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catching up: cd discussion
hi loopers,
at long last i am at home! i've essentially been away since september
(i say essentially because i flew home for a week in there to vote).
i did a 6 week european tour with amanda palmer (highlight: imogen
heap's roast chicken, edinburgh punk rock breakfast), some time with
a ballet in valencia (highlight: the fish market, chocolate and
churros), a north american tour again with amanda (highlight: group
cooking at neil gaiman's), and then spent the holidays with family on
the east coast (highlight: blizzard).
throughout all of this the ableton/sooperlooper combo has worked
amazingly, as has the modified FCB pedal made by bob charest.
i have one last performance of the year...at SFO. dec 31st from 11am
to 2pm.
pre-security on the mezzanine of terminal 1.
"cello for airports" i'm calling it.
i see a HECK OF A LOT of emails here in my loopers box! in skimming
the latest discussion started by George (re: putting out CDs) i
thought i'd chime in.
my opinion: put out a CD!
"album" = a collection of related recordings; a snapshot of where one
is, right now, as an artist.
i guess you can put out a CD and not have to call it an album but it
seems like the 2 are used interchangeably.
creating a single recording, from start to finish, is a fulfilling
artistic endeavor in and of itself. that's the primary thing. and
whether those recordings exist as physical cds or mp3s, doesn't
matter (just a difference in format and delivery). a CD happens to be
convenient way to hold together a collection of recordings, and the
metadata of a CD allows digital instances of recordings to be
conveniently grouped. some people seem to cherish the physical
packaging of a CD, others could care less.
promo:
i don't believe amateur promo works only because its never worked for
me (which isn't to say it doesn't work). no publication or record
label has ever responded to anything i have ever sent them. i think
this is because everyone is already swamped by beautifully put
together promo kits.
what i think works: you need people to be recommending you and your
work. you need to become omnipresent.
how? well, if you're young and hot, you might become omnipresent
overnight on the internet.
for the rest of us it takes years of long and maddeningly slow
growth, and it requires being bloody minded, stubborn and undaunted
by constant rejection.
then, record labels will write to you with offers...and you can
ignore them and carry on (DON'T DO IT)
printing:
think about your work and what it means and if you're artistic,
design your own packaging.
if you're not, hire a graphic designer.
i favor digipaks over icky jewel cases. i would rather have homemade
packaging than a jewel case.
discmakers and oasis have always worked for me.
thoughts on selling music:
i would make recordings even if i didn't make a cent off them but it
just so happens that selling physical cds (off my website and at
shows) and mp3s (on itunes) has been steady and lucrative my entire
career. however, i realize that might be because i didn't get started
at this until AFTER filesharing (2002). so as a result, i've never
personally experienced the sales decline lamented in the press. (i've
worked with many bands who started in the 90's who have experienced
the decline though - i.e. rasputina). if my career had started
earlier maybe i would have experienced more physical sales and then
watched them decline when filesharing came around. but then again, if
my career had started earlier the internet would not have been around
and i wouldn't be in the position i am now (i.e. without a label and
happy about it).
other observations:
it doesn't hurt to think about who might like your music and then
figure out where those people are and how to reach them.
in my experience, different audiences are more or less likely to buy
a recording (either physical or digital). for example, roughly
speaking NPR listeners buy my music. students find it for free (seems
logical...i didn't buy music either until i was in my 20s, because i
was broke. i was always copying cd collections of wealthier friends).
if your targeted audience doesn't think music is worth buying (and
demographics favors them) then you need a few strategies to get them
out to your shows where they will buy your merch.
i am an optimist and take comfort in the fact that america is really
big. even if you sell recordings to a miniscule fraction of the
national populace, you can do pretty darn well if you stay
independent. if you sign to a label, things might be great for a
little while, but then the problems will begin...
sorry to be so long winded,
zoe