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How to Sell CDs from your Website and Still Keep Your Fans Happy
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Bard Marc Gunn
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Aug 29, 2004 07:16 PDT
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Bards Crier's Music Marketing and Promotion Tips
http://www.bardscrier.com/
A free guerrilla music marketing and promotion ezine for
unsigned bands by Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards,
The Original Celtic Renaissance.
IN THIS ISSUE
- The Bards Crier News
- How to Sell CDs from your Website and Still Keep Your Fans Happy
- Recommended Reading
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For details visit
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1. The Crier
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Whoops! Don Schwarzkopf pointed out an intersting error in my
article about Google Alert.
"Enjoyed your article about Google Alert. I have used this
service for some time now and find it extremely useful. You
should know that Google and Google Alert are different companies.
This is from their Web Site:
'Google Alert is unaffiliated with Google, although we are in regular
contact with them. Google Alert uses Google's Web APIs to perform its
searches. Google has generously provided Google Alert with a
high-capacity Web APIs key for our needs, and agreed to the use of the
Google Alert name and googlealert.com domain. Google has agreed to our
release of premium paid Google Alert services.'
Thanks for creating your newsletter.
Don Schwarzkopf"
Thanks Don!
Don Schwarzkopf, Associate Producer,
Bob Marley Festival Tour (currently on a hiatus while the
Marley Family is Touring with their own Festival),
Buffalo Bayou Live (Houston's 2005 Earth Day)
www.BayouCityLive.com, the Texas Caribbean Carnival Tour
www.texascaribbeancarnivaltour.com/
and the Make Mine Texas Music Fest www.MakeMineTexas.info
---
From: Peter Goben
Email: pgo-@angelseye.tv
Website: Celtic MP3s Music Magazine
Can I quote you: Yes, feel free to quote me.
Comments:
I am video director/producer currently working with "Sandy Point
Boatworks" (a new company) in developing a series boatbuilding
videos. We are looking for background music. We are looking for
a celtic band that would like to supply all original instrumental
celtic music tracks in return for a :30 promotional slot in the
video.
---
And see what's new in the Music Promotion Directory
# 87 Online Music Marketing Tips
# Electronic Music Promotion
# PunchBall Design
# Hidden Planet Radio
# much more...
http://www.bardscrier.com/music_promotion/New/
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2. Music Marketing Lesson
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"How to Sell CDs from your Website and Still Keep Your Fans Happy"
by Marc Gunn, Bard
Read the full article online at
http://www.bardscrier.com/musicbiz/
There are a number of great ways to sell CDs online. If you're
looking for a great business and don't want to fulfill orders
yourself, CDBaby is the best service out there for independent
music. They are, by far, my favorite independent music website.
But if you're want to maximize your profits, then keep CD sales
it in-house and sign up with Paypal.
Paypal offers a great service to small businesses. Customers
don't have to be members of Paypal to order from you. You can
get a Premiere/Business account for free, and your fees are as
low as 1.9% + 30 cents per order. That's pretty dang good!
Best of all, you can personalize every order!
Mind you, it's not easy to for the average band to learn how
to maintain orders, which again is one of the big advantages
of CDBaby over Paypal. You have keep careful records, respond
to orders, and of course, take orders to the post office. It's
a bit of a hassle.
Below are four quick tips that do wonders for keeping fans happy:
1. Email a reponse when you receive the order. This lets your
fans know there's someone behind the order and who to contact
with probs. And when they see an email from the band, they'll
be much more forgiving if there are any potential problems.
2. Email customers AFTER you mail the order. We tour a lot
and admittedly, I sometimes get lazy (like this week). So I
like to tell our fans before they order that it takes 1-2 weeks
for orders to arrive. But when a week or so goes by, fans will
start to worry whether you got their order. You can alleviate
their worries by sending a quick email as soon as the order
is completed.
3. Double check every order before it goes out. We have
multiple CDs and a couple times I've screwed up orders. It
really sucks and is costly. Don't let it happen to you.
4. Email a follow-up in a week or two. This is a great
way to show off your awesome customer service. When you email
them, offer a free bonus, like an MP3 to add an extra level of
excitement in your fan's mind. This will fuel their passion
for your music and will ignite a lot of great word-of-mouth
promotion.
Those are the essentials for selling CDs from your website.
But if you want to really feed the fire for your music, scribble
a quick thank you note to your fan. Then add it to the order.
It takes only 10 seconds and will win you a diehard fan for life!
CDBaby
http://www.cdbaby.net/
Paypal
https://www.paypal.com/us/mrb/pal=C282678RMV7QY
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STOP! The Monkeys from taking over your Music Career...
Bard Marc Gunn of the Brobdingnagian Bards has helped 1000's
of musicians save and make money with their musical groups
through his monthly newsletter, Bards Crier Music Marketing
and Promotion Ezine. Now you can get FREE "how-to" music
marketing and promotion advice by visiting
http://www.bardscrier.com/.
No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the Bards Crier Ezine
for Free. Just email subsc-@bardscrier.com
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3. Recommended Reading
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HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR MUSIC SUCCESSFULLY ON THE INTERNET
by David Nevue
Learn the marketing and promotion methods that one musician uses
to bring in over $5000 a month in income from the Internet! There
are no 'pipe dreams' sold here. The author details step-by-step
how he finally said good-bye to his day job and starting spending
more time on his music.
http://www.bardscrier.com/cgi-bin/music_promotion/jump.cgi?ID=16
THE GUERRILLA MUSIC MARKETING HANDBOOK by Bob Baker
This hefty manual delivers 11 chapters and 7 best-selling
reports -- over 120 pages of tips and tools you can use to
turbo-charge your music promotion activities.
http://www.bardscrier.com/cgi-bin/music_promotion/jump.cgi?ID=15
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Fine Tuning
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Marc Gunn, Bard
P.O. Box 4067
Austin, Texas 78765
http://www.marcgunn.com <-- Bard Marc Gunn
http://www.thebards.net <-- Brobdingnagian Bards
If you like this ezine, try these out:
http://bardscrier.com/freebies/newsletters.shtml
Registered with the Library of Congress ISSN: 1530-4795
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