Members Standard8 Posted January 9, 2008 Members Posted January 9, 2008 My band is recording right now. Our album will have about 20 tracks. It will be a full 74 minutes or so. Will be ready and finished in March. Our idea: 1: Make 200 physical discs with artwork to send out to media and sell a few show to show (Print more as needed) 2: Find an online distribution method that includes I-Tunes (because they are the most popular) and Amazon for people that want physical discs and keep us on top of Google when searched. 3: Set up our own website with plenty of gigs of bandwidth to be able to sell the MP3s and merchandise direct. Would hate to sell $1000 worth of songs and find out we owe an additional $500 for overused bandwidth!!!! #2 is the one that is new for all of us. What is my next step? What can Tunecore do? I understand there is a fee for the uploads, but no commission taken from the sales. And I've read tunecore has "close relationship" with Itunes, what exactly is the nature of this relationship? Uploading on Tunecore makes us available on Itunes? What is the fee to setup with Tunecore? Is the price set or do we have a say-so in the price of the music? If Tunecore distributes the music to suchandsuch.com to sell, then suchandsuch takes a cut but tunecore does not take a cut? Is there a link so I can see in black and white how all of this stuff works? Ideally, we'd distribute it all ourselves, but we don't have links and connections all over the world to distribute it. Why cant' we just sell it at our own website? what's the upside of a dist. co like tunecore? Thanks! I have 100 more questions for every answer...
Members strathound Posted January 9, 2008 Members Posted January 9, 2008 #2 is the one that is new for all of us. What is my next step? What can Tunecore do? I understand there is a fee for the uploads, but no commission taken from the sales. And I've read tunecore has "close relationship" with Itunes, what exactly is the nature of this relationship? Uploading on Tunecore makes us available on Itunes? What is the fee to setup with Tunecore? Is the price set or do we have a say-so in the price of the music? If Tunecore distributes the music to suchandsuch.com to sell, then suchandsuch takes a cut but tunecore does not take a cut? Checkout this thread: http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1800305 My last post in there asks similar questions about the TuneCore annual fee. People rave about CDBaby. TuneCore is relatively new and I'm trying to understand exactly what they bring to the table as well. I love the idea. I would use it today if I understood it better. I have three songs I wrote with my last band that I'd like to make available on iTunes. But since the band is defunct, it'll never sell enough to justify an annual fee. It would just be a feather in my cap to say it was out there. The guy from TuneCore is a member here. Hopefully he'll elaborate.
Members strathound Posted January 9, 2008 Members Posted January 9, 2008 Here's the information on the TuneCore fees: http://www.tunecore.com/index/faq#Fees
Members elsongs Posted January 10, 2008 Members Posted January 10, 2008 Make a music video and put it on YouTube. Seriously. The nature of YouTube lets people hear your song without copying/downloading it, since it's part f the flash file and is relatively lo-fi.
Members PeterTuneCore Posted January 10, 2008 Members Posted January 10, 2008 My band is recording right now. Our album will have about 20 tracks. It will be a full 74 minutes or so. Will be ready and finished in March. Our idea:1: Make 200 physical discs with artwork to send out to media and sell a few show to show (Print more as needed)2: Find an online distribution method that includes I-Tunes (because they are the most popular) and Amazon for people that want physical discs and keep us on top of Google when searched. 3: Set up our own website with plenty of gigs of bandwidth to be able to sell the MP3s and merchandise direct. Would hate to sell $1000 worth of songs and find out we owe an additional $500 for overused bandwidth!!!! #2 is the one that is new for all of us. What is my next step? What can Tunecore do? I understand there is a fee for the uploads, but no commission taken from the sales. And I've read tunecore has "close relationship" with Itunes, what exactly is the nature of this relationship? Uploading on Tunecore makes us available on Itunes? What is the fee to setup with Tunecore? Is the price set or do we have a say-so in the price of the music? If Tunecore distributes the music to suchandsuch.com to sell, then suchandsuch takes a cut but tunecore does not take a cut? Is there a link so I can see in black and white how all of this stuff works? Ideally, we'd distribute it all ourselves, but we don't have links and connections all over the world to distribute it. Why cant' we just sell it at our own website? what's the upside of a dist. co like tunecore?Thanks! I have 100 more questions for every answer... Luckily, I spent several weeks of my life writing a 48-page FAQ that answers every single question (chicken, egg, got that covered): http://www.tunecore.com/index/faq Here's the short and quick: --That's what we do, we digitally distribute music (among many other wonderful services), so yes, you can get your music on iTunes and AmazonMP3 and many more. --There's a fee: our rates are $0.99 a track (one time), $0.99 for each store you want the album in (one time), and $19.98 per year. Sounds like your album will run you about $35 to start. After a year in the stores, it'll be $19.98 more, and so on. --AmazonMP3 lets you pick price, at iTunes it's $9.99--for now! Many changes happening, especially in Europe, watch the news and keep an eye on us as we adjust accordingly. --Sure, the stores take a cut. You'll see precisely how on our FAQ. Whatever they pay out, however, TuneCore does NOT take a cut. It's the wholesale model. Again, the FAQ has it all in black-and-white. Thanks! --Peterpeter@tunecore.com
Members PeterTuneCore Posted January 10, 2008 Members Posted January 10, 2008 Checkout this thread:http://acapella.harmony-central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1800305My last post in there asks similar questions about the TuneCore annual fee. People rave about CDBaby. TuneCore is relatively new and I'm trying to understand exactly what they bring to the table as well. I love the idea. I would use it today if I understood it better. I have three songs I wrote with my last band that I'd like to make available on iTunes. But since the band is defunct, it'll never sell enough to justify an annual fee. It would just be a feather in my cap to say it was out there.The guy from TuneCore is a member here. Hopefully he'll elaborate. Remember, that annual fee isn't MANDATORY. Put your music up in iTunes for a year. If, after 12 months, it sells even THREE MEASLY TIMES, then you've made enough to justify another year. If it's not selling at all, just don't pay, it'll come down, no fees, no penalty. I won't use this forum to tout how much TuneCore brings to the table--it's a lot. Most of all, it's fair: we do what we say for a flat fee, no secret hidden costs, and we don't take your rights or any of your money if it does sell. Anyone who's been in the music business will tell you a fair deal is so rare it ought to be frozen in carbonite for posterity. The rest of what we bring is a huge list, including marketing, free stuff, contests, all free. Do visit our site to see. --Peter (the Star Wars geek)peter@tunecore.com
Members PeterTuneCore Posted January 10, 2008 Members Posted January 10, 2008 Make a music video and put it on YouTube. Seriously. The nature of YouTube lets people hear your song without copying/downloading it, since it's part f the flash file and is relatively lo-fi. ABSOLUTELY! This is GREAT advice. We've seen sales SKYROCKET for people who do this. And you can even use TuneCore to put your music video up for sale on iTunes, if you want. --Peterpeter@tunecore.com
Members strathound Posted January 10, 2008 Members Posted January 10, 2008 If, after 12 months, it sells even THREE MEASLY TIMES, then you've made enough to justify another year. Thanks for responding Peter. I'm not trying to poke holes in your business plan. In fact, I want businesses like yours to succeed. I know you've probably put a LOT of time and effort into this. And if it pans out, you will be helping independent musicians break the choke hold of the record companies. So I salute your efforts. My question is really about my own personal situation. I've got three tracks. We're getting a fair amount of play on ReverbNation. We've earned about $7 over there so far for the amount of traffic we've generated. Now I want to make those tracks available on iTunes. I could just burn a 3 song CD and upload to CDBaby. That's what I'm leaning towards right now. But I'd like to give your service a shot. But 3 songs won't sell for $10. So in reality, I'd have to sell 20 individual songs each year to just to break even. Yes, this isn't that many. But from what I've heard from other artists that aren't getting much press, they typically sell 5 to 10 a year. You could argue that these songs don't belong on iTunes. And that's fine. But what I'm trying to point out to you is there is a business need out there not being met that you could fulfill. What if you charged me $100 for one song? You upload it. It stays there forever. I might pay that, just for the novelty of saying I'm out on iTunes or Napster or whatever. Depends on what it would cost elsewhere. I know some people will think I'm crazy. But I'd like these tunes to live on. You are selling hope. I **hope** that someone might hear the songs and want to hear more. If that's not a market you want to get into, I understand. Just wanted to throw that out there. Good luck. Anybody know how long songs on CDBaby stay on iTunes?
Members Standard8 Posted January 11, 2008 Author Members Posted January 11, 2008 That's a great FAQ link and I've sent it to my bandmates. Also love the YouTube angle, so simple and effective but somehow overlooked. Definately going to do that. What's the key to getting physical discs sold on Amazon? I know Tunecore gets you on MP3, but that's a different thing. Does anyone know how to go about doing that? My understanding is Amazon is basically a broker and you are buying the CD from an independent vendor. I guess find one of those Vendors and talk him into buying some of your CDs?
Members PeterTuneCore Posted January 11, 2008 Members Posted January 11, 2008 I could just burn a 3 song CD and upload to CDBaby. That's what I'm leaning towards right now. But I'd like to give your service a shot. But 3 songs won't sell for $10. So in reality, I'd have to sell 20 individual songs each year to just to break even. Yes, this isn't that many. I hear you, Strathound, but given how much it takes to get into CD Baby, I don't see how the math works. It costs far more to get your album into CD Baby up front than TuneCore--and even more if you don't have your own UPC going in. At least, that's when I last checked at CD Baby--I do NOT speak for them! Check it out, and as always, go with what's best for you. CD Baby is a very different company is a lot of ways! If what they offer is right for you, don't hesitate! I'm certain they're great to work with. --Peterpeter@tunecore.com
Members richardmac Posted January 21, 2008 Members Posted January 21, 2008 I'm about ready to put out my third CD and I was looking at Tunecore vs. CDBaby and trying to figure out which to go with. So I did sort of a cost comparison over a 5 year period. If I want to have a 10 song CD up on both iTunes and Rhapsody for 5 years, according to my math, the breakeven point where both CDBaby and Tunecore meet is about 633 individual song downloads. If I expect more than 633 downloads, Tunecore is cheaper. If I expect less, CDBaby is cheaper. So if I'm going to sell more than 126 songs per year, Tunecore will be more cost effective. To round the math, that means selling like 63 CD's over a 5 year period. My conclusion? For anyone planning on selling a lot of music, Tunecore seems cheaper. For someone putting out a vanity CD, CDBaby is cheaper. Just my two cents. I will comment, though, that I have used CDBaby in the past and they are outstanding to work with. And in a way it's apples and oranges because CDBaby does sell physical CD's for you also.
Members PeterTuneCore Posted January 21, 2008 Members Posted January 21, 2008 I'm about ready to put out my third CD and I was looking at Tunecore vs. CDBaby and trying to figure out which to go with. So I did sort of a cost comparison over a 5 year period. If I want to have a 10 song CD up on both iTunes and Rhapsody for 5 years, according to my math, the breakeven point where both CDBaby and Tunecore meet is about 633 individual song downloads. If I expect more than 633 downloads, Tunecore is cheaper. If I expect less, CDBaby is cheaper. So if I'm going to sell more than 126 songs per year, Tunecore will be more cost effective.To round the math, that means selling like 63 CD's over a 5 year period. My conclusion? For anyone planning on selling a lot of music, Tunecore seems cheaper. For someone putting out a vanity CD, CDBaby is cheaper.Just my two cents.I will comment, though, that I have used CDBaby in the past and they are outstanding to work with. And in a way it's apples and oranges because CDBaby does sell physical CD's for you also. Of course, TuneCore will do physicals for you too! So it's getting closer to apples-to-apples. There are other factors than the math, of course, but you're right: if this is pure vanity and you never intend to sell something, but nevertheless you want your music in the stores for years and years, other models might work for you. But it's still cheaper to set up and get started with TuneCore, and you don't have to keep it in for years and years, you can stop any time, no charge. --Peterpeter@tunecore.com
Members wezman2k Posted January 27, 2008 Members Posted January 27, 2008 there is no "black and white" do what you do to get your music out there.
Members DeveryHarper Posted January 27, 2008 Members Posted January 27, 2008 Another thing I would do is purchase this book here. It is an invaluable resource that can show you who to contact to review you CD, play your CD on radio stations, etc. It has contacts all over the world. It is worth the measly $30 USD!
Members indistr Posted January 27, 2008 Members Posted January 27, 2008 INDISTR.com, is always a FREE service to host your music and sell it digitally on our site. We pay out 75%, INSTANTLY to the artists (through paypal) and let you set the album price for what you'd like the album to sell for. Please let me know if any of you have any questions, and please be sure to check it out. www.indistr.com Thanks everybody!!! Kevin Hockin Kevin@indistr.com
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