Selling Your CDs Online

By David Barber
Commotion Music Promotion, Inc.

For musical artists there are 3 basic ways to sell your CDs online.

(Note: this article does not directly address selling downloads)

1. Get your own credit card merchant account and sell directly. This is expensive and requires an online shopping cart, usually custom. You'll have to fulfill the orders yourself, too (shipping, packing, etc.). Credit card companies and banks charge a monthly fee and various per transaction fees, as well as substantial set up fees, all of which are negotiable and vary all over the place. If you aren't selling hundreds of CDs each month, it's probably not worth the cost and effort.
Some hidden advantages to this, are that you can also get the equipment to handle credit card transactions at your gigs and you can use that to sell your other merchandise as well.

2. Go through a distributor who will distribute to online sales outlets like CDNow.com and many others. They will also offer your CDs for sale on their own website. You can link directly to the distributor's online store to sell CDs from your website.
This is cheap to get going, and low hassle, as they handle the fulfillment and the tricky website stuff. A real distributor is also going to make sure your CDs are available in record stores in the regions where you are playing and probably promote your music as well.
However, most distributors will take a big cut, generally around 50%, so the CDs have to be marked way up or you will just get less.
Companies like CDBaby.com and CD Street.com fall into this category except that they don't do retail distribution. For that reason they may be cheaper than a retail distributor (But then you need that kind of distribution, too. Don't you?) Some of them will only allow you to sell your CDs. They don't want to deal with your other Merch. (You do have other merch don't you?)

3. You can sell directly through your website using a 3rd party company like PayPal.com to process the credit cards. This one gives you the biggest cut per sale. It's basically free to set up and they charge a very low per-transaction fee (2.9% plus 30 cents pre transaction as of the time this was written). You have to handle the fulfillment. But you can sell whatever you want online, to anyone with a credit card.

No matter which option(s) you choose, make sure you shop around and compare prices. Go with the approach/company that you feel the most comfortable with. There are always new companies and websites out there that may be offering some combination or hybrid of the above options. (Beware: Sometimes low prices also mean low service levels and constant problems, and online companies are notorious for suddenly going out of business - taking your stock with them into oblivion) As your band grows you may need to reevaluate your approach and make changes.

You're Nobody Until Somebody Hates You!

By David Barber
Commotion Music Promotion, Inc.

We've seen it over and over again. A band works hard and climbs up to the top of their regional ladder. They're getting the corporate gigs and all the best club gigs and lots of people are showing up everywhere they play. They've been pretty nice to most of the people around them, helping compatible bands by bringing them on as openers, offering up advice, even phone numbers, when it comes to booking and then BAM! The tide turns and everyone starts bad-mouthing them on a message board or behind their backs at gigs.

"Why do they get all the good weekend gigs and we only get these crappy Wednesday nights?" or "They aren't that good, our guitar player can play rings around that guy." or the dreaded "I heard she's sleeping with that booking guy and that's the only reason she got this gig."

All that kind of shit sucks! Right?

But what an excellent barometer to judge how well the act is doing. The act is so successful that others in the scene think it's newsworthy to discuss who they're sleeping with. They are analyzing the guitar playing and trying to figure out why it's so popular. They may even figure out why the successful act gets the better gigs. (Usually, it's because the band is simply better than the bands those haters are in.)

It's human nature at it's worst, but it's nothing to get worried about, it's nothing to argue about and can actually be a sign of success. Most people who perceive an inequity will leap at any opportunity to lay the blame anywhere except on themselves. Nobody really likes to admit the truth, that their own act just isn't as good as those guys that seem to get all the breaks, or simply hasn't been working as hard for as long to get where they are today. The truth is that most of them started out right at the bottom, too and built their way to the top with a lot of hard work. Dissing them ain't gonna make your act any better. Playing better, writing better songs and promoting the hell out of yourself will all help much more.

In business it's generally a bad thing when people bad-mouth you, but like the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity. At least they are talking about you. The opposite would be much worse. Nobody will hire a band or business they haven't heard of. If a talent buyer or prospective client asks about the controversy, there's your chance to set the record straight to one of the few people who even need to know.

You can't please everyone, so some people will always dislike you for some reason. Usually, something completely outside of your control. so don't worry about them. Put your time and energy into the people/projects who know you better than that and who won't hesitate to put in a good word for you. Stay off those hate filled message boards and away from the people who trash talk you behind your back. They'll soon find someone else to pick on (probably, one of their own). There's a reason why the most successful people in the region don't show up on those boards. They're busy working. They don't have time to waste on gossip, bad-mouthing and that kind of bullshit.

Bottom Line: If you're getting dissed, calm down, don't lower yourself to their level by replying back in a hateful fashion and congratulate yourself for achieving a level of success that makes others jealous.

What Makes A Good Poster?

By David Barber
Commotion Music Promotion, Inc.

Every band that promotes itself (and if yours doesn't, you're already wasting your time by reading this), has dealt with the problem of posters. Some bands get lucky and discover an artist who is also a band member, friend or relative who will design cool posters for free or cheap. Many bands, though, struggle with this. Even the one's who have a professional graphic artist in their midst sometimes lose perspective and put out posters that, while they are cool or like works of art, are completely worthless when it comes to promoting the gig.

That's the bottom line: The poster's sole purpose is to promote the gig(s). Don't forget that. It doesn't matter how cool the artwork is, if people can't see it or can't read the important details, it's not doing the job.

We have a friend who collects old psychedelic era concert posters. They are expensive, the art is terrific and some are very rare. You know, the ones from The Grateful Dead and Janis Joplin from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Did you ever try to read one of them? Even at full size and up close in good lighting, it's sometimes nearly impossible to read the names of the bands, the venue, and the date. While it's cool to have those as collectors items now, they were nearly worthless at getting the word out about the gig.

Here's our rule of thumb: All the information should be easy to read from at least six feet away in a dark smoky bar. If you can't see the name of the band (or an easily recognized logo), the date and location, what's point?

Now, sometimes you have to decide where the posters will hang before you can make the call. If they are on telephone poles and you're hoping drivers will see them, then there's no point in using any fine print. If they will hang in coffee shops, which are usually well lighted, then maybe you can expect curious patrons to step in closer and read a little more. A short description of the music is a great idea. That way, someone who isn't already familiar with the band could become interested. Potential new fans want to know what kind of music you play, so even if you have to make something up, put it down. Even something as simple as "Rock" will work most of the time and it's way better than nothing. If you can't describe your music, you've got bigger problems. (We'll write an article on that one later) A website address is helpful, too.

When designing a poster, you also need to think about printing. Making full color 11" x 17" copies at Kinkos gets expensive pretty fast. So think about what that same poster would look like at 8.5" x 11" in black & white or black ink on colored paper. Make sure the design will not be ruined by B&W printing. If you're gonna send your posters out in electronic format to venues or street teams out of town, you better expect them to be printed in B&W.

Make A Generic Poster: This will save you lots of time and cash in the long run. Make one cool poster design with a big blank white space at the bottom (about 1/4 to 1/3 of the poster) and have 1,000 of them printed up in full color at a professional print shop You can use them for any gig for years. Just don't put a photo of the band on there unless you're certain nobody will leave the band before you can use them all up. CD cover artwork is perfect for this.

Don't be afraid to experiment. Have fun with your poster design and play around with things. Just remember what it's for and it'll be that much more effective.

Why people don't come to your show

At some point every musician will ask him/herself: "Why didn't anybody come to my show?"

Every situation is different but we will attempt to describe some of the most common reasons nobody shows up and what, if anything, you can do about it.

Sooner or later, no matter how big or successful you are, you will have show that bombs. If you're successful and this is an uncommon thing, then don't worry about it too much. You're probably doing fine and you can just chalk it up to bad luck. If it's happening commonly, then you need to figure out why and try to do something about it. It could be a blizzard or a hurricane that ruins your show. Don't worry too much about the weather related problems. There's nothing you can do about them, so cowboy up and move on. Sometimes you may never figure out why people didn't show up, but if you can at least eliminate some common reasons, you may be able to avoid having a poor turnouts at all your gigs. Be aware, when booking, of things like holidays and the seasonal ups and downs of your particular market(s) and you can avoid some of those lousy shows before they ever happen. Check out our podcast/article called "Never Release Your New Album in December" for more details on seasonal and holiday bookings to avoid.

One common reason that people may not come to your show is simply competition. Maybe there's a huge national act in town that appeals to your audience and they're gonna go to that show instead of yours. This happens a lot and there's not too much you can do about it, except try to schedule your shows around the bigger ones. If you can manage that, then maybe you should also attend those competing shows and use it as an opportunity to hand out flyers and promote your act. After all, these are the same people that like your band. An ideal situation would be to get your band booked to open for that bigger act.

Another common reason people aren't coming to your show: They don't know about it. Have you sent out emails to your fans? Is it posted on your website? Your Myspace? Your facebook? It should be. If you don't have any of those, you need to make them and build up your fans/friends pronto. Did you make sure your gig shows up on any/all local calendar sites, news and arts weekly papers/magazines? Don't rely on the venue or promoter to advertise your shows. They should and usually do, but there's always more that you can do. The bottom line: If your fans don't know about your gig, they aren't gonna come. We've seen great bands playing wonderful music to empty rooms simply because nobody in the band could be bothered to promote the show. If you don't want to do it, then recruit your fans to help out or consider hiring someone who does it for a living.

Are you playing the same market too much? If you're playing in the same city every Friday and Saturday night, there are very few people who will be able to come to every show, much less want to. If your shows are spaced out enough, not more than once every six weeks or so, then it becomes an event when you play and your fans will try harder to make it to the show. If you need to play every weekend to make a living, then play different markets. In almost every part of the country you can drive 20-30 miles and find yourself in a whole new market. Rotate through as many markets as you can, so that you always have gigs, but never overplay in any area.

The last and hardest hurdle to overcome may simply be your performance. To put it bluntly: You might suck. You should be able to determine if this is the problem by watching your fan base. If it grows, you're doing things right. If it starts off big, with all your friends and family coming to your first couple shows and then drops off quickly, then you have a problem. What can you do? Practice more. Make sure all your band mates are playing as good as they can. If they can't cut it then maybe lessons are in order. Anyone can improve their performance musically and stage presence -wise. Maybe it's time to replace someone, try some different material or even quit. We hate to see anyone give up, but certainly, playing music professionally just isn't meant to be for some people. Sometimes, just changing the material can transform an act. We've seen new bands hit the road hard for a year and come back with a whole new confidence and understanding of how to capture and hold an audience. We've seen some bands, filled with highly talented players, insist on playing only their originals and no covers. Unfortunately, some great players aren't very good at songwriting and so the act never quite catches on and builds a following. Just throwing in a couple compatible covers here and there can excite a crowd and get people interested in your original music. People don't usually dance to music they've never heard before. In one case we know about a band that is very successful as a retro-1980s cover band and then under another name (and less cheesy costumes) plays all originals. They way they get the best of both worlds is to book both acts to play consecutively on the same night. A great example of this is Hank Williams III. He plays a set of old covers his grandfather made famous, then after a short break he comes back on stage with the same band plays a set of in your face punk. The set of covers provides income and brings in big crowds who then get exposed to his original stuff. To ease the pain, we've heard that some bands who must play covers in order to pay the bills will not waste time learning any cover songs that take them longer than 10 minutes to learn.

We hope this will help you understand and remedy some of the most common reasons people don't come to your show.

More detail on some of the above topics and related articles and podcasts can be found online at RockOnColorado.com

Never Date a Musician

Over the years we've seen countless relationships come and go and we've noticed a trend. It's always a bad idea to date a working musician.

Now, we are generalizing here, there are many musicians who have perfectly good, successful long-term relationships, it's just that these are the exception to the rule.

To women, male rockers have the same mystique and allure that strippers have for men. They're on stage, everyone wants one and almost nobody gets one. Indeed the successful stage musician (of either sex) can take his pick of attractive young women in the crowd. This is part of the problem as we'll explain later.

Relationships with musicians have all the same problems as other people have but some of them are more exaggerated. Here are the main ones:

1. Money: Many musicians are also starving artists. This is more true for younger rockers than older guys because, by the age of 30 most have either reached some level of success, at least enough to make a living, or have given up and taken a day job. Some, however, find ways to eek out a living and never really grow up. Others go from one woman (who is willing to pay their bills) to the next, living homeless in the interim. Many have never held down a day job for long and never want to.
2. Drugs: This has always been a part of rock and roll and probably always will be, but it's always a problem. It's a rare band that is filled with talented guys who keep themselves clean. Drugs are always readily available and are offered up free to band members on a regular basis. If you think your guy is gonna stay clean and sober for a long time, you're probably being naive.
3. Alcohol: Just like drugs, only not quite as illegal, alcohol is always a danger. Drugs and alcohol are obviously problematical in any relationship, but suppose you had to work in a bar every night. Do you think you could keep sober? Most people can't.
4. Infidelity: It doesn't matter how ugly or talentless a musician is, if you put a guitar in his hand and put him on stage, some hot girl will think he's the hottest thing since Sting. This is more of a problem when the band is on the road. We know bands who have a rule: "What happens on the road stays on the road." Kinda like Las Vegas, but it applies even with short trips to Nebraska. This one is the biggest relationship killer, especially if the band tours a lot. Even if he's not cheating, how can either partner know that the other is being faithful? And if the jealous spouse decides she'll just come to every gig to make sure he doesn't stray, that usually causes problems with the rest of the band. It can throw off the delicate dynamic the band has worked so hard to achieve amongst themselves. It's a sure fire recipe for drama. An insecure spouse wont be able to handle the idea that part of her husband's job as a rock-star is to flirt with beautiful young women, in the hopes they will buy CDs and come to more shows. It's part of the gig and even if he's being perfectly faithful, it's hard for many women to watch .

And god forbid if the significant other should decide to embrace the band by becoming their manager. That will almost always spell disaster. A lot of smart, experienced bands have a rule: No wives or girlfriends allowed at gigs.

Many musicians consider themselves artists and as such, they are elitist, thinking they are better or smarter than most people. This commonly leads them to believe they can live differently than most people and it's OK because they are "artists." These guys (and gals) think it's OK to get high a lot and that society owes them something, so they shouldn't have to work normal jobs. There's a high incidence of drug and alcohol abuse, poverty and general bad decision making. How many famous musicians have died of drug over doses? I can tell you that a hundred times more not-famous musicians have met similar fates. And if their "art" is perceived as being rejected, they are also susceptible to suicide.

If you think you can handle all that, and heaps of stunning women throwing themselves at your boyfriend, then by all means go for it. Maybe you'll get lucky and find one that has his shit together, but probably not.

Never Date a Musician!! I can't say it often enough, and no, I honestly don't expect you to believe me, until it's too late. Just please try not to repeat your mistake over and over again.

This is where I usually provide a real life example or two, but rather than tell a specific tale I'll just tell you how it usually goes:

A male musician meets and marries a perfectly good woman at some point before he becomes serious about working in music. Maybe they meet in College or even High School. It's all good until he joins that special band where everything is working out well and the band decides to tour farther away than they can drive in a day trip. The woman he left behind feels resentful that she can't go with him. After all, she has a job and has to support him. Sooner or later on the road the musician is approached by a very hot girl who wants to sleep with him, he cheats on the wife at home and... Well, you can guess how it goes from there.

Need we say more?
This blog and many more are available as Podcasts at: www.rockoncolorado.com/podcasts