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Thread: Releasing Your Very Own Prog

  1. #26
    Member Yodelgoat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Soc Prof View Post
    I'm involved with the Colorado Art Rock Society, and I notice that a lot of the members are continuing to release physical CDs of their music: The Other Side, Stencil Forest (new CD coming soon, supposedly), Jamie Krutz (ditto), Every Waking Hour (ditto), Singularity. AFAIK, none of these acts are expecting large sales figures.

    I've also noticed a lot of CD-R releases on CD Baby. I assume these have lower production costs than conventional silver CDs?
    Wow, that's the first encouraging news I have heard in a long time! I think there are ways to actually have a CDR created on demand by the site selling your CD. I do know you can order 100 CDR's along with printing on it for $99 - on a spindle. You can create your own covers these days with little trouble. So a limited supply of music to sell at your gigs can be done very inexpensively. - Perhaps even profitably! I am thinking about trying a few live shows where I play guitar and sing with backing tracks behind me, Just tiny, tiny places for starters, just to see if I can even do it anymore. If you're playing out, you can try to sell a CD or two now and then - and it might work out. Certainly better than sitting at home and waiting for someone online to just open up their wallet and say "here".

    I'm so glad to hear that some artists are really expecting large sales. That would be an awesome achievement, given the current state of sales. If you can buck the trends and find success where others are flailing. Cool news!

  2. #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Yodelgoat View Post
    I thought I had already commented here. I guess not.

    Releasing music, if you are not prepared to back it up by playing out is usually a disappointing experience. Of course if you have just written the next Close to the Edge you may find it an amazing journey. But somehow I think even a Close to the Edge wouldn't even be well received in today's market. - I guess by that I mean todays non-market. Some people find it very rewarding to release new music - for sale. Most find themselves in an echo chamber of silence. It is what it is.

    I tried in 2005. Thought I'd written a great piece of music. Wrong. It was almost average. Not easy to swallow, but the truth. If you want my honest opinion, I do not think its worth the effort. If you want the hyped version, it Yeah man! come on board! you're gonna do great!

    People like you who consider releasing new prog are a dying breed. If you feel "called" to do it, If you feel you must, you probably should, because you'll never know until you've tried. I just dont have anything particularly encouraging to say. Whatever you do, start with a limited pressing that you can afford to pay for, and be prepared to hang on to it for years. Dont skip a vacation or sacrifice your kids college money to put anything out. When you pay for that release, consider the investment gone. Its not likely you'll get it back. If you do, great! I for one, will buy it if you put it out and I hear about it. I love underdogs.

    If you are going to support it by playing shows, and you have a way to get booked, I think that's a game changer. You can sell your CD - or whatever at the shows that is how its done. Basements of ex-musicians are filled with boxes of disks they will never have a use for. If you do better than that, then wow, let me be the first to congratulate you.

    Just my 4 cents worth.
    I have never toured, but released 4 CD's now (glass master ) - recording it all myself in my home studio ( basement? ) I have a small but loyal following. I have not made a lot of money but I have never lost money either, my profits go toward better gear. I enjoy it, I'm retired, I have the time to create - without rushing. I will continue to do this as long as I can.
    Coming September 1st - "Dean Watson Revisited"!

  3. #28
    Member Sputnik's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dean Watson View Post
    I have never toured, but released 4 CD's now (glass master ) - recording it all myself in my home studio ( basement? ) I have a small but loyal following. I have not made a lot of money but I have never lost money either, my profits go toward better gear. I enjoy it, I'm retired, I have the time to create - without rushing. I will continue to do this as long as I can.
    I count myself in your small but loyal following! Happy to hear you're keeping at it, your stuff is some of my favorites released in the last 10 or so years. Your model is a good one, though it's surely harder now than in the "CD era." But it provides a good example for people interested in releasing their own stuff. Keep expenses and expectations low, and enjoy the knowledge your music is appreciated by a few folks. Not much more to it than that.

    Bill

  4. #29
    "Releasing Your Very Own Prog
    Anyone not currently in a prog group ever feel the temptation to release some prog of your own? I've just finished recording my first "epic" and am thinking of taking the plunge to expand the project to a full album. Anyone had any experience with this?"

    Yes - want to hear my story? - How long is your Epic? -

    Being a musician and in several bands growing up in the mid and late 1970's helped me develop into a composer = I started composing in 1986 (pencil and paper) and making demos around the same time - the 1st finished 1990 4 track cassette recorder - computer sequencer MIDI. Since I've written (maybe to much music.....) as well as lyrics, short stories etcetera. in the 1990's MIDI and notation programs made the Job a little easier - then digital audio programs (if you didn't have a tape studio at your disposal.....) made the rest of the Job Possible (as a solo on man multitrack band.) without record label support or producer.

    So 2005 I released an album of what I thought to be my best compositions (choosing from many other unreleased compositions) - I made 50 CD-R's not expecting much - I did have a business plan = I wrote a cover letter (email) and sent CD's to who ever was interested for reviews and sales, my own website, advertised in Expose and Progression magazines and got more reviews - to my surprise within a few months I had about 5 different vendors selling my CD - and I made my money back for the original 50 dupes = so I made another 50.........No shows - no band - this music was all intended to be played by a live band, but ended up being me multi tracking everything on keyboards and live drums. { https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/ppanebianco }

    All I can say is my music got heard, people bought it - I wasn't asked to do any shows (or bothered) The time was right - but alone !!? (next to impossible.) unless you can produce one every year......not so easy - I met several of my favorite artists, most of them said things like "the business is small" or "you don't make any money selling this kind of music"

    So yeah, Go for It! - I learned a lot from this experience, mainly (the proper production and advertising is very expensive = { and after 2010 you had to have a band if you expected to make any financial profit$ - the biz has really gone weird due to piracy of digital downloads - so making money just off of recordings maybe a phenomenon of the past......not great if you don't have a band - unless you are one of the royal few - you know what I mean?)

    I'm working on many other recording projects - I love to compose and record (don't get much of a chance to perform in public - but could)

    So far It hasn't made me $ wealthy or famous (I'm certainly not a household name....) who cares - so long as I can write the way I want to and enjoy being creative = as a business I don't know what to say - all business is the same - you need an investor - its about money - with luck small investment, small return - big investment, big return hopefully.........

    I enjoy to create - business eh!(?)
    Last edited by PaulPb; 04-01-2018 at 06:21 PM.

  5. #30
    Notice I'm replying to myself (sort of) - to give you a better idea of my story - I became very 'disenchanted' with trying to put a band together around 1996....... Avant progressive jazz/rock or whatever you would call it (hard to find players.) - I knew plenty of good musicians who were able to play this kind of stuff (most would say it's to complicated......) but for survival reasons most of those musicians went POP when they needed money - (a few were my teachers and best friends.)

    So for some reason I kept writing (ideas never stop with me) - I transcribe everything note for note - so working with musicians who can read helps (there is always room for improvisation - I do plenty of that as well.)

    Strange time; there was somewhat of a resurgence of reunion bands around 1997 in NYC I saw Present - 1999 Magma - Gong - 2007 samla mannas manna and many others = and even now there are plenty of good musicians around who would want to play this sort of music ....... but(?)*

    Although I've been very Underwhelmed by the music in my local area - If I hear anything new that catches me by the ear (internet usually) I buy their albums and write to the artists - hoping they might be interested in my music.........my current projects are very unusual and different from my past work - and at the same time I trying to find common themes that will make them fit together.......so at the moment I'm overwhelmed by the amount of music is on 'my plate'...... not having a band doesn't bother me .....

    * So to keep a long story short - 1996 to the present time - I watched something amazing happen, all those reunion bands, my own CD sold (even though it wasn't exactly as planned {live band}) - and at the same time lots of obituaries - so for us younger generation 'progressive music people' there's plenty to learn from the past - Music is still alive - getting people to play what I compose, maybe possible for me or working out some other sort of 'deal' film scoring - writing for other artists or something - I haven't given up yet!!!

    Chronicles of a fool maybe...... well I'm not exactly a fool.

    Good luck with your Epic Prog : my suggestion to you is, write a few different arrangements of the same piece of music - and write more music, try to find an audience for yourself and band.

    Peace

  6. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by Soc Prof View Post
    I've been recording music in my home studio, built around a Tascam DP-24SD. I was thinking of releasing some of my songs as downloads through Bandcamp. I have no expectations of making significant money or reaching a large audience. I record music because I enjoy it. And reaching even a few people (other than my friends) would be nice.
    Okay, I finally made it happen. Anyone who is interested can download my new song "T. Rex Tea Party" for FREE:
    https://tonyandthetonechasers.bandcamp.com/releases

    I plan to start recording a second song later this week.

  7. #32
    Quote Originally Posted by Mister Triscuits View Post
    I've been trying to drum up some reviews of my latest album, with almost no success. Even the dedicated avant music websites tend not to respond. With the huge amount of music out there, it's really hard to get any attention at all these days.
    This is due to the new shape of the music business. In the old days (like those of Close to the Edge), it not only took incredible skill and talent to be "discovered", but incredible luck! Think of production and studio costs! Today, we can create good sounding music with a good ear and decent equipment for a fraction of the cost, so now there are far more trees in the forest. And to show how many trees there are, I haven't been on Soundcloud for a long time, but seeing your links, I went to your SC page and see that I was already following you, lol! You and I have communicated in the dark past, but it was nice to find you here. I dig a lot of your material as I am now listening to it.

    This is a cool thread- though I am new, I had an account here in the past. I just recall the live chats with Gagliarchives- the comments would just fly by! Anyway, I did just release an album with my band and I subscribe to a lot that has been stated here. First was the music itself- I found some friends with whom we shared ideas. We would each add to the ideas and I would mix it into how I (and the rest of us) felt it should sound. Sometimes we would write another part to a tune, other times we just added your instrument of choice, and then it went to the drummer (I know, kinda backwards, huh?), and I think it worked. I've had a bit of experience producing music by people inspired by Gentle Giant, and though we did not make a killing, we did better than breaking even (the profit would either fund the next CDr or went to the get-togethers we had). But t hat was a few years ago, and the world is even more different now. I will be happy if we do break even, there is more than just the costs of replicating or duplicating the CDs, depending on the project. AND, btw, I already found our album has been pirated! If you see cheap downloads, check the web site scamadviser.

    Bottom line is, if you go into this expecting a big monetary reward, don't. I'm happy with break-even, but would be more happy if I can fund more and better equipment, as that is not cheap!

  8. #33
    Oh, yes, another unfortunate sign of the times I was reminded by Paul's post (or actually one of the reviews on his CD Baby page):
    http://www.kinesiscd.com/storeframe1.htm

    BUT! It's not stopping me!

  9. #34
    Quote Originally Posted by Yodelgoat View Post

    If you are going to support it by playing shows, and you have a way to get booked, I think that's a game changer. You can sell your CD - or whatever at the shows that is how its done. Basements of ex-musicians are filled with boxes of disks they will never have a use for. If you do better than that, then wow, let me be the first to congratulate you.

    Just my 4 cents worth.
    From 1997 to 2007 and beyond I had boxes of hundreds of CDs I made in 1996 gathering dust...until I reformed my band, put out another album and then my back catalog of hundreds of CDs-you guessed it-sold out! Reforming a prog band in 2006 as we did is a whole lot different from forming a new one in 2018. Looks really crowded and perhaps a bit too cliquey in some places but if it's really good, hey you never know.

  10. #35
    Quote Originally Posted by Soc Prof View Post
    I've also noticed a lot of CD-R releases on CD Baby. I assume these have lower production costs than conventional silver CDs?
    Yes, if you make less than 1000 it is always better to make them CD-Rs and they look just as good I think....and of course sound exactly the same.

  11. #36
    Member Sputnik's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 3RDegree_Robert View Post
    Yes, if you make less than 1000 it is always better to make them CD-Rs and they look just as good I think....and of course sound exactly the same.
    I would amend that to under 100, not 1,000. CD-Rs do NOT sell. See the recent controversy about Gotic's second album for proof of this. People don't want them because the CD-Rs stop functioning in a short period of time. Every single CD-R that has been I've bought (which is very few) or been given that came with artwork/packaging has died on me. I will never knowingly buy another CD-R and I know a lot of people are the same way.

    If you're making 100 CDs, they're likely for giveaway/promo, and you can get away with CD-Rs. But if you're making even 500, the costs of doing a replicated (factory pressed) CD are not significantly more than a CD-R. Most of the cost is in the packaging and artwork anyway, the cost of the disc is virtually nothing, so it pays to get them replicated.

    Bill

  12. #37
    Enjoyed both songs on your page. Well done.

  13. #38
    Quote Originally Posted by Soc Prof View Post
    Okay, I finally made it happen. Anyone who is interested can download my new song "T. Rex Tea Party" for FREE:
    https://tonyandthetonechasers.bandcamp.com/releases

    I plan to start recording a second song later this week.
    Enjoyed both songs on your page - well done.

  14. #39
    Quote Originally Posted by Dean Watson View Post
    I have never toured, but released 4 CD's now (glass master ) - recording it all myself in my home studio ( basement? ) I have a small but loyal following. I have not made a lot of money but I have never lost money either, my profits go toward better gear. I enjoy it, I'm retired, I have the time to create - without rushing. I will continue to do this as long as I can.
    What he said

    Except for the retired part - a year off still. Wife is, though. You lucky duckies! Btw Dean. Just so good - Song for A Day, people!

    As for "releasing" one's music: In this day and age, if you want to get it out for folks to hear, you can do it. Don't over think it. This is the 21st century. Hell, i've had music get out that i didn't want out. A not uncommon problem, btw. But it's all good. And certainly don't worry about being "prog" or whatever. It all gets out eventually, if you're not careful. Possibly even if it isn't very good...

    If you're writing and making sounds which fill your heart with joy, do that. In whatever ways possible. If you're writing an epic, great. Nothing wrong with 20 minutes of joy at once. Just do that first. If you can't afford to put it out, keep making those sounds with others in the room with you. Just do it, as they say. We can use all the joy we can get in these times, eh?

    Of course, in this modern age, we independent artists find outselves with incredible tools for making music and reproducing it at a pretty high quality level. That said, it doesn't always have to be glossy. Cassettes and other media are still available for distributing your work. Digital media is ubiquitous though. It's easier than ever to access and distribute, if you have a modern computer system. A novice can produce nice things and easily get it to the universe. Putting it out is kind of the least of your worries initially.

    Real quality production work takes experience and time. You do want it to be as professional as it can be. Especially if the intent is to sell it. So... quality writing, arranging, rehearsals, pre-production.... all of the same effort would ideally be put in as with any professional studio production. It all shows later. Making the quality music is job one.

    Distribution, sales, the economics of glass mastering vs CD-Rs etc is its own ball of wax. Marketing decisions need to be made and other business. As an independent artist, going for proper commerce can be a big and often untenable mess. You have figure out for yourself what constitutes "success" for you or your project. It's different for everyone. But it always starts with the work itself. And then, the development of skills to record it well. And then another set of skills to market it, if that's part of the plan. Artists are notoriously bad at that part, of course. Making money from it, in modern times, is always impressive and encouraging.

    I just thank the stars everyday that i can stil make music and produce my recordings. The process is always a journey which fills my heart (and our house, i hope) with joy. Keeps me smiling and willing to go forward spiritually. For many here, i'm sure it's the same. For me, it's all about just music making and trying to capture something special on tape. It's one of the few things in the world which truly lights me up.

    As for Precognitive distribution, we use it all. We sometimes glass master special releases. It's never been particularly economical for us. Firstly, our sales model has always, by intention, been a non-commercial one. But also demand is very low in our case. We've been at this for 40+ years. It was low in the vinyl days and it's low now. I have very many copies of releases in storage in various media (vinyl, cassette, glass mastered CD, et al).

    Back in the way back, minimum order numbers were high - 1000+ - and they didn't do short run CDs like they do now. I'm lucky to have a nice job. So, i can do my own short runs, since i do have a mastering deck in the studio. And, if i wanted, and felt it was worthy of it, i could pay to have a place produce 1000+ glass master copies of something. Possibly sell less than half of that over a few years. Give them away as halloween treats or as gifts. They do make excellent coasters, after all

    Seriously, though. We still service out for printing or glass mastering sometimes, as we did most recently for an anniversary release ("Life Stories"). But we never expect to make it back. Most often, over time, we break even. Knowing that people are enjoying them is worthwhile. Also, we have the nasty habit of including extra freebies with our orders. So having extra copies of albums around can be a blessing or a curse for our customers

    Bravo to Mister Triscuits and others on releasing with package concepts, artwork and so on. This is how we like to do it also, if we're bothering to pay for glass mastering. Go for gold. Nothing nicer, imho, than opening up a fresh, nice CD or vinyl package with artwork, maybe a booklet or a box or whatever. Kate Bush, Ani DiFranco, Peter Gabriel, et al always have really fun and lovely packaging. Our friend Matt Baber (Sanguine/Nuns) and company always produce delicious litle nuggets for opening and devouring. It's wonderful when people go through that effort. It really does make a release special.

    As a person in my mid-60s, our having a "release schedule" is a means of passing the time until death comes upon me. I can feel like i'm doing something useful with my life. I've created something we can listen to whilst reading or during Scrabble time with family. When i'm dead and gone; a time which on certain days i wish would come sooner than later, but i digress... the few hundred people who have my recordings will have something they can listen to during Scrabble time with their own families. Maybe it makes them tap their feet or perhaps shed a tear or maybe even hurl into a bucket. All of those activities can be quite refreshing. If my art can bring refreshment to this or future generations, it'll be worth all of the hard work and money.

    Perhaps they'll say - "Oh yeah, i like this one"

    Cheers! Keep making your music,

    Kim
    Last edited by Polypet; 11-23-2018 at 03:10 PM.
    And the code is a play, a play is a song, a song is a film, a film is a dance...

  15. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by Harry's Hand View Post
    Enjoyed both songs on your page - well done.
    Thanks! I appreciate it.

    I hope to get another song recorded during the holiday break. This one will be totally different--an acoustic guitar song rooted in Spanish folk and baroque musics. I'll announce it on the "What's On" page when it's uploaded.

  16. #41
    Quote Originally Posted by Yodelgoat View Post
    I agree with your sentiments. Composing music is the greatest Video game/past time ever. When it comes to releasing it? - That's an entirely different game and involves - at least for me, a lot of disappointment. Especially in the current environment (circa 2005) In 2001 I re-released a couple albums of my 80's band that had only been available on Vinyl - and it was like the proverial "selling pot to middle schoolers" (which I have never done! - for you FBI/DOJ blokes who are spying on me...)

    Anyway, I listened to the advice of people who had bought it, and decided to try a new "reunion" album - What a unique idea that no one has ever thought of before! So in 2005 I released a third album - All the other band members were smart enough to tell me they weren't interested in doing it, so I kind of "borrowed" our collective fame and did it solo. Well, one person of a 4 piece band is going to make music that's different isn't it? Anyway, Karma spanked me, and the thing just failed spectacularly. Then in 2008, a label said " let us give it a try..." well, that didnt turn out very good because I had to manufacture another 3500 units. (cha-ching!) all that fundage I had bilked from the previous releases - It wasn't a lot, but it was something - gone, and then some. Some very bad things seemed to be happening as a result of me being "hopeful"

    1. My CD was loaded on Pirate Bay and many free downloads ensued
    2. The label wound up going under after a few years - after I recieved one check for 168.00 - not blaming anyone but myself.
    3. I had to buy back the remaining 400 cd's at a dollar each, plus postage. Or the disks were jsut going in the trash (Irony?)

    Conclusion:
    4500 units - self manufactured
    + 168.00 in royalties
    + Bakruptcy of CSV distribution Europe
    + $0 in download royalties (Sold at LEAST 200+disks at label, but never a single download???)
    + buying back my own inventory
    ----------------------------------------
    BIG MISTAKE

    Lesson learned: If you want to dream, dream small. I loved producing original music! I have never stopped producing music. But "releasing" music IMO - is just not a happy experience. You get very little positive out of it. I think I have a handful of responses to my music and those are absolutely worth solid gold, but I've realized I may have received the same amount of satisfaction by just giving it away. I may have saved myself enough to take my Family to Disneyland.

    I feel like I owe some of you who are considering this - this lesson I have learned - My way of paying Karma back.

    BUT!!! You will NEVER know if you don't try... keep it simple. I don't think anyone "made" anything off my experience,
    I have no lingering hostility towards anyone or anything, though I do have to say I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE STEAL MUSIC and then say they feel no shame for it. There is a special place in hell waiting for you - Right there next to other thieves and child porn sex fraks.

    Whew... I need a xanex.
    I guess my biggest question is...why 4500 units? Seems like a weird number not to mention WAY too many. We're (3RDegree) a somewhat "known" band and we've never made more than 1000 CDs with all but our first album. Interestingly as our popularity grows, the CDs popularity drops so we've been in this strange dance with CD sales where it seems like we're treading water but eventually I believe they will all be sold. That 2008 "comeback" album is the pesky one since our fan base was a lot smaller then so that's the one we have the most of!

    Elf King-I would just go for 100 "pro" CD-Rs at Diskmakers (or similar) as they "feel" like a real, replicated CD but don't put you in the hole more than a few hundred bucks. If you know you would sell at least 100 somewhat quickly, then I'd say go for 1000 replicated CDs.

  17. #42
    Quote Originally Posted by Sputnik View Post
    I would amend that to under 100, not 1,000. CD-Rs do NOT sell. See the recent controversy about Gotic's second album for proof of this. People don't want them because the CD-Rs stop functioning in a short period of time. Every single CD-R that has been I've bought (which is very few) or been given that came with artwork/packaging has died on me. I will never knowingly buy another CD-R and I know a lot of people are the same way.

    If you're making 100 CDs, they're likely for giveaway/promo, and you can get away with CD-Rs. But if you're making even 500, the costs of doing a replicated (factory pressed) CD are not significantly more than a CD-R. Most of the cost is in the packaging and artwork anyway, the cost of the disc is virtually nothing, so it pays to get them replicated.

    Bill

    I have a feeling it may have to do with climate or something with regard to CDR failures because all the ones I have from the late 90's are still fine. The "pro" CDRs we've made of our 1st 2 albums are almost indistinguishable to replicated CDs. I hope they last for the fans that have bought them from us.

  18. #43
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    Quote Originally Posted by 3RDegree_Robert View Post
    I have a feeling it may have to do with climate or something with regard to CDR failures because all the ones I have from the late 90's are still fine. The "pro" CDRs we've made of our 1st 2 albums are almost indistinguishable to replicated CDs. I hope they last for the fans that have bought them from us.
    I live in largely the same climate as you, the Northeast USA. I'm not sure how to account for the difference in our experience, but clearly a lot of other people have experienced this problem with CD-Rs because there is a substantial bias against them. Note that Prog vendors mark releases that are CD-Rs, and note how few are on the vendor sites. I just think it's a waste of money and that for a small amount more you can get small runs if replicated CDs if you really plan to sell them, especially on vendor sites. If they're just giveaways to friends and family, then I guess who cares.

    Bill

  19. #44
    Man of repute progmatist's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 3RDegree_Robert View Post
    I have a feeling it may have to do with climate or something with regard to CDR failures because all the ones I have from the late 90's are still fine. The "pro" CDRs we've made of our 1st 2 albums are almost indistinguishable to replicated CDs. I hope they last for the fans that have bought them from us.
    It also depends on when the CD-R was manufactured. The early ones which were green in color failed with age, both burned and still blank. The later ones which are silver in color are far more durable.
    "Well my son, life is like a beanstalk, isn't it?"--Dalai Lama

  20. #45
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    Quote Originally Posted by progmatist View Post
    It also depends on when the CD-R was manufactured. The early ones which were green in color failed with age, both burned and still blank. The later ones which are silver in color are far more durable.
    That's interesting, I wasn't aware of that. I'll admit it's been a long time since I bought a CD-R, and I do remember them being green on the write side.

    I have a bunch of Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs that I've burned over the past eight to 10 years. They all still work fine. It was just the "professionally produced" ones that crapped out on me, and they crapped out 100%, all within just a few years of buying them.

    Bill

  21. #46
    3RDegree uses nothing but Taiyo Yuden for our releases on CD-R-basically anything that's not our 3rd through 6th studio albums.

    Sputnik-send me a link to a place that does replication in small amounts cheaply when you get a chance.

  22. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by 3RDegree_Robert View Post
    Sputnik-send me a link to a place that does replication in small amounts cheaply when you get a chance.
    https://www.easydisc.net/

    Easy Disc will do a run of 300 replicated jewel case CDs for about $520 shipped (shipping is almost $120 for 300 jewel cases). That's about $1.73 per disc. Duplication of the same amount knocks off about $100, or about $1.44 per disc. So at this level, the marginal benefit of duplication is almost nothing.

    Obviously you can do smaller runs with duplication (down to 50), but to me 300 is a pretty de minimis amount if you're going to really try to sell them. And at $12 a pop, you only need to sell 44 of them to break even on the run, with postage. So I think that's pretty cheap.

    FWIW, I didn't use Easy Disc. We went with Disc Makers for the second Eccentric Orbit album in 2004 (pressed 1,500 digipacks for about $1,300, iirc), and we used AZ Media for the first Brave Pursuit album early this year. We pressed 500 of the Brave Pursuit, but kept costs down by going with an eco jacket, basically just a single sleeve like a miniaturized single LP jacket. So we got that run for about $650 shipped, about $1.30 per disc. So there are options like this you can play around with.

    Bill

  23. #48
    Hey Bill, your band is still active, yeah?

    Is Rick still playing with you guys? I look forward to hearing your latest stuff
    And the code is a play, a play is a song, a song is a film, a film is a dance...

  24. #49
    Member Sputnik's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Polypet View Post
    Hey Bill, your band is still active, yeah?

    Is Rick still playing with you guys? I look forward to hearing your latest stuff
    Sadly, no. Eccentric Orbit is done. Stuff was just too hard to do with so little return, no more CD sales, little gigging opportunities. We just couldn't find a model where a band like ours fit in anymore. It was a good run and we had a ball, but I'm not putting the energy in to do another CD that sells 300 copies and 25 downloads. It's just not worth it.

    Madeleine and I are playing in more of a classic rock band. We did a CD earlier this year. It also sold like shit, but we did it on the cheap and mostly just plan to sell it at gigs. This band at least can, and does gig with some regularity. Plus I get to sing lead vocals in addition to bass, which is fun.

    Bill

  25. #50
    Member Yodelgoat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 3RDegree_Robert View Post
    I guess my biggest question is...why 4500 units? Seems like a weird number not to mention WAY too many. We're (3RDegree) a somewhat "known" band and we've never made more than 1000 CDs with all but our first album. Interestingly as our popularity grows, the CDs popularity drops so we've been in this strange dance with CD sales where it seems like we're treading water but eventually I believe they will all be sold. That 2008 "comeback" album is the pesky one since our fan base was a lot smaller then so that's the one we have the most of!

    .
    We appeared to have fairly strong following in Europe, though we had never played there. Our Vinyl records from the 70's were rare and very expensive on the internet (150.00+) I think that it was not the label (progrock) but CSV distributor who thought they could move a lot of units. I only manufactured 1000 originally when I self released in 2005, but Progrock had me add CSV and Progrock logos to the cover in 2008, and had me fully manufacture 3k and then another 500 just the disk for promo copies. What did I know? I just has stars in my eyes.

    I am playing a live show now, and I do three songs from the CD, so I've already started selling a few copies at shows. That seems to be the way to do it.

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