[mplpost] Producing and Distributing the CD...

[Bill Usher]

Part 2: Producing and Distributing the CD

Back when I first did the Touch The Earth series, it was almost unheard of
that you would "make the record yourself". There was some recent discussion
on Maplepost as to those early self-financed albums in the Canadian scene.
Back then, the technology was only available to the studios with deep
pockets who could finance the overhead, staff etc. Nowadays, of course, we
all know how easy it is to produce a quality recording without hiss.

There was also nowhere near as much musical activity (and therefore,
competition) as now and the dream was to be noticed and picked up by a
record label that would sign you to a seven record deal - not paying much
attention to the harsh reality that only a very, very few ever got to make
more than one or two before you got "dropped".   :)

That early pejorative perception of 'vanity' projects soon turned into the
laudable notion of 'frontier' independence and 'taking control' of one's
career.

So does anybody (in the Maplepost extended family) ever get 'signed' and
financed by a third-party label now?

Anybody try to license your project to a label/distributor before you
manufacture your first 500? Are there good artist deals to be made out there
by licensing your project to a label/distributor? What are the pros and cons
in your mind? Do you get the promotional/marketing boost from a label that
you couldn't do yourself.

I noticed a change during the 80's in what record companies were prepared to
do vis a vis marketing and promotion. Wearing my record company hat,
attending various industry conferences, it seemed that (during this period)
more and more companies were 'charging back' to the artist/licensor more and
more promo and marketing costs than was traditionally the case in the 70's.
Where's it at now? What kind of deals are there out there? What kinds of
royalties are being paid?

Of course at the time of the first series, we didn't have any ideas about
computers or let alone the internet. When Almada's Aaron and Jonathan Lipsin
distributed and sold 27,000 copies of Sharon, Lois & Bram's One Elephant
record in the first three months of its release (1977) they did it by going
to record stores door-to-door.

I'm not sure when it was in the early 80s but I remember Kids' Records
distributor A&M would ship 3000-4000 copies out the door to stores on each
new release. By the second half of the 80s, that was down to 1500 to 2000 on
release. Why. Bill Ott would show us the figures... Fewer stores carrying
many fewer titles. Maximize the shelf space with top sellers and strong back
catalogue. As the Canadian industry grew and more artists were making more
records there was more competition for the shelf space.

So, I wonder, how many 'indie' maplepost artists try to get their albums
into retail? What percentage of your total sale is retail? What kinds of
distributor deals are there? What about third-party fulfillment operations
like Joe Radio? What about maplemusic.com? folkweb.com? What's your
strategy?

Of course, there are off-the-stage sales and I've grouped those thoughts
with the last topic, "Gigging and Touring". What are some other innovative
strategies out there for distributing/selling the CD? What are your
rationales? What's the payoff and return?


-- 
http://www.billusher.com


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