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Who Buys CDs?
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Bard Marc Gunn
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Sep 27, 2004 19:09 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
- Who Buys CDs?
- Recommended Reading
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1. The Crier
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SITES/PUBLICATIONS WHERE YOU CAN GET YOUR MUSIC REVIEWED
Strigl's Music News
PO Box 4112, New York, NY 10163
Mark.S-@unistudios.com
http://striglsmusicnews.com
We do a couple reviews each month. Some of the people who run
this site are on-air commentators for VH1. Please send GUITAR
ROCK ONLY - Metal, Punk, Glam, Emo, Grunge etc.
Pretty/Scary
Heidi Martinuzzi super-@msn.com
http://www.pretty-scary.com
An online horror community for women. I want to review and
interview independent women musicians in Metal, Punk and Goth
music.
True Music Reviews
PO Box 285, Craigieburn 3064 VIC Australia
PH: 61-03-9305-6090 FX: 61-03-9305-6090
LD fle-@bigpond.net.au
http://www.users.bigpond.net.au/tmreviews
Reviews that speak the truth and support artist that create
music for the world to hear.
Oathmeal Zine
#7 Dr. Tinio Guinayang Subd. San Mateo, Rizal 1850 Philippines
Mark Nemis oath-@yahoo.com
http://www.oathmeal.proxmira.com
Online punk/independent music/activist oriented diy zine
documenting Counter-Cultural activities... in Asia, Oceania
and anywhere else.
Tad Loud Productions
3609 Jefferson St, Clovis, NM 88101
PH: 505-762-7346
Sean Pruitt tadl-@plateautel.net
http://www.tadloudrocks.com
Dedicated to helping promote indie artists by posting links,
articles, CD reviews, interviews, news and more.
Dirty Zine
cra-@feed-back.tk
http://www.feed-back.tk
An online Rock zine based in England that reviews demos sent
to us by unsigned bands.
**Courtesy of Indie Contact Bible**
The Indie Bible is a must for every serious musician.
4000 publications from around the world that will REVIEW your CD!
3200 radio stations from around the world will PLAY your songs!
675 vendors and services that will help you to SELL your music!
200 sites where you can UPLOAD your band's MP3 files!
500 helpful resources and sites where you can PROMOTE your band!"
http://texasmusicians.net/cgi-bin/texas_musician/jump.cgi?ID=1075
---
And see what's new in the Music Promotion Directory
# BandsBackStage
# Mary4Music.com
# MELOmag Magazine
# PittRadio
# classical music daily news links
# much more...
http://www.bardscrier.com/music_promotion/New/
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2. Music Marketing Lesson
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"Who Buys CDs"
by Hank Cramer
Read the full article online at
http://www.bardscrier.com/musicbiz/2004/09/who-buys-cds.shtml
I came across this outstanding post by Hank Cramer, a folk
musician, and member of the FolkBiz Discussion List. In it,
he breaks down what he has learned about CD sales at various
venues. It's great information for musicians of all genres.
Mari Anderson raised the issue of the discrepancy in CD sales
levels at varying venues. I play in a wide variety of settings,
and have noticed big fluctuations in CD sales according to the
venue and audience. Over time I've noticed that those
fluctuations follow a pattern, and I've developed a "business
plan" around that.
The venues I play (or have played) include coffeehouses;
pubs/bars; concerts; festivals; and special venues (museums,
ElderHostels, private groups). Here's my experience in a
nutshell:
* Coffeehouses: great place to polish your craft/act, but
you'll never make money here. The venues don't pay because
they don't make any money. The audiences are often appreciative,
but they don't buy CDs because they don't have any money, either.
Hey, they're here because there's no cover charge, and they can
sip a 75-cent cup of coffee all night, read yesterday's paper
without sticking a quarter in the machine, and hear you for free.
My CD sales are almost zip here. I occasionally still play these
for fun, but I've got a family to feed and bills to pay, so this
isn't where I try to make a living.
* Bars/pubs: not noted for listening audiences, but if you
do some rowdy sing-alongs (which I do) you can win them over.
The pub makes money hand-over-fist (especially when you're
singing), through cover charge and the profit level on $4 pints
of micro-brew. Demand a healthy share of that money "up-front",
because the pub can afford it and you're not going to sell many
CDs here. The audience may like your music, but they're here to
drink and be social, not add to their disc collection. On a
good night I sell 2-3 CDs. Since I know this and factored it
into my fee schedule, I have charged the bar enough to make
the gig worthwhile even if I sell no CDs at all.
* Concerts: If your music is reaching people, this should
be your "bread and butter". You should be earning money from the
door, and making good CD sales as well. CD sales tend to vary
according to the age of the audience and affluence of the
community. The affluence issue makes sense -- people with money
buy, people without don't -- but the age issue is a little
harder to explain. I think that younger audiences have less
disposable cash, and they're used to sharing or downloading
music for free; audiences my age and older have more disposable
cash, and they grew up in the era when if you liked somebody's
music, you went to the store and bought the LP. If you're
playing concerts to fans who follow you, you'd better keep
recording, because you'll reach the point where everybody has
your old stuff, and your sales will drop to zip if you don't
have something new to offer.
Finish the article at
http://www.bardscrier.com/musicbiz/2004/09/who-buys-cds.shtml
Keep the music coming--
Hank Cramer is an acoustic musician from Washington State.
He is a member of the Mountain Sound folk singer's cooperative
in Washington.
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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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