Breezey, sorry for the delay. I was sleeping in after a late night gigue.
The sales are great...for a regional folk band.
We are nearly the second pressing of 1,000 1 1/4 years after the debut. Reviews were great, fan response to the quality of production has been very gratifying.
We are pleased that our patrons can hear the difference that improved production provides.
A large part of the improved sound can be layed at the feet of the recording studio's excellent production staff.
That being said, we are hardly big minnows. We are just a regionally known shanty group with a gimmick that we and our fans enjoy.
Folks like Beonce, P Diddy, Justin Timberlake, the American/British Idol winner of the month, or the pre-superfreak Michael Jackson have had more money spent on their green room catering than we have amassed from our CD sales in 15 years of selling our 5 albums.
Our total number of units in hands of customers is about 17,000. This modest production level isn't too shabby by our folkie standards, but would be a career ending disaster for any of the big minnows mentioned above.
My point is that a few bucks nibbled off the cost of a CD might well be satisfying in a "gee, I really bargained that sucker down at that yardsale, heehee" mentality for the purchaser; but it adds up to real loss to the performer.
We put a value on the hard work we put into our CDs, and our customers do as well. We also value our fan-base. Without them, we would just be a bunch of drunk folks singing in the woods while wearing funny clothes.