Anybody on here selling there music ?

[pjd1]

Just a quick question to the members on here is there anybody selling there music online using some of the websites like Routenote , distrokid , etc how does it work and is it worth the effort and money, what sort of music media do they use etc MP3 or some other form. Basically is it worthwhile for the returns the artist receives back and what are the downsides to the platforms out there .

Any recommendations ?

[Hook]

I put a disc up on itunes and all the other download sites through a company called disctrophonics years ago. I made a few bucks and it was easy. Its all about promotion. Just putting your stuff out there is fine but someone has to be looking for it.
Johnny Robbo has had some recent successes with selling his music, hopefully he'll chime in.
With as easy as it is you should try it. Can't sell anything if you don't try. Oldrottonhead has been putting his tunes on spotify to get them out there. So many options to listen to music these days...it's both wonderful and still difficult for the little guy making music.
Rock on!

[Farrell Jackson]

I use cdbaby for my 5 cds. They do all the digital distribution and connect your songs with several different music distributors. They collect the fees and send you a check when ever your pre-determined money threshold is hit. It does cost to put up songs and/or albums but at times they will run a reduced price offer. If I have an album on the near horizon, that's when I'll pay sales fee and hold a place for when my album is ready to be released.

It's not a lot of money but it does help pay for the cost of cdbaby hosting, distributing, and collecting the fees for your songs. I get a couple of small checks each year and take my wife out to dinner with the proceeds.

As Hook mentioned, the more you promote the more successful you will be at selling your music.

I'm sure there are a lot of other places that will host and sell your music but I've found cdbaby to be affordable and very easy to use.

I did much better with cd sales when I was still gigging and sold them at the shows I did.

Good luck with it!

Farrell

[kenny mac]

I used cd baby as well for my charity single but I've often wondered about what happens with the tax situation when you are doing it for yourself?
I mean effectively you are getting paid for it,is there a ceiling before you need to start declaring it?
I've seen recently if you sign up for Landre they release your stuff so don't know if that's another alternative as well as getting your track mastered.

[pjd1]

Thank you lads so very much , i have a long lost friend with i use to play some acoustic gigs with , who i have heard through the grape vine that he is selling some of his music via the internet , i have lost contact with him, so cannot ask him how he is recording what platform he uses etc etc , i will do some more asking and digging around before will commit to something , but thanks for your prompt reply,s and information about how you lads have done it .

Cheers and have a great 2018

[Oldrottenhead]

i have been using routenote to publish some songs, basically to get them on spotify for relatives to listen to, but routenote puts music on all the major platforms, deezer itunes etc, so far i have made five bucks lol.

tho as i said selling was not my main objective, but is nice knowing my stuff is out there, tho i doubt anyone is actively searching it out.

ps, routenote has two options, if you pay, you keep all your revenue, i went for the free option where routenote keep 20% of your earnings.

[pjd1]

Cheers ORH thanks for the heads up, i will check the route note out and see if it is worthwhile , but  i like you like the idea of some of my music being out there so to speak . Although on this positive side you are classed as a "semi pro" musician having earned 5 quid which is 5 quid more than i will ever earn !!

[The Gobi Desert Canoe Club]

When I stopped playing live I stopped asking for money for my music. Anything I do now is free for all to applaud or decry.    Willie

[bostjan]

I've used bandcamp and tunecore.

Bandcamp is great for me.  I have a really small audience.  It costs me nothing to do the upkeep and I get thrown a few bucks here and there.

Tunecore is a little more of a process.  You upload your songs and your album art and set a release date.  Sometimes tunecore has problems with my name, so they delay things.  Then, after a few days or weeks, your stuff will appear on iTunes, Rhapsodhy, Google Play, Spotify, Yandex, Amazon, etc.  After a year, you have to pay even more than you paid before to renew each album.  Although, I see no point in renewing, since it doesn't appear that not renewing causes your materials to go away or anything like that.  Through tunecore, you get paid on a sort of irregular regular basis.  I'm not sure how exactly it works, but if someone buys your album, you'll get a cut in your tunecore account a couple of weeks later.  Over time, it adds up and you can get a check cut.  It's a lot less convenient and more expensive than doing bandcamp, but you could potentially reach a larger audience, although I would tend to think that you'd need to be in a fairly specific place in your musical career for tunecore to be the best option.  Other services out there, like cdbaby and distrokid are based off of the same model, but might differ in specific ways.

For physical copies, I most highly recommend not getting physical copies, haha, but if you do go that route, I really recommend Atomic Disc.  They've done three albums for me and they all looked great and worked well, with a quick turnaround time and very little hassle.  I had a reviewer once tell me that he didn't like the Ecopack I used, but I think it has some advantages and disadvantages...  The other route I've done for physical copies was to get white CDs off of amazon, then burn my music onto the discs, print the artwork on them myself, buy jewel cases, and hire a local printer to make the inserts.  It sounds like a cool idea to save money, but it takes a long time, and to get things looking good, you will use a lot of ink, and chances are, your local printer will size things a little oddly for whatever random reason, and they won't fit great into your jewel cases... then you can sell no CDs at shows where you bring all of the CD's, and then have 6-7 people come up wanting to buy CDs at any shows where you bring 0-5 CDs, and so forth.  It seems like CDs never really worked well for me... but you didn't ask about CDs anyway, so why am I talking about CDs?

[Oldrottenhead]

Hi botjan what is your artist name and I will search out your stuff on Spotify and follow you and maybe generate some income for you .