Beep if you focus on singles you can always put together an album later. If I were to focus on music again that's how I'd work.
 
There will always be those talking about the end of the world but I have no problem finding albums (CD or vinyl) to buy or 3d video for that matter which they say is dead too.
Maybe the gold rush is over along with Rock and Roll guitar Gods but there is still a big market and a lot of folks making a lot of money with music. Fortunately more artist have a chance now.
 
Focus, think positive and make it happen Beep.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

sharke
 
Currently, a global hit album will earn around $425,000 per month from Spotify. A niche indie album will earn on average $3,300 per month, a classic rock album around $17,000 per month. I guess those figures would have more context if we knew what kind of effect Spotify is having on sales of CD's and downloads. 
 

I do not doubt that serious money can be had for fantastically successful music distributed digitally. I will even stipulate that there should be enough savings using that route to reward artists more generously than the old plastic and vinyl system used to do per copy distributed. The problem for the average artist just uploading his stuff to one of these services, is that he is unlikely to be uploading a global hit. In fact, unless he is famous for his music or some other reason and users of the service are actually looking for his latest recording, he will be lucky to get hit at all.
 
One value added that the old record company system provided to the listener was a filter that limited choice to mostly the  best. Not necessarily the best of the best, but better than the best of the worst anyway. Without some assistance from professional hit pickers, the listener is left with a deafening cacophony of more or less proficient artists and very little help in finding something worth listening to.
 
The preeminent value added by record companies to the artist was immense resources to promote them. That often resulted in less than the best artists becoming rich and famous, but it was largely responsible for raising the income of the chosen ones to stratospheric heights. A digital service that would select and promote artists the way the old record companies did would better serve listeners, and the few artists it served up. But that kind of talent picking talent and expense seems to be in pretty short supply on the internet.

This might give you an idea of the wealth gained with Spotify (via CDBaby).

One thing's for sure, consumers are definitely getting the smooth end of the stick with Spotify. I pay $9.99 a month for unlimited streaming of millions of songs at high quality (320kbps), not only on my desktop but on my phone as well. It's the kind of thing I fantasized about when I was a teenager saving up to buy maybe 2 or 3 CD's a month. I haven't bought a CD or paid for an MP3 download in years. It doesn't bother me at all that I don't "possess" any of these songs, and I'm not worried about them not being available to stream 10-20 years down the road. They'll be available. We've entered a whole new era of music consumption and I have to say I'm pretty comfortable with it. 

Times are very good for consumers.
 
Not only can I still purchase vinyl albums which I've always liked but now there are packages offered like the Pink Floyd Immersion Box Sets and Clapton's latest offering not to mention the fantastic Blu-ray DVD music concerts.
I know I've been doing more than my share of supporting the crafts.
 


I never imagined that I would be able to enjoy such wonderful audio and video. To be able to watch and listen to a concert any time I want and really enjoy it more than going to one.
Getting packages that include such nice additions like the books...yes, times are very good for consumers. Not only are some of the best packages I could never have imagined being available but I can browse the selections and have them delivered to my door in two days. How sweet is that? Very.
 
And to top it off...having affordable software/equipment for those with the talent to be able to offer anything from a low quality MP3 to a Blu-ray music video...unreal.
 
Yep, one can get by for pennies or one can buy special high quality offerings for a very reasonable price. Both easily acquired.
 
I guess the major plus is that those with minimal talent can have fun creating and offering their stuff.
 
I know the teenager in my house listens to music all the time and has never spent a dime...well...I guess one calls it music...but that's cool too by me. Options are good.
 
 

spacey
Beep if you focus on singles you can always put together an album later. If I were to focus on music again that's how I'd work.
 
There will always be those talking about the end of the world but I have no problem finding albums (CD or vinyl) to buy or 3d video for that matter which they say is dead too.
Maybe the gold rush is over along with Rock and Roll guitar Gods but there is still a big market and a lot of folks making a lot of money with music. Fortunately more artist have a chance now.
 
Focus, think positive and make it happen Beep.
 

Hi, Spacey (sorry for the late reply... totally entrenched in some very annoying and boring life problems at the moment). I definitely think the current route to go is exactly that. Just get some stuff together and up for sale as I learn both production and navigating the "new" way of distro then put together a compilation once there is enough stuff in my catalog. I could even go back remix and remaster everything (or get it professionally mastered) for a little more album cohesion.
 
As far as positivity and making it happen... well I'm absolutely hell bent on all that and keeping my happy face on. The tunes must flow. Currently though it looks like I may, yet again, have some very serious (non music related) battles to fight but I'm trying to look at that as a blessing in disguise as well. Basically stupid legal matters (civil... not criminal) but I've been pondering educating myself on the law for a while anyway. I am not particularly a fan of litigious nonsense but it seems the only way to actually get anything significant done in this world these days and there are multiple aspects of my existence that knowing what the heck I'm doing in a courtroom would be massively advantageous. Specifically copyright law for my music/writing ambitions and patent law for my wacky inventions/ideas. I hate to finally put together the million dollar idea or tune and get burned for it or even worse not know what the heck to do with it in the first place. I've also always kind of envisioned myself being a crusader for effective social change at some point in my life and again as I age I'm realizing the only way to get anything done on that level is knowing the law (which is why so many damned politicians are lawyers or have law degrees except they generally use those skills to screw people over).
 
So ya... not a big fan of lawyers but I may just have to become one... or at least a reasonably hand drawn facsimile of one.
 
Hope you've been well.
 
Oh... and really my main musical goal is just leaving something behind after I'm dead to mark my existence. In the meantime though any little bit of money coming in is a bonus. I don't care if it's only a couple dollars. It was earned.

Hey Beepster! My album comes out tomorrow. I decided to use cdbaby again, mainly because it's an easy way to get everything up on iTunes and amazon and all of the others with as little work on my part as possible Hahaha! It also gets me a bar code and isrc codes. I've long been with BMI and registering copyright is a pretty easy process really. I don't have any hopes of selling a lot, but it will take care of Youtube and Spotify as well. Once this is done I'll try and get into a few music libraries somehow. I'll try on my own at first, but I may try Taxi later. I didn't do cdbaby pro yet. I may eventually if it seems like it will be worth it, but for now it cost me $61 and change to do the cdbaby thing. Thought you may like to know that.

I did indeed, Clint and congratulations. I had looked at the CDbaby rates and services and though I forget now what it all came to I do recall thinking it was certainly doable. I'd probably be starving or going into hock at first but I certainly like the idea of things just getting shotgunned across all relevant media platforms in one go. Not really looking at hard copy stuff yet (will wait until I have a full album together) but it's pretty cool what those guys manage to do for the price.
 
Best of luck with the release!

Yeah, my last band did the whole thing with discmakers. We had them do the cover and the mastering and it was $2600 for 1000 copies. 750 of which are in my closet Hahaha! We did know that would happen but we wanted to do the whole package once in our lives. It was great for our promo pack and getting gigs or giving them away to people who took interest in us. It was fun. I don't plan on manufacturing anything in the future...It just doesn't make sense on my level. The cdbaby price was $69, but I filled in the forms a little early and after a week or so they e-mailed a 15% off coupon to finish it.

Wait... you filled out the forms before pushing the purchase through and they sent you the discount offer? Heh. If so I gotta remember that.
 
And yeah... I paid for a pressing once. Sold out now so I'm not sure what to do about that. I certainly don't have the cash for another printing and there are label issues.