[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: Making a cd

To: brass-band@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: RE: Making a cd
From: Clark Guy <guy.clark@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2001 15:32:13 -0500

HI, Kevan!

This is not an easy question to answer.  It depends on things like the
quality of your band, the amount of competition you'd have in selling CDs,
how saleable the music you record is, and how good a sales force you have.

My band recorded it's first CD some five or six years ago.  We hired a local
recording engineer to record us and provide us with a master tape which we
were able to send to a CD mastering house where it was pressed and mated
with the liner art that one of our band members created.  This was a
Christmas music CD and sells fairly well (meaning that we sell half a dozen
or so at any given concert (and considering the size of our audiences,
that's a  pretty impressive percentage! :-/ ) )

Our second CD was a compilation of some of our winning Championship test
pieces, and frankly, that one doesn't sell too well.  This one, we paid the
recordist(s) who recorded the championships for the rights to his recording.
Again, we had a band member do the liner artwork, saving us some money.

Our last CD was recorded and produced by a band member (me!).  I put
together a CDR of the final recording and sent that along with the cover art
to the disc manufacturer to obtain the discs for sale.  This one is a pretty
good moneymaker, as it is fairly saleable (Jazz for brass band) and it was
inexpensive to make.  I did the recording and mastering for free, as did the
band member who did the artwork, thus the only cost was that of having the
discs pressed and assembled into cases with the artwork.

Thus, if you have members or friends of members with the requisite skills
and equipment willing to donate time and effort to making the product, you
might be profitiable.

Remember, you have to buy discs in lots of over 500 to be at all cost
effective (over 1000 is better), so you have to be able to sell most of
them. 

You should also give copies to local radio stations to try to get some
airplay and publicity.  They can be given to representatives of
organizations you are trying to hit up for some money ;-)

One has to remember to pay the royalties to the respective publishers of the
music recorded!!!

All in all, if you think you can make a saleable product, and can sell it at
a profit, you can make some money for the band.  For us, it is a help to our
budget, but not a lifesaver.  There are better ways of making money than
selling CDs, but it's a help.

My opinions and worth what you paid for them.

Guy Clark
solo cornet
(principal recordist) ;-)
Illinois Brass Band

--







wax-recording.com, simply the best, most cost-effective and least stressful
	route to recording an album.

Prev by Date: Re: Making a cd
Next by Date: Re: Re: Brass and voices at Formby Hall, Atherton
Previous by thread: Re: Making a cd
Next by thread: RE: Making a cd
Index(es):
- Date
- Thread