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| Top-Sellers in August will be on special compilation |
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We're always trying to do more things to help promote your CD. Here's the newest plan you can take advantage of right away:
THE CD BABY SAMPLER What is it?
a CD sent along with every single order we sell.
How many songs?
10 audio tracks. 80-90 mp3 tracks. All on one CD. (meaning: anyone with any CD player can hear the first 10 songs. Then anyone with a cd-rom drive and an MP3 player can hear the other 80-90 songs.)
How do I get on it?
On September 1st, we'll tally the 100 best selling albums from August 1-31, and contact you for permission. The #1-10 will be audio tracks, and #11-100 will be MP3 files. Then we make 5000 CDs, and give them to the next 5000 customers in November.
That's not fair! My music is great but I'm not a top-seller!
Last time we did this, the top #100 seller had only sold 30 CDs! It's a reachable goal to sell 30 CDs in a month of trying. Get creative. Try a new approach. Reach some new fans.
But my music's not rock/pop/folk/popular!
Look at the top sellers on CD Baby. Get over the mental hurdle and go turn people on to your music.
Does it cost anything? Do we get paid anything?
Nope. Nope. I'm paying for the cost of it myself, as thanks for your business, and in hopes of turning on our customers to albums they might not have noticed last time they were at CD Baby.
But you'll ask my permission, right?
Right. On September 1st, if you're a top-100 seller, I'll email to ask your permission.
What song will you use?
I'll ask you on September 1st, if you're a top-100 seller this month, which ones you give us permission to use. Then we get to pick a track from those, in order to make it a well-flowing album. PLEASE NOTE: It has to be an ORIGINAL song that YOU wrote! We can not use cover-songs.
Do sales at live shows count? Digital downloads?
Nope. Only CD sold through cdbaby.com.
Do CDs sold in the $5 specials count?
YES - they do! For info, read cdbaby.org/sale
Do quantities count?
YES. If you can convince your fans to buy 10 copies to sell to their friends - good for you!
Will we get credit on the album cover?
Yep. It's a thin cardboard sleeve so it will fit with every order. But the back cover lists every Artist Name, Album Name, Song Name, and CD Baby web address.
What to do now?
Go promote! We'll do the counting. (No fair buying your own CD. Karma, baby.)
Wait I have more questions!
Read the comments below, first.
This is probably obvious, but remember that this CD will be going to people who buy CDs online. Meaning: the very people that are most likely to come back and buy your CD. It's the best targeted promotion you could ask for.
Derek Sivers, CD Baby, Hostbaby
http://cdbaby.com
http://hostbaby.com <-- web hosting for musicians
P.S. If you don't make the top 100, who cares? The compilation CD is not the point. The real point of all this is to help encourage you to promote your music. If you sell 30 CDs but don't make the top 100, you still sold 30 more CDs!
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"It's the best targeted promotion you could ask for" is right, so why not make an effort and get it in any which way possible? Is there going to be some screening against cheating? I can think of a number of ways immediately... I guess CDBaby would still benefit from those sales, but I think you're above such tactics because you truly support the musicians. Would you say, anyone who drops the price in August or raises it in September is automatically disqualified?
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Dropping the price is fair. Selling 500 to your brother is not. We'll decide. Cheaters disqualified. Don't worry.
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Thanks. I'm not really worried, I just wanted to hear "Cheaters disqualified" loud and clear :)
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How can I send you more copies of my CD? I couldn't find the address.
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It's at the top of every page on cdbaby.com. It's at the bottom of every page on cdbaby.org. Including this one. :-)
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I think it's a bitdifficult for someone not living in the USA to sell a lot of cd's throug cdbaby because the advertising outside the web is impossible...
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yuo might not know it, but in august italy stops doing anything.in august you better not get sick, break your car or promote a cd. nobody is there to listen to you. I will disappear too.
august is definitely not a good month for an italian promotion...
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| by
on Saturday August 02 2003 @ 08:58PM PDT [ reply | parent ] |
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Yup, not just Italy...That goes for all of Europe and even
N. Africa...France, Germany, Spain, Italy, ...all closed for
the month of August
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Hi All,
This is a great opportunity. As with all things, worrying about what others may or may not do, or how others may conduct their affairs is a lesson in futility.
I am sure Derek has it all covered, as he always does :-) Let's just go out and promote ourselves and try and sell as many CD's as we can.
Wishing everyone happy selling!
Skyla
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i would suggest posting on messageboards about your cd if you are in italy .. people around the globe want to hear new music, doesn't matter where you live.. send a cd to a radio show in australia, send a cd to a music writer in belgium - i sold more cds that way than posting flyers in record stores in my hometown.. a $25 ad in an independent music magazine can go a long way..
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I was wondering if sales via the CDBaby Credit card machine would count, but then I thought maybe not. Would they? And darn I just had TWO sales in July. (Double-edged sword that). What I've been doing is looking at sites that refer to mt CDBaby page and have resulted in sales. So far it's *AAACK* MP3.com. So I push folks to go there and listen, then use the direct link to click and buy.
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Sales with the credit card swiper at live shows don't count, because there's no way to verify those were actually CDs sold. Sorry!
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Hi Derek! Yes! It's a terrific idea...!! I'm certainly interested. On July 31st i mailed out to you a re-order (10) units of "RECONSTITUTED" CD. Daniel contacted me on the 30th to send immediately as buyers were showing interest. Derek, i've sent a new CD, "COMMIT TO MEMORY" '77 Reissue,with Pmt. $35.00 to cover setup. I sent (5) (1) Gratis! All sent via Priority Mailing!! Thanks Derek...i've thanked Daniel already. Bobby Vince
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for aug. compilation contest:
if, even after i send you my few remaingin cds for a restock and run out and someone wnats to buy one in august--will you count a sell in the future via email--assuming they give credit card and such--a sell in the future for as soon as i get another batch of cds made? would such a sell in the air count for the august total??
thanks
brainstorm dan
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We're only going to count how many CDs were SHIPPED as of midnight on August 31st.
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great idea, like my whole experience with CDBaby.
my only question is whether the mp3 tracks on the CD will be protected from copying ... it's a little sad, but even as a very small label, we run into a lot of folks who get bootlegs of our releases, as mp3's or home-made cd's.
congratulations, CDBaby, and please keep up the good work!
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The MP3s will have no copy protection, no. If you don't like the idea of an MP3 file being out there for people to hear, you shouldn't do this.
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great idea, as usual, Derek.
my question: how do CD sales of various
albums count? Aka. Is this on a per album or
per artist basis? If you sell 10 of each of your
two albums in August does that count as 20
sales for that artist? Or does it count as 10?
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Per album not per artist. Because that would give an unfair advantage to the people with 10 different albums.
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This sounds like a terrific marketing idea.
You are always innovative and helpful.
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Will the mp3 tracks have the name of the artist and our cdbaby.com url embedded in the mp3 file?
If you can do that I'd love to send track 9 (Life Ain't Through With You Yet) free to pretty much everyone on the planet - in hopes it would lead them back to cdbaby.com and sell more of my albums...
btw - nice Beatles reference on the submit button.
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rbs
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>>Will the mp3 tracks have the name of the artist and our cdbaby.com url embedded in the mp3 file?
Yep
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Hi Derek, et al.,
yes, great idea. I took the leap of faith, spammed my list, and reduced my sales charge. but... how fair can it be when you babies are pushing certain albums on your front page and covers pages, (and how come you never push mine? wah wah!!). Kathleen Williamson, Tucson, Owls Nest Records
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Front page does not affect sales one bit.
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Derek, I would love to have you review and consider the Chris Billiot Cd, "A Man" for this cd compilation project. This sounds like a good promotion plan.
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Review and consider? I think you misunderstood. We'll be using the top 100 sellers without reviewing or considering.
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Love this, thanks! I'm trying to push extra hard for sales this month, but so far only one (and that was me buying for one of my anti-internet friends ... hope that's ok!). Anyway, it's fun to try and I'm hoping to generate some new sales and new fans. :)
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Wow! I didn't realize so much could happen with CD Baby and I didn't realize that I needed to actually make my sales, I thought CD Baby would do it all for me. Well, here's to getting up and taking charge. Will you share with me what site I need to visit in order to secure some info as to what I need to do to generate some sales on-line?
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My sincerest and warmest regards for an excellent and intelligently created website for Artists looking to establish and sustain a career in the chaotic music industry. Oh, and I'm serioulsy considering moving my websites to your servers.. I will keep you posted.
NWB HTP
http://cdbaby.com/cd/nuwaubian
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I love the idea. I am deffinatly joining in on the fun!
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I gotta hand it to you Derek; not a bad way to increase sales on all ends and encourage us artists to get out there and sell.
You're one helluva innovative professional. I'm in. Let's see what can happen.
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Derek,
Thank you for the emails about selling tips, and
the like.
I am always looking for ways to do promotions, and I was looking into "Taxi" recently to see
how that might work.
This current promotion is a good idea; I'll see
what I can do.
Keep me in touch with your ideas.
Steve McLalan
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Australian charts and sales are rigged. Not reliable at
all. Payola is rife. Music has become a hobby here.
Govt taxes the crap out of it as well. Welcome to
Australia - the next banana republic.
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I VERY MUCH LIKE THE IDEA,PLEASE INCLUDE MY SONGS BY ALL MEANS,AND THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT IN TRYING TO HELP FUTHER MY MUSIC MAY GOD BLESS YOU BECAUSE YOU HAVE BROUGHT A LOT OF JOY TO A LOT OF PEOPLE WHOM OTHER WISE WOULD NOT SEE THE LIGHT OF DAY.
FORWARD CD BABY!!!!!!!!!!
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What song will you use?
I'll ask you on September 1st, if you're a top-100 seller this month, which ones you give us permission to use. Then we get to pick a track from those, in order to make it a well-flowing album. PLEASE NOTE: It has to be an ORIGINAL song that YOU wrote! We can not use cover-songs.
My album is cover tunes so I guess that makes me ineligible for this compilation.
Karmyn
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>> My album is cover tunes so I guess that makes me ineligible for this compilation
Yep - if you have ALL cover-songs (NO originals) on your album, then I'm sorry but we can't put anything from it on the compilation. (Otherwise we'd have to pay Harry Fox $412.50 just for the mechanicals to give away 5000 copies of your song!)
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We're in! Great idea for marketing some new
music.
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Hi Derek! Cool idea as ever - and just at the right time, 'cos I was thrashing around wondering what to do next!
I've had tons of airplay on more than a hundred alt.rock & indie radio stations in the States but so far this has translated into only a handful of CDBaby sales so far - so it's upto me to get my finger out and make something happen - using the Top 100 compilation as an excuse! Sometimes you need an excuse....
On the subject of TAXI - following your piece on it a couple of weeks ago, I had good email chats with supporters and critics of TAXI and decided to join ($300) and joined the linked Broadjam.com ($40) to save time and postage sending songs off ($5 per song, but zero postage sending them through Broadjam). They estimate 1200 opportunities per year - I estimate 2-300 of those might be right for my Alt/prog/modern/indie Bikini Test Failure music - so I could be looking at upto $1500 just to submit songs to all those.
But if each time it gets heard and reviewed by an experienced major label A&R person (and I've already proved that radio stations love it) then I think that's worth it - if you don't believe in your own music, then.... I use to work in a studio where band members would think nothing of spending hundreds of £££ on a new guitar or keyboard but would shrink from spending £50 to copy a boxful of cassettes to send off!
Marketing is everything and you can get a new amp when the royalties come in. Anyway, one little usage of a song, through TAXI, in a TV show might get you as much as $2000 - you'd only need one of those and you're in the game for a year, for free!
Such optimism....so misplaced....! I'll let you know my changing opinion as the year goes on...I'd be interested to hear more opinions from CDBabies who're also in TAXI...
Thanks as always. For everything.
James
www.bikinitestfailure.com
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I love these ideas.Also, thaks for your help.
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How about also including songs with the most digital music streams? I've been getting a lot for my song "The Dip Dip Song".
What do you think?
Best regards,
David Karp
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This time I'm taking action on this awesome opportnity. I appreciate all the useful marketing tips.
Thanks Derek.
Gwen Laster
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We dropped a few bucks off of the price of our CD this month and advertised it on our website (you can check it out at http://www.lovecursed.com/Lovecursed_reality17.html) and we've already got a few sales!
And... our first UK sale! :)
Thanks for the inspiration!
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hey great idea Derek
i cant thank you enough for what you and the folks at your end are doing for us musicians so what we have done is we have thanked you in our latest album liner notes-will ship it in to you soon.
thanx a million
holy crow i never thought a person in MEXICO would dig a band from INDIA doing original music-cdbaby rulez
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Derek
August is a great month to promote CD sales here in the UK.
Normal sales are regular record company releases are low so
careful marketing will increase independent sales.
Would like to get on sampler BUT more sales will be a priority for
ALL Loose Records artistes and , Derek, what a brilliant way to
encourage us when the opposition are on vacation (whatever that
word means)
all the best
Andrew
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Hello, I'm on myspace.com. I want to know how to promote my cd
album on myspace page. I would like to have your html link to
myspace page.Please send me your hyperlink to my email.
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| NOTE: If you need a reply you should email CD Baby directly instead of posting here. We don't often read old message board postings, and have no way of replying to them! | | |
