Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 16

Thread: Thoughts on releasing an album

  1. #1

    Thoughts on releasing an album

    Hello DJF,

    last week I finished my 5th studio album and was wondering what is the best way to release it.

    First of all, I was thinking of putting it up on my website for sale as a digital download.



    This is how it looks like in the webshop. The downside is there's no track preview but I could put one up on SoundCloud.

    The other caveat is that to activate payments I need a Business plan for my website (29eur/month)

    Now, how does the price look (7,99eur for 9 tracks)? Doing a quick math I'd need to sell 4 albums a month to break even.

    Of course there'd be discount codes for DJs.

    Would it be better to release it on Bandcamp? Afaik BC doesn't generate ISRC codes, which leads us to another question.

    Do I need ISRC codes if I put the album on my webshop? This costs 75eur to apply for a registrant code from IFPI and it could take a couple of weeks (after which I'd basically run my own label)

    I already have a VAT number for my business if that matters.

    Thank you for your patience, your input is much appreciated,

    -ef

  2. #2
    BanHammer™⚒️ Manu's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Behind you
    Posts
    9,519
    10 years ago, I would have said CDBaby, but they're now getting a lot of bad rap - these days a lot of independent artists publish on Bandcamp.

    I would not go under 1€/track when publishing singles, so 9 tracks at 7.99 seems like a fair price.


    ISRC codes
    Suppose one of your tracks goes viral, and it becomes loss revenue... 75e is pretty much an investment on yourself.


    The downside is there's no track preview but I could put one up on SoundCloud.
    Any chance of embedding the soundcloud player straight on the website?

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Manu View Post
    10 years ago, I would have said CDBaby, but they're now getting a lot of bad rap - these days a lot of independent artists publish on Bandcamp.
    Yeah I figured.. Bandcamp takes 10-15% of sales or something. I guess the ultimate goal is freedom.

    Then again, it helps support the platform but some conscious consumers can prefer that the cash flow goes straight to the artist.

    I would not go under 1€/track when publishing singles, so 9 tracks at 7.99 seems like a fair price.
    I'd estimate most of the clients are DJs so they'd use the discount, I'd have to sell a lot more.

    Suppose one of your tracks goes viral, and it becomes loss revenue... 75e is pretty much an investment on yourself.
    The chances are thin but I could as well put all my previous releases in there complete with ISRC metadata.

    Any chance of embedding the soundcloud player straight on the website?
    Doable in the blog but not in the store I think.

    EDIT : once I get a registrant code and basically become a label, do I need a vendor account here?

  4. #4
    BanHammer™⚒️ Manu's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Behind you
    Posts
    9,519
    I'm afraid so, members who want to sell stuff are expected to, more details here: http://www.djforums.com/forums/faq.p...faq_vendor_faq

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Manu View Post
    I'm afraid so, members who want to sell stuff are expected to, more details here: http://www.djforums.com/forums/faq.p...faq_vendor_faq
    I see. I might as well continue giving out my tracks for free like this far.

    Thanks for the input!

  6. #6
    BanHammer™⚒️ Manu's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Behind you
    Posts
    9,519
    Best of luck on your music indeed

  7. #7
    Bandcamp is probably the best for you, as they do everything you need and at a reasonable price.
    If you sell through your own site, it's totally on you to do all the coding, push traffic toward your site, and get people to buy.
    Whereas with Bandcamp you'll get some exposure through people who wishlist, buy, follow....

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by light-o-matic View Post
    Bandcamp is probably the best for you, as they do everything you need and at a reasonable price.
    If you sell through your own site, it's totally on you to do all the coding, push traffic toward your site, and get people to buy.
    Whereas with Bandcamp you'll get some exposure through people who wishlist, buy, follow....
    Thanks for chiming in light-o-matic!

    I decided to bite the bullet and try to sell it through my own website. The coding was a breeze, managing chargebacks probably isn't but nothing is I guess.. hopefully I don't face one.

    I read on the news Bandcamp just put half of it's staff out, that's why I didn't put it on their platform.

    I've never bought from Bandcamp so I'm kinda biased but I prefer having my own business model.

    What I like about them is the pay-what-you-want option which could bring extra revenue but I can't be arsed to create yet another account on the internet.

    I'll keep you guys posted on updates (we already made a test-buy with my brother, it went well afaik) and the discount coupons I promised.

    It's a bit more expensive to run a music sales service but I think it pays off in the long run (I'd love to run a label one day)

  9. #9
    Moderator pete's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    old orléans
    Posts
    2,527
    I used to work in the music industry years ago.
    It doesn't really favour the artists.
    Everybody wants a piece of the pie and the objective of labels and distribution is to keep the money as far away from the artist for as long as possible.
    If you can handle things by yourself, you may actually make more money than getting involved with the industry at large.
    Even though it may seem like you aint making much, I've produced artist reports for relatively big acts, and they get paid VERY LITTLE from music sales.
    bored, curious, deaf or just bad taste in music?
    finally a mix by me
    and what's this, another shoddy mix...another dull mix

  10. #10
    Thanks for the insight pete!

    I got the webshop up and running today, after a few test-buys.. hope everything goes well. For some reason one of the files wouldn't play on Windows 7 using Media Player, instead it gave a 'server error', I tried googling it with no luck.

    The shop doesn't work with old browsers afaik (using Windows 7, no updates are longer available) but fine on Chrome ver 118 and up.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
a