Advice, tips & thoughts sought on how to 'release' an LP in this day & age!

[Super 8]

ANy ideas? I'm sort of lost as to how to do things nowadays. Back in 'my' day ("Shut it Grandad!") you would stuff jiffy bags with your 3 track (cassette!) demo & send 'em off to as many record co.s as you could afford to THEN ... wait for the obligatory rejection letter! Alternatively (if you were rich!) you could do a 'vanity deal' & independently self fund & release your sonic fruits .... obviously at a cost!

Anyways, my reasons for asking is .... I have an album project I'd like to tackle (I think!) I don't have nor 'do' this Spotify thing. WHy? I'm a total Luddite when it comes to this streaming lark & I don't really understand nor think I agree with it. I've heard it's a complete rip-off for undiscovered artists (such as I) and you need to have a million full streamed plays to accrue about 0.04p. 

I'm obviously fairly 'old skool' in my tastes & I personally MUCH prefer some kind of physical musical 'product' as opposed to all these random notes just floating around in the ether (without artwork & inner sleeves to live in!) I dunno, is it JUST me? My LP idea is all very 'pie in the sky' at this stage and I don't even have a shestring budget (which I realise is an issue and I'll need to address this). I know for a fact I can't afford to go vinyl but do folks still even play (buy??!) CDs these days or am I completely barking up the wrong tree here? I just wanna put a little album thing togeher, raise my (pretty non-existant profile) and just try to get my music 'OUT THERE' I guess! Not sure how to do it. I presently release 'mock' singles through Bandcamp but I've yet to have a single download on there.   

Sorry, I'm rambling here as I don't really know what I talking about. Tips from folks who do and might have some guidance advice in this field then yeah, I'd be most interested to hear from ya regarding your experience(s). CHEERS!     

[Farrell Jackson]

Check this place out for reasonably priced manufacturing and free distribution.
https://www.kunaki.com/

Cdbaby is another distribution option but there's a set up involved.

[Oldrottenhead]

I started throwing the odd song at Spotify and the like via "RouteNote".  So far have earned 64 cents lol. But my reasons where not monetary, was more about putting songs on a platform that I could share with friends.

With RouteNote , they basically work as a publisher of sorts, and make your music available for streaming and download on a number of different platforms. Deezer, napster, iTunes, Spotify etc. If you use their free option they keep a percentage of any royalties accrued, or you can pay a monthly fee to keep all your royalties.

I have only uploaded a couple of songs individually, but you can release an entire album in one go. You can only post original material, so no covers unless you can show you have permission to use. From upload it takes a few weeks to a month before songs/album is released to the various platforms, I believe that songs are checked for copyright infringement etc before they can be authorised for release.

As I said my reasons for doing this was not to monetise my songs, but the if that is your intention, getting your songs on a popular playlist on Spotify can generate some revenue.

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/music-promotion/pitching-music-curated-playlists-spotify/

[Hook]

As I right this I'm about to send CD BABY 5 discs of my dayjob. For $80 they set it up on all digital distribution and sell the actual physical cd in thier on line store store and Amazon and some other on line retailers
Still, and I hate admitting  it because I hate it, social media, FB, spotify, instagram and that crap is how you build a following. I'm about to embrace it full force with my 14 year old for my profitable side. I'll have merchandise, videos, cds but in order to move any of that people have to see you. It's still a crap shoot, the only way to make real, consistant money is to perform.
Now perhaps  performing can and is becoming more on YouTube & facebook, but you then direct them to your store...I think??? I make money to perform in front of an audience and I don't see that changing.
I also dig vinyl alot and buy new stuff but I don't see the profit in making vinyl until you have a big following.
Check out atomicdisc.com they will make a run of 50 cds for $1 each.
Good luck!