I completely agree with Bob Olhsson ... having learned the hard way what he
so succinctly wrote.
I'm lucky enough to own a small magazine publishing company that earns me a
decent living. When I returned to jazz, I expanded my company to include
music CD production. I bought good gear and discovered my photography studio
doubles as a good music studio. With the help of Ben Maas (whom I met on
this group), I recorded and produced my own album. I used my writing,
photographic, and computer graphics skills to create artwork, liner notes,
and a website with free sample downloads.
The album is for sale not only on my own site and from advertising in my own
publications, but also online at Amazon, Tower Records, CD Baby, and half a
dozen Internet download sites (like Apple I-Tunes). I sent a copy to Fred
Kaplan, the author of the article at the beginning of this thread, and he
failed to acknowledge receipt of -- let alone review -- the CD. A couple of
less well known people did review it (very positively). Even without paying
a publicist, I even got my fair share of air play on a few all-jazz FM
stations around North America.
Big deal. After 9 months, I doubt I have sold as many as 60 albums.
It doesn't matter how good you are, how pretty your album looks and sounds,
who plays on it, or how cool your website may be. Without tens or hundreds
of thousands of dollars in advertising and promotion and without strong
industry connections, you ain't going nowhere! You won't even get much
chance to play live because even small, parochial festivals want performers
their audience has heard of. Without a lot of live performances, your
greatest hope of sales -- from the bandstand -- will never materialize.
Luckily, I don't care about "stardom"; I'm in it for the music, the
creativity, and the fun. Maybe someday I'll be able to play at a few
festivals and finally sell off my remaining 900 CDs. And I'll certainly
record others, make a few copies of the masters, and probably give most away
to friends (and my half dozen fans).
Unless somebody else -- somebody with money and connections and knowhow --
makes you a "star" (or at least a somewhat familiar name) you will never
become one. And without name recognition, your music will barely leave the
studio.
Kaplan did admit up front that ArtistShare is probably only for people with
an established name and following. Also, I might add, for people who don't
know what end of a computer is up. Because, for a lot less money, you can do
it yourself at least as well, and attain the same results.
But you'll make more money mowing lawns.
Uncle Russ
WESTLAKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
www.finescalerr.com
WESTLAKE RECORDS
www.westlakerecords.com
Bob Olhsson wrote:
It's been an avenue many artists have used all along!
This isn't necessarily such a great deal since all of the production,
promotion, music licensing and sales efforts are left up to the artist!
The main thing record labels do is promoting, publicizing and selling
recordings. Somebody's got to do it and the less known an artist is, the
more difficult and expensive it is to do. Another very tangible benefit from
being on a recognized label is the amountof live performance fees one can
ask.
Until somebody such as ArtistShare raises an unknown artist to having an
international profile, we are comparing apples to oranges.
--
Bob Olhsson Audio Mastery, Nashville TN
Mastering, Audio for Picture, Mix Evaluation and Quality Control
Over 40 years making people sound better than they ever imagined!
615.385.8051
http://www.hyperback.com