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Digital vs CD releases - feedback from other artists
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Beat Agency
IsraTrance Full Member
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53
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1752
Posted : Jan 22, 2011 14:39
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There will always be people who lack behind in forward thinking.
No matter how much you love the CD it will die just as vinyl did (speaking in terms of the commercial market).
I remember how people said the exact same words when the CD was introduced. Yet the CD outnumbered vinyl and digital sales will outnumber CD's It's just a matter of time.
  www.beatagency.dk |
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monno
Grapes Of Wrath
Started Topics :
9
Posts :
454
Posted : Jan 22, 2011 14:59
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Stop seeing releasing as a business and spend your forward thinking on making music then 
What does it really matter in the end as long as people connect with the music they like.
In all seriousness though my statements are mostly made from personal experience as an artist and not as a knowitall professor. Individual milage may vary.
Once CD´s are de facto dead then i will consider jumping ship (or going back to vinyl hehehe) In the meantime i will enjoy my little plastic mementos and bask in their shiny glory.
Mastering available here:
http://www.bimmelim-soundlabs.com
http://soundcloud.com/onkeldunkel
http://www.myspace.com/onkeldunkelownz
http://www.parvati-records.com |
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Beat Agency
IsraTrance Full Member
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53
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1752
Posted : Jan 22, 2011 15:30
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I make tons of music but also happen to have an opinion regarding CD's.. Just as you do
www.beatagency.dk |
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Basilisk
IsraTrance Full Member
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168
Posts :
2984
Posted : Jan 23, 2011 03:53
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Quote:
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On 2011-01-22 14:27, monno wrote:
CD´s last 20 some odd years, but access to a server can be cut off in an instant, see the problem here? |
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Any release entering into widespread distribution via open file-sharing will never be lost.
Compare that to all the out-of-print CDs out there... if you are able to acquire a release when it comes out you are likely fine (barring all the issues that may arise from physical media being ruined, stolen, or lost), but newcomers to the scene are shut out of trance history by virtue of the scarcity of most classic releases.
Quote:
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On 2011-01-22 14:27, monno wrote:
Sales are almost irrelevant here as close to nobody can make a living strictly on that (the cue here is exposure and promotion via releases for live gigs etc.) The main point is to get your music to people in whichever form works. Bottomline physical or digital, if your music is the bomb people will notice |
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Agreed. All the tricks in the world won't help sales and exposure if the music isn't good. That being said, "good" is subjective, so it is important to consider the diversity of music taste in this subculture. |
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Braindrop
Braindrop
Started Topics :
140
Posts :
1730
Posted : Jan 23, 2011 14:30
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Same debate. But yet, always an interesting discussion this.... again ... i will put down my thoughts on this one.
a) Its known to everyone, that CD is and always will be the first love. But then again, this trend i've noticed primarily only to this genre! There are lots of other genres releasing only on Digital and benefiting from it.
Now why is that ?
b) Time and again it is proved that there isnt any point in printing 1000s of Cds anymore clearly if it wont sell. If the primary motive is not to sell, but to promote as much as you can with the CD as the medium, yes then it is good. Secondly, when speaking in terms of quality, one requires good tracks, which in this scene,today, comes with an unreasonable price.
so if u have a release like that, how can one expect to at least cover their expenses with the sales so low? And how often can you put out a release in this manner? Not that its not possible, but unrealistic in the longer run.
c) You have to make digital releases serious. Make a nice promo plan. And for a change, the artists can see some $$ coming in. It may be just 4 or 5 $ for ex. But its still something... as compared to a CD as we all know from various stories from different artists about the payment structure. The pros... u release faster (with the amount of tracks being held for years) and the music will much more exposure which will help expand the genre and get artists more gigs.
The problem is the so called established labels still fai to understand the model and its pros. The good thing is some new labels entering into the scene are going this way, which is very positive so hopefully more should follow. And since we are all nature lovers, it would help cut down trees and help the enviroment a bit right ?
All other genres, understood the paradigm shift and took this route, almost 5-6 years back. Why we are so late to go this route, is beyond my intelligence.
And finally, the ultimate thing of utmost importance, is the music. Even if you make a CD with a killer cover and package, ends up being crappy music... where do we stand then!
www.braindrop.in |
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Get-a-fix
Getafix
Started Topics :
147
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1441
Posted : Jan 23, 2011 19:31
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I guess it's quite obvious that no one is going to get rich from CD or digital sales. So what you should be really worried about is getting your music out there and getting maximum promotion/exposure. It's true what someone mentioned earlier, that if the music is good enough it will speak for itself regardless of which medium it comes out on.
So what is the most popular website for digital releases nowadays? Has anyone managed to compete with beatport?
http://www.soundcloud.com/getafixmusic |
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Basilisk
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
168
Posts :
2984
Posted : Jan 23, 2011 23:15
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If money is not a concern and your goal is maximum promotion and exposure then you should have a look at this:
http://www.ektoplazm.com
I am not sure how much psytrance is actually sold on Beatport in any given day since no numbers are published... but Beatport would have to be selling upward of 30,000 tracks a day to be competitive with Ektoplazm in terms of the total volume of music transferred.
I have a hunch that Ektoplazm is competitive.
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Beat Agency
IsraTrance Full Member
Started Topics :
53
Posts :
1752
Posted : Jan 23, 2011 23:19
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I had a label that was releasing on Beatport from 2005 - 2009 and had direct contact with the Beatport label manager for Scandinavia. He told me sales in the psytrance section was extremely low compared to the other sections of Beatport where sales actually are quite high. I do not recall his exact words but something like only 7-10% of what the other sections sold. Maybe it has increased since 2009 but I doubt it's much.
www.beatagency.dk |
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Distorted
Started Topics :
3
Posts :
137
Posted : Jan 26, 2011 02:59
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That is because there r some cheap fuck Dj's who look for free downloads. If a track is released today, u can get a free download in one to two months. They don't pay to buy there tracks. This specially happens in psy-trance scene. Digital or physical no psy-trance label makes money or sells thousands of CD's. |
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Pureuphoria
IsraTrance Junior Member
Started Topics :
17
Posts :
45
Posted : Jan 26, 2011 11:27
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Quote:
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On 2011-01-26 02:59, Distorted wrote:
That is because there r some cheap fuck Dj's who look for free downloads. If a track is released today, u can get a free download in one to two months. They don't pay to buy there tracks. This specially happens in psy-trance scene. Digital or physical no psy-trance label makes money or sells thousands of CD's.
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We want a revolution there!!!heh 
on the other end it is a sign: the Psychedelic music is a "real" artform) - you can never make money on it - and people are still involved in the culture: producing, dancing, sharing, downloading ripped music and so on...))
I thought once that either its happened already, or will happen': psy scene will become selfsustaining resource, SPACESHIP - where the money will play a very little role.
Afterall wasnt there "digital concept" behind some psy-tracks?))))))))
the question should sound like:
if the release is good - does it makes a difference if its digital or CD?) |
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Nectarios
Martian Arts
Started Topics :
187
Posts :
5292
Posted : Jan 26, 2011 12:16
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I believe the name/"status" of the label will have a much higher impact on how many people will bother to download/buy your tunes, than the actual medium.
And that is simply because of bigger labels being more picky on what it is they want to be releasing, they form a style adn set a high standard of output.
For example I would buy anything with Dragonfly/Flying Rhino/Twisted on it and would rarely be disappointed.
That has to do with labels/A&R people, maintaining a quality output, "drawing" the big names/producers...instead of small time labels that release up and comers, or labels created by people who can't sign their tunes on a more "established" label, because they simply don't sound good enough.
Peace out.
http://soundcloud.com/martianarts |
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