I'm starting to realize that everything new I create is likely going to be completely different from previous efforts as far as style, mood and production and I'm kind of liking the idea of writing a traditional "album" less and less. Seems limiting and unnecessarily time consuming. I mean I WILL put out some albums again but for now I'm kind of wanting to just get some stuff out there and possibly making some sales as I progress (because I'm freaking broke).
 
So with all these internet sites and services is this something that works these days or is there still the expectation of full albums? Any of you guys doing things this way?
 
A related question... if I DO decide to go this route are there any specific services I should be looking at or is CDBaby pretty much the route I want to go?
 
Cheers.

Don't have an answer to your question having no experience in that area, but from hearing your fretboard skills I should think you are also very much qualified to engage in some session shredding for cash...it's certainly something I would consider doing if I had the technique. Are there any opportunities in that direction at your location?

Whatever works for ya, but my own personal opinion is that I won't buy songs by themselves.  I'll wait until they're on an album.
 
Naturally, YMMV.

Hi, sharke and thanks for the fine compliment. I think there definitely could be some session work in my future due to my contacts but I need to kind of build up some showcase material to get to that point which is also part of why I want to get some tunes released sooner than later. Unfortunately anything I do as far as session work would have to be done here at home because I'm just too messed up to travel. That's why I've been busting my hump trying to figure out all this production stuff but simple tracking to send off somewhere shouldn't be a problem.
 
I kind of want to attack this from as many fronts as possible and building up a catalog that can just sit there for people to buy would really be cool. If I had even a small steady flow of cash coming in that I basically don't have to do anything for (after producing it of course) then great. Like seriously even twenty to thirty bucks a month would help me out big time (pathetic I know but that's my current reality) and then I can keep writing or try other stuff.
 
So yeah... I'm assuming I could do singles and I'm pretty sure the stuff I've read on the various sites say they do allow that. Just not sure if it would actually DO anything for me. IDK... I'm a dinosaur as far as this stuff goes. The only two real releases I've done were full productions printed to CDs and released through labels. This is all weird and freaky to me. :-/

Hi, Craig. See that's what I'm worried about. To me it seems a little hackish and I'm not sure if it will hurt me in the long run but the way things seem to work these days what with the whole digital download stuff where people buy stuff a la carte I figure maybe it's acceptable. I'm most certainly into that too because I really do seem to go into completely different directions ever time I start a new project now so it would be weird on an album anyway.
 
Like... I'd do a jazz song, then a metal song, then a country song, then a dirty comedy tune, then a kid's song... you know? I just get all these freaking ideas and for the first time, due to this fancy computator crap, I can actually DO those things.
 
Whatever... that's more a musical philosophy type thing. Just figured maybe some of you guys were rolling that way.
 
I really want to be varied too so maybe some my stuff will get tossed into some TV shows or movies or those types of folks ask me to write something for them. I looked up the old company I used to work for and it looks like they're doing feature length productions now and doing quite well. I was just a grunt around there but all the bigwig producer and shiz liked me. Could be a serious in.
 

I hesitate to state an opinion here because I'm not speaking from a position of success and/or experience.  I could be completely 100% dead wrong here.  Read at your own peril...
 
One of the difficulties in selling singles is the public's perception of value.  With so many individual songs selling for $.99, your retail price is limited.  The sheer volume of material on the market is another factor.  It can be difficult to find your audience (or for them to find your music).  I know that sounds depressing, but it's the way things are at the moment.  In many ways, established artists are struggling right now to market their material.  The days when the label would bankroll your career and let you go off and focus exclusively on the music have passed into myth.  
 
In my extremely uninformed and extraordinarily insignificant opinion, it's important to reset expectations.  It might be a good idea to track down some stats on indie artist download sales to help you set realistic sales goals.  I'm not talking about the one or two people who make it big and skew the numbers.  I'm talking about the typical musicians.  As I see it, there are two ways you can proceed.  Either spend your time making music and spend very little time/money marketing until you've built up a wealth of material or spend an inordinate amount of time/money marketing each and every song.  If it were me (and it's not), I would choose to spend my time creating content and worry about selling later.  Whether you market the songs as individual downloads or as an album, you still need the material first.  I suggest focusing on that without worrying about how you'll market it or how it sounds compared to your other songs.  
 
It seems to me that the album format is a product of the distribution medium (record album/CD) rather than something of inherent value.  If the medium has changed to single downloads, the album is of less importance.  As a consumer, I still prefer to buy an album instead of singles because of the perceived value.  My family, on the other hand, frequently buy single songs because they're not interested in buying the rest of the artist's portfolio.  Go figure.
 
How's that for not really answering your question?

I know!  Take your time, finish the album, then use Bubba's time machine to bring it all back to now.  Simples! 

It's all good, Bubba and your perspective is appreciated. To me I'm not looking to be some big name artist or known entity... kind of the opposite actually. I've already gone that route and got all the attention and "success" that comes with that life but without any of the darned money. I was actually making some decent cash at gigs near the end but I was already pretty chewed up at that point and frankly gigging became really exhausting and actually very bad for my health. I kind of shy away from the limelight now and will probably even employ many nom de plumes as I do this.
 
I also have yet another reason for getting some stuff out there and that's to have something to point to when I start finally finishing up my instructional method. Hard to sell people on guitar lessons/material when they don't know whether you can actually play or not. lol
 
I also want to eventually do some actual writing... like an author which IIRC is something you do.
 
Basically I'm a spazz who has become mostly useless for any other type of normal work so unless I want to rot away the rest of my life in extreme poverty then I gotta figure out ways to get a little cash flowing in from things I can do at home. Like I said... anything helps at this point.
 
This thread was inspired by me making my pathetic grocery list for the month and realizing that it's time I start actually putting some of these plans into motion. Gatdanged sick of this two bit scrounger lifestyle.

lol... If I had a time machine I'd be better off warning young Beep that he ain't as healthy as he thinks and to find a less spine crushing career... like music.
 
Stupid day jobs.
 

Beepster
Basically I'm a spazz who has become mostly useless for any other type of normal work so unless I want to rot away the rest of my life in extreme poverty then I gotta figure out ways to get a little cash flowing in from things I can do at home. Like I said... anything helps at this point.

 
LOL! Spazz...haven't heard that word in a long time. I think I fall into that category too...absolutely no qualifications, left school at 16, no further education after that, spent most of my 20's in and out of casual jobs whilst partying heavily on the rave scene, before deciding at the age of 30 that I had to get away, so I upped sticks and flew across the pond to America, moved to New York and was immediately thrown into a situation in a big scary city in a foreign country in which I had to get my arse into gear in order to survive. So I started working for myself and eventually grew a fairly OK business which does me well...I mean I'm not rich or anything (The city of New York and the IRS see to that with their greedy money-grasping pig trotters) but I've managed to eke out a passable existence in my favorite place in the world by effectively spazzing my way through everything. At the age of 40 I still sometimes feel like a dumb kid in the company of "successful" people a lot younger than me who did everything the "correct" way, but I've gotten good at snapping out of it and telling myself that I'm just as capable as them (in my own spazzy way).

I mean I'm not suggesting you up sticks of course, but my point is that if you're determined and have a half decent head on your shoulders, the world is your oyster, even if you have a thousand things working against you. You're still relatively young, and the world is littered with people who had to wait later in life until they found success. We're also lucky to live in a world in which brains, not brawn, are the key.