How to sell my music???

Okay,
 
I have some songs recorded. Now what do I do with them? I was thinking about trying to sell them as mp3 downloads. Since pretty much everything is free online, do you think that it will work, nowadays? There are so many hacker and torrent sites. Everything that has ever been recorded can be downloaded for free from one of these sites. Why would someone pay for my songs?
 
If you think that it might work, do you know the best places to post them?
 
Thanks!
Here is a link to my music. I just added it here today. It is a mixture of different styles. I am a one man band and do everything here in my little studio. I will create a Paypal account on soundckick and see what happens.
 
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandid=874486

Well, sadly, you may only sell one or two copies (in this world of stealing free downloads).

I suggest you set a price at $1,378,423.63 per copy.

yeah basically no chance, unless you are good...are you?

you need to be serious first of all.first and foremost.
second.you need to promote your music to seal it.there arent to many random people out there surfing around looking for unsigned tallent to buy songs to put in there mp3 players.
you need a demand for your material to get recognized.
start small work your way up..
start by opening an account on soundclick.you can sell your songs on there for a value you choose.be ready to fork over a portion of the proceeds to soundclick.you can sell each song for..example..50cents..soundclick will take 19 of every song sold..thats a downloadable song.
the other option is taxi..like i said in my earlier post.
there you pay a yearly fee to have your songs touted around to major labels looking for commercial music..soundtracks..prono tunes..you name it.
you have a better chance with them,,unless you suk..then nothing will help you.i hear clients tell me..why arent they selling my stuff?..i ask them simply..do you really wanna know why..most of them dont.because they know..there tallent is weak.
the moral is..you need to be proffesional in every part of the game.including selling your stuff.
good luck

mgh


yeah basically no chance, unless you are good...are you?

Your talking about me right? Lol, I'm just kidding, or maybe not........ Oh snap!

You can often find distribution companies that simply route your music to various sites like Itunes, Napster, etc...  The real trick is publicity.  As others have said, you have to make YOUR music the icon they click on.  Getting that done is the important skill these days...

Guitarhacker
If you play live, that is a great way to start building a fan base AND sell CD's at the shows to get the ball rolling. Reinvest the money you make into promo and keep the ball rolling. A couple of years down the road, you can be making a nice income.

I forgot that other people play live.  That's a great way to sell.  In my last band, we'd sell CDs for $10-$15 after the set.  Sell LOTS of them (we had a good live show).  The money we made off ONE CD would take a hundred download royalties...
If you can go that route, a lot of people still like physical CDs, especially after a couple of drinks and the excitement of a musical thrill.

Thanks!

I will check out some ot the sites. I appreciate your help so far!

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandid=874486

Danny Danzi


Just a word about Taxi if I may. I mean no disrespect to anyone using their services, but in my opinion and experience, I think it's a total scam. Michael Laskow and his team of "formerly's" were one of the biggest mistakes and let-downs of my life. I was with them for 3 years. I submitted over 80 songs in that time period paying the submission fee for each. Of the entire 3 years, I got one reply back asking me to be on a collaboration for something.

I posted my songs to the proper genre listings at all times. 80's rock, melodic rock, instrumental guitar, extreme guitar video music, commercial pop, commercial rock, jingles, the list goes on and on. When I decided to quit because I was starting to smell crap, I shopped my stuff to 5 indy record labels that catered to my style of music. Z Records, MTM Music, Escape Music, Frontiers in Italy and Now & Then records. All of these labels had some of the most popular bands of my time signed to them. In 2 weeks time, I had all 5 of them bidding on me for a record deal. I submitted the same songs to them that I submitted to Taxi and they welcomed them with open arms. A month later after negotiating deals, I signed a contract and started my career. Paid off my parents house, went on tour, started my own life, made connections, gota licensing deal in Japan to where I am a fully signed artist with Marquee Avalon (it's never been easy to get licensing let alone a deal in Japan) and am happy I decided to go off on my own. I also cannot name any big artist that has ever stated in an interview online or on TV that credits Taxi for their success. Please be very careful with this. I went to every seminar Taxi held for the 3 years I was with them.

With every one, came a whole panel of "formerly's". All people that worked for labels at one time, and were fired or asked to leave. Not one person with that establishment had parted ways with a former company on good terms. The only credible person they had talk at a seminar was the president of MCA records at the time who was still the current president at that time. Other than that, just read down the list...everyone is a "formerly".

As for the original question as to how to sell your music, there are many ways to do it, but none of them will get you what you want "for free". You can be the best artist in the world...if people don't know you exist, you will sell 0. Though people claim record companies are dead and difficult to deal with, they open up the doors for you and you get instant results if they are credible. I'd shop my stuff to an indy label if I were you. They handle everything for you and you usually get paid because there aren't as many middlemen. You also do not have to be a big star to make money on an indy label. Way less pressure and stress than a major label. 

The good ones will require solicitation which in my opinion, if you go that route, you might as well go for gold. Hire a credible entertainment lawyer that has worked with famous bands, pay the retainer fee that shows you're serious and he'll treat you like a settlement case. If he doesn't get you a deal, he doesn't get anything other than his retainer fee. Don't let the retainer fee scare you. Most people live under the impression that "you should never pay anyone to shop your music." This is not the case for a credible, big name entertainment lawyer with connections. He doesn't need your $5000 retainer fee...it's principal. That's petty cash for him. He won't even take you on unless he believes in you because it will be him (or her) that calls up a label and says "I'm sending you this package...play it as soon as you get it."

The other way to sell songs is to affiliate yourself with someone that has a credible publishing company. Spotters are out there buying songs for pro artists that don't like to write their own material. I've had 2 successful sales doing this with more in the works and I've only just started it within the past 2 years. I'd personally go with a small indy label if you just want to sell product. Let them do the work for you because let me tell you, it's not easy to do this stuff on your own unless you have some money to back yourself. Radio is all about paying a radio marketer as well as the station to play you...so payola still exists. You're looking at $2500 per song per station just to get to the "try or die" section at 12 midnight. Any other radio spots for prime time will be insane. And you know how the advertsing scheme goes...you don't advertise something unless you can do it 5 or more times. At 10k per spot for prime time, you better have some good material IF you can even get the marketer to push it.

The other thing you can do is hire a charter marketer. These dudes know how to work songs and get them into the top 100. The price to make it into the top 75 is like 15k for a credible chart guy to work his magic. For 1-50 charting, you're looking at about 30K+. But get one song to chart at a decent spot, and own all your publishing while you're there, and you'll not only make some decent coin, you can make a name for yourself and this translates into album sales and maybe even a major deal. Doing all this on your own is risky and trying to sell songs on the net without proper marketing is going to get you nowhere. You need credible people in your corner to help you sell this stuff the right way until you can learn the ropes and take it upon yourself to drive the bus.

Good luck in whatever you decide...just be careful and make sure you know what you're doing before you do anything. :)

mr danzi...brilliant post..i likewhat i heard.i know alot of people doing buisiness with taxi but this was very informitive.
always exspect nothing but the best from your posts anyway..nice job.

Danny I respect you and know you are a musician of the finest caliber. I appreciate your views on TAXI but do have to disagree with calling TAXI a scam. To me a scam is where no one comes out a winner except the ones running the scam.

I know quite a few members of TAXI that are getting cuts and making money licensing songs through the connections they made as a result of  taxi listings. As you well know, not everyone has the talent, or ability to write hit songs, or even jingle tunes. Those folks will never get a forward, or a cut. But they can still have fun and enjoy the journey.

You obviously have the talent to write and play well enough to get a deal..... congrats! And I do agree 100% that the screeners there are not always at the top of their game. Some should probably be flipping burgers for a living. Especially the ones that return my music.

I've had more than one disagreement over returns and some of the forwards surprised me.

As you have shown, there is more than one way to make it. If I sent my music to the folks that signed you, you would hear the laughter from where you set....

The whole point I think, is to make a plan, work it, stick with it, and see what happens. If you get success (whatever that means to you) Great! If not, my question is: Did you enjoy the journey, the making of music, the meeting of new people along the way, the whole process of playing music anyway? Hopefully the answer is YES!

Badlands. Wow you just gave me a great flashback Danny. I loved that self-titled album. I really dig Jake. E. Lee's playing too.
Really liked his work on Ozzy's 'The Ultimate Sin' album as well. It came out at a time when I was really getting into guitar more, so playing that main riff from Lightning Strikes was so much fun.

Sorry for being off topic. On topic, I wish you the best Michael whatever path you decide to follow with this. Just never stop believing in yourself and your music though, no matter how many knockbacks you get along the way.

Ad :)

Danny,

Yeah man I do see your point. And I'm glad you found your path to success in this biz. So many talented musicians do not.

Since I do not desire to play live anymore, songwriting is the main avenue I have remaining to express myself through music. Songwriting isn't easy. Writing commercially viable songs even less so.

In my approach to this business, Taxi is one part of it. I also submit to other libraries and publishers as well, with placements there. It could easily be argued that it is easier than getting past the screeners at TAXI.  I have been with Taxi for just under 3 years now. I have submitted a bunch of songs in that time. They always push the "high bar of broadcast quality" thing...ready for radio.  I started to concentrate on the instrumental songs, even some of the more esoteric stuff like "world music" and some specific jazz listings, and I started getting forwards from those.

My plan is to stay with TAXI for 5 years total before I evaluate what to do next. In the meantime, I keep working my plan, which is write, submit, forget, repeat.  I've written 20 songs since Jan 1 of this year, not counting a handful of short cues. Some are good and some suck, and some of those are among the forwards.

If I had nothing happening except returns...considering that I'm approaching the 3 year mark, I imagine that I would be pretty discouraged at this point. As it is, with a few forwards and some of them signed, I am neutral on this avenue right now. Not excited, and not discouraged. Perhaps the words are cautiously optimistic.  I know there was a learning curve to get the music as well as my production chops up to the point where I can get above the "bar" for getting forwards.

 My plan, at this moment includes TAXI. Will it continue to include TAXI in the future? Only if things start to happen in the next 2 to 3 years with their forwards. If and when I hear my music in a film, commercial, or TV show, then, maybe,  it will have been worth it.

You know as well as I do, there are literally hundreds of ways to make it in this business. I happen to think TAXI is one of the many viable paths available, you do not, but that's fine, I'm good with that. 
And the interesting thing is...we're both right!


BTW: Quite a sweet version of Happy Birthday!

I see your point as well brother, completely. I don't think you should alter your game plan one bit on this and you are correct, we're both right based on our experience with this. Honest when I tell you, I wasn't trying to give you or anyone else a hard time that believes in Taxi. I just felt in 3 years, the price of the membership, all the songs I sent and what the final outcome was, it didn't earn me any recognition and it cost me a pretty penny. Granted, maybe I wasn't what they were looking for. I can accept that, I'm a big boy...but I just found it all hard to believe after how things panned out for me. I'm sure if you were in my position you'd feel the way I do. Then add in that I wasn't the only one that felt I was taken for a ride and it seemed to make more sense.

I really do hope this works for you and something spectacular happens from it. I truly do! Especially since I know you too have worked really hard on your stuff. That's the thing really....we work so hard on this stuff all our lives for the love of it and most of it is either done for your head or in vane. There comes a time to where you have to say "you know what, I'm busting my butt on this stuff and I'm worth something." The answer to that is you have to find "who" you might be worth something to and then really search for that organization. You're right man, there are so many ways to make a few bucks in this, it can spin your head around.

I owned a business with my family and drove a truck for many years. Though owning your own business has its perks and can definitely assist you in honing your craft, once you move on from working a day gig to making money with music full time, you have to exercise every possibility that comes your way. What sucks is, sometimes you have to separate your love from the business aspect. You have to sort of keep the hobbiest "fun factor" in mind as well as the business aspect if you want to be successful in this. If you start really climbing the ladder too success (and that success can just mean you make your money solely from this field without the need for an actual "in the trenches" day gig working for someone else) sometimes the fun factor we all know and love has to take a back seat. It goes with any business really. It starts out as fun, then it's survival....and in this economy, anyone that can make a buck doing it is truly blessed.

Haha thanks for the props on that tune. I wish I would have saved the work files for that to do a better job. Believe it or not, that song was the first song I had ever done using Cakewalk. I used it off and on to jam with backing tracks, midi etc...but never a full song from start to finish. It was done strictly for fun for a guy in the Netherlands who had really done a lot of promoting for me. I did a show in England and he showed up to see it. That night it was his birthday and he asked "when you go home, do you think you could play a little happy birthday to me and sing for me?" I was like "sure man, as soon as I get home I'll do it for you!"

But, the traditional B-Day song just wasn't cutting it for me, and I wanted to make it special for the guy since he was really a great friend and supporter...so it turned into that thing you heard. LOL!! Hahaha I should redo that song with the stuff I have now and maybe change the "Fred" to "friend" since he has his version. We used to do the song live and insert the name of the person or people in the audience when we did it. Was a fun tune...glad you liked it, thanks a bunch.
 
Anyway, I wish you the best of luck with all this stuff, Continue on that path you're on. You won't know if it's going to work until you see it through to YOUR standards. It matters not what anyone tells you no matter how experienced they may be. That is what worked or didn't work for THEM....it means nothing in your world, ya know what I mean? I always like to listen to other peoples experiences and log them in my head. Then I sort of come up with my own game-plan and improvise a bit. Sometimes I've even taken chances on stuff where those higher up in the food chain than me were against it. Sometimes it works and you find your own way, other times it doesnt.

Just keep this in mind which I feel is important. I'm an 80's rocker...shred guitarist, blues guy, commercial song writer. That's what I love, who and what I am and what I enjoy. I've accepted who and what I am. I have had people down me my entire life for that telling me I would never amount to anything. "Cut your hair, change your style, the 80's are gone dude". The only people that have never turned their backs on me were my parents and a few relatives. All my friends laughed at me, all the real rockstars that I knew told me "it ain't gonna happen kid" and I was really depressed and nearly gave up because of people trying to crush my spirit. Let me tell you bro, they got the shock of their lives when they heard I was touring all over Europe making money doing this. I'm not and probably never will be a big star at anything. But to be able to tour and write while selling albums world-wide doing music everyone said was a loser says is all. If you can live comfortable doing something you love, that there is success. The measure of that success is all on you. No one has to have Lady Gaga status to appreciate success. To me, it's all about acceptance for what I do, loving what I do, cool record labels that love what I do and money to pay the bills and live comfortably while meeting some of the coolest people on the planet and sharing my music with them. Pretty simple if you think about it, yet effective. :) Best of luck man, from the heart.
 
-Danny

Michael it seems to me that Youtube is a great place to start.

It seems like when somebody posts something there that is
good it sure takes off.
If I were trying to sell music I'd post my best one shot and
info about purchasing the CD or other MP3s.

Music sites like Mixposure have radio play too.

Good luck.

  read this article and see what you think. http://www.revolutimes.co...-digital-distribution/ Cheers David G www.indigoboom.com