James Lee Stanley

I was given a link to a company called Tunescore today.   This might be the fiftieth on line site that wants me to put my music up there.    This one wanted me to pay $49 per cd per year and they would do all the stuff that CD Baby does for a one time fee of $39.

So today I want to talk about these sites.

Unless you have some kind of profile, no one is going to seek you out on these sites, in the midst of thousands of artists.  

You do need to be on the internet, so start out with the kinds of sites that won’t cost you more than you are going to generate.  Free is good.

For me, CD Baby is a good deal and I recommend them to people.   But there is a cost.

When you are starting out, you can get a myspace site and put some music up there.  And you can allow folks to download it.

There are also companies that allow you to download songs from your own site.   So you need not start out making a CD.   Record a song, put it up on your own site and use your email list to encourage folks to listen to it and to download it for a fee.

That’s how you begin without spending too much money.

There are folks that think you should just let the music be free and that people will download the free music and then pay to see you play live.   I think that for artistry, there has to be a price.

My experience is that people think that they get what they pay for and if it’s free, it can’t really be too great, or else there would be a fee.

Don’t release  your entire project for free.   Release a teaser song for free, but not the entire project.

When I started out, I was playing clubs that had no cover charge.   In no time at all I was drawing hundreds of folks a night at several different clubs, several nights a week in the same town.    Wow, I’m a star, I thought.

So I put together a band and started playing clubs with a cover charge.    I did get an audience, but about a fifth of what I was doing when it was free.  And it took years for the audience to lose the idea that  they should be able to see me for free.

You need to be on the internet.   You don’t need to pay someone fifty bucks per album per year to let you be up there.

There are always going to be people that consider your aspirations, dreams and goals as an opportunity to get money from you.   Be wise, be careful, do your homework.

Check with people who do this and ask them who they use.   And consider this:

Non discretionary sites have music by anyone who can pay the fee.   That means that there are literally tons of uninspired drivel up there.  You don’t want to be grouped in with a swamp of mediocrity or worse.

Work on your craft, emulate the masters, make your stuff available on the net in a cost effective way.

Join organizations that can help and have people that know what you don’t know as members, like Folk Alliance International, the musician’s union and some of these online discussion groups and blogs.

I am on facebook, myspace, twitter, linkedin, cdbaby, all the reputable download sites, Amazon and I use and endorse CD Baby, Hostbaby, Artistdata,  Diskmakers, Elixir Strings, Collings Guitars, Martin Guitars, Taylor Guitars (I use all three on the road and in the studio).

Write to me hear about anything you want to know about.   Either me or someone I know has the answer.