datamusicata

So we last talked about cutting costs and actually making money from your gigs. And one of the things that we addressed was how important it is to own your own CD’s.

I have a few CD’s released on Beachwood Recordings that while the copyright is owned by Beachwood, the albums are shared fifty fifty with the artist, or in one case with the person who funded it. These CD’s require careful and timely bookkeeping in order to stay current and legal with my partners.

Now if you decide that you have put together enough songs, either written by you, or arranged by you in such a way as to make them unique enough for other people to actually want to hear them when you are not there, then it is time to make a CD.

This is a new world and a new paradigm, so don’t expect to sell hundreds of thousands of CD’s. For the most part, you will probably sell the most CD’s at your gigs. Sort of a souvenir of the evening, so be sure to sing all or most of the songs from the CD. That insures that you will sell the most CD’s, provided, of course that you can actually perform that at a level of expertise that would warrant that kind of response from an audient. You know, be good enough that people actually want to take your music home.

So I’m going to assume that you are not a complete dilletante and actually perform live and have garnered a mailing list for yourself. An email list is cheaper to maintain, but no one sticks an email to their refrigerator with one of those little magnets, so you have to send out numerous posts to remind folks. Just don’t send them out so frequently that people just see your addy and hit the delete button.

But this mailing list is the first place to go to raise your funds. I did a live album in 1985 that was the start of Beachwood Recordings. The way that I funded it was to invite folks to the show (which they paid to attend) and then mention at the show that we were recording this performance for release later as a live CD. I offered to let them pay for a copy in advance, and I explained that this live recording would be unique in that they are actually on it with me. Their laughter and their applause and, if they are not well bred, their comments in the form of heckling or whatever would all be preserved on this recording.

Twenty six people ordered the CD in advance.

And they got to forgo the shipping and handling charges by virtue of their faith and trust in me that such a recording, though not presently in existence, would in the future, be there, and they would get a copy.

Next I went to my mailing list and created a charming plea for preorders and I decided to sign and number the first five hundred. This became the other selling point, besides their extremely high regard for my obvious gifts, of course. There were only going to be five hundred of these signed and numbered babies...exclusivity is always appealing to the discerning listener, and let’s face it. Those are the only kind I have.

From my five hundred and sixty person mailing list, I got three hundred orders for the album. Now do the math. 326 X 15 = 4890.

Next, I booked myself everywhere I possibly could and did the same show at all the places, in an effort to hone the show and have it be something that worked consistently enough to be a successful recording. You really need to put your ego aside here and admit what isn’t happening and get rid of it. That’s a toughy. Perhaps you have a friend or colleague who is more honest than diplomatic?

Now you are ready to record a live CD, which is the least expensive kind of recording to make. No mixing, you re recording, just editing out the dead wood and mastering.

This album is a live CD, so the cost of recording it for me was just my eight track hauled down to the venue and someone to set it up and run it. I found a wonderful fellow who actually volunteered to do it for free. And he not only knew what he was doing, he did a great job doing it. It’s important to ascertain that the person recording your live show knows what they are doing, otherwise you are back to square one, trying to put the whole thing together all over again.

I edited the album myself on my eight track, (something that you won’t have to do if you are recording it into a computer as a stereo mix) and mixed it down to two tracks and then paid a fellow a hundred bucks to master it. Then I manufactured it and had money left over, as well as almost two hundred copies to sell at other gigs.

I never had to account to backers as the backers had their reward in their own signed and numbered copy, which they paid for.

First go to the folks that believe in you and try to raise the money by this method. Then when you sell all the live CD’s you have, the next batch will cost even less to manufacture and you start putting some money aside from the sale of each CD to pay for the recording of the next one.

You make yourself a recording fund and you don’t touch it except for that. And you can go to that mailing list again to presell the next one and raise more money which goes into that fund. And if you have been diligent, your mailing list is now much larger than it was because you’ve been collecting names all along this process at every live gig.

By the way, never, never harvest other people’s lists. It’s a wast of time. You want people who like what you do and want to know about you. They are the ones who would come forward and help you make the next one.

And you can do special things for the next mailing, like a drawing from the folks that prepay and you do a house concert at their home for 25 of their friends for free. Give them something truly special that only you can provide. It will make you both feel great and it works.

So start with with a live recording and you are on your way.