DIY record releasing

[blacklisted]

go pick up Tim Sweeney's guide to releasing independent records

this guy is a genious and has a resume to back it up too....
and the great thing is its all on cd so you dont even have to read!

[Jeremy Garber]

When I go see a band live, I plan on buying a CD at the show, and maybe even get it signed. I've been that way since I was a teen. Something about getting the album at the show... I can pick those CDs out of my collection. A couple of them signed. hehe Tshirts on the other hand are usually rediculously expensive, and I'll only get one if I have the extra cash.

[Jim_Boulter]

I just finished reading This Business of Music Marketing & Promotion by Tad Lathrop & Jim Pettigrew, and got tons of good ideas from it. Even the very dated internet section (I think they have an updated edition) had some cool ideas.

Glad to see this thread, as I've obviously been looking at the same thing.

[I'm Painting Again]

im not sure if this is the right forum, i thought about it for a few minutes but screw it....here goes..
we have recorded a collection of songs that im very proud of, on a budget of nothing. can anyone provide any information on burning cd-rs, printing album art, cases....anything. we are looking to something ...er..uh..economically creative.. i.e. can we spray paint cds? cheapest way to duplicate cds?
i am just looking for advice from DIYers. thanks

spray paint can mess up your cds so that they dont play or skip..and the chemicals arent the best thing to put on their delicate structures..I mean the sun will mess up a cd..you know..

A real "replicated" (like in the store) cd will last a whole lot longer and look a bit better than a "duplicated" or cd-r manufacture..

if you have about 900$ bucks I would suggest getting Bellwether Manufacturing's basic 500 package deal they do great work..if there are 4 people in the band that 225$ a piece..you sell 100 say at 5-10$ each you pretty much brake even then you have 400 more to promote yourself with by mail..I feel like its a wiser way to do it if you have certain goals in mind other than to make a few bucks at shows..

so it all depends on what your goals are what you should do..

[MT]

if you have about 900$ bucks I would suggest getting Bellwether Manufacturing's basic 500 package deal they do great work..

Or, Crystal Clear Sound, who also does great work and has excellent deals on 500/1000. Worth a look.

[DryCounty]

My smallish label is going to be releasing stuff on demand. We'll print up 500 booklets and print the CDRs on the Epson when we need 10 or 20 at a time.

All of our stuff is also available on iTunes and as limited MP3's on the site.

Hate to admit it, but myspace is another great way of meeting other bands and getting music out there.

In terms of distribution, I really love CD Baby if only for the fact that they got our stuff on iTunes. Now there are plenty of alternatives out there, but I'm still going to stick with them for the future.

I love DIY but as far as the band goes (Tulsa Drone) we'd gladly hand over our stuff on the new record. Managing press, touring, promo -- we need help, big time.

[Stan Keyhole]

i have posted links to all the mp3s and everything...
but i want to create something almost album-like on the internet.
like....a pop up window, running some sort of flash mp3 player, that requires the listener to do nothing to get from song to song, it just plays. and we can have the art we would have used as a cover as just artwork playing during the music listening. i would also include a zip or rar file that would have the entire release.

We use Wimpy Player, which was pretty cheap, and not to difficult to get going. I modified ours, and I don't know html.

Our implementation can be seen at http://www.onlookersounds.com/. You can make it different sizes, and you could leave off the song titles and just have it autoplay.

Good luck.