electronic music world

Physical Distribution?

Hey guys, unfortunately every distributor I've spoken to has had a negative reaction to the idea of physically distributing a CD from a group that "no-one has ever heard of before", to quote one company. I was wondering if everyone would be cool with focusing all of our efforts on online distribution? There are numerous avenues we could take in this regard. Let's 'ear yer thoughts yo!

Tags: compilation, distributors suck, palace compilation

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Pixieguts on August 20, 2009 at 9:00am: I reckon CDs are on the way out anyway to be honest and since this is a kind of cyber project I'm more than happy to see digital distribution as the way it goes. There are many excellent possibilities with that!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Angus Maiden on August 20, 2009 at 9:16am: methinks alike; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by northcape on August 20, 2009 at 9:57am: I like CDs- but it would add significantly to the expense and maybe not worthwhile for this.
However a CD release would let you use CDbaby which takes care of a lot of distribution for you- its the best company I've found for releasing independently.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Electromagnetic Impulses on August 20, 2009 at 10:16am: Might be worth getting in touch with Dpulse..speak with Martin or Dean there:

http://www.dpulse-america.com/

They know a lot of us on Pixie's Palace and might be interested...but don't quote me on that...lol..worth a shot.

That being said, i agree with Pixie, that digital distribution is the way to go these days.

Although something like this does deserve to be on CD..it's different, and that's what would get a lot of peoples interest...people always look and are more willing to buy something different !!!

Variety is the spice of life after all...lol; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Pixieguts on August 20, 2009 at 11:01am: Other thing to consider with labels and other distribution outlets etc is that they always take large chunks of the returns which might not be so ace in this instance especially as the returns will be split amongst a lot of artists. Honestly to date I've seen more returns (even if still small) from self distribution on Bandcamp (free to sign up, looks like your very own music site, returns are 100% straight into your PayPal) than through any netlabel, iTunes, Juno, Beatport, CDBaby, anything like that (in fact there has been *no return* to date from any of those releases I've been involved with through the more regular 'sound like they should be good' channels).

I'd love to see this project based at Bandcamp actually even if there are other distribution avenues in play too. Other reasons for this are that the uploads are in best quality wav format and then auto converted to a swag of other formats (you wouldn't believe how many, some I'd never even heard of), so that the listener has an advanced array of download options to suit them. Also can offer releases on either a regular 'pay' basis, 'pay as you wish', free download 128 or 320 if you want later on, and combinations of these options, all changeable at any time. It's not a social networking site, there are no ads and the Bandcamp branding on the pages almost invisible. It's a very smart and classy operation in my view (as long as they don't change it!)

It also seems at least possible that the combined publicity forces of all artists on the album and maybe other supporters too might make totally independent distribution a very good base for this project. It seems that most distribution outlets and even netlabels end up needing *you* the artist or producer to bring in pretty much all the audience anyway - given that, why pay them, lol! Maybe just for branding and extra listener availability through iTunes etc.

Distribution to iTunes can also be had for free through WaTunes (gotta be careful on compilation albums about track titles/credits conforming to iTunes formats though - I've had trouble with iTunes changing all the titles to conform to their standards and ultimately misrepresenting the credits of the tracks).

That's my two cents of the moment!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Remergence on August 20, 2009 at 11:10am: I think it's the way to go these days, I know from personal experience that our CDs hardly sell, but the digital downloads are a different story and those are from where most of our sales are made...; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lady Venom on August 20, 2009 at 12:42pm: I've sold more digital downloads than physical cd's. The best way I can think to go about it is to have each artist on the compilation and others that are willing to at the palace to individual advertise on their sites. If anyone is graphically inclined maybe a banner or other form of ad can be put together that each artist can use and link to the compilation.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Reconsiderate on August 20, 2009 at 1:22pm: I'm going to jump on board and agree with everyone else. Pressing the physical CD would almost certainly do nothing but run you a debt. But hey, if you're cool with that, it could be a neat souvenir.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Angus Maiden on August 22, 2009 at 1:53am: Thanks for taking up this discussion guys. You know I'd never thought about something crucial that has come up in this topic: Inevitably, each individual artist will promote the album! I can't believe I hadn't thought about how massive that is, it would really boost exposure. I'm kinda swayed by Marie's suggestion of Bandcamp. iTunes is part of a mega-conglomerate company, do we really wanna be involved with them? Especially if, as Marie says, they're gonna be a bit dodgy about crediting artists?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Xteve X on August 24, 2009 at 7:51pm: I agree, digital downloads are the way to go ... physical media are all but obsolete these days.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Radio Scotvoid on August 28, 2009 at 1:27am: it's not a plug at all but here's my bandcamp > if your going to do a free download, do it on here: 128 download for free and 320 for .99 or do a Radiohead and have the fans choose what they want!

http://radioscotvoid.bandcamp.com > all ma shit is free.

no one will pay for a cd if the download is already for free: FACT!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Angus Maiden on August 28, 2009 at 8:12am: True. so I guess we have to hope people will pay for higher quality when it is already available in 128Kbps. I'm thinking bandcamp as the only place we have this available for high quality download, as a paid download, but free 128kbps at bandcamp, and free 128 streaming at last.fm... y'all dig?

Radio Scotvoid said:
it's not a plug at all but here's my bandcamp > if your going to do a free download, do it on here: 128 download for free and 320 for .99 or do a Radiohead and have the fans choose what they want!

http://radioscotvoid.bandcamp.com > all ma shit is free.

no one will pay for a cd if the download is already for free: FACT!; ▶ Reply to This