You're right Sean. Smackdown received. shame I guess I've always looked at it from the corporate angle, not the indie level.

Jeremy

60 CD's???? Dang! I thought we'd get a little more love from the SG101'ers You got to support the surf bands you like (or may like) or they'll just go away...

I'm with Sean, I've downloaded stuff before too, but only out-of-print stuff or an occasional major artist.

Seems like CD's for small bands are reduced to being merch for live shows
and promotional use.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac'

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

Last edited: Sep 24, 2011 21:32:34

I wish there was a way, at live shows, to have a QR code somebody could scan and it would purchase and download a band's album for the buyer. The technology is there, but just not the corporations ever being able to agree on such a thing.

People just don't want CDs anymore... They don't play them, and CDs just aren't something that have sentimental value(to me). Cheap plastic case... I've stopped buying CDs and I just do pay-to-download now.

Well, this is not a very encouraging thread for a band that's just released a CD!

My last record was released in November 2001 two months after the terrorist bombings in New York and died a slow death. Nobody was buying anything back then...our distributor went bankrupt and shut down and I wound up with hundreds of CD's at my door one day.

A friend told me about MySpace back then so I made us a profile but we didn't sell even one CD from there.

The TakeOffs CD was made for tourists visiting Kauai and staying at The Sheraton but we couldn't get it done before the Resort decided to shut down and renovate the ocean side where we were playing weekly for six years. Tourists always asked us for a CD but all we had was the 'live' project that wasn't for sale...we gave them away to people who sent me an e-mail. I mailed hundreds of CD's paying the shipping from my own pocket.

Now it's FaceBook. I'm doing the best I can with that. Double Crown and Deep Eddy have both taken some CD's on consignment and i'm trying like mad to get my "friends" to go to their websites and buy a CD...if not ours, then maybe they can find something else they like.

I was thinking today that in the past i'd make a nice poster announcing the release and which record stores it was available in but now there's not one record store here...not one!

I've never made any $$$ off of record sales anyway. I've made lots of $$$ off of royalties from airplay. For me, if I don't get something on the radio then i'm in trouble and won't be working much doing the kinds of music I like to play the most...i'll be doing what i'm doing now...working with jam bands and variety acts to put food on the table and pay for the $4.53 I have to pay for a gallon of regular gas.

The Tommorowmen selling only 60 CD's makes me physically ill. Makes me wonder if it's all over.

I sure hope not and i'll do all i can to sell some CD's and draw attention the music we all love the most.

The TakeOffs
"Kauai's Only All-Instrumental Surf Band"
http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-TakeOffs/312866840587

That T-Men figure is very disheartening. Granted it is about 2x the truly active membership here... Half of wich (or more) are in bands in the same predicament.

I can't help arriving at the opinion this style of music is largely played by a small number of people (several of the same folks making up several bands - so even counting bands is a skewed view) who grew up before the digital era, enjoyed mostly by people who also still like physical distribution. Jake and Sean and a few others make the point that physical media is even a shrinking preference in that audience. It has also been said many times here before that fans of the genre are rabid (in only the best ways), but also relatively few.

It kills me to say it, because I personally loathe when the only option to buy is "download only" music, but going there as the primary means of distribution and building a complete business model around that approach seems to be one of perhaps a select few means to grow the customer base and rewrite the physical product production cost and distribution cost paradigm that has been going bankrupt for many years now.

This is the kind of thinking that will allow labels and bands to spend less time, money and effort in stuffing envelopes and hunting rogue bloggers to serve cease orders and more time, effort, and money promoting releases in new ways & places. I don't pretend to think this solves piracy, it does not. It could, however, help grow the market, creating more people who see value in the product and therefore shift the ratio of theft v. legit to a healthier place.

At the end of the day, the scene needs more consumers. Physical distribution as the primary business model is a losing strategy in today's marketplace. For us luddites, that sucks.

Fady

El Mirage @ ReverbNation

Last edited: Sep 25, 2011 11:24:57

I read that 95% of MP3 downloads are not purchases. That was a while ago. From what Sean writes the percentage may be still higher now. Much of the unpurchased MP3 downloads are give-aways, such as podcasts, and there are lots of them. I don't listen frequently enough to even keep up with free podcasts. I'm not even close.

Other sources of music now that can match your interests include internet radio, famously PANDORA, and internet music services such as Rhapsody, Emusic, and Spotify. Besides, you can convert streaming audio into MP3s by using a Zoom H1 or similar recorder connected to the analog audio signal. The MP3 quality will be as good as the analog audio. It is work to do this but less trouble than converting your LPs into MP3s. I have converted some LPs but not converted streaming audio.

Current economic times are hard. Art purchases are drying up and art galleries are folding. Falling sales in CDs is attributable to high unemployment, falling income, and decreasing expectations, besides the availability of free music and music you can record for free.

Insanitizers! http://www.insanitizers.com

Thanks!

I just bought a CD from your website to support the
cause!

Sean
Double Crown Records
www.doublecrownrecords.com

Surf CD's / Vinyl / Fanzines / DVD's
Aloha Screwdriver - Lunar Wobble CD
The Nebulas - Euphorion LP / CD
Supertubos - The Fourth Drive CD
Continental Magazine - Issue #38 w/17 Song CD

Sean, that idea on digital price point competitive is a good one.

(Clearly you would have to make up for that by the digital sales that are come for nearly zero incremental product cost over the investment you'll have already made, or other areas.)

I recommend that book I linked to earlier. I bought it for my day job and have found it very thought and creativity enabling. It isn't rocket science (simple construct), but very current and relevant in today's world. Worth the &20 bucks.

P.S. Thanks for doing what you do - you've been a big part of my introduction to the music in this scene. Looking forward to those future releases!

Fady

El Mirage @ ReverbNation

I agree with aqualadius. Vinyl with a download card is certainly the way to go these days. I am even seeing a lot of bands forgoing CD releases entirely for this method.

Honestly, I really think that the issue has come down more to the fact that the easy accessability of music has made it less of an appreciated item. I can even say that I am guilty of this. Yes, this is a symptom of illegal downloading but being able to get anything and everything you want at the click of a button and, for most, for free...well...the appreciation for the 'album' is just not what it used to be.

THE KBK ... This is the last known signal. We offer Sanctuary.

www.thekbk.com
http://www.deepeddy.net/artists/thekbk/
www.reverbnation.com/thekbk
www.facebook.com/thekbkal

I still buy CDs and I will buy them in the future for sure. I find vinyl quite uncomfortable and I associate MP3 to bad quality audio music. But in my case, the fact is that when I see a CD which costs 18 € I only buy it if I have heard it before or if it is a 'must have', and I only buy that CD, no more, with a feeling of 'I have paid too much for that'. And when I see CDs which cost 10€ I buy 3, 4 or more in a row and I feel happy. I spend more money buying cheaper CDs than buying more expensive CDs because I feel that 10€ is a fair price. My 2 cents...

https://lospipelines.es/
Find us on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and all other music platforms.
https://www.youtube.com/@LosPipelines
https://www.instagram.com/los_pipelines/?next=%2F
Los Pipelines - Facebook