Selling music

[jeskola01]

Hi,

I was wondering what you guys are using to sell your music - i don't want to go through a label, but would like to sell myself - i found bandcamp, and wondered what your opinions on it were and also if you had found any better solutions?

thanks in advance.

[sgx]

I've glanced at bandcamp - it looks good, but doesn't seem terribly flexible in how you sell, how you preview, etc. Probably quite user friendly though. There's CDbaby which will sell through their site and via iTunes, Amazon, etc.

I've set up my own webstore which sells physical and digital stuff, using zencart server software (free). Definitely NOT user friendly to set up unless you are an experienced web developer or designer who's used to mucking around in CMS's. I only accept Paypal though, so people who don't like Paypal may be turned off, and the system isn't exactly built to be a music store so the interface isn't exactly the best for getting previews in customers' faces, but its cool because I can put options on like mp3 format or flac format, and I can provide the digital download version immediately when someone orders a disc (they seem to like that a lot). You can check out my store here http://www.protagonistrecords.net/buy
Unless you have lots of web skills already or a lot of time on your hands to learn, I'd stay away from Zencart. I think bandcamp lets you keep all the profits right now, so they might be the best bet. You can always do Bandcamp AND Cdbaby and get your stuff out there as much as possible. I sell via CDbaby as well.

There are also plugins for Wordpress blogs that will let you sell. I haven't been able to check any of them out yet. If you have a WP blog or want to create one, it would be good to have integrated in your site like that.

[bosonHavoc]

i would keep an eye on http://www.reverbnation.com
i really like the features and since we have been using they seem to be constantly working on improvements.

they have allot of free features that help with logistics and then a bunch of paid features which i have not used but i do plan on using some.

right now they are beta testing the reverb store
i'm not part of the beta but i have a feeling that it will be pretty good.
judging by how reverbnation is developing i'm sure it will have a free and paid option.

edit..
i've even moved the ableton austin user group to reverbnation because i like the mailing list tools.

edit..

o and they also have this available too

http://www.reverbnation.com/controller/ ... m+Services

[Earwax69]

Bandcamp is amazing and so easy to set up. Just upload your wavs, they will do all the convertion and ID tags. You can choose to buy in the format you want - mp3, wav, Aac, Flac, Ogg - and you can let the customers decide of the price or you can fix one yourself. You can buy tracks by tracks or the full album.

Here my Bandcamp page:

http://saturdaylo-fi.bandcamp.com/

Check it out. You put the header you want, any images or text you want.

You get ALL the royalties and you can do coupons for give free albums.

[Ben_Binary]

BandCamp looks awesome.

But how do you promote your music ?

Having stuff on a label on beatport is good for promotion ?
But what promotion should that label be doing on top of beatport ?

Google adds ?
Search engine optimisation ?
Guerilla marketing companies - if so which/what/where ?

hanging out on forums ?

[Aequitas123]

i've sold some tracks on Audiojungle.net, seems like a good site to me.

PS. if you're joining please use me as a referral!

[Earwax69]

Put your band on LastFM and Pandora... reverbnation is not really working for me but they have a great mailing list system.

Put some free stuff on torrents site, talk about it.

I think online promotion is quite limited. Better is selling cd's at show, have a good presence in the scene.