Download stores

[thierry_le_dj]

the last few hours i've been downloading so much amazing music on soundcloud and also these days so many producers gives there tunes away for free..
do you think alot of people still buy's heaps of tunes on Downloads Stores?

am not sure where am going with this thread but was thinking maybe is it worth waiting to get tunes signed to get music out there or is it even better to make them free?

what do you think gets the tunes more out there?

[Basic A]

I KNOW the labels move more copies of shit then I can, Ive seen the stats.

Its not about paying for them, its about the fact youll have other people motivated to promote them.

[thierry_le_dj]

ok fair enough!
thanks
i guess i do come across some peoples scloud page where its free dl and the tunes only been dl like 5times or less in a year or so and sometimes not really even worth making it for free it's better waitting.
thanks

[kaiori breathe]

There's no money to be made here, so really the question is one of promotion.

Who can do it better, me or a label? I put my money on me, because I'm awesome.

Deciding to give away your tunes for free can be great but if you're going to do it but you need to plan it out. If you just up every tune for free as you make them you'll get nowhere. It's kind of like drops in an ocean. But, write quality tunes over a year, develop and maintain your fan base, develop and maintain a decent web presence, maybe give out 1 in 10 of your tunes for free download over the year, then one day, put everything on your soundcloud up for grabs and make a big hullabaloo about it and you'll have achieved something a bit more effective. If you develop your fan base, maintain it, make it personal, THEN give out your tunes they'll start doing your promo for you, they'll tweet, they'll blog and make facebook updates, they'll put up videos, they'll spread your tunes, you'll get blog mentions; your musical fans will remix your stuff and include you in DJ mixes a lot sooner if you're not charging them to do it - each action on it's own seems pretty weak, but combined it creates a pretty massive torrent of inescapable promotion that draws new people to your music, especially if you go the extra mile and spam the crap out of everything in sight.

It can look 'amateur' to give away your tunes for free. Here's my take on that one - that's what the art of 'not giving a fuck' was invented for.

Promo is three things, creativity, persistence and getting other people to do it for you. For me, I know I can be far more persistent than a label can and I can invest the time to think of new and different ways of getting my stuff out there outside of the norm (getting a soundcloud/facebook) and as for getting other people to do it for you, well 20 fans is better than 1 or 2 people inside of a label imo.

It's a pretty personal thing, it depends on what you want out of music - is it a hobby? do you want to be noticed? do you want money? do you just want to say you've been signed by loads of labels? do you just want to touch people with your tunes? do you do it for yourself or others? do you think you can do better than a label can? For me, money doesn't matter, in fact, the less I make of it the better, I hope to make none, that would make me very happy, but I do want a lot of people to hear my tunes, not for personal acknowledgment but because I like the idea of creating something that somebody else values or appreciates.

That's just my take on the thing, and like I said, it's a personal thing, everyone has to do it their own way, the way I do it wouldn't work for or make a lot of other people happy if they tried it because we all have different aims and objectives and ideas about music.

Hopefully more people will weigh in on this; we need somebody who loves money and signings and acknowledgment to weigh in and counter balance my 'DIY-free-tunes-touch-people-with-your-art' bullshit.

[Basic A]

as for getting other people to do it for you, well 20 fans is better than 1 or 2 people inside of a label imo.

But, thats not where it should stop with a label, if it was, Id worry about whatever label you were dealing with... The guys I know who run labels have hugely extensive lists of DJs, whichin turn have fans with will retweet their mixes, therefore retweeting your tunes... Most of the labels I know of dont just stop at the management for promotion of artists, the other artists on the label help each other too (once again, more fans retweeting)... Most of the labels i know have steady x-number of blog features guarenteed, ect. ect.

The advantage of a release is not the 2 people on management of the label, its the collectivity of ALL the artists helping each other... Cmon Kai, you cant honestly maintain that you could outpromote a group of 25-50 artists on a label on your own, as one lonely little artist, thats being a little cocky when you sum everyones listener bases and loyalty chains. I know anytime someone whos in one of the family's posts about a new release, I keep the viral chain going.

Im not arguing you cant effectively self promote a tune, Im just saying having a large, collective group of people ALL promoting it exponentially multiplies that 'retweet' effect you were talking about. Its like, to drive this home for Kai... have you been 100% solo promotion, or has tripwire ever turned some of his listeners onto you? why? Cause you guys form a collective, even if a small one.

[kaiori breathe]

as for getting other people to do it for you, well 20 fans is better than 1 or 2 people inside of a label imo.

But, thats not where it should stop with a label, if it was, Id worry about whatever label you were dealing with... The guys I know who run labels have hugely extensive lists of DJs, whichin turn have fans with will retweet their mixes, therefore retweeting your tunes... Most of the labels I know of dont just stop at the management for promotion of artists, the other artists on the label help each other too (once again, more fans retweeting)... Most of the labels i know have steady x-number of blog features guarenteed, ect. ect.

The advantage of a release is not the 2 people on management of the label, its the collectivity of ALL the artists helping each other... Cmon Kai, you cant honestly maintain that you could outpromote a group of 25-50 artists on a label on your own, as one lonely little artist, thats being a little cocky when you sum everyones listener bases and loyalty chains. I know anytime someone whos in one of the family's posts about a new release, I keep the viral chain going.

Im not arguing you cant effectively self promote a tune, Im just saying having a large, collective group of people ALL promoting it exponentially multiplies that 'retweet' effect you were talking about. Its like, to drive this home for Kai... have you been 100% solo promotion, or has tripwire ever turned some of his listeners onto you? why? Cause you guys form a collective, even if a small one.

Sir, I am offended, I demand satisfaction...


PROMO BATTLE!!!!

[Basic A]

PROMO BATTLE!!!!

No. lol. you lot will not lump me into another battle, regardless of the type.

[deadly_habit]

2 words
quality control

[Basic A]

4 words
Mt. Eden Archangel Remix

[kaiori breathe]

4 words
Mt. Eden Archangel Remix

One word:
Vagina

Not really relevant, but I thought I'd throw that in there.

[DJ Crackle]

I think the moral of this thread
is fuck yeah vagina

[deadly_habit]

what i find with the majority of free stuff is you just get a rough mixdown, no mastering etc or even a self mastering job past the initial mixdown
so no real standard set, that and no filter of a 3rd party with objective ears
like i said quality control

[FSTZ]

2 words
quality control

bingo