Ddistributing Songs

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vvv
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Ddistributing Songs

Post by vvv » Sat Mar 13, 2021 10:09 am

In another thread, scodiddly posed the question, "Are we basically leaving the batch mode of distributing songs and instead going pipeline?"

This is interesting to me. I was an early user of MySpace and Sounclick to post single tunes as I was working them, did it just a little on Soundcloud, also. This was back in the daze when I had a mailing list, which eventually hit about 50 folk, to whom I would send CD's as the culmination of the effort, as well as give away mebbe another 25 more to local friends, family and victims - an "album", if you will.

With the advent of bandcamp, which sounds much better and is lossless and allows lossless downloads, I went to releasing my "albums" there, typically in 10 song batches, artwork and notes, etc.

My first two releases were "E.P.s" and I periodically did some, until I was persuaded a cuppla years ago to default to 5 song releases as easier to digest. One project collaborator even insists we do 3 song releases.

I don't see going back to the 1 song model like I initially did, but ...

So, less for the pro's than the home-recording guys, but "Are we basically leaving the batch mode of distributing songs and instead going pipeline?"
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Scodiddly
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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by Scodiddly » Sat Mar 13, 2021 11:56 am

Mixerman's recent book suggests that albums are a waste of time and money for artists these days.
https://mixerman.net/killer-record-toc/

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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by Zacharia Matilda » Sun Mar 14, 2021 5:18 am

Nobody buys physical product any more so I’d say yeah.

“Listening to records” as a pastime. Doesn’t that seem like a dated concept?
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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by Nick Sevilla » Sun Mar 14, 2021 6:05 am

Spent some time with a friend, basically deciding to release one song at a time.

That took some of the worry from his mind, not having to worry and fuss over an entire albums worth of writing, recording, etc.

We will see how this goes.
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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by digitaldrummer » Sun Mar 14, 2021 7:49 am

I've been of a similar mind to VVV. Pre-Covid, I had one of my bands doing 5-song "EP" releases. We could put them on a CD (inexpensively through the Kunaki robot) and on Bandcamp for free. Sell CDs at gigs. We even tried CD-Baby and Distrokid to get them on Spotify, Amazon, iTunes, etc. but I'm about to cancel my Distrokid account due to the $1.53 in streaming royalties not making up for the $36+/year subscription. I'm no business genius, but I believe in ROI...

And lately for my own material I decided to release "singles", but I do that under an "album" on Bandcamp so that when I have enough singles grouped together... well then it's an album... and at that point I may decide to do a CD but as was also mentioned here, hardly anyone is buying CDs. I do buy CDs still but I have to admit when I am listening just around the house, it's usually SiriusXM or Pandora through a couple sets of Sonos Play1 speakers I got at Costco. :oops:

Also, I rcently released a full-length project with a "virtual band". a couple of the guys (who are older than me and should know by now they are not going to be rock stars) had this idea that a Kickstarter campaign was going to sell CDs and make us thousands of dollars (based on a successful campaign another musician had 10+ years ago). But you can't really do an honest KS campaign for an album you already recorded, and KS is all about crowd funding - so if you don't have a bunch of people already engaged, there is nothing magic about KS that brings you new fans. anyway, that all fell through. The only way I see bands making any money these days is by touring relentlessly and selling merch at gigs -- but nobody has had many gigs for the last year. so that sucks too.
Last edited by digitaldrummer on Sun Mar 14, 2021 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by MoreSpaceEcho » Sun Mar 14, 2021 11:16 am

All of my records are 5 songs, which wasn't by design, it just worked out that way, but I like it: long enough to have an overall arc to the songs but short enough to not tax people's attention span too much.

Also for me, it's a lot easier to focus on 5 songs at once rather than 10. I feel like 10 would take me forever to finish, 5 take long enough as it is.

I just put mine on bandcamp for my half dozen devoted fans and I don't really do any promotion, but certainly from a marketing standpoint I think it makes way more sense to put out shorter releases more often rather than a big one every couple years.

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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by markjazzbassist » Mon Mar 15, 2021 6:28 am

i've continued to buy physical music (cassette and vinyl) and only listen to albums, i do not stream. i hate singles, i won't release them for my music. maybe i'm wierd, i don't care, it's art and i will do it how i want to do it.

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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by Magnetic Services » Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:48 am

I'm in the middle of laboring over an 8-song release right now and recently came to the conclusion that I need to just release a single now (from the album or unrelated) to scratch my itch while I finish up the larger project. After that, I definitely see myself switching to shorter EPs and singles. Releasing something months after the inspiration and spark are gone just feels weird!

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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by losthighway » Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:07 pm

I think the question is: Do you listen to or think about albums as "albums"?

If you do, then it's a good chance many people who listen to your stuff do as well.

If not, visa versa.

The album assumes someone is going along for the ride and interested in digesting a big work. The single is more promotional.

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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by vvv » Tue Mar 16, 2021 9:18 am

+1
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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by winky dinglehoffer » Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:47 pm

So I was thinking about MJB's preference for albums, and reflecting on the fact that 78s, which run 3 or 4 minutes a side, were dominant until the 1950s, and then it occurred to me that maybe the term "album" originally referred to those "books" of 78s people would buy. It would make sense--there's a physical resemblance to a photo album, for instance. It makes a lot more sense that the term would be transferred to the LP from something that was, in a much more concrete sense, an album. I haven't bothered to figure out where I might discover if this conjecture is correct or not.

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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by markjazzbassist » Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:57 pm

winky dinglehoffer wrote:
Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:47 pm
So I was thinking about MJB's preference for albums, and reflecting on the fact that 78s, which run 3 or 4 minutes a side, were dominant until the 1950s, and then it occurred to me that maybe the term "album" originally referred to those "books" of 78s people would buy. It would make sense--there's a physical resemblance to a photo album, for instance. It makes a lot more sense that the term would be transferred to the LP from something that was, in a much more concrete sense, an album. I haven't bothered to figure out where I might discover if this conjecture is correct or not.
yeah i can't say record, because that denotes vinyl. whereas i mentioned i'm still collecting cassettes. logically i said to myself, i need to call them an album because that isn't medium specific. the origins of the word i don't know either, i'll go with what you put if it makes you feel better :)

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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by winky dinglehoffer » Tue Mar 16, 2021 2:39 pm

markjazzbassist wrote:
Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:57 pm

yeah i can't say record, because that denotes vinyl.
And yet why? Record would simply signify recording, I'd think--there's really nothing medium-specific about it, but it is mostly used to denote vinyl. I'll call CDs records sometimes, or refer to an album (regardless of format) as a record. And people don't generally call a full-length CD an LP, but it's quite common to refer to a short CD (or even a short song collection in other digital realms) as an EP.

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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by Magnetic Services » Tue Mar 16, 2021 2:58 pm

winky dinglehoffer wrote:
Tue Mar 16, 2021 2:39 pm
markjazzbassist wrote:
Tue Mar 16, 2021 1:57 pm

yeah i can't say record, because that denotes vinyl.
And yet why? Record would simply signify recording, I'd think--there's really nothing medium-specific about it, but it is mostly used to denote vinyl. I'll call CDs records sometimes, or refer to an album (regardless of format) as a record. And people don't generally call a full-length CD an LP, but it's quite common to refer to a short CD (or even a short song collection in other digital realms) as an EP.
Agreed, a record is just a way of storing information (police record, dental record, etc.) it's media-agnostic.

Even so, people still call movies films and refer to digital video "footage," so in the end nobody really cares :D

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Re: Ddistributing Songs

Post by winky dinglehoffer » Tue Mar 16, 2021 4:05 pm

But it's interesting that certain terms transfer more readily even as others seem arbitrarily to get attached to a particular medium--why is "album," which may date back to the 78 era, more transferable than "record?" Why has "EP" transferred more readily than "LP?" And yeah, it doesn't matter, but I try not to let that stop me.

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