Recorded a song with the band.... what next....

[jonnyenglish358]

So this weekend me and the band (see signature) hit up AT Music in Essex, fantastic place if any of you are local Marks a great guy. Anyway we have recorded our song and it sounds amazing! Hasn't been mixed yet but hopefully will be done and available soon....

We have a gig at the end of the month (only a few songs in a local pub nothing major) and the band want to start selling the song providing its all ready in time, either via itunes or the like.... me on the other hand i think giving it away as free download is by far a better option as its not like were famous and have a following of people that cannot wait for our single and will be happy to pay for it. I just think if i saw a band in a pub and they said follow this link and have a listen... i would download and listen.... if however i clicked on download and it said please pay £1 i probably wouldn't bother.... the idea is we want to get our band out there and known more so than make money (at least to start with anyway).

Any of you guys have some advise on this? What do you other bands/recorders do?

Thanks,

Jonny

[bazzbass]

yeah I'm in the same boat.

new originals band, I record us using Reaper on my laptop.

In all reality, even if you sell thousands of copies on iTunes, you still won't see much money. Even huge artists with record company support have to gig to make any money these days.

So yeah, giving it away makes sense.

We are thinking of doing a CD launch where we give away songs on a physical CD, but mostly I'm thinking of printing business cards with the links to download our songs, our bandcamp and FB page etc.

[Len_derby]

I agree that giving your music away is the right thing in some circumstances but we've found that there is still a market for selling CDs.
We're a folk-punk originals band and we recorded what's become a 4 track CD.
We had a small run of 100 made and have sold 90 of them at gigs over three months. At £5 a throw we've covered our costs plus a bit more.
There are also some venues and festivals that insist on a physical CD of your music when you apply to play.

[BigRedX]

IMO it very much depends on how you view the recording (is it a fully-formed finished product, or just a "demo") and what formats you are intending to make it available on. However there is also the issue that, unless I've misunderstood your post, you've only recorded one song.

In which case there is probably little point in putting it out on CD or another physical format as people want at least a couple of songs before they are prepared to part with their money.

That pretty much leaves with with downloads only. IME audiences will only download from sources that they feel comfortable and confident with. That means for a lot of people if your song isn't on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify or one of the other major streaming or download services it doesn't matter if you are giving it away for free somewhere else they won't download it.

Therefore what I would do is to find an aggregator service that suits you to get it on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc. where it will be available at the usual price, but also sign up for Bandcamp where you can give it away for free. Actually the best method to use on Bandcamp is to ask for a donation (which can be nothing) and then people will pay what they think it is worth. You'll be surprised by how many people still pay even though they don't have to.

Finally as Len_derby says, depending on your audience demographic, you'll be surprised by how many people will actually want to buy a CD or vinyl off you after a gig. And a CD sold at a gig is a guaranteed sale with money in you pocket. A free download card is most likely to be lost before the person you've given it to gets around to downloading the track.

Case in point. I saw two bands on Saturday. The Society (ex-Danse Society) and Hands of Industry. The Society had CDs to sell and I bought 2. Hands of Industry had nothing, but they do have a single for sale on the main download sites. If I remember to do it this week, I'll probably download it if I can work out which site is selling a non-data-compressed version, but had they had CDs at the gig I'd have bought one there and then.

Edited April 11, 2017 by BigRedX

[cheddatom]

I would put it online, streaming for free, hopefully sync it up to some sort of video.

When you have a physical CD with artwork, people will buy it at your gigs, but it'll be really difficult to get people to buy a download until you've built up a following

[BrunoBass]

If you've put together a physical EP, then there is a case for selling it. For just one song though, it makes sense to offer a free download or stream.

[RhysP]

[quote name='Len_derby' timestamp='1491893613' post='3276129']
I agree that giving your music away is the right thing in some circumstances but we've found that there is still a market for selling CDs.
We're a folk-punk originals band and we recorded what's become a 4 track CD.
We had a small run of 100 made and have sold 90 of them at gigs over three months. At £5 a throw we've covered our costs plus a bit more.
[/quote]

Absolutely.

If I go a see an originals band I'm always happy to pay a few quid for a CD whereas I wouldn't bother downloading anything even if it was free.
People I know who gig & have CDs made of their songs always seem to do OK selling them.

Edited April 11, 2017 by RhysP

[markstuk]

Perhaps it might be better to wait until you have more than one song recorded ?