Kijan pou yo bay yon albòm te Indie – How To Release An Indie Album
http://www.jawshack.com/blog/how-to-release-an-indie-album/comment-page-1/
Lè premye gade enfòmasyon sou kouman pou distribye m’ albòm en, la Grande kantite kote mwen te twouve te koze m’ sèvo blayi yon fusible. Songcast! Tunecore! CDbaby! Orchard a! iTunes! Amazon! Lala, Amiestreet, Pandora, Jango, fantastique li ak mindnumbing an menm tan. Ajoute ke, eta konstan entènèt la de flux, anpil nan zòn "èd" yo deyò sont ans, pafwa yon dekad de Contact. Apre sa, an n pa mansyone route ou CD fizik ki te fè! Sipòte a!
Tankou yon mizisyen ki te à l, kite m’ di ou ke li se yon bann travay, men rezilta a trè récompense. Li pran yon bann tan ak efò pou mete ansanm yon albòm te kont ou, men pa jwenn dekouraje! Si nou pa swiv ak version li soti nan lemonn, nou pa janm ap konnen, Eske ou?
Mwen pa reklame pa tout mwayen sa a se pi bon ou sèl fason pou yo bay albòm ou en, men isit la, se yon play-by-play de jan m’ te fè l’ epi li te twò lwen te jwenn trè byen. An n konmanse depi nan kòmansman pou bèt, dwe nou?
Enregistrement
Mwen te lwe yon mwa verrouillage repetisyon estidyo nan ki pou ka ekri, paske mwen rete nan yon kay. jwenn okenn lòt fason pou gen aksè konplè a pou yon chanm quiet-ish 24/7. M te achte yon oulwa debyen mic (Rode NT1-UN), yon mic dispositif (Dean Markley), ak kèk bon pri dynamique. M te achte bon monitè KRK ST6 sou Craigslist. Mwen ekri tout bagay nan etonan Voyage MOTU nan yon ordinateur. Mwen principalement itilize rezon ki te rewired nan Ableton Live, yo fè tout m’ vague ravajè modification nan tèt ou Soundforge. Ki plis yon multitude D’ hôtes pluginly, yon gita 12-chaîne, yon klavye MIDI, yon bas fretless ak yon bann swe ak yon gwo grunting te ban m’ tou sa m te bezwen pou ka ekri albòm m.
Pandan tout pwosesis de enregistrement ak mélange (Sur senk mwa), mwen toujou bay CD boule nèt nan dife pou zanmi yo ak connaissances epi li te mande pou commentaires. Sa a pou etabli DJs ak a dezespere avèk tout tone oud. Mwen par MP3s. Mwen te poste nan foròm ou. Mwen écouté nan machin lan. Mwen jwe sa pou moun ki fè otostòp. Se pa remplacer sou tè sa a pou yon lòt seri tande. Jan nou jwe ou pale tren pou moun, avec vannen à commentaires a pou konnen sa Grande avè ou. Toujou envite kritik konstriktif! Critique yon, yo toujou sou sa yo te tande ak sa ki enpòtan.
Evantyèlman, mwen jwenn yon pwen lè commentaires a fè yo tounen, "mwen pi renmen UN t de fwa lavalè", ou "Mwen pa gen anpil pou di, mwen reyèlman renmen li." Ou ap toujou gen lide sou bagay ou ka chanje sa, men evantyèlman ou ap reyalize ke "chanjman" yo pa t ‘ asepte "amelyorasyon," sèlman "yon bagay diferan." Lè ou ap chante, se fè pwen sa yo, sa se lè a mete yo sou etajè pou gade nan lè yo image.
Mastering
Si ou mete ansanm yon démonstration, promo, ou yon CD sèlman pou amizan, mwen pa konseye peye yon moun pou mèt tren ou. Mastering, se pou pwofesyonèl distribisyon sèlman. Tankou yon antrènman, ou ka vle pou eseye mastering yo tèt ou, ki kounye a posib ak kèk de etonan plugins la (chèk soti SoundOnSound a Mastering gid pou pou konmanse).
Si nou menm, moun Korent sou karyè mizik ou e vle pou fè yon rete tout mizik ou, sepandan, ou dwe jwenn yo image. Si ou yo aktiv nan anpil nan sèn mizik lokal ou ou pwobableman deja konnen yon moun ki maîtres kòm yon bò biznis ou pastan. Mande environ. Si ou jwenn yon moun, mande yo jan yo ta mande pou yon travay mastering — que tout sa a va rive ou moins ak pi bon opsyon. Plus, ou ede soti yon zanmi financièrement e pwal pwobableman genyen yon pi détendue ak plezan premye mastering expérience. Se tou super punk rock.
Si sa a pa yon chwa, recherche en pou "bon mastering [vil ou]". Si ou jwenn anyen fèt nan Kiba, dwe la recherche pou eta ou peyi. Anpil mizisyen indie nan Los Angeles sèvi ak lò soufle Mastering, yon endistri estanda ak toujou relativement ki prix. Tout moun accepte par CD.
Si ki toujou sanble tankou manje twòp, kèk kote distribisyon en tankou Tunecore òf très bon (nap pale de chif figi isit la) mastering nan yon sèvis ki pi bon ke ou pa gen yo pral pi piti pran volumes total ou cohérente li rive jouk kote yo ta dwe fè. Mwen ta renmen pou stress mwen distaste pou yon opsyon sa a ak pran sa ki pa gen responsablite pou sa ki yon 50 dola mèt sanble.
[Ajou: jan Quincy mentionne bèl mizik, chante nan yon kòmantè ki pi ba, fè atansyon pou pa jwenn extraits hors pa bandi yon plugin kontrole ki akizasyon ou yon buttload pou kraze ou tren nan yon compression. Li se yon pil lajan ak konpwesyon se sèlman yon ti moso sa ki patisipe nan atis mastering mizik. Si ou plan sou ban nou di a an lajan likid pou yon moun, tout tan tout tan, toujou rechèch travay yo, jan nou koumanse pwemye. John) gen kèk kokenn lekti sou blog li.]
Reyaksyon a yon bon travay mastering dwe, "m’ pa konnen poukisa, men sa sèlman ki pi bon." Kounye a m tande dezyèm lan premye a premye total de mwen fèk image albòm figi m’ klere tankou yon pye sapen. ("Nan kesyon masterer t remakab Brian Saitzyk.) Sa se yon bèl eksperyans ak vrèman ap ede ou oditè apresye ou mizik pou li plein potentiel. Apre sa, se sa rele objectif a, dwat? pa vre?
D’
Se konsa kounye a ke nou genyen pwodwi adyo fini, nou pwèt pou libere, dwat? Non, pou plizyè rezon ke tout inclure kesyon legal ak finansye gênantes. M li anpil atik sou sa a pou ou pa gen pou, men essentiel de gig a se si ou pa attention ou ap jwenn vissées ak chante ou ap vole, yo ap pran kay ou a ak sapat ki nan pye ou, kite ou frèt ak sèlman nan yon dal part. D’ CHANTE OU. Ou sont teknikman pwoteje kounye a, ou kreye yo, men, men ki jan ou p ap gen pwoblèm prouver li. Li extrêmement fasil ak bon mache. Ale tou senpleman pou elektwonik D’ Office gouvènman peyi Etazini, peye yo $35 dola e di yo non albòm ou ak tout ou orijinal chante ki te genyen ak kou apoulaw, ou se toute. Yo gen tout orijinal, rezon?
Ou kapab D’ yo jis pou tèt ou ou ou ka simultanément D’ nan yon konpayi ki ou genyen. Pou comptable senplisite li epi taks, mwen te kòmanse yon etikèt rekò nan biwo m’ lokal eta Commis a pou yon bon. Ranpli yon move non nan biznis (ou DBA, "Ap fè biznis kòm") (grav, ki leve ak bagay sa a?), yo mete yon piblisite nan jounal lokal la pou fè l’ legal. Pa peye plis pase 50 dola pou piblisite ou. Lè ou jwenn tout documents sa nou pa dwe bank ou an, moun ki pa ta pwobableman renmen pou kòmanse yon compte biznis apa pou ou, mesye ou madanm, ak relye li pou ou prive Tyeke.
Poukisa pase tout malè sa a tonbe? Byen, ou pa gen pou yo, men, si nou menm, moun Korent sou sa ou gen pou fè fas a lajan plus ou pi ta fè tout tranzaksyon yo ou ak tout transfè lajan an pou moun nan yon akont separe vrèman ede nou kenbe Suivi de revni ak depans. Anplis sa a, ou kapab finalman kòmanse ekri lèt sa a sou tout sa vitesse ou gen vètij nan tan taks, si w pase plis pase ou privye, byen, rapòte pèdi yon nèg taks ou ak wè sak pwal pase.
Enfin Men, wè pa wè pa leastly, anrejistre ak IMC ou ASCAP. Konpayi sa yo fè anpil pou pwoteje dwa mizisyen a, konsa tou pou ou te ka peye lè ou premye unique hits # 1 sou graphiques yo (ou te jwenn jwe sa yon sèl fwa sou radyo ke). Ni fason sa, enskri albòm ou ak sispann fussing deja. Ou gen pwèske genyen!
Liberasyon
Apre yon tan, longè demand m’ a ak Tunecore [à: BANDCAMP], pou plizyè rezon (pa a moins de ki te Trent Reznor ak Aretha Franklin les itilize li). Anvan sa, mwen renmen ou peye yon faible, plat, anyèl frè ki pa janm chanje. Yo pa pran yon pousantaj de vente tout, e pou sa dwòl. Yo pa mande ou pou ou RNIS, ou estati gen barcode, ou se yonn nan kòb lòt aza pou lòt sites frais, ak sa pou m’ se yon endikasyon on bon. Mwen gade Songcast, Orchard A, ak CDbaby, li pandan CDbaby toujou peut être rezistan yon fason pou yo bay yon CD fizik yo pran yon pousantaj. Se konsa, pou nou premye jou a, si ou se vre wi planifye pou pa vann inite anpil m santi Tunecore lan, ki fè plis sans.
Tunecore (e mwen kwè lòt sèvis distribisyon) fonctionne fondamantalman kon sa: ou menm, siy leve kanpe, téléchargement ou lime (iso!), ak étiquette yo ak anpil swen. Ou bay estati pou ou une pou s’ nan yon ti kwen tankou yon pitit orphelines (ou si ou vle en droit ou ka sèvi ak yonn nan yo fourni modèles). Ou ekri nòt doubli ou. Ou ba yo enfòmasyon sou paypal nou. Ou di yo ki sèvis ou ta vle pou itilize nan anplis pou Amazon MP3, ak iTunes (chak lòt sèvis se kòb 99). A tout bagay koute m $34, environ. Yo di ou sa ap pran sis semèn pou ou bagay pou ale viv, men, tout nèt de preuve pwen vers sa a ke yon nèt bay manti tankou aktyèlman beaucoup plus. Mwen tcheke dis jou pita ak albòm m’ t’ ap viv. Tunecore tou ofri anpil lòt kontra, okenn nan ki m’ a ak. Jan mansyone plus, si ou pa lage ou tren image ou ka peye yo $50 pou fè l’ pou ou. Yo gen kontra shwag tankou bouton ak mayo. Yo gen tòn enfòmasyon sou kouman pou mache fè mizik ak chemen ou atik plis pase mwen gen tan pou li.
Gade pou yon ti tan nan separe nan yon app vente ou ekri lèt sa a kòd tou dwat nan plas kote m, men a sou li pou rezon sekirite, lojistik, fwistrasyon nan applications yo, ak onètman sèlman pou ka impressionnante. Pa gen anpil pou di pou kalme de reconnaissance utiliser ak mak, ak konvenk mwen byen souke ke mwen te fè tounen depase m pèdi nan frè yo ki kote distribisyon yo charge jis pa te asosye ak yo sa.
Jan mwen te di bonè bonè, mwen si ke lòt sèvis ki gen anpil. Tunecore mache sèlman pou distribisyon digital, yo pa distribye fizik CD. Si ou tout tan tout tan arrêter peye frè $20 ane yo ap aparamman retire mizik ou de distribisyon zòn yo. Èske ou rechèch ki fèt, epi chwazi avec.
Mache
Isit la se yon lis ti metòd pou m itilize mache lontan se mizik gita.
An gwo 3-kouryèll, Facebook, Myspace. Anvan sa, ekri tout moun ou tout tan tout tan konnen, mwen pa swen si ou ansyen chèf ki te bat ou ou tou sa. Se pou yo konnen ou albòm ki disponib ak relye yo pou li. Être onèt epi pou yo konnen ki jan di ou te travay ak mande sipò yo e di yo ou ap du gazon yo si ou ta bezwen. Si moun mande pou achte dirèkteman nan men nou, men, ki se pou ou, men mwen pito pi wo anpil moun ak yon bon valè tranzaksyon olye ke éviter minimòm frè te sou sou entènèt la nan zòn yo. Li pwal ede nou muchly lè s’ sipò de kalite endistri yo ou étiquettes en chiffres konkrèt pou montre. Facebook se aktyèlman outil goto pou en (sup avenir), se konsa itilize sa pou li plen mesure. Kenbe yon pati nan tande CD ak, envite tout moun nou konnen. Spam yo, nan yon rezon. Yo pral principalement sipòte ou, fè kè ou kontan pou ou ak ba ou commentaires. Myspace, byen, ki bèl anpil moun mouri nan dlo a, men nou toujou pa ka meprize li. Yon lòt de collègues atis ak kalite endistri yo toujou itilize li e nou pa kapab gen mwayen pou eseye chak avni disponib.
Kat biznis-fè yon kat biznis ak ou non/bann non/pseudonym, non albòm ou, pran kontak ak enfòmasyon, sit entènèt, adrès, ak que Fantastik grafik ou te pwezante tèt ou ansanm ak. Sou pa m lan li di "disponib sou Amazon ak iTunes" anba Tit albòm. Remèt sa tankou si yo te la qui pou yon cho.
Fizik CD-fè anpil rechèch ki fèt, jwenn pakè dwat la pou ou. Jwenn yon ti kous de CD fè se yon biznis ekzamp ak ka kouri nenpòt kote de $0.79 pa inite w la pou $5.46 pa inite w la. Selon sou jan bwodè ou vle CD ou pou gade, ou ka jwenn li tout nan yon sèl package, ou jwenn li tou nan pati. mete yo ansanm. Ou ka enprime yo nan tèt ou, men, y’ a: tout moun ka di ou enprime yo nan tèt ou, pou asire ke se estati a ou vle pou yon pwojè à mizik ou. Kite kote tankou PrintPapa ak comme la pou bon, gwo s’ de CD gen plak pwotèj ak inlays. Kote tankou DiscMakers ak AbetDisc les kout kouri ak anpwent ak yon gwo chwa de kòman konplike ou senp ou vle CD ou pou a. Pa bliye mete ou enfòmasyon sou kontak les nplwaye ak eklatman nan rèldo kont li si ou tout tan tout tan planifye pou sèvi ak sa tankou zouti promotional. [Ajou: mwen t' ap ak IndyPendy, ki te absoliman dwòl. Mèsi pou sèvis la, gwo lalin!]
Revi kote, magazin, étiquettes, èstasyon radyo-yon fwa, ou jwenn CD ou yo fè, se lè pou kòmanse diffusion yo pou moun. Genyen anpil itil sit wèb sou ki sa pou yo fè lè diffusion soti disques. Destinasyon kont li, soit fòme li prend, dabitid gen tou yon sit entènèt ak règleman présentation. M pa p tou nan lavil eksepte pou di toujou être ploi ak eseye pou sovaj yo pa fòse l. Rechèch ou destinations pou asire ke yo se nan fason ou ak sont m pa pi mal ak ap resevwa transpote materyèl. Nan kèk ka se pou l’ ka yon bon lide pou ekri yo anvan mande si li se byen pou courrier yo yon CD, men toujou gen yon lyen pou ou en jwè nan siyati ou. Mwen sèvi ak Lala a Fantastik en MP3 jwè, kote ou ka exemple nan paj promo m. Mwen te itilize vodpod pou ranmase l’ pou yo travay nan WordPress. [Ajou: jwè LaLa an te kontinye gen finicky, se konsa mwen kòmèsyal pou Soundcloud ak Soundcloud a, widget a pou WordPress.] Si yo ekri ou sauvegarder e plus di ou pa pou, yo yon CD via snailmail, nan yon pake Sur si sa posib. Revize kote tankou Pitchfork ak sou yon zillion lòt moun ka ede ou mizik la tou. Si vous kon, kapab tou soumèt yon Listmania! pou Amazon, ki de amizan ak itil.
[Ajou: Paul Moffett de Louisville mizik nouvèl commentaires sous, "PR sa ase yo pou lyen yon kote mizik la ka tande te di sijere ke piblikasyon deja gen kèk nosyon sou ki atis la se. Nou te kapab pase tout jounen an ap fè pa gen anyen Men, koute mizik nou yo pa te enterese nan. Lè se lajan ak nou pase nou ak pwekosyon. CD fizik yon gen yon chans pou pi bon de te koute."]
Radyo en-radyo kote tankou Last.fm, Pandora, Jango, ak imeem pwal aksepte mizik ak yon RNIS. Kote sa yo gen diferan kondisyon pou ka, rechèch yo premye anvan voye yon bagay konsa.
Fè travay – pou kèk sa se yon pa brainer ak yon étape bonè, pou lòt moun li terrible ak sa difisil. Nan laj modèn mizik devient plis tankou yon penti sou yon miray pase yon nstenktif, s’ afficher rete, e gen sont upsides ak inconvénients pou sa. Si ou kapab byen fè mizik ou ou deja gen yon bann, rive soti la, èske affiche, ankouraje tèt ou kon crazy, pratique kon crazy, toujou chèche pou amelyore ak être pertinentes nan sèn ou ki pi valeur. Si ou se yon solo Sur elektwonik tankou m, lecture m’ atik sou kijan pou pa fè mizik elektwonik viv ak fè posib ou. Sèvi ak loopers ak zanmi yo ak être enteresan. Teknoloji vrèman route pou pwen kote nou ka réplication ki pase nan tèt nou soti nan tout bon sou latè nan yon mòd foi ak li bèl. Si ou gen mo sal yo ke, yo jwenn yon vèsyon pipiti de youn de chante ou, ou kapab fè travay nan nwit mic louvri. Tou sa ou fè, fè mizik ou la, tankou Laura di nou nan syèl la Fidelity, pli vit ke yon moun tande mizik ou ou te fè yon diferans nan mond lan.
Koulye a obtenir la ak kreye!
When I first looked up info on how to distribute my album online, the overwhelming number of sites I found almost caused my brain to blow a fuse. Songcast! Tunecore! CDbaby! The Orchard! iTunes! Amazon! Lala, Amiestreet, Pandora, Jango, it’s fantastic and mindnumbing at the same time. Add to that, the internet’s constant state of flux means many of the “help” sites out there are years, sometimes a decade out of touch. And let’s not even mention getting your physical CDs made! Horror!
As a musician who has been through it, let me tell you that it is a lot of work, but the payoff is very rewarding. It takes a lot of time and effort to put together an album by yourself, but don’t get discouraged! If you don’t follow through and release it out into the world, you’ll never know, will you?
I don’t claim by any means that this is the best or only way to release your album online, but here is a play-by-play of How I Did It and it has so far worked out pretty well. Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?
Recording
I leased a monthly lockout rehearsal studio in which to record, because I live in an apartment and found no other way to get full access to a quiet-ish room 24/7. I bought one decent condenser mic (Rode NT1-A), a transducer mic (Dean Markley), and a few cheap dynamic mics. I bought cheap KRK ST6 monitors off Craigslist. I recorded everything through the amazing MOTU Traveler into a laptop. I mainly used Reason rewired through Ableton Live and did all my destructive wave editing in Peak or Soundforge. That plus a multitude of pluginly hosts, a 12-string guitar, a MIDI keyboard, a fretless bass and a lot of sweat and heavy grunting gave me everything I needed to record my album.
During the entire process of recording and mixing (about five months), I constantly handed out burned CDs to friends and acquaintances and asked for feedback. This went for established DJs and the hopelessly tone deaf. I emailed MP3s. I posted to forums. I listened in the car. I played it for hitchhikers. There is no substitute on this earth for a different set of ears. As you play your rough tracks for people, carefully sift through the feedback to find what resonates with you. Always invite constructive criticism! A critique means they care about what they’ve heard, and that’s important.
Eventually, I reached a point when the feedback turned into, “My favorite one was such and such,” or “I don’t have much to say except I really liked it.” You’ll always have ideas about things you can change, but eventually you’ll realize that the “changes” are no longer “improvements,” only “something different.” When your songs and mixes reach that point, it’s time to put them on the shelf and look into getting them mastered.
Mastering
If you are putting together a demo, promo, or a CD just for fun, I do not recommend paying someone to master your tracks. Mastering is for professional distribution only. As an exercise, you may want to try mastering them yourself, which is now possible with some of the amazing plugins out there (check out SoundOnSound’s Mastering Guide for starters).
If you are serious about your music career and want to make a living off of your music, however, you must get them mastered. If you are active in your local music scene you probably already know someone who masters as a side business or hobby. Ask around. If you find someone, ask them how much they’d charge for a mastering job — in all likelihood this will be your best and cheapest option. Plus, you help out a friend financially and will probably have a more relaxed and pleasant first mastering experience. It’s also super punk rock.
If that isn’t an option, search online for “cheap mastering [your city]“. If you find nothing suitable, broaden the search to state or country. Many indie musicians in Los Angeles use Golden Mastering, an industry standard and still relatively affordable pricing. Everyone accepts mailed CDs.
If that still seems like too much bread, some online distribution sites like Tunecore offer extremely cheap (we’re talking two-digit figures here) mastering through a service that is better than nothing and will at least get your track volumes consistent and up to where they should be. I’d like to stress my distaste for this option and take no responsibility for what a $50 master sounds like.
[Update: As Quincy expertly mentions in a comment below, be very careful not to get ripped off by a plugin bandit who charges you a buttload for smashing your tracks through a compressor. It's a waste of money and compression is only a small part of what's involved in the art of mastering music. If you plan on giving your hard earned cash to anyone, ever, always research their work and background first. John Scrip has some fantastic reading on his blog.]
The reaction to a good mastering job should be, “I have no idea why, but it’s just better.” The moment I heard the first second of the first track of my newly mastered album my face lit up like a Christmas tree. (The masterer extraordinaire in question was the remarkable Brian Saitzyk.) It’s a wonderful experience and will really help your listeners appreciate your music to its full potential. And that’s the goal, right? Right?
Copyright
So now that we’ve got the finished audio product, we’re ready to release, right? No, for several reasons that all include annoying legal and financial issues. I read a lot of articles about this so you don’t have to, but the gist of the gig is if you aren’t careful you’ll get screwed and your songs will be stolen, they’ll take your home and your shoes and leave you cold and alone in a gutter somewhere. COPYRIGHT YOUR SONGS. You are technically protected the moment you create them, but this way you won’t have any trouble proving it. It is incredibly easy and cheap. Simply go to the U.S. government’s Electronic Copyright Office, pay them $35 dollars and tell them the name of your album and all your original songs contained and boom, you’re bulletproof. They are all originals, right?
You can copyright them just to yourself or you can simultaneously copyright through a company you own. For accounting simplicity and tax purposes, I started a record label at my local County Clerk’s office for very cheap. File a Fictitious Business Name (or DBA, “Doing Business As”) (seriously, who comes up with this stuff?) and put an ad in the local paper to make it legal. Don’t pay more than $50 for your ad. When you get all that paperwork take it to your bank, who would probably just love to start a separate business account for you, sir or madam, and link it to your personal checking.
Why go to all that trouble? Well, you don’t have to, but if you are serious about this you will have to deal with the money sooner or later and doing all your transactions and money transfers through a separate account really helps you keep track of income and expenses. Additionally, you can finally start writing off all that gear you get giddy over around tax time, and if you spend more than you net, well, report a loss to your tax guy and see what happens.
Lastly but certainly not leastly, register with BMI or ASCAP. Those companies do a lot to protect the rights of the musician, as well as help you get paid when your first single hits #1 on the charts (or gets played that one time on Pirate Radio). Either way, register your album and quit fussing already. You’re almost there!
The Release
After a long, long quest I went with Tunecore [update: BANDCAMP], for several reasons (not the least of which being Trent Reznor and Aretha Franklin both use it). First, I like that you pay a low, flat, annual fee that never changes. They don’t take a percentage of any sales, and that’s amazing. They don’t charge you for your ISDN, your barcode image, or any of the other random fees other sites charge, and that to me is an indication of proper mindset. I looked at Songcast, The Orchard, and CDbaby, and while CDbaby still might be a viable way to release a physical CD they do take a percentage. So, for your first year, unless you truly plan to not sell many units I feel Tunecore makes more sense.
Tunecore (and I imagine any other distribution service) works basically like this: You sign up, upload your (mastered!) files, and label them very carefully. You supply the image for your artwork to be displayed in a tiny corner like an orphaned child (or if you want to be boring you can use one of their supplied templates). You write your liner notes. You give them your paypal info. You tell them which services you’d like to use in addition to Amazon MP3 and iTunes (each additional service is 99 cents). The whole thing cost me $34, roughly. They tell you it’ll take six weeks for your stuff to go live, but every bit of evidence points toward this being a complete fib as it’s actually much faster. I checked ten days later and my album was live. Tunecore also offers numerous other deals, none of which I went with. As mentioned earlier, if you haven’t gotten your tracks mastered you can pay them $50 to do it for you. They have shwag deals like buttons and T-shirts. They have tons of information about how to market your music and way more articles than I have time to read.
I looked for a while into distributing through a sales app or writing code directly through my site, but decided against it for security reasons, logistics, frustration at the apps, and honestly just to be impressive. There is a lot to be said for ease of use and brand recognition, and I’m thoroughly convinced I have made back much more than I’ve lost in the fees the distribution sites charge just by being associated with them.
As I said earlier, I’m sure the other services are great. Tunecore only works for digital distribution, they don’t distribute physical CDs. If you ever stop paying the annual $20 fee they will apparently remove your music from the distribution sites. Do your research, and choose wisely.
Marketing
Here is a short list of methods I’m using to market my music:
The Big 3 – Email, Facebook, Myspace. First, email everyone you’ve ever known, I don’t care if it’s your old boss who beat you or whatever, and let them know your album is available and link them to it. Be honest and let them know how hard you’ve worked and ask for their support and tell them you’ll mow their lawn if you have to. If people ask to buy directly from you, well, that’s up to you, but I prefer higher numbers and a clean transaction rather than avoiding the minimal fees on the online sites. It will help you muchly when garnering support from industry types or labels to have concrete numbers to show. Facebook is currently the goto tool for networking (sup future), so use that to its full extent. Hold a CD listening party and invite everyone you know. Spam them, within reason. They will mostly support you and be happy for you and give you feedback. Myspace, well, that’s pretty much dead in the water, but we still can’t ignore it. A lot of fellow artists and industry types still use it and we can’t afford not to try every avenue available.
Business cards – Make a business card with your name/band name/pseudonym, your album name, contact information, website address, and whatever awesome graphic you’ve branded yourself with. On mine it says “available on Amazon and iTunes” under the album title. Hand these out as if they were fliers for a show.
Physical CDs – Do a lot of research and find the right package for you. Getting a small run of CDs made is a tricky business and can run anywhere from $0.79 per unit to $5.46 per unit. Depending on how snazzy you want your CD to look, you can get it all in one package or get it all in parts and put them together. You can print them out yourself, but be warned: Everyone can tell you printed them out yourself, so make sure that’s the image you want to project alongside your music. Check out sites like PrintPapa and the like for cheap, large runs of CD covers and inlays. Sites like DiscMakers and AbetDisc both do short run prints with a large choice of how elaborate or simple you want your CD to be. Remember to put your contact info on both the case AND the disc itself if you ever plan to use these as promotional tools. [Update: I went with IndyPendy, who have been absolutely amazing. Thanks for the tip, Big Moon!]
Review sites, magazines, labels, radio stations – Once you get your CDs made, it’s time to start mailing them to people. There are a lot of helpful websites about what to do when mailing out discs. The destination itself, whatever form it takes, usually also has a website with submission guidelines. I won’t get too into it except to say always be polite and try not to brute force it. Research your destinations to ensure they are into your style and are okay with receiving unsolicited material. In some cases it may be a good idea to email them first asking if it’s fine to mail them a CD, but always include a link to your online player in your signature. I use Lala‘s awesome streaming MP3 player, which you can sample at my promo page. I used vodpod to get it to work in WordPress. [Update: LaLa's player continued to be finicky, so I switched to Soundcloud and the Soundcloud widget for WordPress.] Unless they email you back and specifically tell you not to, send them a CD via snailmail, in a press package if possible. Review sites like Pitchfork and about a zillion others can help get your music out there as well. If you like, can also submit a Listmania! to Amazon, which is both fun and useful.
[Update: Paul Moffett of Louisville Music News comments below, "PR that only points to a link where the music can be heard suggests that the publication already has some notion about who the artist is. We could spend all day doing nothing but listening to music we aren’t interested in. Time is money and we spend ours carefully. A physical CD has a better chance of being listened to."]
Online radio – Radio sites like Last.fm, Pandora, Jango, and imeem will accept music with an ISDN. Those sites have different requirements for submissions, so research them first before sending anything.
Perform – To some this is a no brainer and an early step, to others it’s terrifying and difficult. In the modern age music becomes more like a painting on a wall than a visceral, engaging live show, and there are upsides and downsides to that. If you can easily perform your music or already have a band, get out there, do shows, promote yourself like crazy, practice like crazy, always seek to improve and be relevant in the scene you value most. If you are a solo electronic act like me, read my article about how not to perform electronic music live and do your best. Use loopers and friends and be interesting. Technology is really getting to the point where we can replicate what’s happening in our heads out into the real world in an authentic fashion and it is wonderful. If you have lyrics, get a version of your song you can perform at open mic nights. Whatever you do, get your music out there, and like Laura tells us in High Fidelity, as soon as one person hears your music you’ve made a difference in the world.
Now get out there and create!