The album was released to over twenty different music distributors. I haven't gotten word on how long it'll take before they begin to show up, but my provider says it could take anywhere from two weeks to three months to see them show up.

Does anyone else think that's a ridiculous-ass wait time? I sure as F*CK do. Normally, I wouldn't share this with (flat-out) everyone but I'm selling it for four F*CKING dollars, and they're taking a 35% profit from it. Now I know why people don't want to sell their shit via mainstream services like Itunes. It cost me about sixty dollars just to submit an album that sells for four dollars a pop. Is that even fair? I have a really bad feeling I won't even come close to making my money back on this, but I'm reaching out to you guys for your suggestions. Obviously, I can't offer the album for free and I don't want to do that anyway. What I'd like to know on top of these other small questions is what have you seen people like myself (small musicians that work out of home and own pocket with little support) do to help make their music more widely known? I considered adding the tunes on YouTube, but I'm not sure it'll even get exposure that way. Not getting enough exposure through there would end up hurting it in the long run.

Any ideas/suggestions?

P.S. As soon as the album hits the market, I'll inform you guys the same day. I'll probably make another thread regarding the release, and I'll release an official blog entry via my website. If you've never checked out my blog, now is a good time to take a look at some of the things I do, like Astrophotography, art, music, computer security, and a slew of other neat things including the n00bfest GUI.

♥'s and boners.

http://www.catapultdistribution.com/front_features.html

Here's one of the site that are "recommended" by apple. It looks like it is cheaper to upload an album and they take a smaller percentage. You get (91-95%) based on sales.

Thanks for your input bro! It's really appreciated.

Hm. Do you have any songs that talk about a particular day of the week that also extensively uses auto-tune?

No. I refuse to make music like that to please the "general crowd". I know you're teasing and stuff, I laughed at what you said. On another note, I will not change my style of music because that's "what is in", or adapt to mainstream ways just because that's how you get views on YouTube, and album sales. I would rather bomb the whole F*CKING album and waste all my time knowing nobody will listen to my music rather than adapt to what's cool in today's generations. I'm targeting a few specific genres (ones that I excel primarily in and enjoy the most when I listen to it).

I only buy POP music that I hear on the radio. Lady Gaga has like the best Cd's ever.

Everyone I know uses iTunes and distribute at local shows. Some travel through multiple state but "rushing to fame" is always a bad idea. However that sounds like a legit time frame for most sellers and vendors.

Ah, the music industry. Such a complex beast, a untamed one that many people have a hard time understanding the complicated directions it takes you. As sick and fucked up as it sounds, you actually have a stellar deal that you're getting as of currently. Did you know that the majority of artists in the industry receive about a 10 percent of the gross profit sales they make from digital and physical distribution?? There is a complex royalties formula that the industry uses to compute out how much a artist gets paid out on the distribution of their albums/records/mixtapes/singles. I cannot go into high detail because it's not something appropriate for forum talk due to its length, but it comes from mechanical royalties, distributive services, legal processing, and packaging (Yes, I said it, packaging. It's the most retarded bunch of shit since you don't need to package online but any corporate distributor that will make you money will charge you this regardless). So summarize this paragraph, 65% of sales is highly generous.

The second point is distribution. There are many factors that a company must go through. From examining tracks that contain copyright of lyrics to beat production, legal processing of names used and ensuring no trademarks have been made on such names, and finally legalizing the sales of tracks takes TIME. I have been in meetings with CEO's of Sony, Universal, and conversed with that of Boy Wonda (Beat Producer of Drake) and music production, finalization and distribution isn't as simple as a 2 week process to post.

To ensure your success, I HIGHLY suggest connecting with the community of people interested in your niche genre of music. You need to market yourself, shake hands, and kiss babies with these people, because these are your potential prospects. Secondly, thereafter establishing your relationship, you need to start building your buzz. I've seen you do it with n00bfest, you have the general idea. Keeping people up to date with what you're doing, shooting links and such, you just need to do this now with strangers. Make them fall in love with what you have, you need to be shoving your music down people's throats. Lastly, Youtube. Youtube is a example of your popularity with all your hits, and it's one of the most easily accessible site for media.

This is a general synopsis of what to do, I would go into higher detail for this, but that's what I'm paid for through my company. I hope this helps broaden your perspective and help you understand what you need to do. Don't give up on your passion for creative music, it's one of the longest and hardest F*CKING roads for artists. But if it's your passion, work on it, perfect it, and love it.

P.S. - As a newbie to the music business, I suggest for you to do some reading, actually, I say it's mandatory. Pick up this book from the store, it's called "All You Need to Know about the Music Business" by Donald S. Passman. It gives a brief overview of the industry and how to be successful in both mainstream and niche genres, knowledge you must know, and things to watch out for so you don't get ripped off. It's a book that I read a while ago that helped paint the picture for me, and I really think you need to read it.

Excellent advice! Perfect, I think I'm on the right track then. Right now, I'm working out a deal with Ronald Jenkees, and we'll see how that goes. I've already got Zircon on my side, just wish I could crack Deadmau5, but he's one of the hardest people in the world to get recognized by. Unlike the other two, he's kind of inconsiderate of other people. He's such a nerd, and that's probably part of the reason why he's a difficult cookie to crack.


The best news I've gotten so far was that Pandora will be more than likely accepting my music. If I'm able to get my stuff on Pandora, it's pretty much "all she wrote".

I'll grab that book right away and smash my head into it. Thanks a ton, dien!

Id also recommend, although its already been mentioned. going on Youtube and posting a couple tracks minimum. then using word of mouth to get people to view it, and snowball it from there to get their friends etc.

Just ensure when you're attempting to get people to veiw it, as well when they're snowballing your tracks you ensure that people are told its a great track and they'll really enjoy listening to it (social psychology wins)

Thanks snug. Did that yesterday lol.

A good website to get exposure off of is SoundCloud, I'd highly suggest you check it out. (I have an account on there) but like snugs said only put up a couple of your tracks. Just to give the public a taste for it. Big thing is SC is connected with dozens of other websites and such so you'll be able to get exposure beyond just the SC community.

Let me know when it hits and for the first time in years I will buy your music to support a friend. Also I would really enjoy listening to what you created.

Thanks Reynolds! That means a lot to me!

Yeah, I would do the same except I wouldn't really hear the music but it will be blasting out of my headset so other people can hear it.

You get the idea ;p

Hah, that'll work Dieus.