Apple Logic Pro /LogicExpress Discussion

Hey has anyone set up a MYSPACE site complete with a music player and the 
ability to sell download songs? They don't tell you how to do, merely to find 
someone who already did it and ask them.

Greg


**************************************
 See what's free at 
http://www.aol.com.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Hey Greg,

I've done 3 or 4, will be glad to help offlist.

Best,

Andy

--  
Andy Hardwake
Composer
<http://www.myspace.com/andyhardwake>

On Apr 2, 2007, at 11:59 PM, GAmoore@... wrote:

> Hey has anyone set up a MYSPACE site complete with a music player  
> and the
> ability to sell download songs? They don't tell you how to do,  
> merely to find
> someone who already did it and ask them.
>
> Greg
>
>
> **************************************
>  See what's free at
> http://www.aol.com.
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

Can you help me, too?  I need the same help.

t

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Andy Hardwake 
  To: Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 5:59 AM
  Subject: Re: [Logic_Cafe] off topic : setting up a myspace music site


  Hey Greg,

  I've done 3 or 4, will be glad to help offlist.

  Best,

  Andy

  -- 
  Andy Hardwake
  Composer
  <http://www.myspace.com/andyhardwake>

  On Apr 2, 2007, at 11:59 PM, GAmoore@... wrote:

  > Hey has anyone set up a MYSPACE site complete with a music player 
  > and the
  > ability to sell download songs? They don't tell you how to do, 
  > merely to find
  > someone who already did it and ask them.
  >
  > Greg
  >
  >
  > **************************************
  > See what's free at
  > http://www.aol.com.
  >
  >
  > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
  >
  >
  >
  >
  > Yahoo! Groups Links
  >
  >
  >



   

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Greg,

I had problems trying to convert my regular site from a standard myspace to a band 
myspace.  So I had to build a new page as a band.  Once I signed up as a band it wasn't 
too difficult.  

Audio encoding on MySpace is pretty bad, they take your .mp3 and re-encode it and it 
sounds pretty bad.  If you're serious about using it for distribution consider monitoring 
the final myspace results and mastering/mixing with their encoded version of your songs 
as a reference.

MySpace seemed to use a third party for your digital distribution.  I looked into it, but like 
many digital distributors they want a pretty healthy cut.  There  was something else I read 
about them that I didn't like ....... or maybe it was just the fact that I had already signed up 
with CD Baby (who in turn can put your stuff on iTunes).  

Let me know if there are specific challanges you encounter in setting up your band page.  I 
may or may not be able to help.

Pete


--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, GAmoore@... wrote:

>
> Hey has anyone set up a MYSPACE site complete with a music player and the 
> ability to sell download songs? They don't tell you how to do, merely to find 
> someone who already did it and ask them.
> 
> Greg
> 
> 
> **************************************
>  See what's free at 
> http://www.aol.com.
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

On Apr 3, 2007, at 6:47 AM, Tim McLane wrote:

> Can you help me, too?  I need the same help.

OK, since more than one person are interested, let's talk here on the  
list. First off, there's a special link for musicians to start  
setting up a MySpace account (that large "sign in" button will create  
a fan account, at least I ended up with one I had to delete the first  
time I tried). Don't remember where that special musician's account  
button is, but can check if you guys don't find it. Next, create your  
profile as you would do on any regular website. Once you create a  
musician's account you will be prompted to upload your photos, songs,  
videos, etc. Watch for those "allow everyone to download your song"  
and "rate my song" checkmarks, you probably want to have them  
unchecked when uploading your songs, otherwise everyone and his uncle  
will be able to download/copy/do whatever their imagination tells  
them. Also, set your player to start automatically when someone goes  
to your page. Selling songs there is a bit tricky as only US citizens  
can do it at the moment. If you choose "USA" as your country of  
residence, you will see a special Snocap (spelling) link on your  
profile, go there and sign an agreement with them. Mind you, I am not  
a big fan of selling songs on MySpace and highly prefer Broadjam.com  
aIMHO it's way more professional and again IMHO it's one of the best  
places to go if you're looking for a publishing deal or something.

Guess that's enough for a start. Feel free to ask me anything online  
and offlist.

Best,

Andy

P.S. Should you wish to open a new account on Broadjam, just give me  
a note and I'll give you a 10% discount.

On Apr 3, 2007, at 7:26 AM, pete_buchwald wrote:

> Audio encoding on MySpace is pretty bad, they take your .mp3 and re- 
> encode it and it
> sounds pretty bad.  If you're serious about using it for  
> distribution consider monitoring
> the final myspace results and mastering/mixing with their encoded  
> version of your songs
> as a reference.

Agreed. It is especially bad if you didn't care to premaster your  
material or if there is any EQ and or compression problem (a friend  
gave me a couple of his demos to place there and they sound  
terrible), so either place your pre-mastered songs or go elsewhere if  
you want a decent distribution site.

Best,

Andy

> I had problems trying to convert my regular site from a standard myspace to 
> a band
> myspace. So I had to build a new page as a band. Once I signed up as a band 
> it wasn't
> too difficult.
> 
> 
Thanks Pete and Andy. I discovered this too. I set up a myspace site, but I 
had to set up a new "band" site, then delete the original one so I could free 
up the url name. Once I did that, I saw that they had some builtin stuff for 
uploading music and selling stuff. I imagine its like Ebay which charges quite a 
bit - but they're more or less the only game in town.

Hey for starters, how to make a colored background, say black which is 
#000000 for the site? Evidently you have to put a line of html somewhere.

Greg



**************************************
 See what's free at http://www.aol.com.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Thanks Andy.

Broadjam looks pretty good. If you start up the free account to try it out, I 
assume you can upgrade later to one of the paid plans? Also, can you put a 
link on your myspace page to the broadjam page for buying?

And how is the audio quality at broadjam? I don't exactly understand what you 
and Pete are saying about mastering youir songs for myspace. Do you mean to 
tweak the EQ, compression, and level in some way to sound better on their 
format? But how can you hear what changes you are making other than to cut an mp3 
and upload it?

I set up a website before on mac.com and registered the name with 
namesecure.com for something like $12/year, but I am wondering if the 'myspace' site is 
all thats necessary these days.

Greg




**************************************
 See what's free at http://www.aol.com.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The player works pretty nice in Broadjam, and sounds good. Broadjam has a 
sleeker, less cluttered look than myspace.

One thing I noticed is that its for indepedent music only it seems. I 
couldn't find any of the commericial well known groups I searched for. I am wondering 
if that will limit the potential listener/customer base. But if it could be 
linked to from myspace it would seem to be pretty good.

One other question about myspace, I do searchs on my name (both the band 
name, and the url name) and I can't find myself. Is there some trick to becoming 
searchable?

Greg


**************************************
 See what's free at 
http://www.aol.com.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I setup a Broadjam account and listed your name as the reference, Andy. By 
the way, is it time to join BMI or ASCAP if you are going to start selling 
stuff?


**************************************
 See what's free at http://www.aol.com.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On Apr 3, 2007, at 10:21 AM, GAmoore@... wrote:

> One thing I noticed is that its for indepedent music only it seems. I
> couldn't find any of the commericial well known groups I searched  
> for. I am wondering
> if that will limit the potential listener/customer base. But if it  
> could be
> linked to from myspace it would seem to be pretty good.

You can't link to your Broadjam page unless you pay $200 for  
membership -- that's the major down side of Broadjam. My  
understanding is Broadjam was created for indie fans and deal  
hunters, so if you are signed with a major label there's no point in  
openning an account there...
>
> One other question about myspace, I do searchs on my name (both the  
> band
> name, and the url name) and I can't find myself. Is there some  
> trick to becoming
> searchable?

Just give them some hours/days to update their search engine...

Best,

Andy

On Apr 3, 2007, at 10:13 AM, GAmoore@... wrote:

> Broadjam looks pretty good. If you start up the free account to try  
> it out, I
> assume you can upgrade later to one of the paid plans?

That's what I did. Later as I brought in a number of friends, so  
thought I'd become an affiliate as most are going to upgrade and this  
way I would give them a 10% discount and earn a buck or two myself...  
Just in case anyone wants my discount as well (I don't ask anyone to  
click right away for the apparent reason :-) ), my affiliate link is

<http://affiliate.broadjam.net/signup? 
a_aid=08dc03e9&a_bid=4a8ac13e&target=4>

> Also, can you put a
> link on your myspace page to the broadjam page for buying?

Only with the most expensive account... As I said that's the major  
disappointment with them, but since they claim there are lots of A&R  
guys from both major and indie labels watching us there I think it's  
well worth the time... I put an announcement in mMySpace blog for  
those interested in buying my stuff to find me on Broadjam, but I'm  
not at all sure if this is at all efficient...

Best,

Andy

On Apr 3, 2007, at 11:13 AM, GAmoore@... wrote:

> I setup a Broadjam account and listed your name as the reference,  
> Andy.

That's too kind of you! Thanks. I didn't mean to capitalize on you  
guys, so all the info was meant just FYI..

> By
> the way, is it time to join BMI or ASCAP if you are going to start  
> selling
> stuff?

I for one would rather register it with the Library Of Congress...  
But this is just MMHO...

Best,

Andy

I did some research on independent music sellers a month or two ago...

<http://www.loveyourtunes.com> seems like a great site in UK, another  
British alternative is
<http://www.arkade.com/> (a friend of mine did their web design, so  
he refered me to this one). Also <http://www.303net.com> seems to be  
a good resource for electronic musicians...

Best,

Andy

--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, GAmoore@... wrote:
>If you are getting ready to sell commercially in my opinion it is a 
safe thing to do to join BMI or ASCAP. But usually you want to join 
this type of organization if you are going to have your stuff 
published or played on the radio. They help to keep track of when your 
material is used to make sure that you get your money.

> I setup a Broadjam account and listed your name as the reference, 
Andy. By 
> the way, is it time to join BMI or ASCAP if you are going to start 
selling 

> stuff?
> 
> 
> **************************************
>  See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

GAmoore@... wrote:
> I setup a Broadjam account and listed your name as the reference, Andy. By 
> the way, is it time to join BMI or ASCAP if you are going to start selling 
> stuff?
> 

Unless youve got a head for the business side of it.. BMI/ASCAP can be a 
pain.. To start you have to be publishing your work to even submit it 
there. Meaning you either have to be dealing with a publishing company 
or you need to go setup a new bank account as a business and become a 
publisher (or a DBA kinda thing as well)..  I never could get anyone at 
ASCAP to tell me how to properly go about this (even though they claim 
to have tons of advisors and help for their 'artists') and gave up.

The best, and first, thing you want to do now is simply to get your work 
copywritten with the Government's copyright office. Just download a 
simple PDF, send em a copy of your entire album (that saves you from 
paying $30 for EACH song, just register it as an entire work and theyre 
all covered), and a $30 fee (might have gone up last time I put anything 
out was 3 years ago).. Then its on record and you officially own the 
recordings to do whatever you wish. You can worry about the BMI/ASCAP 
side of publishing once you start recieving airplay and people wanting 
to perform your material as this is really all that those companies do 
is monitor the numbers on that stuff..

I dont believe they account for anything like album sales which is 
probably what most of us 'non-major' folks will be doing with our wares 
around at shows and such..


-- 
Chris

http://www.monotrematamusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/monotremata
http://www.descentrecords.com

On 4/3/07, Chris Coccia <mothra@...> wrote:
>
> GAmoore@... wrote:
>  > I setup a Broadjam account and listed your name as the reference, Andy.
> By
>  > the way, is it time to join BMI or ASCAP if you are going to start
> selling
>  > stuff?
>  >
>
>  Unless youve got a head for the business side of it.. BMI/ASCAP can be a
>  pain.. To start you have to be publishing your work to even submit it
>  there. Meaning you either have to be dealing with a publishing company
>  or you need to go setup a new bank account as a business and become a
>  publisher (or a DBA kinda thing as well).. I never could get anyone at
>  ASCAP to tell me how to properly go about this (even though they claim
>  to have tons of advisors and help for their 'artists') and gave up.

If you have published anything on the web, it's considered publishing,
at least with BMI. I didn't have problems registering with BMI years
ago. It's good to be on either one here in USA, but don't expect a lot
of royalties, unless your track(s) are in heavy rotation on radio/TV.

Another nice side benefit is that via BMI (and I think ASCAP) as well
you get ISWC codes for each track, something that you might need to
register in case you sell material via some (online) record
distribution systems. And it's kind of cool to belong to either one.

 --Kent

Kent Sandvik wrote:

> If you have published anything on the web, it's considered publishing,
> at least with BMI. I didn't have problems registering with BMI years
> ago. It's good to be on either one here in USA, but don't expect a lot
> of royalties, unless your track(s) are in heavy rotation on radio/TV.
> 
> Another nice side benefit is that via BMI (and I think ASCAP) as well
> you get ISWC codes for each track, something that you might need to
> register in case you sell material via some (online) record
> distribution systems. And it's kind of cool to belong to either one.
> 

Yes its considered publishing but I dont think its that simple to be 
recognized as a publishing company (or so I thought)..
One cant just go say 'Ive got songs up on Myspace, so now Im so-and-so 
Publishing, Inc'..
ASCAP let me join no problem, in fact my membership was free for like 5 
years since I didnt make a dime off of any royalties hehe. But without a 
publisher I couldnt submit stuff to them..

This is where I get confused because from them alone I found like 3 
different methods of how to become recognized as a publishing company.. 
Including the aforementioned, opening a business bank account, register 
as a DBA alias, etc..
But then today I just came across this at TAXI:
http://www.taxi.com/faq/publishing/self-publishing.html


So basically I can now call myself blahblahblah Music, Inc (dont steal 
that one thats mine lol) as long as ASCAP says the name is available and 
I can print up some fancy letterheads on my computer??
It didnt seem this easy at all when I first signed up to ASCAP like 7 
years ago, and eventually I just stopped with it because well, they 
wouldnt let me do it, and it wasnt like I was a Top 40 artist getting a 
single bit of FM airplay anyways.

I know theres some of you on this list that are doing it.. What gives?? 
Do I have to go apply to the state franchise tax board or something or 
can I really just print up some letterheads and call myself a 
publisher?? I can imagine this gets even further complicated, using 
TAXI's print your own business scenario, when you actually start making 
money from your singles and need to start reporting income and taxes..

-- 
Chris

http://www.monotrematamusic.com
http://www.myspace.com/monotremata
http://www.descentrecords.com

On 4/3/07, Chris Coccia <mothra@...> wrote:
>>  > If you have published anything on the web, it's considered publishing,
>  > at least with BMI. I didn't have problems registering with BMI years
>  > ago. It's good to be on either one here in USA, but don't expect a lot
>  > of royalties, unless your track(s) are in heavy rotation on radio/TV.
>  >
>  > Another nice side benefit is that via BMI (and I think ASCAP) as well
>  > you get ISWC codes for each track, something that you might need to
>  > register in case you sell material via some (online) record
>  > distribution systems. And it's kind of cool to belong to either one.
>  >
>
>  Yes its considered publishing but I dont think its that simple to be
>  recognized as a publishing company (or so I thought)..
>  One cant just go say 'Ive got songs up on Myspace, so now Im so-and-so
>  Publishing, Inc'..
>  ASCAP let me join no problem, in fact my membership was free for like 5
>  years since I didnt make a dime off of any royalties hehe. But without a
>  publisher I couldnt submit stuff to them..

Never heard you need a publishing company when joining BMI. Actually,
when you register tracks it asks for a possible publishing company,
but it's optional. Ultimately you could publish your stuff from
yourself, having a publishing company between just diludes any
profits, so it's even better to avoid publishing houses, unless you
need connections to Nashville or something similar. --Kent

I think the issue with a publishing company is that royalties go half to the 
songwriter and half the company so if you have your own company you get the 
full commission.


**************************************
 See what's free at 
http://www.aol.com.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

On 4/3/07 7:26 AM, "pete_buchwald" <pete_buchwald@...> wrote:

> 
> Audio encoding on MySpace is pretty bad, they take your .mp3 and re-encode it
> and it 
> sounds pretty bad.

try Virb:
http://www.virb.com

it doesn't re-encode, and lets you do more, isn't so ugly and slow. So much
nicer than myspace.

best,
twlo.

On 4/3/07, GAmoore@... <GAmoore@...> wrote:

> I think the issue with a publishing company is that royalties go half to the
>  songwriter and half the company so if you have your own company you get the
>  full commission.

When you register tracks at BMI, you specify 200% for the commission
in case you don't have a contract with a publishing house, and then
all royalties go to you. And I don't have my own publishing company --
no need for that. --Kent

Speaking broadly to the question of setting up online - I have a myspace site for my 
electronic project (Aeriae) just because it's myspace, the outrageously popular service. It's 
easy to have a page there, you can keep a few songs there at a time, etc.

The place that's my home though (until I finish the Aeriae webpage) is 
www.garageband.com

If you don't know about it, garageband is a totally review oriented site. Your songs enter 
competitions in chosen genres, where they're reviewed (written reviews) and rated. But to 
be able to enter the comp, you have to review others' songs in blind faceoffs first. There's 
a great system of checks and balances that make it all basically work. The thing I value the 
most are the written reviews. It's much more gratifying than just watching a download 
counter increase and having no clue what's happening with the people doing the 
downloading.

However... even if you aren't interested in the reviewing angle, I'd still recommend 
garageband as a good venue for nice - and free- presentation of  your tracks online, 
because the mp3s you upload receive no further sound-altering encoding, and can be 
streamed both in a lo-fi dialup version or regularly for broadband at the recipient's 
preference.

In terms of selling them, when my CD's ready later this year I plan to use CDBaby. There's 
capacity for an auto link for it from garageband, and obviously I'll link to it from my own 
site when it's ready, and probably from the written section on myspace too.

Others have already discussed myspace's limited capacities for selling online. I think it's a 
good idea to be on myspace because of its popularity and 'cos it's easy for you to do, so 
you may as well. But worth considering other options to offer better presentation of your 
mp3s online and also for selling either mp3s or real CDs.

- Wade
---
http://www.garageband.com/artist/aeriae
http://www.myspace.com/aeriae

Thanks for this. My band's account was disabled as I refused to  
reveal all band members' real names as they are put on the band's  
home page along with some other unnecessary info, this was exactly  
the reason why my friends/mates/clients stayed away from setting up  
their sites there.. Also, their player lacks quality compared to that  
of Broadjam. Also, I find reviews at Broadjam more professional and  
balanced... The only advantage (and I admit it's a huge one) over  
Broadjam is you can have your band's URL for free and use it for  
distributing your music. All this is just MMHO and YMMV.

Best,

Andy

On Apr 4, 2007, at 5:56 AM, Wade wrote:

> Speaking broadly to the question of setting up online - I have a  
> myspace site for my
> electronic project (Aeriae) just because it's myspace, the  
> outrageously popular service. It's
> easy to have a page there, you can keep a few songs there at a  
> time, etc.
>
> The place that's my home though (until I finish the Aeriae webpage) is
> www.garageband.com
>
> If you don't know about it, garageband is a totally review oriented  
> site. Your songs enter
> competitions in chosen genres, where they're reviewed (written  
> reviews) and rated. But to
> be able to enter the comp, you have to review others' songs in  
> blind faceoffs first. There's
> a great system of checks and balances that make it all basically  
> work. The thing I value the
> most are the written reviews. It's much more gratifying than just  
> watching a download
> counter increase and having no clue what's happening with the  
> people doing the
> downloading.
>
> However... even if you aren't interested in the reviewing angle,  
> I'd still recommend
> garageband as a good venue for nice - and free- presentation of   
> your tracks online,
> because the mp3s you upload receive no further sound-altering  
> encoding, and can be
> streamed both in a lo-fi dialup version or regularly for broadband  
> at the recipient's
> preference.
>
> In terms of selling them, when my CD's ready later this year I plan  
> to use CDBaby. There's
> capacity for an auto link for it from garageband, and obviously  
> I'll link to it from my own
> site when it's ready, and probably from the written section on  
> myspace too.
>
> Others have already discussed myspace's limited capacities for  
> selling online. I think it's a
> good idea to be on myspace because of its popularity and 'cos it's  
> easy for you to do, so
> you may as well. But worth considering other options to offer  
> better presentation of your
> mp3s online and also for selling either mp3s or real CDs.
>
> - Wade
> ---
> http://www.garageband.com/artist/aeriae
> http://www.myspace.com/aeriae

Hey Guys,

There's a better idea... I use CdBaby.com. An AWSOME, honest site and service for indie 
folks and unsigned musicians. Its also free.. I've made a few thousand bucks this past year 
from selling my stuff on there. They are SUPER connected with iTunes, MSN, Yahoo, 
AOHell, Napster and tons of other online distribution services. You simply register on their 
website, and send in your stuff [no review process, they take all kinds of music] as a cd or  
CD-R with "home-made" graphics, which is what i did. Sign an agreement that you are the 
rightfull owner and you're in. They have "instant in" to sites like iTunes [which normally 
takes 3-4 months to get "reviewed"] and about 30 other online stores. CdBaby.com has 
deals that bypass all that 'review" stuff that iTunes has. 

They also pay directly to your bank account. I get payouts aprox 2x a month. Once for 
"domestic" and once for "foreign" online sales [like iTunes Europe, etc]  iTunes charges 99 
cents and keeps something like 40 cents. 60 cents goes to CdBaby and they keep 9 cents 
for all the work and accounting they do. You get aprox 50 cents or half. So....When was 
the last time you did a record deal that paid you 50% ?? And it's non-exclusive, [you can 
still do MySpace or your own website like I do]. It's easy, honest and you send in your stuff 
to one place and they re-send it to like 30 different online stores ! 

Their website has all the info, and they have paid out a few million [yes million] so far in 
royalties.. http://www.CdBaby.com

Many online stores require that you are "released". So when you send your cd to CdBaby, 
they stock a copy on their warehouse shelves, which "technically" is a phyisical copy [or a 
release]  The artwork you give them is what winds up on iTunes, so get photoshop 
happy... lol.  Any questions, let me know.... I generated tons income from my old catalog, 
and I'm now compiling a re-mix and "rare tracks" compilation for them.. Gee.. money 
motivates ... lol 

Good luck !

-Man Parrish



--- In Logic_Cafe@yahoogroups.com, Andy Hardwake <andyhardwake@...> wrote:

>
> Hey Greg,
> 
> I've done 3 or 4, will be glad to help offlist.
> 
> Best,
> 
> Andy
> 
> --  
> Andy Hardwake
> Composer
> <http://www.myspace.com/andyhardwake>
> 
> On Apr 2, 2007, at 11:59 PM, GAmoore@... wrote:
> 
> > Hey has anyone set up a MYSPACE site complete with a music player  
> > and the
> > ability to sell download songs? They don't tell you how to do,  
> > merely to find
> > someone who already did it and ask them.
> >
> > Greg
> >
> >
> > **************************************
> >  See what's free at
> > http://www.aol.com.
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Links
> >
> >
> >
>

Thanks man. I heard about it, but never took it seriously. Will give it 
a try.

Best,

Andy

-- 
Andy Hardwake
Composer/Producer
<http://www.myspace.com/andyhardwake>

On Apr 4, 2007, at 7:37 AM, Man Parrish wrote:

> Hey Guys,
>
> There's a better idea... I use CdBaby.com. An AWSOME, honest site and 
> service for indie
> folks and unsigned musicians. Its also free.. I've made a few thousand 
> bucks this past year
> from selling my stuff on there. They are SUPER connected with iTunes, 
> MSN, Yahoo,
> AOHell, Napster and tons of other online distribution services. You 
> simply register on their
> website, and send in your stuff [no review process, they take all 
> kinds of music] as a cd or
> CD-R with "home-made" graphics, which is what i did. Sign an agreement 
> that you are the
> rightfull owner and you're in. They have "instant in" to sites like 
> iTunes [which normally
> takes 3-4 months to get "reviewed"] and about 30 other online stores. 
> CdBaby.com has
> deals that bypass all that 'review" stuff that iTunes has.
>
> They also pay directly to your bank account. I get payouts aprox 2x a 
> month. Once for
> "domestic" and once for "foreign" online sales [like iTunes Europe, 
> etc]  iTunes charges 99
> cents and keeps something like 40 cents. 60 cents goes to CdBaby and 
> they keep 9 cents
> for all the work and accounting they do. You get aprox 50 cents or 
> half. So....When was
> the last time you did a record deal that paid you 50% ?? And it's 
> non-exclusive, [you can
> still do MySpace or your own website like I do]. It's easy, honest and 
> you send in your stuff
> to one place and they re-send it to like 30 different online stores !
>
> Their website has all the info, and they have paid out a few million 
> [yes million] so far in
> royalties.. http://www.CdBaby.com
>
> Many online stores require that you are "released". So when you send 
> your cd to CdBaby,
> they stock a copy on their warehouse shelves, which "technically" is a 
> phyisical copy [or a
> release]  The artwork you give them is what winds up on iTunes, so get 
> photoshop
> happy... lol.  Any questions, let me know.... I generated tons income 
> from my old catalog,
> and I'm now compiling a re-mix and "rare tracks" compilation for 
> them.. Gee.. money
> motivates ... lol
>
> Good luck !
>
> -Man Parrish

Thought I'd chime in here.
I use a number of different web based services for sales, marketing  
and promotion.

Electronic Press Kit:
http://www.sonicbids.com . My experience with Sonic Bids has been  
great. Easy set up and saves a LOT of money not having to print out  
promo packs and send physical CD's

Electronic distribution:
http://www.tunecore.com. Tune Core is affordable and efficient way to  
get wide spread electronic distribution. I opted out of CD Baby's  
electronic distribution option because Tune Core covers more outlets.  
Including:  iTunes U.S., Canada, Japan, U.K./Europe and Australia/ 
N.Z. as well as Rhapsody, MusicNet, Napster, eMusic and Sony Connect.  
It's important to only use one provider for electronic distribution.  
When sites like iTunes and the others receive requests from say CD  
Baby and Tune Core for the same release they will not put the release  
in their catalog until there is only ONE provider requesting service.  
Expect to wait 4-6 weeks for each new release to show up on the  
electronic distribution sites when going through Tune Core. Tune Core  
also offers a number of other services including CD manufacturing.

Physical CD sales on the Web:
http://www.cdbaby.com . CD Baby is hands down the best source for  
selling physical CD's on the internet. Easy to use and efficient. CD  
Baby also offers other services such as sales on Amazon and portable  
Credit Card processing for live show sales (very cool and  
affordable). I've been using CD Baby for a number of years and  
couldn't be more pleased.


Internet Radio:
There are a number of opportunities out there.
My favorite is http://www.last.fm . Use it it works! Also allows me  
to monitor who is listening and send them personal thank you messages  
and network with other users with similar tastes.


MySpace:
http://www.myspace.com
Having a MySpace site and being an ACTIVE participant in the MySpace  
community is pretty much mandatory these days. Yes the sound quality  
is LAME (pun intended) but MySpace is an invaluable source of  
networking for marketing material and booking/advertising shows and  
building an international fan base.

SNOCAP:
http://www.snocap.com
SNOCAP allows artists to have a portable electronic store front. I  
can post my SNOCAP store on any web site on the web. Visitors can  
audition tracks and purchase individual tracks or albums.
Great concept and my experience with SNOCAP has been less then  
positive. SNOCAP claims you can upload your tracks and be ready to  
sell your music in 48 hours or less. It took 48 DAYs for me to  
finally get my store front running due to technical problems on their  
end. The technical support is "iffy" at best. Now that the store is  
up and running on my MySpace site I have received 5 messages from  
visitors who are unable to either pay for or even worse download  
tracks once they have paid for them.
The good news is that SNOCAP handles all the book-keeping and tracks  
the material sold and handles the down loads.
My hope is SNOCAP is a young company and will work out the bugs in  
their system and improve their technical support as the company matures.

Finally, I still have a good old fashioned band web site ;-)  with  
streaming audio and video clips and more in depth information.  
Actually my current band web site is in redevelopment and is pretty  
shoddy at the moment LOL. Anyway... all the sites link to each other  
and create a kind of mini network.

All this requires constant maintenance and attention in addition to  
writing, performing, booking and "brick and mortar" foot and phone work.


Inclusivity/Acceptance/Respect
--
Charles Shriner
Mobile & Office: 317-926-0773
Drache Musik
http://www.myspace.com/drachemusic
--
MCSD Studio
http://www.mcsdstudio.com




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