Tax free - lol! Well it could be, but I'll be declaring it all for 2 reasons - i believe honesty is the best policy, and I've just gotten married and need to buy a house. Not sure how it works in the States, but here in Oz you have to show the bank a minimum of 2 years of healthy profit and growth if you're self employed, otherwise they won't even consider giving you a mortgage. I've only just started this game professionally, so I'm looking to declare as much income as possible to the tax office for the next 2 years - then I can think about tax evasion :)

But how on earth do they know if they like your music or not?  I mean, enough to lay down $20.00 for it?  Anyway, great idea!  Maybe I'll have more of my CDs made after all...


I take an ipod with some headphones and play them samples from my album!

OIC. :-)  I wasn't sure what the iPod was for.  Makes perfect sense now. :-)

cool.... yeah the states are the same way.... especially now with the housing market in the tank.....


So when you get ready to buy a house...here's some advice.

Get a 15 year fixed rate loan, with at least 20% down, and payments not to exceed 25% of your household take home pay.

I have been self employed for many years now, and I remember those days getting started. I bought a house back then and was a self employed musician in a band....... I was surprised they lent the money, but I'm thankful they did..... we put 10% down, and had it paid off in about 5 or 6 years......living on beans and rice to get it done.

jamescollins


OK this is pretty funny - I've been door knocking a bit this week, and have sold 87 CDs for an average hourly rate of $117.42! (I'm selling them for $20 each - this is Australian dollars I'm talking here by the way!) I'm collecting stats for all of this - I'll continue this and report back in a month or so. I'm aiming to sell 100 CDs a week, door knocking between 2-3hrs/day, which is a very realistic target, given that my hourly rate is going up as I become more adept at choosing the good streets to go down. If anyone else tries selling CDs in this way, it'd be great if you posted here...this is really getting beyond a joke now and becoming a serious earner - can't believe it! VS 700C here we come!!

That's outstanding! What will you do when you've sold out Perth?

James,

Very happy for you, James...but I will say that I listened to the samples on your site...not to downplay the footwork part of this too much but I believe it is more your talent and genre that is enabling this(and obviously you have a pleasant personality for sales!).  A synergistic effect, as it were vice the result of just knocking on doors.  I am pretty sure I wouldn't have a similar result going door to door with my chosen genre(and talent level).   But I do hope it does have an exponential effect for you!  You deserve to be heard.

BTW, Your playing reminds me of Adrian Legg.

I'm glad you mentioned that, Andy, cause I hadn't taken the time to listen yet.  I'm glad I did. WOW!  I think Andy's right.  It's your talent that's selling those CD's!  WOW!!  :-)

Is it a problem doing a CD of covers--I mean with copyrights and stuff?  It seems people would be drawn to music they know played well, but I figured it would be too much of a hassle. 

Wow thanks a lot guys, I'm thrilled that you are down with what I'm doing on that CD - I always thought I wouldn't get much respect here because I was playing works by other composers, so it's fantastic that some of you like it! Craig - in answer to your question, it'll take a very long time to do the whole of Perth! I've been doing it a week and haven't even done a quarter of my suburb. Besides, when I do my next CD, I can just start again. In fact, maybe I should keep a record of who buys a CD now, then next time my success rate will be near 100% and my hourly rate would be ridiculously high?!! Hmmm might start doing that. And Janet, doing a CD of covers is only a problem if you don't pay royalties :) I got permission and bought the necessary licenses for each piece on my CD - I think it worked out to be about $1200 for the first 1000 CDs I pressed, including admin fees.

I think you're right in saying Andy, that much of my success with this is due to the very broad appeal of the music on the CD. I very much doubt that if I took my more genre specific pop tunes I've written and went door knocking that I'd do half as well. Thanks again for the kind words guys, really appreciate it. I'll definitely report back in a month or so and let you all know if this trend continues...

Yep, music is good but...

like, the blond good looks had nothing to do with it eh? Lemme guess, most of the music was sold to housewives while hubby was at work, right?

I must admit, you have an idea I would never have considered. I am impressed it is working for you. Good luck and keep on kickin.

Cheers
Shad