, the real PLAN ...budgets and schedules...the recording budget, teh studio time, the replication time, the promotional budget, teh release party, ...well, hopefully you get the picture...this isn't just going to magically happen because he records a dozen songs.

 

Now that is a reply! What he said!

[BlueStrat]

 

a) the guy who is contemplating on how to sell a million and then taking action. b) the guy who is sitting in the forum thinking of reason why he and everyone else can't.

So far, the guy contemplating how to sell a million albums hasn't gotten past the contemplation stage, so I'd have to go with B.

 

And FWIW, I believe in goals. But I believe in realistic ones. Selling 10k records in 2 years is going t be really hard to pull off.

 

When I did my first CD, it was with a well established band (8 years together before we recorded). It was 1998, before everyone and their Cocker Spaniel had a CD out. We had a lot of fans and sold 1500 CDs in about 18 months.That was with gigging hard, playing festivals, getting a national magazine writeup, airplay on some fairly large stations (50k watts ) in places like Portland, Seattle, California, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, and selling CDs overseas. I even got picked up by a hard copy distributor, Burnside Records in Portland, OR. And what I learned is that it s hard t sell a lot of CDs when no one knows who you are and you aren't touring your ass off to get to the next level.

 

I could be wrong, but I don't even think guys like the Woods Brothers are selling 10k CDs a year, and they're touring nationally.

 

I don't set sales goals anymore. I make CDs (I've made 3 more since that first one). The first 3 are sold out and I only have about 120 left out of 1150 of my last one. That means I've sold somewhere around 4500 since 1999. Some weeks I sell 2 or 3, some weeks none. Which is fine. I'm grateful today for anyone who buys any of my CDs.

 

I got tired of constantly promoting myself. After awhile, I started feeling like it was all about me me me, all the time. Subtly, everything becomes all about how everything I do can benefit me financially, from the people I chose to be friends with to the places I played to the musicians I'd play with to...well, I'm sure you get it. I stopped looking at people as potentials friends and started seeing them as potential contacts, and if they couldn't help me, I had no time for them. I was no better than an Amway salesman.

 

Turns out, that's a pretty {censored}ty way to live, but if you're going to sell what you've set a goal to sell, it's how you'll have to live, because promoting yourself will be almost a full time job. Maybe you'll get lucky, but if you're 37 and married with 3 kids, I don't think you'll be touring an awful lot (correct me if I'm wrong), and it isn't going to take you very long to saturate your local area with a thousand or so CDs. And I wouldn't count on digital downloads or online CD sales. I sold like 10 CDs a months for a few years at CD Baby. It thought that was awful, but they told me I was in the top 20% or so of sellers. WTF? Digital, I'm on itunes, Rhapsody. Amazon.com, Music Match, and a few others, and I'm lucky to pull in 10 bucks a month. I'm competing with literally tens of millions of people trying to sell their music, and the number is growing every day.

 

Not trying to be a downer, just a realist. The world of full of guys like us who are married with kids and don't really have a realistic idea of what selling 10k records involves, let alone a million. We're not in a position to tour, not even part time. The best I coukld do is do min i-tours and get an agent who gets me into weekend festivals, concerts and events within a 300 mile radius. But from the comfort of the home, playing local hometown gigs where everyone tells you how good you are, it sounds so easy when you haven't done it. Who knows, maybe you'll get lucky.

 

But wtf do I know?

 

Here's an article I read last fall that put it in perspective: (continued)

[BlueStrat]

October 7, 2009 4:08 PM PDT

Selling CDs is no way to make a living

 

by Matt Rosoff

Back in the late 1980s when Jane's Addiction was in its prime, I saw an interview where front man Perry Farrell was asked about sales figures for their albums. His response: "If I wanted to sell records, I'd work in a record store." He knew that the key to success was touring, which the band did almost incessantly for about three years.

 

Flash forward 20 years, and it's harder than ever for artists to make a living selling CDs. According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, a speaker at the Future of Music Coalition gave a breakdown of album numbers that will be particularly shocking to young independent bands who hoped they'd be able to make a living selling discs. More than 115,000 new albums were released in the U.S. last year. Of those, 110 sold more than 250,000 copies in the U.S. last year--that's not such a surprise, as big stars have always been rare. But only 1,500 titles cracked the 10,000 mark, and fewer than 6,000 sold a paltry 1,000 copies.

To give you some idea what 1,000 copies means, that used to be the standard manufacturing run for self-produced CDs. Indie bands imagined that they would use a hundred or so discs for publicity--sending them to radio stations and reviewers, for instance--and then sell the rest to local fans and on tour. Selling 900 CDs at $12 a pop would gross almost $11,000, which would be enough to cover low-budget recording and manufacturing expenses and perhaps buy some new guitar pedals and drumheads. Nobody makes a living selling 1,000 CDs. (Nowadays, bands can order reasonably priced smaller runs from companies like Disc Makers, and even use manufacturing-on-demand from services like Audiolife and Amazon's CreateSpace.)

What about 10,000 discs? If you're just starting out, making over $100,000 from CD sales sounds like a dream. Of course, you have to split that money among the band members, and anybody else who gets a cut, like the producer and manager. And if you're signed to a label, you might already be that deep into the hole for your advance and recording expenses, so forget about royalties and just hope they'll pay you an advance for the next one. At 10,000 copies, you're probably getting a little radio play somewhere, so you might earn a few small paychecks from publishing royalties, and if you've got a good live act and are willing to tour endlessly, you might be able to sell more tickets than CDs over the course of a year. So perhaps 10,000 is the low-end baseline for making a living playing music.

Of the new titles released last year, almost 99 percent of them didn't sell enough copies to let their creators earn a living from CD sales, and almost 95 percent of them didn't sell enough copies to cover the most basic expenses involved in their recording.

You still think your unsigned band's good enough to be in that slim line? Remember that these figures include CDs released by well-established artists like Bob Dylan and new artists who are the lucky recipients of massive publicity pushes by major labels.

For an unknown band just starting out? Better polish those chops and gas up the van, then get ready to live on ramen noodles for a couple years. And don't worry about devaluing your recordings by selling them cheap or giving them away--worry about getting enough fans to hear them so they'll be interested in coming to your shows, and dragging a few friends with them.

[ckoehler]

 

October 7, 2009 4:08 PM PDT Selling CDs is no way to make a living by Matt Rosoff Back in the late 1980s when Jane's Addiction was in its prime, I saw an interview where front man Perry Farrell was asked about sales figures for their albums. His response: "If I wanted to sell records, I'd work in a record store." He knew that the key to success was touring, which the band did almost incessantly for about three years. Flash forward 20 years, and it's harder than ever for artists to make a living selling CDs. According to a report in the Chicago Tribune, a speaker at the Future of Music Coalition gave a breakdown of album numbers that will be particularly shocking to young independent bands who hoped they'd be able to make a living selling discs. More than 115,000 new albums were released in the U.S. last year. Of those, 110 sold more than 250,000 copies in the U.S. last year--that's not such a surprise, as big stars have always been rare. But only 1,500 titles cracked the 10,000 mark, and fewer than 6,000 sold a paltry 1,000 copies. To give you some idea what 1,000 copies means, that used to be the standard manufacturing run for self-produced CDs. Indie bands imagined that they would use a hundred or so discs for publicity--sending them to radio stations and reviewers, for instance--and then sell the rest to local fans and on tour. Selling 900 CDs at $12 a pop would gross almost $11,000, which would be enough to cover low-budget recording and manufacturing expenses and perhaps buy some new guitar pedals and drumheads. Nobody makes a living selling 1,000 CDs. (Nowadays, bands can order reasonably priced smaller runs from companies like Disc Makers , and even use manufacturing-on-demand from services like Audiolife and Amazon's CreateSpace .) What about 10,000 discs? If you're just starting out, making over $100,000 from CD sales sounds like a dream. Of course, you have to split that money among the band members, and anybody else who gets a cut, like the producer and manager. And if you're signed to a label, you might already be that deep into the hole for your advance and recording expenses, so forget about royalties and just hope they'll pay you an advance for the next one. At 10,000 copies, you're probably getting a little radio play somewhere, so you might earn a few small paychecks from publishing royalties, and if you've got a good live act and are willing to tour endlessly, you might be able to sell more tickets than CDs over the course of a year. So perhaps 10,000 is the low-end baseline for making a living playing music. Of the new titles released last year, almost 99 percent of them didn't sell enough copies to let their creators earn a living from CD sales, and almost 95 percent of them didn't sell enough copies to cover the most basic expenses involved in their recording. You still think your unsigned band's good enough to be in that slim line? Remember that these figures include CDs released by well-established artists like Bob Dylan and new artists who are the lucky recipients of massive publicity pushes by major labels. For an unknown band just starting out? Better polish those chops and gas up the van, then get ready to live on ramen noodles for a couple years. And don't worry about devaluing your recordings by selling them cheap or giving them away--worry about getting enough fans to hear them so they'll be interested in coming to your shows, and dragging a few friends with them.

 

 

Thanks for all of the advice and the time that you put into collecting this info Bluestrat. I know you mean well and I really appreciate it.

 

And who said I didn't plan on gigging and touring. I'd be shooting myself in the foot if I wasn't playing, connecting and, more importantly, creating live moments.

 

But again, what good is it sitting here contemplating how it "can't" work or how it hasn't worked for all of these other people?

 

Why not learn from the ones that are making it work this guy.

 

Here's an interview with an artist named Corey Smith. His band is on salary, he's not eat Raman noodles AND he has a family! Let's learn from him. Lets see what he's doing right and see if there is anything we can apply to our situation. Click now -> http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2009/11/podcast-spotlight-episode-76-corey-smith/

 

Sorry man, I just can't can't sit here and feel right about telling someone what they can or can't achieve. It's counterproductive.

 

Bottom line, you see limited or no opportunity and the more I read, learn, listen and experience, the more opportunity I see - more than I have the time to take advantage off.

 

P.S. I have been down the Amway saleman path. I sold my soul for awhile on that so there will be no problems going down that road again. I think I've exercised those demons!

[BlueStrat]

And who said I didn't plan on gigging and touring. I'd be shooting myself in the foot if I wasn't playing, connecting and, more importantly, creating live moments.

Can you be gone 200-300 days a year? That's what selling 10k in two years is likely going to take.

 

But again, what good is it sitting here contemplating how it "can't" work or how it hasn't worked for all of these other people?

Some guys may be contemplating, but a lot of us here aren't. We're speaking from experience, and that experience squares with many other pros and record guys who have been doing this for 30+ years. You admit yo haven't made any CDs, haven't played out for very long, yet you feel qualified to set some arbitrary number as a goal based on....what, exactly? And when someone says your goal isn't realistic in today's music climate, you go all Tony Robbins. Which is fine, but you can't seriously come into a musician's forum and announce that as a novice musician you're going to sell 1 million albums in a year, or even 10k in 2, and expect everyone to nod in agreement and think you aren't being overly optimistic, can you?

 

Here's an interview with an artist named Corey Smith.

Everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY in your shoes here has pointed to this guy as the model. He isn't the model, he's the exception. And he has a top notch management team. Everyone thinks he did it all himself, but that isn't exactly true.

 

Here's an interview with music producer Tom Silverman that talks about that:

Musician Coaching:

When I was at the New York NMS I noticed that a lot of the people in attendance were those at the many companies that now provide artist services. It seems to be there are lots of artist services businesses popping up. ReverbNation, Top Spin – there seem to be new ones every day. There are tons of services now where there never were before. I was wondering if you were fond of any of those companies and thought they had real value?

 

TS:

I am. I think they are replacing what labels and managers used to do or maybe never did, depending on what they’re doing. They’re also helping artists more simply bridge the gap between the online social world and search and all the things you’re talking about. It’s a complicated stew; you can be on 15 social sites, and there’s a question as to how important they are vs. the amount of time you spend, and how important the Web is to making your career go. I can’t think of many artists who owe their career to the Web.

When I think about the indie artists that are doing it themselves, like Sufjan Stevens or Bon Iver or this guy Corey Smith.. This is a guy from North Carolina who was a school teacher and about three years ago and his manager got him up to about a million dollars in revenues, then the next year he got him up to four million in revenues. Really, the game is how can you build your revenues, not how can you sell more records. You may not sell records at all. You may decide to give records away to get your revenues up. If your revenues go up, that’s what you care about. ... We really have a big problem in our country right now in that so few artists are breaking through, with or without a label. The promise of the Internet was that all of us would be able to make great music and get it exposed. Chris Anderson’s “Long Tail” article said that all you have to do is be able to get that record out, and they’ll come. But that’s not working.

 

Musician Coaching:

I think part of the problem is that everybody did that.

 

TS:

Well, that’s what he said, “Everybody would do it.” That’s why it’s called the “long tail.” But when you have 105,000 albums in 2008 released and 17,000 of those releases only sold one copy, and 80,000 of them sold under 100 copies, it’s a pretty depressing scene. You can’t just build it and they will come. You have to do more than that. I was going to say before that Sufjan Stevens, Bon Iver and Corey Smith are selling a significant amount – above 10,000 units – a lot of which is at their shows, and they’re not active online. They’re not Twitterheads. They didn’t break from the Internet. They broke from touring, and they had a good story, and the good story spread like wildfire through traditional media like NPR.

 

...I’ll tell you the one thing that works: if you’re great live and you bust your ass on the road, that works. And it’s the one thing that has always worked and your social network is at the show. You come to the show and everyone who comes is into the band, so they all have that in common and it’s a social network. But you can actually see them and talk to them and scream with them. There’s an excitement that happens at a gig that never happens online. ... A lot of artists think if they do a big online push that’s enough, and it’s really not enough anymore. In fact, you could probably break without any online work at all; but you can’t probably break without any offline work at all. So that’s the big myth that’s being purported. You know where the investment money’s coming from in the music business now? It’s coming from venture capitalists that are investing in businesses like Spotify or any of those artist service businesses. There must be half a billion dollars in online investment in the music business over the two years. That’s more than all the labels in the world have spent on A&R in the last five years combined – a lot more – and probably on marketing too. That’s where the money’s coming from, so they’re leading the press. So of course everybody thinks {censored} is selling because of the technology, but it’s not. That’s the hope, and where the investment’s been, but that’s not the reality. We’re really not seeing any evidence that stuff is breaking off the Web.

[BlueStrat]

Part 2...

 

There are a lot of groups that are breaking because of a big write-up on Pitchfork that leads to maybe a usage on a TV show like The Hills or something like that. People see something on TV or MTV or something like that or hear some song on MTV. The combination of that plus touring might work. If radio and print are moving towards the Internet and they can get enough reach and frequency, which has been the challenge for them so far, like the Huffington Post or maybe you can say Pitchfork. There are Pitchfork bands that consider themselves Pitchfork bands. They’re not going gold and platinum, but they’re getting booked and they’re starting to break that obscurity line.

 

And a lot of artists are really putting all their faith in that and focusing on online, but when you look at the numbers, the artists that are doing it are the ones that are doing the grinding on the road.

... we want to talk to artists about if there’s 120,000 albums that come out in a year, how do they differentiate themselves from all of them? Because clearly it’s tough. There’s such a glut, and how do I break through the glut? The best way to break through the glut if you’re limited in funds – and everyone is – is to differentiate yourself. So we talk about how do we differentiate ourselves in every one of the four important aspects that define an artist:

the songs

the recording

the image & concept

the live show

The concept is really big. It means- “what do you stand for?”

That’s why Susan Boyle sold more records in six weeks than anybody else in three years, and she wasn’t even American and had no radio play or anything. She had a story, and it was a compelling story. Anybody with a compelling story that can get that compelling story told. It is a lot easier to get exposed with a story because everyone wants to talk about and write about a compelling story. You have to have a good story.

The Live show is important too. Your live show has to be great, because so many artists are breaking from the stage now. You’re much more likely to get exposure and get a buzz if you have an unbelievable live show that makes people talk than if you have an unbelievable record. Records are not going to get radio play, because the radio stations that are left are hardly playing anything, and there’s nobody listening, especially in the rock area.

...The biggest radio hits are the ones that are more pirated. Everybody talks about peer-to-peer being a great way to expose new music. It’s not a great way, because 90% of the files being traded on peer-to-peer are the hits. It would be a much different ratio if it was a discovery tool. People aren’t using it as a discovery tool. They’re trying to get the songs that are already exposed.

 

Sorry man, I just can't can't sit here and feel right about telling someone what they can or can't achieve. It's counterproductive.

You seem to be telling everyone here exactly what you can achieve. not knocking it, just sayin'.

 

Bottom line, you see limited or no opportunity and the more I read, learn, listen and experience, the more opportunity I see - more than I have the time to take advantage off.

That's great, as long as the "opportunity" you see isn't based on wishful thinking or ignorance of how the business really works.

 

And I'll add one more thing, and you probably aren't going to like it, but I checked out your myspace page and though you're a pleasant enough singer, I didn't hear anything that really stands out. You sound good enough to get hometown gigs, but your songs aren't great, your playing isn't great, your voice didn't hit me as being unique or strong, and your picture doesn't present much of a look that's marketable. All of those things are vital to setting yourself apart. I'm not saying you're bad; you aren't. You're good, at least on the second song (though it did sound pretty "hootie-ish"). But so are a million other guys. You gotta be, like the article I posted said, a stand-out. I'm not sure what you have going on is going to be worth taking off down the road trying to make a career of it at your age

with a wife and 3 kids at home.

 

Just my opinion. Take it for what it's worth. Sorry if I sound like a dick; not trying to be. I just don't think you do anyone a favor by being less than honest with them.

 

I realize I could be completely full of {censored}!

 

[soundwave106]

I think the key takeaway is, why is the focus on how many CDs you can sell? That's the wrong model for a musician... that's thinking in 1970s / 1980s terms.

 

The model today is, how many fans can you get at a show? Can you get to the point where, in a year or two, you can guarantee a venue owner in a wide range of towns, that you'll get, say, a hundred people or so to show up fairly consistently? You've probably get decent pocket change at that level. From there you can drive other things.

 

That's a more realistic goal. Takes quite a large amount of work, and you have to have a good product. But it's somewhat more realistic.

 

Record stores are becoming passe. Not many people randomly buy things online either. You'll find that most CD sales come at shows. Or from networks of people you know. CDs are just one element of merch.

 

Don't forget to include some covers in your set either -- these are often the "hook" into your original stuff. Many people won't give a {censored} until they hear something familiar. Then they will give you a chance. There are probably other ways to "hook" listeners, of course... just getting up there on stage and singing isn't enough.

[ckoehler]

Part 2... I realize I could be completely full of {censored}!

 

We all could be!

 

On the songs, they are demos. Not the finished product. They may not be the best but they are a start. However, they sound a hell of a lot better now than they did when they were collecting dust in a binder in the basement as I sat around - listening and believing advice similar to yours - wondering what it would be like if I followed the muse.

 

My first goal was to get in the recording studio and playin front of people. I've done both and things are really falling into place. So I figure why not make another one like sell 10k and see how far I can take this.

 

And you are correct in saying that my songwriting isn't the greatest, but it will get better because I am working on it. As far as looking or sounding "special," I can point to a lot of successful artists that would fit into that category.

 

Thank you for the critique. It give's insight as to what I need to work on.

 

Anyway, i am sure we could go on about this forever. It would be a waste of time. You'll just keep looking for stop signs and I'll just keep looking for green lights.

 

Have a good one!

[ckoehler]

 

I think the key takeaway is, why is the focus on how many CDs you can sell? That's the wrong model for a musician... that's thinking in 1970s / 1980s terms. The model today is, how many fans can you get at a show? Can you get to the point where, in a year or two, you can guarantee a venue owner in a wide range of towns, that you'll get, say, a hundred people or so to show up fairly consistently? You've probably get decent pocket change at that level. From there you can drive other things. That's a more realistic goal. Takes quite a large amount of work, and you have to have a good product. But it's somewhat more realistic. Record stores are becoming passe. Not many people randomly buy things online either. You'll find that most CD sales come at shows. Or from networks of people you know. CDs are just one element of merch. Don't forget to include some covers in your set either -- these are often the "hook" into your original stuff. Many people won't give a {censored} until they hear something familiar. Then they will give you a chance. There are probably other ways to "hook" listeners, of course... just getting up there on stage and singing isn't enough.

 

 

I agree. 10k just kind of represents/symbolizes (for me) all of what you said because I will not get there without all of that. I want to share my tune in the hope they help people feel better about things. I also love the connections I've made with people because of what I am doing. All of it is much more rewarding than (actually beats the hell out of) going to a job that, other than provide a pay check every, is empty and unfullfilling.

 

Bottom line, its been a long journey getting to the point where i finally know this is what I was meant to do and I am going to learn and do whatever to make sure I will be able to do it as much as possible, for as long as possible.

 

Thanks!

[BlueStrat]

 

Anyway, i am sure we could go on about this forever. It would be a waste of time. You'll just keep looking for stop signs and I'll just keep looking for green lights.

Actually, I'm looking at working smart. Green lights are great unless you're cruising down the wrong street. As Soundwave said, the answer to success in music is not in selling CDs anymore, yet you seem unwilling to let go of that notin an insist on clinging to a arbitrary number. You can devote (and waste, IMO) a lot of time and energy promoting a CD that likely isn't going to sell in large quantities no matter how good you are or how hard you promote it. You would do better to work on putting together a killer show, getting a decent group, writing some great songs, finding a pro agent, and hitting the road.

 

How do you think I arrived at the conclusions I have?

 

I do agree with one thing, though- discussing this with you is a waste of time. You have your rose colored glasses on.

 

Say hi to Tony Robbins!