What's a good way to release a CD/music?

[Madison]

I have no idea in the new fangled digital age how to go about this anymore.
The things I can handle are playing, recording, mixing, mastering.
It's the distribution and retaining rights to my music that is a big concern.
Seems like the music creativity is only half the battle!
I won't just toss original up on Youtube or such sites because you instantly loose your rights. Correct?
Yes, I am on a very limited budget but I think I must go ahead and do it.
Put them on iTunes somehow?
Any pointers?
It's all overwhelming sometimes.

Peace.

[bigsbybender]

Sadly YouTube may be one of the few ways to get it out there....  iTunes is another, but don't expect too many people to "discover" it unless you do release some in the "free" channels.

The recording industry as we knew it is going away. (Some good, some bad in that)

A lot of people get discovered off of YouTube, so it's good to at least put some teasers there, it's the marketing tool. My students only know music, if it's on YouTube. Teeny-boppers may not be your market, but they will be in a few years......

You'll want to get publishing rights. ASCAP and BMI handle it here in the states. I don't know who the major publishing houses are in Japan. They are pretty aggressive at obtaining royalties for their artists (I found out the hard way    ).






j.

[RicharD]

That is the million dollar question.  The internet has changed everything.  Look how many indie labels don't exist anymore.  Everybody wants their music for free.  It has become so easy for any Joe Blow to make a recording that there is a glut of bad music out there.  This makes it that much harder to get exposure. 

I will say that starting a band in  2011 is way different than it was in 1988.  Used to be you'd print up 100 cassettes, send em to college radio stations, take em to the local record stores, sell em at shows, and give them to friends.  Turn around and print another batch.  The lucky ones get picked up by an indie label and now the quantities are 1000 but there's CD's, vinyl, and cassettes.  Then you go on tour pushing your thang and hope to sell enough T shirts to get to the next town.

Today you build a web site and host some of your music for free.  Obviously you're gonna hafta give something away to get noticed.  Then you tell everyone one on FaceBook.  Then you make a youTube video.  Next you burn a bunch of CD and do the college radio thang, ain't no more local record stores so cross that one off the list.  Sell em at shows and give them to friends.  There aren't really that many indie labels left so how do you make this next step?  I couldn't fathom touring today because of the cost of gasoline.  Truth be known, we always made twice as much money from T shirts back in the day when CD's did sell.  I dunno about the iTunes thang.  Seems better to have your own web store.  I have never looked into it, but I've heard mention of a company called CD Baby daht com. 

[Madison]

Buttery.....you nailed all my thoughts on this subject!

It appears to be a lot of investment for a very big chance at no returns.
That's fine in some cases but you are right, it sure ain't what it used to be.Yes, I remember the good old 90s.
Pretty easy back then considering.
I for one am not about to load up the van and do the road/gigs again thang anytime soon.

I considered releasing the music and just ask for donations but most people want something for nothing.....and can get it on U-toob!
So, I wouldn't count on any sort of profits......even if, by chance, my stuff is considered "okay".

I suppose I look into the CD Baby thing for now and rack my brain for more ideas.

Side note:
With that "wonderful" cloud computing being pushed so hard, I will be surprised if any of us have intellectual property rights to our creations in the near future.

Thanks guys.

[woolly]

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