As The World Tunes

World Wide Web Sales

by Steve Bussey
GeoSynchronous Records

One of the great equalizers of modern record sales is the Internet and the World Wide Web. Now an unsigned, local band can easily sell its CD and merchandise to a customer in almost any place on the earth. Of course, just having your CD for sale does not mean anyone will buy it. You still have to promote it to let people know it exists and give people a reason to buy it.

What, you don't have a web site? Well, why not? Most of the Internet service providers (ISP) include 5 Megabytes of web space along with Internet access for less than twenty dollars per month, so you might as well use it to promote yourself. You realistically cannot expect for it to provide enough sales to pay for itself initially, but the Internet is really useful in many ways, everybody else is on it, so you might as well be too. Even if you do not own a computer, you can find one to use at the library, a friend1s house, or a cyber cafe.

Internet record sales can be broken down into two categories: sale of actual hard copies of tapes, compact discs, or even vinyl which are shipped thru the mail to the customer; and the customer downloading a digital file of the music straight over the Internet. This month we will look at the hard copy method and save the direct downloading for next month.

The easiest way is to simply list your CD title, price, shipping costs and your address on your web site, and ask people to mail you a check or money order. Give a good description of what your music sounds like, and a picture of the CD cover and the band. You can even go as far as establishing a merchant credit card account, but there are minimum monthly charges and percentages that you have to pay that may make this unprofitable
at first.

Another way is to join one of the retail organizations already on the web. These companies will sell your CD for you for a percentage of the selling price. Some of them charge a fee to set up each title, and their percentage can run 50% or even more. But it may be worth it; they can accept credit cards, offer secure transactions, display your CD cover and band info, and offer another outlet for you to sell your CD. They also make it easy and more likely for customers to discover your CD when they explore cool, new music. If you join one of the well known organizations, you will also pick up credibility for your product. Here are just a few, there are new ones popping up all the time!

Amazon.com (www.amazon.com) - Perhaps the best known web retailer, they advertise heavily, and their name shows up in news stories all the time. They have six selling options available, but the Amazon.com Advantage program is set up for independent labels and artists, and you can join for free. They have a lengthy agreement specifying rules and terms, and not all products are accepted. Basically, your product must have a bar code number and be in a shrink wrapped package. They have many price points, but for a typical CD Selling Price (Retail) of $12.99 they will pay you $5.85 the following month. You can find them at www.amazon.com , click on SELL ITEMS, and then click on Amazon.com Advantage program or any one of the six ways to reach amazon.com's more than 13 million customers.

The Orchard (www.theorchard.com) - All artists are provided with a page on The Orchard site, including their name, album photo, artist photo and a brief description. There is a $40 Administrative Fee per title, but this includes a bar-code which they use to track your sales. There are additional fees for optional postings such as tour dates, press quotes, additional photos, bio, hyper links to other sites, and sound clips. The Orchard will pay you seventy (70%) percent of their net income, accounted for quarterly, which directly results from sales of any of your recordings. See www.theorchard.com for complete details.

GEMM (www.gemm.com) - over 5.8 million listings available directly from over 2,000 sellers. There is no up front charge, they operate entirely on 3% to 15% commissions and sales of banner advertising. If you do not have a web site, the moment you complete the registration form, you have an on-line catalog and a direct address on the Internet that you can publish and promote. If you do have a web site you can use GEMM as a "back-end" to your own web pages, giving them secure order forms, dependable order tracking, and searchable catalog functionality with no cost or technical challenge to yourself. People can listen to samples or complete tracks from your albums through audio resources that you place in GEMM. These audio resources can be accessed from within your pages in GEMM or directly from your own site.

Creative Musicians Coalition (www.aimcmc.com)- The Creative Musicians Coalition (CMC) is a worldwide coalition of individuals and institutions dedicated to the advancement of new music and the success of independent musicians. They offer a lot more than simply web sales, so the cost to join is higher. There are several levels of membership starting at the Basic Level for twenty-five dollars per year, but you may want the Standard Level Artist Membership Rate at $395 per album title. Standard Level Artist Members Receive: Five Years of Basic Level Membership in CMC, CMC's member newsletter, "NetWorker" - emailed every two weeks; access to the Private Member Area in CMC's web site including the CMC Media Directory, archived newsletters and more; participation in CMC's Internet conferences; the opportunity to utilize CMC's toll free order number, charge cards, email, fax, and address when self-promoting albums; One full page advertisement in one issue of CMC's AfterTouch - New Music Discoveries catalog; 50% off additional future advertising within AfterTouch; a promotional web site within CMC's site including but not limited to: artist bio; album description, graphic & soundbytes; and order form.

Also included is a listing in CMC's Album Viewer with Feature Artist Status; a one minute song sample on one CMC New Music Discovery CD including a 1/3 page advertisement in the NMD section within AfterTouch; and the opportunity to have their album reviewed through CMC's "Honest Impressions" Program. Upon acceptance, artist will supply to CMC a minimum of 10 albums on consignment for CMC's sales inventory, as well as execute a marketing agreement in which CMC may purchase artist's album/s at a 50% wholesale discount.

These are just a few of the companies available to sell you compact discs on the World Wide Web. New ones are popping up every day. You may want to use several. Next month we will take a look at the exciting world of direct downloading of your music

About the author: Steve Bussey is a singer/songwriter/guitarist and is currently the owner and general manager of GeoSynchronous Records (http://www.pan.com/geosync, Listening Line 800 235 9193, ask for a free catalog), an indie label handling artists such as Les Dudek, Mike Pachelli, Bong Water Taffy, and Big Red & The Bus. Prior to this, Steve earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Electrical Engineering and Acoustics from Georgia Tech, designed sound equipment and guitar amps for Fender, and supervised design of communication systems for the Space Shuttle at Kennedy Space Center.