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do's and don'ts in releasing a cd
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Subject: Do's and don'ts of CD Release From: dwditty Date: 25 Mar 03 - 08:37 PM I feel like I could write a good chunk of a book on this topic as I hit the final stages for producing a cd. Between recording, mixing, mastering, graphics, licensing, I have learned a lot. There are some real vets on the mudcat that may have a gem or two that would save me some headaches as I get ready to launch.. Any last miniute tips? Art? Dick? Rick? Anyone? Thanks DW |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Paul G. Date: 25 Mar 03 - 09:08 PM DW: We're about to relase our second "Ashley Gang" CD, which is my third including an early solo album. We've been fairly successful at marketing our independent releases, managing to recoup our investments and then some...a few thoughts: Do plan a CD release event (an interesting thread topic in itself). Do maintain a personal web site, and let folks know about it -- make the CD available through your site. Do set up sales accounts with a few of the on-line retailers of indie music (CD Baby, CD Street, Folk Web) Do make a few tunes available for internet play via MP3-dot-com or IUMA. Do join the folk DJ-L email list...find out by lurking who is playing what kind of music -- let them know you have a product if they'd like a promo copy (we've nailed quite a number of international sales by getting air play in Australia, Italy, the U.K., Canada as well as the US)... Do let your friends (including your Mudcat friends) know when it's ready to ship and something about the content. If you have a mailing list or email list, let them know -- always remember to let everyone know how to own a copy. Last, book as many gigs as you can stand -- that's where the VAST majority of your sales will occur... So good luck -- let us know when and how...looking forward to hearing it! Best Regards, Paul |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: DonMeixner Date: 25 Mar 03 - 09:56 PM DW, My band has just released our second CD. And we did everything Paul suggested and it is/was quite a succesful project. Get the local alternative news paper to cover the release date party with a prelease article. If they won't buy as big an add as you can afford. Send as many prelease date CDs as you feel you can afford to the local radio stations. Give a couple to the local saloons if you play them and have them put in the rotation. Get on the air with it if you can. Maintain a website like ours with links to other sites. (www.theflyincolumn.com) And send one to me and I'll send you one of ours. One thing I am surprised is we don't have the means to listen to samples over the Mudcat. Or do we and I am not aware of them. Good luck with the recording. Don |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Rick Fielding Date: 25 Mar 03 - 10:20 PM Hi DW. The first tip may simply be so obvious that it doesn't need mentioning, but..... Have (or pay) a professional to listen closely to your finished product for ANY off key note (these can be fixed so easily now it's a shame not to) I receive at least twenty CDs a month for radio airplay, and at least two or three of them (every month) have some off key singing. That simply won't cut it in this day and age, unless you're just sending them to friends. Second, get a mainstream CD (from a well-known artist) from your collection, and make sure that you have all the liner notes and information that IT does. Even after years in the biz, I left out some publisher's info on my last Borealis CD.....so it CAN happen Songs and times MUST be in the notes AND on the back of the box. A Dj may be trying to get a song into a three minute space, and he/she needs to know those numbers. Much more, but I'll let some of the others have their say. By the way, THIS is a good idea (this thread) Cheers Rick |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 25 Mar 03 - 10:32 PM Do NOT front the costs yourself....if it has ANY commercial value the legitimate corporation will pick up the costs ....AND give you an advance.....to mutually assure wide distribution and marketing.
Sincerely,
Been "burned" more than once. |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 25 Mar 03 - 10:43 PM DON - good point and well taken....One thing I am surprised is we don't have the means to listen to samples over the Mudcat
My servants are slow.
Max and Joe have split the MC into music and bs....they have also adopted many other of my suggestions....
In time...perhaps....it will become as YOU and I envision it...a dialogue and swap/file interchange of mp3's and wav's between folk musicians.p>
Sincerely,
they may be slow...but they do eventually hear. |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: DonMeixner Date: 25 Mar 03 - 10:44 PM Gee Garg, I don't know as I totally agree here. I think you need to be aware of your market. Our first CD sold well and continues to pay its way but we totally produced and managed it from bottom to top and the cash was all ours, expense and profit. A product that does well in it's region may not do well elsewhere unless there is a large commercial following. One of the best CDs I have heard in ages is Paddy Reilly's tribute CD to Ewan Macoll. I know he paid for that himself. I imagine Paddy could get someone to front his recordings if anyone can. |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: jimmyt Date: 25 Mar 03 - 10:56 PM this is a great thread. I would love the nuts and bolts of how you go about this step by step. We are considering the CD soon but are more inclined to go pretty "Live"rather than a big studio event. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated' We have really no concept of the logistics of getting rights to songs etc. and despite several efforts, still feel there are areas we are unfamiliar with. A cookbook of how-tos and how-not-tos would be a big help to us as well as lots of other Mudcatters. |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Rick Fielding Date: 25 Mar 03 - 11:05 PM Paddy Riley singing MacColl!!?? Why haven't I heard about this, ha ha? What's the scoop Don? Name of the band in the (roughly) top left of the CD. This is an old jobbing marketer's suggestion. People (who are mostly right handed) flip through CDs in a store...they may not be intereted in hunting for the band's name, but if while they're flipping with their right thumb they see it clearly near the top left...it's gotta help. Rick |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: open mike Date: 26 Mar 03 - 02:30 AM 20 cd's a month for radio play? wow you have to have a daily show to be able to fit them all in! another cautionary note: if the printing is large enough and with good contrast to be read easily it will improve your chances of being given correct credit, etc. I noticed a cd label i ws trying to read the other day was grey on brown or some other muted color and could hardly be deciphered!! It is also great to have comlete info on band members etc, so if, for instance some- one says who did that amazing mandolin break on song #3, it is possible to find out! Also lyrics sheets are a wonderful opportunity to exercise your creativity in other-than-sound medium....photos, background stories, dedications... all add to the final out come... |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Deni-C Date: 26 Mar 03 - 03:15 AM we've just released our second one and i agree with a lot of the points here. One thing i would like to know is how do you get clips on your personal website. MP3.com is playing up at the moment, they seem to have messed up all the searches and you can't even find your own site, and I hate being dependent on it, but I'd like to do it on the cheap if possible. |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: dwditty Date: 26 Mar 03 - 07:33 AM Thanks everyone. I knew I could count on you. Great suggestions, all. I have found some of the "planning your CD" info at sites like OASIScd and Superdups to be quite helpful. Ah, licensing. Our old friend Harry Fox. I managed to acquire licenses for all but one song (which I had to replace - I would not release without a valid license), but it wasn't always easy. The primary source (if your release is under 2500 in quantity) is Songfile.com which is, as far as I can tell, is Harry Fox. If songs are not in their database or not available for licensing through them, well, here the fun begins. I had particular trouble with a Dylan song (Simple Twist of Fate) and a Randy Newman song (Every Time It Rains). Basically I scoured the web and along the way found reference to firms involved with management of these artists. (Liner note credits, etc). Then I searched for these firms, called, faxed, emailed. It is my assumption that they, too, would rather not be bothered with the work to license a song to get my, say, $80. I learned somewhere along the way that, in the US, if a song is published it is, therefore, licensable. They cannot deny you a license, but they don't always make it easy. Graphics? Keep it simple. Find a friend with a very high quality digital camera. Then hire a graphics pro. And, above all, make sure it is easily readable. As Rick stated, clear and readily accessible titles and times are essential to get air play (I have read this many times), in addition to the upper left location of artist & title. Invest the few cents per cd for top spine labels...more and more this is how people search bins in a record store. And, Rick, hopefully in the no too distant future, you will receive 21 cds one of these weeks. Thanks again, all. DW |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: dwditty Date: 26 Mar 03 - 07:51 AM OK, so I flunked blue clickies. www.oasiscd.com www.superdups.com www.songfile.com DW |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: black walnut Date: 27 Mar 03 - 07:35 AM Have a really great cover, front and back! Get a designer whose work you love and trust. Spend a little extra money to get what you will be happy with. And get a professional photographer, for goodness sakes. A CD just released by some friends of mine has the flash of the camera bouncing off a marble wall in their group shot for the tray card. Sad. People do judge a CD by its cover. ~black walnut |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: dwditty Date: 27 Mar 03 - 08:22 AM I second black walnut tip. I tried for over a month to make a good cover from a poor photo - it is not possible. DW |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: treewind Date: 27 Mar 03 - 09:11 AM MP3's on your website? - There's no special magic. Assuming you have a web site and know how to upload files to it (i.e. the way you got your HTML files and images there)... 1) upload the MP3 file to the site 2) edit a link into the HTML and upload that If you have a big site with lots of files, you'll probably want to put the MP3s in their own directory, like many people do with images. The link to an MP3 is just like a link to another html page: <A HREF="wildrover.mp3">Wild Rover</A>If you have MP3's on your own web site, you can put links into MudCat messages too. Here's an example: Seeds of Love If some plan to assemble a Mudcat Repository of MP3's ever get put into action, the best thing would be for members to put the MP3s on their own web sites (or a friend's) and have Mudcat store only the links. That way we won't take up gigabytes of Mudcat storage. Getting streaming audio to work is another matter... Anahata |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: treewind Date: 27 Mar 03 - 09:23 AM CD Launch Event... ? Now, why is that an important thing to do? Mary Humphreys and I have a CD release in the pipeline, and we thought about it and decided: why bother? Apart from the pure fun of having a big party and inviting all your friends and influential contacts, what real good will it do? - We'd sell a few CDs, of course, but probably to people who would buy one anyway. - It might find its way into the hands of promoters and reviewers, but only if you persuade them to come to the event. Promotional and review copies will get sent out anyway. So, what we plan to do is have a binge of folk club visiting. We'll tour all our local clubs (in East Anglia) where we've done gigs, or even where we haven't. We'll go when they are having a singers night rather than a guest night if possible, and we'll make it quite clear that we are there because we have a brand new CD for sale. And we'll sell them at gigs, of course, but that happens anyway. Anahata |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Rick Fielding Date: 27 Mar 03 - 10:07 AM Hi Open Mike. Nope..Acoustic Workshop is into it's 15th year now in Toronto. Once a week (almost always with a live guest) on Monday night. To answer your question....what I receive per month in CD submissions is a FRACTION of what the shows who post playlists on the internet get. I stopped doing that years ago, because I wanted the freedom to play what I liked, rather than what was a current release. I tend to be turned off by a lot of hype, because often the music simply doesn't live up to it. I have made some great discoveries over the last few years, regarding artists that do NO hype at all. The Band, SloPoke, Mudcatter Reggie Miles, fine musician Pam Swan, and dozens of others. The real problem I have though is artists who use a "Shotgun" approach to getting their music out there. My show is "Traditional folk" oriented, but I inevitably get material that is not really appropriate. Better for folks to get to know personally about twenty DJs than to send out a hundred and twenty CDs...many of which will end up in the garbage. Black Walnut makes a great point. DON'T cheat on your cover. If it looks cheap, it makes the radio programmer think you probably recorded it in your living room on a porta-studio. Nothing wrong with that of course....but if you want to compete with professional artists, it simply won't cut it. Cheers Rick |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Big Mick Date: 27 Mar 03 - 11:29 AM This may be one of the most important threads we have ever done. There is solid advice here from the best around. JOE, THIS DESERVES TO BE A PERMATHREAD. IT IS CRITICALLY IMPORTANT DATA. Had I had some of this data before I released our CD, there are several errors that would not have been learned the hard way. Thanks to all, Mick |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: black walnut Date: 27 Mar 03 - 01:52 PM jimmyt, there are lots of good suggestions on various mudcat threads from over the years, but one I offer you is a thread called "Heading into the Studio". It began with asking how to make a 'live' sound happen in a studio. It turned into something of the journal of a first-time CD maker (me). It doesn't cover every nut and bolt, but it does look at the whole process from a newcomer's point of view. Some people wrote me to say it had been quite helpful. All the best for your project! ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: dick greenhaus Date: 27 Mar 03 - 11:19 PM Well, I think that the first step is to decide why you're putting out a CD in the first place. Most self-produced CDs are sold (almost) exclusively by performers as a means of supplementing performance fees. It that's your bag, haveing a number of titles is probably your most important consideration (apart from giving a good pwerformance.) If you have ambitions about mass (or semi-mass) distribution, it's absolutely necessary for your CD (or you) to be heard as widely as possible. DJs, or a very busy tour schedule, are probably your best bet. And your chances of getting a reasonable amount of DJ play are slim, indeed. Do I sound negative? Yes indeed. I stock some excellent CDs from unknown performers. Sadly, unless my advice is solicited, unknowns don't get ordered. |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: DonMeixner Date: 28 Mar 03 - 12:18 AM Hi Rick, That recording is about 12 years old now. And in many ways its a difinitive work. I met Paddy Reilly in Rochester, NY at The Brew Pub where he was doing a show. Not well attended but what a fine show. Afterward at the bar I got to meet him we talked for some time about music. Swapped brags and drinks. I asked him what his next project was and he said he hadn't any in the works. I told him I'd like someone to do a difinitive collection of Ewan Macolls works. He said, "Thats a hell of an idea. I should do it myself." I suspected it was a nice guy, a little hammered, being nice to the "Fan Boy Geek". But two years later it was out. Don |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: GUEST,Dagenham Doc Date: 28 Mar 03 - 12:38 AM Treewind.. you wrote" why have a c.d.launch?" and were fairly negative about it. In fact you seem to think a better idea would be to tour around the folk clubs.Well good on you if that's the way you'd like to go but it sounds to me like you don't have a lot of faith in your product, and that's a must.After all the time you've spent producing it.Be proud of it. .......... and if you have to do the folk club thing ... go on a guest night .. that way you'll reach a larger audience. good luck Doc |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Paul G. Date: 28 Mar 03 - 10:51 PM Treewind et al...we're doing several CD release events -- both in locations in which we have some listenership and where there are strong "folk" listening communities. Further, both are at venues we have not played before, but are popular with the listening room crowd, so we'll get exposure to new ears (plan, plan, plan...). I also strongly agree with Doc, above -- celebrate your work! invite the press, play your new music for old and new friends alike -- drink a few, laugh a lot, create a scene, make some noise, draw some attention...it's all good. Dick's comments are also right on the money -- most indie artists will sell most of their product through gigs. Turn a booked gig into a release event for the new project and potentially increase your sales... pg |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: treewind Date: 29 Mar 03 - 12:06 PM Doc: I wasn't really being negative, just challenging convention and trying to find out if I'd missed something. Paul G: I like the idea of multiple release events. I think that's closer to my stated strategy of visiting lots of clubs rather than having one big party, the point being that it will reach more people. I agree with Dick too - we sell almost entirely thorough gigs at the moment, though the new one will find its way into the retail market too. I'd rather not do it on guest nights because the booked guest will be selling CDs too (usually) so (a) it seems rude and (b) it tends to divide the audiences spending budget. As it happens we need to revisit clubs we've been booked at anyway to remind them of their promises to rebook us (!). We'll see. Whatever, it will get announced on the Mudcat anyway, when it happens. Anahata |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: black walnut Date: 29 Mar 03 - 01:35 PM Or, if your audience is babies and young children, as is the case with my CD, then you do what I'm doing tonight, which is to have an "Up and Over the Moon!" party at my house, just for the sake of celebrating! Most of the musicians are coming, the photographer, the producers, the spouses, and some of my dear friends who cheerleaded me along the way. Conversation, eats and music. I can't wait! ~b.w. |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Clinton Hammond Date: 29 Mar 03 - 06:10 PM Make sure you have someone proof read yer CD text for ya.... It's quite the kick in the bag, to labour hard making a CD liner looks it's absolute best, and then discover when it comes back from the printer that 7 songs out of the 15 are listed in the wrong order... I'd also advise against posting a release notice on Mudcat... they tend to fall like stones off the page with few if any responses... |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Paul G. Date: 29 Mar 03 - 11:52 PM Clinton -- Lack of overt response does not necessarily mean no one is paying attention. I didn't have a huge number of responses to my "sneak peek" thread, but the listen and download page had over 60 hits that day...and more than 100 over 3 days...When the CD bacomes available in the next week or so, I'll post it here, responses or not, and let the music speak for itself. Paul |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: treewind Date: 30 Mar 03 - 02:36 AM I've heard tales of Liner notes disasters too - one from a 12 piece band who all read the liner proofs and it still came out with "tow row melodeon" instead of "two row melodeon"... Clinton: I am totally baffled by the recommendation NOT to announce it anywhere appropriate - even it it generates not response it will not have a negatiave impact. Paul, I missed your sneak peek thread - what did you do exactly? I assume you put some MP3's of tracks of the forthcoming CD on your web site and mentioned it here. Did you have any copyright issues or is it an own-label album? Was it just a limited selection of tracks? Anahata |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Willie-O Date: 30 Mar 03 - 08:43 AM 100% agreement on announcing it here. My experience has been the same as Clinton's AND Paul's--sort of. You might not get a whole lot of comments on the thread, and most of them are "nice job". But your website hits take a huge bounce--and even better, I think most of the few humans on the planet who actually buy CD's from mp3.com are Mudcatters. Next year, I'm gonna do a new one. A real one, not mp3.com. By the way, here's how mp3.com CD's work, with their pros and cons. You upload your mp3's, cover art, and a two-page inside "booklet" spread to your mp3.com site. Then you simply designate which tracks are on the CD, and in what order. There is no mimimum production order, and no upfront cost to you, (other than the cost of maintaining your mp3.com site, $5 US/month unless you want to be in the now-extremely-restricted free site category). Production is strictly on demand. For online orders, you set the selling price (within a specified range). When someone orders a single CD, they manufacture it, print it and send it to them, no inventory. You get 50% of the retail price. There's two huge advantages to this model and a lot of significant disadvantages. Advantage #1: no upfront costs. Advantage #2: you don't carry a big inventory. or any inventory. Advantage #3: you can use it to do a one-off of a little personal project or something that you just want a few copies of, with professional-looking artwork. Disadvantages: -high per unit cost when you order your own--currently 3.99 US + shipping. -there is no mastering of the CD. The tracks you upload are simply cut and pasted together, and if there's no consistency in levels, recording quality etc between the various tracks, it's glaringly obvious. (This is why Rick Radio Guy Fielding doesn't like my CD much, although others enjoy it.) -mp3.com logo for a CD label. So yeah, next time I'm going to do it all the way locally... W-O |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: GUEST,ghost Date: 30 Mar 03 - 10:02 AM W-O, "mp3.com logo for a CD label" What, they won't put your artwork on the cover? Did you mean there's an mp3 logo along with your artwork? Have you got a link to an actual example of what you mean that I can look at? Above you stated, "You upload your mp3's, cover art, and a two-page inside "booklet" spread "-there is no mastering of the CD." So, you should master your own work before you send it? Will the mastered work be hacked up and messed with? Can't you simply send them a cd that's already mastered? Forgive me, I'm new to this concept and my latest attempt to produce my own cd at home is still a learning curve that I'm trying to master. I've found that the process of creating cds on my computer can produce less than desirable results. Some of them acquire errors in the process of burning that make them unable to play well. Burning them at slower speeds or 'realtime' is suppose to be a cure for this but that process requires one to spend long hours of waiting for each cd to be burned at the actual speed of play. Jeez, you'd think some genius would figure that out and make this process both easy and reliable for the consumer. I did see a new product at the computer store the other day. It's called the Bravo Disc Publisher by PRIMERA. They were pretty expensive. In the $1500. price range, $2000. if you want it to do both DVD-Rs and CD-Rs. It's a dedicated burner for discs. It says, according to the flyer, that it'll connect to any Windows PC. It has a robotic disc tranport that loads one disc at a time, up to 25, into the machine. It burns at 48x for CD-R recording and prints the labels with a 2400 dpi color printer. Unfortunately no one there at the store knew a thing about it other than the flyer that it came with so I can only quote what it says. Let's see, $1500. divided by $15. per CD means I'd have to sell 100 to make back my intial investment. Then of course there's the cost of ink and additional packaging like boxes and inserts. I don't know. It might be a great idea. Maybe that's what those mp3 guys are using. Any clue as to whether they just burn CD-Rs like I'm doing at home here or do they have some other process? Questions, questions. ghost |
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Subject: RE: do's and don'ts in releasing a cd From: Paul G. Date: 30 Mar 03 - 10:37 AM Treewind -- I placed two of our new tunes on IUMA.COM (fewer "approval" hassles than MP3.COM) and dropped the link into a thread. At IUMA your songs are immediately available in MP3 and Real Audio format for listening and download. These are all originals, so we have no licensing / copyright issues. We own our own label. I have tried the MP3.com album thing. Didn't do anything for me in terms of sales. We'd rather retain full control of our product. Paul |
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