How to Market/Distribute Our Recorded Music Effectively in This Modern Age?

[jepbueno]

Just want to ask the people here in Philmusic for new options on selling music na pwedeng maappreciate ng mga pinoy. If CDs won't work anymore? Then how?

iTunes - I've read the instructions on the iTunes website on how to sell your music through iTunes. The average pinoy musician probably can't comply with the requirements if he wants to work "directly" with Apple (i.e. U.S. Tax ID). Kailangan ng "aggregator"/distributor/content provider para hindi tayo yung mag-asikaso ng requirements and kumbaga eh sila na maghandle.

Other pinoy online music "market" - I've not researched them yet.

Sa live act na lang ba talaga ang pag-asang kumita? Ano pa ibang strategies?

Thanks!

PS - Is this the appropriate forum for this?

[jepbueno]

quoting some messages from skunky, if that's okay with you sir, thank you:

Nice question.  In a nutshell, there are only a few reasons to replicate ORIGINAL, NON-BURNED, OMB-LICENSED CDs of your group (which would cost roughly 30k for 500pcs for a single run):

1.  PRIDE.  A lot of bands can make recordings, but what separates the boys from the men, is that the boys rely on... NOTHING to recoup recording production costs.  Burned CDs?  Who would like to buy those nowadays?   
2.  LEGALITY TO SELL IN THE MAJOR ESTABLISHMENTS.  You can NOT sell CD-Rs in the malls or record stores. By law.
3.  GUNPOINT SALES DURING GIGS and MALL SHOWS - This is the best way to move units.  Live shows establish the "rubbing on the faces' of your fans" approach.  No product, no sale.  If you are indie, you can at least earn half to 60% profit per CD sold. 

That's my 2 cents.

Dodjie

iTunes can only work if you have a large network. As always, paid full song downloads are not very profitable if you are talking about the local indie market.  In fact, it is much more profitable to just sign up with a content provider doing mobile downloads for about 2 years.  If you have a hit, the income can be bigger than expected.

That is the reason why iTunes is very difficult to deal with, not just for music, but even with app developers.

[deadstars]

Parang pahirapan na ah 

[qroon]

Check out Smart Music or any local digital distributor. Mahirap na talagang kumita ang mga indie artists from the traditional distribution methods.

[IncX]

Sa live act na lang ba talaga ang pag-asang kumita? Ano pa ibang strategies?

Thanks!

if you want to make money out of playing live, then you better learn 30-50 popular songs, with a singer who has the ability to not blow out his/her voice.

i am assuming you are in an originals band, just like us... and i don't see anyway an originals band will make money, unless you have a gifted singer who looks right, and can commit (the problem with most good looking and talented singers, is that they can't write songs for sh*t, and they can't commit to anything either, and that is not counting their possible personality defect and issues).

the only way we made money was playing cover songs and looking for a gig... the thing is, our singer cant sing a 3 hour set (i wonder if any singer can do this? theres a reason why show bands have 3-4 singers). so what we did was, convince our friends to book us for parties lol

we were like "cmon! book us! we're good! you wont regret it! well play Karmin and Christina Perri!" and they were like "i dont know... i dont wanna spend." and im like "we have the equipment ready, and you just pay us anything!"

sa sobrang kulit ko, they eventually relented lol

by the end of the night they enjoyed our set of cover songs. and we get paid random amounts lol

our band currently has 6K in the band fund, and that includes the sales from our t-shirts (which we beg and force our friends to buy). our facebook has a measly 392 likes, but we worked hard for it... we went out of our way to get those likes... so it might not be much, but everybody worked hard for it...

so i guess, if you are in it to make money, better go the showband route. but if you are like us, who simply just want to play good gigs, and get a little financial validation for all our hard work ... you can do what i did above.

its not easy though ... you really have to look and beg for gigs. if you just rely on prods and stuff, then dont expect to get financial validation. you have to work your a$$ off and do things you never thought was part of the deal when you want to be in a serious band - a lot of it includes begging.

as for CDs and music ... i really dont think it matters if you are a start up band with less than 1k likes on facebook. perhaps, you could seriously think of selling your music when you reach that many people. hell, i see bands with 1k likes on FB having a hard time selling their music...

dont be discouraged though. it is still fun

[inigo]

Promoting: Radio. It still holds supreme as medium for popularizing songs.

Kita: gigs, endorsements, merch, etc. and other things that come from the artist being popular because their songs & image become popular. You can't sell recorded music in this country anymore.

Overlooked: Promoter. The songs won't play themselves on radio. The image won't sell itself. Gigs and endorsements don't normally knock on doors. Someone has to do these.

[jake z]

@sir inigo kamusta?

@emman, mukhang may binabalak ah,hehe.

Anyways, dami talagang factors nyan bro. Mas ok marami kang friends para easier yung distribution mo ng info about your band. Malaking tulong na rin sa marketing yun.

[Autoplay2009]

if you want to make money out of playing live, then you better learn 30-50 popular songs, with a singer who has the ability to not blow out his/her voice.

so i guess, if you are in it to make money, better go the showband route. but if you are like us, who simply just want to play good gigs, and get a little financial validation for all our hard work ... you can do what i did above.

as for CDs and music ... i really dont think it matters if you are a start up band with less than 1k likes on facebook. perhaps, you could seriously think of selling your music when you reach that many people. hell, i see bands with 1k likes on FB having a hard time selling their music...

dont be discouraged though. it is still fun

I agree with these.

[jepbueno]

Thanks sa mga insights! Mukha ngang pahirapan.

+1 sa promoter!

@jake -haha sana matuloy! abangan!

@incx - thanks! haha I can't play 30+ songs that most people will like! hehe. yep it's more of for the music pa rin!

..checking out smart music.

[IncX]

Promoting: Radio. It still holds supreme as medium for popularizing songs.

Kita: gigs, endorsements, merch, etc. and other things that come from the artist being popular because their songs & image become popular. You can't sell recorded music in this country anymore.

Overlooked: Promoter. The songs won't play themselves on radio. The image won't sell itself. Gigs and endorsements don't normally knock on doors. Someone has to do these.

just to add: do not bet on radio. even a band like Updharma Down isn't getting airplay apart from "Oo" - which they released years ago. their new stuff rarely gets played and if it does its on a bad time slot (i heard Luna on the radio a total of once, and i listen to the radio almost everyday while driving) ... and to think UDD is an amazing band with mass appeal. what more for us average bands, with barely any mass appeal?

our band is currently part of a radio program where they play orig music, and 2 of our songs became part of the playlist (it got voted in by listeners after the initial play). suffice to say, we arent getting any bookings, inquiries, messages or even facebook likes.

to be fair, our song probably airs once a week (or even less) on a Sunday and while we are thankful for the chance to get airtime, it aint doing anything to promote our band.

the only time our Likes move is when we play to a new crowd, and socialize and be friendly with the other bands. we like their pages, they like our pages back. and if i sincerely like them, i promote them as much as i can ... and in return, they also help promote us. thats the current relationship we have with this amazing band called Loop. i call it, cross promotion.

-*-

as for promoters, do not bet on it. nobody is up to promoting anymore because bands barely make any money. no money for bands = no money for promoters. the ones who made big bucks off them were the pay-to-play and battle of the bands promoters... for some reason, they arent there as much probably because bands are smarter nowadays, either that, or there just aint bands left anymore.

[CeL1916]

Kung sa US nga maraming option eh marami paring struggling musicians, ano pa kaya dito satin na majority of the people dont care bout good music.


Hindi imposible pero mahirap!


Try mo yung pinopromote ni Gepsearch mo bro..

---------------

Ayun nakita ko na, baka gusto mo:
http://talk.philmusic.com/index.php?topic=285390.msg3899558#msg3899558

[jepbueno]

^thanks for that incx. Yep, actually napag-usapan din namin yang sa updharma kahit sobrang patok sila sa gigs and pumupuno ng venue, mahina yung radio presence nila particularly with the new album.

May pag-asa pa kayang bumalik ang mga bands sa airwaves?

@cel - checking that sir!

[CeL1916]

^thanks for that incx. Yep, actually napag-usapan din namin yang sa updharma kahit sobrang patok sila sa gigs and pumupuno ng venue, mahina yung radio presence nila particularly with the new album.

May pag-asa pa kayang bumalik ang mga bands sa airwaves?

@cel - checking that sir!

Pag yumaman ako! Haha, gagawa ako ng station that would cater to real artists and musicians, and since mayaman nako nun, business side of things wont matter! Amen! Tyak yon!

[Autoplay2009]

^Isama mo kanta namin sa airplay Cel ha? 

[IncX]

Pag yumaman ako! Haha, gagawa ako ng station that would cater to real artists and musicians, and since mayaman nako nun, business side of things wont matter! Amen! Tyak yon!

sana yumaman ka agad! hahaha.... the next atom henares?

[inigo]

just to add: do not bet on radio. even a band like Updharma Down isn't getting airplay apart from "Oo" - which they released years ago. their new stuff rarely gets played and if it does its on a bad time slot (i heard Luna on the radio a total of once, and i listen to the radio almost everyday while driving) ... and to think UDD is an amazing band with mass appeal. what more for us average bands, with barely any mass appeal?

our band is currently part of a radio program where they play orig music, and 2 of our songs became part of the playlist (it got voted in by listeners after the initial play). suffice to say, we arent getting any bookings, inquiries, messages or even facebook likes.

to be fair, our song probably airs once a week (or even less) on a Sunday and while we are thankful for the chance to get airtime, it aint doing anything to promote our band.

the only time our Likes move is when we play to a new crowd, and socialize and be friendly with the other bands. we like their pages, they like our pages back. and if i sincerely like them, i promote them as much as i can ... and in return, they also help promote us. thats the current relationship we have with this amazing band called Loop. i call it, cross promotion.

-*-

as for promoters, do not bet on it. nobody is up to promoting anymore because bands barely make any money. no money for bands = no money for promoters. the ones who made big bucks off them were the pay-to-play and battle of the bands promoters... for some reason, they arent there as much probably because bands are smarter nowadays, either that, or there just aint bands left anymore.

Re: Radio. True, but I wasn't talking about a song getting played based on merit. I was talking about paying for airplay. Going rate for a masa station should be 20k-28k for 2 weeks of 3-4x/day primetime airplay (better rates for less popular stations), with promise of extended play if it becomes popular (based on requests). It's something realistic for a 4-piece band (all of which are have day jobs) who believes in the sellability of their single.

Re: Promoter. Agree. But the ball has to start rolling somewhere. Of course, we should assume that a song has merit for an artist to be popular enough to get paid for gigs (never mind the amount of work and inspiration the artist felt they poured onto a song... if a song doesn't sound good, it doesn't sound good). I think the ball starts with someone having it played on radio, feeding it to the passive sheep we like to call the masses, because this is how pop music is consumed. It's always the artists' choice, of course, to be pop or to not care of their pop-ness and concentrate on promotion.

[gandydancer123]

NICE..ganda Im in

[Ralph_Petrucci]

Re: Radio. True, but I wasn't talking about a song getting played based on merit. I was talking about paying for airplay. Going rate for a masa station should be 20k-28k for 2 weeks of 3-4x/day primetime airplay (better rates for less popular stations), with promise of extended play if it becomes popular (based on requests). It's something realistic for a 4-piece band (all of which are have day jobs) who believes in the sellability of their single.

Re: Promoter. Agree. But the ball has to start rolling somewhere. Of course, we should assume that a song has merit for an artist to be popular enough to get paid for gigs (never mind the amount of work and inspiration the artist felt they poured onto a song... if a song doesn't sound good, it doesn't sound good). I think the ball starts with someone having it played on radio, feeding it to the passive sheep we like to call the masses, because this is how pop music is consumed. It's always the artists' choice, of course, to be pop or to not care of their pop-ness and concentrate on promotion.

What you said sir, is 100% on the money. yan yung problem namin ngayon as a band, online play is good, radio play on the popular FM stations, hirap makapasok... kailangan magbaad or viral ka at the start sighhhh.

[gandydancer123]

siguro at the end of the day, either band, promoter manager, radio station, label..etc..one word lang..

"PROFIT"

so if you could work around this concept...youve got a good chance to make it big..

[wendsworld]

Have you heard of Indiepinoy???

You can market your songs via mobile download (Globe, Smart and Sun)
or via internet download (www.opm2go.com , www.mymusicstore.com.ph, www.indiepinoy.com)

 

[samuelfianza]

Offline selling is still the best for me.

Selling your music online is ineffective especially if you're not that popular. Free downloads nga mahirap nang paramihin eh, sales pa kaya? XD

[sonicassault]

IMO you really can't make that much money from digital sales. You won't move a lot of units, and even if you're a really famous band here in the Philippines, there's only a really small percentage of people who are all of the following: middle class or above, has a credit card (or an electronic cash card), and actually gets paid digital downloads as their main source of legally procured music. In fact I'm not one of those people (no credit card, still gets CDs from stores and gigs).

If you want better distribution of your material, you really have to make it in the live circuit first, even to just get your name out there. Not make it as in getting paid gigs, but making it as in having your band's name in those gig posters with big names on it, even if you have to sell out. Other than that, I honestly think it's time for us Filipinos to market our music outside our territory.

By this I mean that if distributing music through iTunes, try to have your music available in other SEA countries, and perhaps even Japan, Korea. If you play metal, gun for Europe. I think this would work better because let's face it, a bigger percentage of the population in other countries love to listen to actual new music, in contrast to here, where promotions and popularity trump the quality and originality of music. Besides, others think that we're really good musicians, and not just for the amazing covers we are able to pull off.

So for local distribution, yeah, CDs still work. If you're gunning for digital, aim for the world because seriously, that's the whole point.

Also, Spotify. It pays almost nothing (especially that middle men take quite a slice of the pie), but it could help because no one has to buy it. But then again, you have to pimp the hell out of your name first.

[trick027]

guys, you should check this out!

http://www.clickmusic.com.ph/UploadYourSongs

Isang paraan para magdistribute ng kanta. May bayad na 50 pesos kada isang kantang maipapasa niyo. May bayad ang submission siyempre pero siguradong mababawi ang singkwenta kung patok ang iyong piyesa.

[jepbueno]

the Arctic Monkeys method hahahhaa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Monkeys