How Do You Sell a CD?

[Dixon Carter Lee]

I got asked this question by a man who thinks I know everything. He's rich, he paid for a singer to put together a CD, he wants to sell it, but he's very cranky about spending his money and won't go to the proper people. He thinks he can handle this through his secretary and friends. He's insane.

Anyway...

There's this CD (Frank Sinatra meets pop)he paid for (so that makes him the "producer") and he wants to sell it. What he's heard is that if you take it to a label you'd better be prepared to also kick in a lot of money for the Marketing. True?

He's thinking of putting together a video. Good idea, I'm thinking, but not likely to get into MTV rotation any time soon. Still, it's a good marketing tool I hear. True?

What about Amazon.com? Should we put it on sale first, and have that in place before telling people about it?

Is there a place on line where I can reach music buyers independently? You know, like offer up a sample of the CD? (We're looking at the Nostalgia market -- old time songwriting. Bobby Darin-ish, but with a contemporary flavor.)

I hear there are a lot of women in the music industry. How can I get laid?

LOL Anyhoo, I thought I'd throw this out there. I have no idea how any of this works. Talk to me like I'm a four year old.

 

[Ask For More]

I have no idea....
The only suggestion I have to promote is to mp3 it and make it avaliable on Morpheus (now the most used Napster replacement)
Find a couple of guys who know about whatever kind of music it is, and if they like it get them to make some noise about it....

 

[KillerMuffin]

Awww, poor baby, is it naptime? I got the Land Before Time! Wanna watch Littlefoot? Lay down on your Barney blanket and you can watch Littlefoot.

*to the rest of the world in general*

Wake that child up once he's asleep and YOU get to watch him for the rest of the day. If I find out who gave him chocolate, there will be hell to pay. I'm talking hell here.

A bit of advice, darlin? Laugh in his face.

Of course, I did fail Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People Course so you may not want to take my advice. Truth to tell, I was kicked out after the first half hour. To my defense, I did honestly believe that a tire iron was a part of the course materials.

 

[Guest]

 

[Ksss]

Here's a website you may want to look at to get some ideas. It's a website for independent artists to sell their goods.

www.cdstreet.com

Good luck!

 

[*Lazer*]

DCL why don't you ask Roger. He has four out and would know about the marketing. I think if you want to do it yourself the guy should start mailing it to DJ's for air time to create a market. Perhaps some web marketing and possible local play would get it up and running.

 

[Closet Desire]

definitely talk...

...to someone who's done it. To sell it through Amazon.com you have to do the same thing everybody else does...make it available through one of the major wholesale distributors. Otherwise it's no dice. Once it's available you can list it on Amazon. Our publisher takes care of our listings, but they do have avenues for going it alone.

No experience here on CDs unless you count "CD"! Hee hee.