PROMOTION, MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION DISCUSSION

This thread comes from a discussion in Killer Jams.

Here is a copy of the starting points for reference:

Promotion.

Not just how to promote your tracks but why you promote them.

We all make music because we essentially have the need within us.....and that is reason enough....but also we like to share it.

We then reach the point where we make decisions for ourselves whether to sell tracks or albums or just allow free downloads. We will all have different views on this and go our own way.
My way is to specifically designate my best tracks for an album (although it is now possible to release singles) and release them for sale via digital distribution. I will still give away a copy of the album to trusted sources for review and appraisal as I did with the Stargazer tracks.
The Stargazer album and two Global Trancemission albums are currently on sale on i-Tunes (US, Canada and Europe),Amazon Mp3, Napster,E-Music and other major sites.......and I do make enough sales to cover the cost of releasing further material so its worthwhile as well as satisfying.

That covers the Why....but the How to promote your tracks is a much bigger issue.
OMD's are a waste of time and effort for this with virtually zero returns. They do not get your music out to the public.....only other musicians who are only there to push their own music so the best you will get is feedback.

Many people use MySpace but I have never found it to work very well. Its still more about networking than promotion and you will mainly find that other artists just want to add you on their fan list.

Running your own Website can work but you then have the job of getting people to visit and listen which means promoting the website and your music.....its hard work.

YouTube videos can work but its very hit and miss....but they do reach the public.

Internet radio plays also is another way.

Are there better ways than this? Tell me if you know any............there probably are other ways.

Another question though............Is there anything we can do as a community???

Would a FOS website work with our tracks and links on it just as a kind of showcase.

I have an account with lots of unused webspace and its easy to get a domain up and running and I can build websites with flash players........or even use those embedded from Soundcloud. Or maybe even a Blog. Or a Podcast.....I have never tried one of those Smile

So there you are..........a host of ideas to perhaps get you thinking.

Incidentally I should point out that promotion ideas can apply equally to free downloads....its not just about selling your tracks but more about getting interest in your music for whatever reason.

All depends if you want to promote or if you are happy with the way things are....your choice.

Firstly .......DISTRIBUTION.....which is something that we have more or less got covered.

These days you have to get your music into the main digital outlets if you want to sell your tracks.
Why sell.....well what I am going to say may sound crazy but I have found that its easier to sell tracks than it is to give them away. That sounds insane but I have sold more than I have gotten people to DL for free.....and I think its because if you give it away too freely then people think it has no value. I even get paid very tiny amounts for people who just listen to my tracks on some sites.....hey it's all money.

So...... I use CD Baby and Z has used Tunecore to do this. There is not too much difference between these but I still believe that CD Baby is the best.
Why....No yearly fee......You can sell Downloads from their site and physical CD's....and they will work with Kunaki if you go that route.

Having said that there are other distributors popping up with similar deals to Tunecore.

One I found today looks very interesting but their pricing is quite complicated
http://www.dittomusic.com/

If you have any questions about distribution then ask away as I don't intend to go too deep into this as I am sure that you can work out what you feel is the best way but without any doubt you will need it to get your tracks out to the general public

Lets talk about Promotion and Marketing.

OK....just need to mention that there are sites out there that you can pay to take care of this for you. While I am sure some are genuine I find this a very dubious prospect and the charges are very high. It could work for someone who is prepared to invest money into an artist but there is no guaranteed return. As we are all poor struggling artists ( well I am ) I think that is all I need to say about that.

So we must do whatever we can ourselves and look at what options we have. Some of this I have already mentioned but lets have another look:

OMD's...... We all started at this point and by now we all know that while they are useful for feedback and contact with other artists they will not produce sales or get you any public interest.

Distributors....Mostly just used to get your tracks in the right places but CD Baby does give you a good page to sell from selling both CD's and Downloads including single track downloads from their site which does have a good customer base.

Social Networking.......Not something that I have tried much. MySpace has never done much for me and I have never tried promoting on Facebook or Twitter. Maybe something that needs further exploration as some people seem to do it.

Now we get to the interesting DIY ideas :

Websites: I have my own websites for GT and Darkstarcruiser as you all know but they do not sell tracks directly. They are used to get people interested enough to listen and give them more information.
Do you think that a Fortress of Solitude website would be a good idea.
I have a hosting account with plenty of webspace and would be prepared to set up a domain on it. I have darkstarcruiser.com on it now but I can add seperate domains as completely seperate websites. Running a check I found that a lot of the FOS names are taken (due to the Superman connection) but one I found was www.f-o-s.us which is currently available.
To build a site and add flash players from Soundcloud would be simple or I can add my own flash players but not do downloads.
Of course websites also need to be promoted and there we hit a problem.
The best way to promote a website is of course in the search engines and getting on the first pages would not be too difficult for f-o-s but how many people would know to search for that name ????
The age old problem with websites is getting a good searchable domain name.....and preferably a dotcom.

Maybe we need to think about this and come back to it.

You Tube and other video sites......as I said before its very hit and miss but it can get you results. I have a video on YouTube which has over 14,000 views but I don't know how many tracks have been sold from it. Useful way to get your name out there though.

Blogs and Podcasts.......I have done Blogs before....very easy to set up in Blogger or Wordpress....never done a Podcast but a lot of people do use these for music promotion.

Internet Radio......getting plays on Internet radio is fine but you need it on stations that have lots of listeners to the style of music that you make and also provide a link back to your album. I get plays from an Ambient station on Live365 that does this and I have sold a few albums that way.
Another alternative could be to set up an Internet radio station but that might involve too much money and is a bit complicated although Shoutcast is free.

Lots of things to look at......maybe some crazy stuff...maybe something that looks good.

Lets turn it over to you guys and see what you make of it.

Should be interesting.....just took me nearly 2 hours to put this together !!!!!!

Good info Peter!

Here's a breakdown of what I've tried and comments about it:

Cafe Press -- I sold some albums this way years ago. They did all the production and shipping
which was nice, but the base price was high, so I only made a $1 or $2 on each one.

My Basement -- used to print my own artwork, cut it up, print my own CD art, assemble everything
and sell them directly to people. It was a PAIN in the ass. Took too much time, and it didn't look all
that pro unless I was real careful cutting everything out.

iTunes / Tunecore -- I wanted to sell directly on iTunes, but the paperwork to sign up was confusing as hell,
so I went through Tunecore which charges a yearly fee per album. I sold some this way, but it wasn't worth it.

Kunaki/AFR -- to date, have sold virtually nothing via AFR. Website looks pretty good. Lots of albums up. But no one
is buying. Mostly using Kunaki to produce shrink-wrapped copies that we can sell directly to people. It is EXCELLENT
for that since each copy only costs us about $1.50.

By far I have sold more copies that I order first, and then sell by hand, than by any other means.

I considered CD Baby, but back then I don't think they had digital distribution and I didn't want to mail them
10 copies I had to make myself, and then keep doing that....

I might have to try again and just do digital only....

Promotion and Cross-Promotion is TOUGH. Not sure how to solve this problem....

I cross promote on IMW and Mix and Facebook and Reverbnation, but so far none of it has done much good.
I have had a ton of free downloads downloaded and gotten some nice emails, but I think I am going to stop
doing that (except for friends that help me with my mixes -- like here).

Z

Peter..I cant think of ANYTHING better than what im doing SOON...Im taking AFR to the STREETS!......Thats what it takes in MY mind. I have Bio's printed for each Artist, CDs, Cards, And im setting up at Flea markets, record shows, and fests. Its how you must do it. You have to put the product in there hands so to speak.

But online is part of it also. Its just not enuff tho. Im even gona go the other bands i know, Live shows and take AFR shit. Its how it was done in the Start, and TODAY. Online is a "setup" thing. A place to sell online and have your music.

Any CDs with a Bar-Code, i can sell in Record-shops.
I give away CDs to my friends to promo AFR. They LOVE the music. They listen to it, they get back with me, impressed...SO, its working allready, and im yet to get 100% OUT-THERE!

EVERYONE has there music ALL OVER the NET! But VERY few take it OUT there to the REAL world, where they will BUY it from (YOU)....You see, they see your face, they talk to you, they tell ALL there friends, "look at my friends" CD, or this dude i meet, ect.
The OLD way, is the BEST way, and the MOST work. Thats why FEW do it.

Im a WORKER....i WILL do it....And i hope it helps my friends that help me in so many ways. In time, IT WILL...Or (I) will.....

Lets talk ALL we can about this..What could be MORE important than this?????????????
DACE>

Z.....Read this over and over...
"Kunaki/AFR -- to date, have sold virtually nothing via AFR. Website looks pretty good. Lots of albums up. But no one
is buying. Mostly using Kunaki to produce shrink-wrapped copies that we can sell directly to people. It is EXCELLENT
for that since each copy only costs us about $1.50."

The "to date" part is KEY here....You have to give things time to turn around.
How many CDs you sent me???? Those ARE sales, they SHOULD be listed as such.
What you think im doing with the CDs? yes, as for now, most have been give'n away free..Sold about 10 or 15.

The ones YOU order COUNT as sales, they should be POSTED as Sales on the site.
Got to be in the 100s you just sent ME...You have ordered yourself copies, sent to others...how many bro??? give me a number.
(I) bet 200 CDs sold to YOU..Those COUNT! And they COUNT BIG! because they give AFR a chance to get found, make money in time.
How many bro?? there MUST be a counter on the number you have ordered..WHY dont those count as sales in your mind??? PROMO sales are important bro.

YOU are building a Lable BY YOUR SELF.....COUNT those sales! POST THEM as SALES!

Or ill kik your ASS!

How many bro?????
I want a number TODAY... And it posted as SALES of AFR....Tonight!

Its how you think about Sales bro...SO much at this point with AFR...Im gona say OVER 200 SOLD allready...Get me that Number....Its PROMO-POINTS!

DACE>

Yeah, you are right bro.
I will add up the numbers.

And adding a Sales Counter to the website is a GREAT idea!


Z

z wrote:


Yeah, you are right bro.
I will add up the numbers.

And adding a Sales Counter to the website is a GREAT idea!


Z

At $1.50 If its as many as i KNOW it is, you have spent OVER $300.00 on AFR!
COUNTS!... And THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU ARE DOING FOR ME....Its VERY nice Z.

I will work HARD to bring it back to you bro...

DACE>

Damn Dace, you're a good guesser!

Fungus/Dace -- Flows, Vibes, and Emotions 19
Skin Deep -- Everything Is Now 14
Skin Deep -- Robots Of Dawn 28
Fungus/Dace -- Magic Forest Sounds 18
Mike Partin -- The Journey 17
Star4mation -- Goblins And Galaxies 17
Fungus/Dace -- Pro Demo 22
Our Sanctum -- Fuck No! 21
Damnation Allies -- Eternal 3
Gotham Steel -- Ancient Wings 4
Damnation Allies -- Haunted Souls 10
Gotham Steel -- Forged In Pain 3
Gotham Steel -- Genetic Mutation 7
Damnation Allies -- DNA 10
Our Sanctum -- 2010 The FInal Days 22
---------------------------------------------------
Grand Total: 215


And those are just the Kunaki totals. Some of the older albums (like DNA)
have sales that pre-date Kunaki.

I know you will make it up to me Bro. Just don't stress about it.
The wife spends more than that on her Belly Dance stuff with less profit.
I'm happy to be able to help us and our music.

Z

Well, there ya go..Sales are sales....Thats some GOOD figures bro!...And THANK YOU!
Those mean more to me than ANY ever will.

I read in guitar player from Buddy Guy, "If your selling millons of records, you as far away from your music as you can get"..... VERY TURE!
We need to sell a few 100 of everything we do, but thats enuff really. Dont want to get lost in that. But we MUST try to sell some for sure!

Im good with the Figures Z... Post them please, i need to print those out for my sales-thing... Happy about this.

IF you can find the Figs on DNA, or just guess, add those. It was alot i know. At least 50 to 75 on that CD alone.

Peter...Post your Figures..I know have sold some Albums over the years...Paid for DLs count...

DACE>

(never mind this posting..posting for my own Printing).

AFR-Oct-2010-Sales Totals

((www.atomicforcerecords.com))

Fungus/Dace -- Flows, Vibes, and Emotions 19
Skin Deep -- Everything Is Now 14
Skin Deep -- Robots Of Dawn 28
Fungus/Dace -- Magic Forest Sounds 18
Mike Partin -- The Journey 17
Star4mation -- Goblins And Galaxies 17
Fungus/Dace -- Pro Demo 22
Our Sanctum -- Fuck No! 21
Damnation Allies -- Eternal 3
Gotham Steel -- Ancient Wings 4
Damnation Allies -- Haunted Souls 10
Gotham Steel -- Forged In Pain 3
Gotham Steel -- Genetic Mutation 7
Damnation Allies -- DNA 10
Our Sanctum -- 2010 The FInal Days 22

---------------------------------------------------
***Total: 215- Oct-2010-Sales-AFR***
---------------------------------------------------

DACE.....I will get some figures on here.....bearing in mind that I only have 2 albums released as Global Trancemission and that Darkstarcruiser is new .

Nothing wrong with taking it to the streets the old way DACE.....thats cool.

CD Baby supports that too.....in fact they will supply a credit card swiper to sell your albums at gigs directly from their site......quite an innovation....nobody else does that.

I am sure that your method is best for you and it looks like it works well.

Me.....I am purely a studio artist....no gigs.....never even get out of the house much ( looking after mum) and lost touch with nearly everybody except for you guys online.....how sad is that??

I'm not complaining though......I get a lot of time to do my own thing now although I have to be careful with the cash.

I can get those figures together tomorrow....CD Baby records everything so they are all available.

globaltrancemission wrote:DACE.....I will get some figures on here.....bearing in mind that I only have 2 albums released as Global Trancemission and that Darkstarcruiser is new .

Nothing wrong with taking it to the streets the old way DACE.....thats cool.

CD Baby supports that too.....in fact they will supply a credit card swiper to sell your albums at gigs directly from their site......quite an innovation....nobody else does that.

I am sure that your method is best for you and it looks like it works well.

Me.....I am purely a studio artist....no gigs.....never even get out of the house much ( looking after mum) and lost touch with nearly everybody except for you guys online.....how sad is that??

I'm not complaining though......I get a lot of time to do my own thing now although I have to be careful with the cash.

I can get those figures together tomorrow....CD Baby records everything so they are all available.

No worries Peter. Gigs can be a lot of overhead for not much cash.
Having all that time is very precious. Glad you have that now.

I will def. check into CD Baby for digital distribution. It might help.


Z

Z said "I considered CD Baby, but back then I don't think they had digital distribution and I didn't want to mail them
10 copies I had to make myself, and then keep doing that....

I might have to try again and just do digital only...."


Things have changed there Z....let me update you:

They only ask for 5 copies and only if you want to sell CD's otherwise its one copy as a master.
If you send them CD's direct from Kunaki (Kunaki provide this service...see their site) make sure you have a bar code and that will save you the 20$ that CD Baby will charge.

Total CD Baby cost per album is 35$ per album (plus 20$ if you don't have a barcode)

They do take commission :

They take 4$ per CD sold but you set the price so at 8.99$ you will get 4.99$ back.

Downloads from CD Baby site (which are high quality 256k mp3's with artwork) you get 75%

From I-Tunes and all the other digital distributors you get 91% of what comes into CD baby.

Bear in mind that there are no membership fees or yearly charges and an album runs forever at no extra charge unless you cancel it .

There's more but you can read it all here:

http://members.cdbaby.com/whatwedo/default.aspx

Because I have a website (www.globaltrancemission.co.uk) hosted with Host Baby (their sister company) I get 5 free CD's per year (at 35$ each) so I only have to buy the barcodes.

It's not for everybody and I am not trying to sell it but it does work for me.

However they are only a distributor and you still have to do your own promotion which takes us back to our discussion

Thanks for the upate Peter! That helps!

As you say, distribution is only part of the puzzle.

Album sales and promotion are changing these days.

Many groups are allowing some free downloads and then bundling something
with the actual physical CDs as a "Bonus"

And some groups are selling "Live Recordings" at their Gigs of the Gig they just
played that night.

Z

Been getting those Sales figures sorted and its all kind of interesting.

My figures are based on only having 2 x Global Trancemission albums released which each have 10 tracks.

Infinite Space released 2006 originally a CD release but changed to Digital DL only

Astromegatron released 2008 Digital DL only release.

TOTAL ALBUMS SOLD : 17

TOTAL TRACKS SOLD INDIVIDUALLY: 267 ( These are seperate from album sales)

TOTAL TRACKS STREAMED: 2733

Bear in mind that these are both experimental Ambient albums that are not commercially orientated so Sales expectations were never high for these tracks.

It appears that selling single tracks from the album has been the best for returns. People can pick their favourite tracks to DL so that if they like half of an album then they are not paying for the tracks that they don't want.

Streamed Plays are interesting. Half of those are very recent due to CD Baby now adding tracks to the relatively new Spotify site which pays a minute amount from each play.
The pay is so low for these it is hardly worth mentioning money wise but it is attracting listeners and getting your name out there.
Unfortunately on Spotify there is no buying link for CD Baby albums although hopefully that may come later if they reach an agreement about licensing.

Spotify.com is interesting. They have a free option where you dowload their software and you can listen to any tracks for 20 hours per month. (They have all the major artists and new releases). You have to pay for longer but 20 hours music per month for free is very cool so I signed up.

Most of my paid downloads come from I-Tunes .......they are without doubt the major seller and that is the prime place to get your tracks on. Amazon is nowhere near I-Tunes yet.
I get streams and some Downloads from Napster too. The rest is minor stuff.

Awesome Peter.
Brain not working yet, nothing to add at this time.
DACE>

Very interesting--and great--numbers Peter!
Thanks for sharing!

Might have to investigate iTunes again....
Do you do any iTunes based promo?
How do you think people are finding your tracks on iTunes?

I tried doing some sort of "creating playlists" thing back in the day, but it didn't do much.


Z

I guess im just a TRUE indie....I dont see jumping in the BIG SEA with the whole music world doing anything....Thers just TO much music there, everyone is on there, and your just another fish.

I think we agree that most OMDs are TO BIG, and its a prob getting heard.
Same thing with this. AFR is where its at in my mind, small......THAT WAY, we have a chance of getting seen, and heard, much easyer than in the BIG SEA-SITES.

Small groups of people working together will do things.
It takes "A few good Men". One cant do much on there own.
Big places are not going to offer much.
Small groups...

But none of us know any more than the other on this really.
Its just my 'feelings" on that. I dont have any faith in BIG groups or masses, there "EMPTY MASSES"......"As I look, looking thru"...

BUT...we are doing right here "talking" about this "together"...ONLY together will we get it right.

FOS is a small group.
AFR is a small group.
Both these work for me well...I feel "at home" with these groups.
I have faith in these groups.
We DO work together here. We talk and support. THAT is what its about.
We are doing Awesome really. And we will do better... right? yep....

DACE>

z wrote:
Very interesting--and great--numbers Peter!
Thanks for sharing!

Might have to investigate iTunes again....
Do you do any iTunes based promo?
How do you think people are finding your tracks on iTunes?

I tried doing some sort of "creating playlists" thing back in the day, but it didn't do much.


Z

OK......Sales and Distribution are now covered.

So lets talk about what I have done regarding Promotion.

One thing to bear in mind is that CD Baby give you various options when signing up for digital distribution.

1 Just sites that offer paid downloads.
2 Sites that offer paid downloads and paid streaming.
3 Everything paid and some unpaid.

No 2 is the best way to go because those streaming sites are Rhapsody, Spotify and LastFM which have all have lots of listeners that will find you. That is a kind of promotion method that you can take......the other distributors can do this also.

Next....Websites.

I have my own website for Global Trancemission where I stream my tracks and can offer free downloads if I want to. I have pushed this site into lots of search engines other than Google. My stats on the site tell me that I get worldwide visitors.....some from obscure countries and islands that I have never heard of.

These are averages for September 2010 bearing in mind that I have neglected the site a bit lately:

Hits per Hour 8
Hits per Day 196
Files per Day 139
Pages per Day 141
Visits per Day 58

Hits , Files and Pages are not too important but visitors per day tells you how many different people have accessed the site.
At one time 2 years ago I was getting an average of 150 to 200 per day then I had a long layoff and the numbers went down. I really need to work harder on this site

Countries - Hits by %

1 37.46% Unresolved/Unknown
2 18.96% Commercial (com)
3 15.14% Network (net)
4 10.85% Russian Federation
5 2.12% Germany
6 1.53% Ukraine
7 1.39% Trinidad & Tobago
8 1.36% Netherlands
9 1.09% Israel
10 1.07% France
11 1.00% Poland
12 0.95% Mexico
13 0.85% Moldova, Republic of
14 0.73% Luxembourg
15 0.53% Brazil
16 0.47% Spain
17 0.47% Samoa
18 0.44% Japan
19 0.29% Argentina
20 0.29% Italy
21 0.29% Kenya
22 0.27% Czech Republic
23 0.22% Sweden
24 0.17% Belarus
25 0.15% China
26 0.14% Austria
27 0.14% Hungary
28 0.14% Philippines
29 0.12% Canada
30 0.12% Greece
31 0.12% India
32 0.12% Romania
33 0.10% Denmark
34 0.10% Seychelles
35 0.10% United States
36 0.08% Latvia
37 0.08% Vietnam
38 0.07% Georgia
39 0.05% Colombia
40 0.05% Guatemala
41 0.03% Bulgaria
42 0.03% Egypt
43 0.03% Jordan
44 0.03% Morocco
45 0.03% Slovak Republic
46 0.03% USSR (former)
47 0.02% Educational (edu)
48 0.02% Belgium
49 0.02% Switzerland
50 0.02% Europe Region
51 0.02% Lithuania
52 0.02% Malaysia
53 0.02% Nepal
54 0.02% Saudi Arabia
55 0.02% Thailand
56 0.02% Turkey
57 0.02% South Africa

Now this may look impressive but I am sure many of these are not genuine visitors but Search Engine Robots so its hard to know how effective the site is.
Interesting though that the US is way down the list and the UK is not there. I get a lot of interest from Russia.

On the site I have links to buy from I-Tunes and CD Baby and I am streaming all of the tracks that are on both albums.

Next...Videos

I have a few Videos on You Tube and I have links to the GT website on there for people to get more info or buy.

One thing that is confusing is that there is another Global Trance Mission in the search engines which is a band that expired before I used the name .....also my name is Global Trancemission where Trancemission is all one word....but the search engines don't recognise that.

Currently as far as promotion goes that's about it.

So basically I need to up my Promotion somehow.
Also I need to get more tracks released out there. The Free vouchers that I get for CD Baby releases will give me 5 albums a year (this is something they started doing recently for those who have Hostbaby websites)

This means I really need to get back to work on that next GT album.

Hope some of this helps

DACE wrote:I guess im just a TRUE indie....I dont see jumping in the BIG SEA with the whole music world doing anything....Thers just TO much music there, everyone is on there, and your just another fish.

I think we agree that most OMDs are TO BIG, and its a prob getting heard.
Same thing with this. AFR is where its at in my mind, small......THAT WAY, we have a chance of getting seen, and heard, much easyer than in the BIG SEA-SITES.

Small groups of people working together will do things.
It takes "A few good Men". One cant do much on there own.
Big places are not going to offer much.
Small groups...

But none of us know any more than the other on this really.
Its just my 'feelings" on that. I dont have any faith in BIG groups or masses, there "EMPTY MASSES"......"As I look, looking thru"...

BUT...we are doing right here "talking" about this "together"...ONLY together will we get it right.

FOS is a small group.
AFR is a small group.
Both these work for me well...I feel "at home" with these groups.
I have faith in these groups.
We DO work together here. We talk and support. THAT is what its about.
We are doing Awesome really. And we will do better... right? yep....

DACE>

DACE......Good Comments and I can see where you are coming from.

As far as OMD's go ......Yes Soundclick is way too big and most of the others are "also rans" who would love to be like Soundclick. As far as I am concerned OMD's serve no useful purpose to me except to get feedback.......most of which will come from people who are self opinionated and do not know what they are talking about.
I have a Soundclick page but I only use it for the players.....mostly now replaced by Soundcloud.

Your ideas and methods obviously work for you but my music revolves totally upon what I can achieve online and having already taken those steps into "THE BIG SEA" I will carry on trying to get what I can from it.
OK so I am a very small fish in a huge ocean but there is still a place there for me and hopefully I can survive and grow a bit bigger. Releasing a bigger number of tracks might help.

That does not mean that I don't value FOS and AFR though. Even those who travel the ocean need a place to call home.
I am more than happy to play my part in helping FOS and AFR to achieve things if I can and if there is something you want from me you only have to ask.

Maybe we can work better working united as a team and being the big fish in a small pond True Indie style. Only thing that may cause a problem is the big divide between the UK and the US.

Be interesting to see what comes out of this thread.

I think cross-promotion is KEY.
It wouldn't hurt to have Dace as the "man on the street" getting the street buzz going,
and ALSO getting an online presence going.

As you show, interest can come from all over. And the more interest the more potential buyers.

I think some things I can say based on your experience is:

1. CROSS PROMOTE!
2. Sell individual tracks as well as albums.
3. Make it easy for people to buy (iTunes one-click or whatever)
4. Make it easy for people to listen and find your music

I will check into the online side more, and Dace can be AFR's guerrilla warefare!

Z

Z hits on it ALL....We all do things our own way, we just need to pull it all together, as we are here. So, im happy with the thread Peter..

You all DO know we could start our own OMD with (Ning) for free right..?one just for our own promotions, ect. They are FULL on sites..vids-tunes-blogs-everything. There FREE, easy to setup..We could ALL be the Admin there. The "our" word is key to this.

Anyway...Could be used for something..FREE!

DACE>

z wrote:
I think cross-promotion is KEY.
It wouldn't hurt to have Dace as the "man on the street" getting the street buzz going,
and ALSO getting an online presence going.

As you show, interest can come from all over. And the more interest the more potential buyers.

I think some things I can say based on your experience is:

1. CROSS PROMOTE!
2. Sell individual tracks as well as albums.
3. Make it easy for people to buy (iTunes one-click or whatever)
4. Make it easy for people to listen and find your music

I will check into the online side more, and Dace can be AFR's guerrilla warefare!

Z

Absolutely Spot on the mark Z.

That pretty much sums up what I was thinking but I wanted to hear your thoughts first.

We are all on the same wavelength....Cool.

DACE wrote:Z hits on it ALL....We all do things our own way, we just need to pull it all together, as we are here. So, im happy with the thread Peter..

You all DO know we could start our own OMD with (Ning) for free right..?one just for our own promotions, ect. They are FULL on sites..vids-tunes-blogs-everything. There FREE, easy to setup..We could ALL be the Admin there. The "our" word is key to this.

Anyway...Could be used for something..FREE!

DACE>

It is threads like this that make F-O-S special DACE.

The Anubes is gone (sadly) but we are no longer living in its shadow.....we are building new paths and learning from the experience. We are strong !!!!!!

I will check out Ning..... I knew something like that existed but I didn't have the connection ....but I will find it and see what it has to offer.

Excellent thread guys!! Sorry I've not contributed to it yet (or anything much lately) Damn PC is driving me nuts!! I'll be glad when i figure how to fix it!!