Thou shalt not even say the word "tour" until you can grasp the numbers.

    Commandment Number Three in our ten installment series is about the fantasy that is touring...Oh and hello, i know i've been gone a while but i have been really busy. Making music is still more important than writing about it...

     
     First off, if you live anywhere west of the Mississippi river your fucked from the start.
The Miles you have to logue to get from one major music market to the next are just
too great.  The gas prices alone are going to destroy your bottom line. Stay in the city you live or the one closest to you until you have some major tour support.


     If you really want to strike out there is a list of things that you must know first.

1. How many miles are you logging, and how is the tour routed. You will get an estimate or your fuel costs. Forget about hotels, or a driver.

2. Will the club advertise, promote, provide backline ect.

Everything they don't provide you will, and that will cost you time and/or money. Two things a band on the road does not have any to spare.

3. Who is advancing the show. You need one person to contact the venues and press.
Street team if you have it should have flyers ready to be dispersed in each city at the right time.

4. How much merch can you carry?

5. How will we pay the rent while we are on the road????????


ok...break time...

OK some quick numbers....


Let's say you have planned a 5 day tour in California.  You'll do a show every night because your bad-ass like that.



Wednesday: Los Angeles  Play the whisky they don't charge bands too much on the weekdays. 

Thursday:  San Diego   

Friday:       Pheonix AZ

Saturday:    Laughlin NV

Sunday:     Las Vegas NV



OK so let's talk $$$

The Mileage looks like this:

THURS-125 miles

FRI-355

SAT- 287

SUN-266

TOTAL = 1033

Your renting a van to get your band and gear. I'll be generous and give you 15 mpg.

1033 divided by 15 = 68.87 x $4 a gallon...

$275.48

Van rental for a week will run about $300(with mileage) if you get a cheap one from uhaul...

Close to $600 and no ones eaten yet.

So that's a lot of cd's and merchandise to sell just to not make any money.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from trying this...

Consider me like your Musical SEC i want you to be aware of the risks.

Cheers...


Check out the new website:

http://www.hrxrecords.com/
click below.

The Ten Commandments

1. Thou shalt treat thy career like a business.


2. Thou shalt have a product to market BEFORE you start promoting.


3. Thou shalt not even say the word "tour" until you can grasp the numbers.


4. Thou shalt not ever utter the words Pay to Play.


5. Thou shalt not be in a band that has no songwriter(s).


7th day break...
                            say hello here...

6. Thou shalt always have promotional material at hand.


7. Thou shalt have a contact database.


8. Thou shalt be more concerned with songs than getting a sound.


9. Thou shalt not build a band around another bands sound.


10.  Thou shalt not Fuck your bassplayer.

These are you commandments i will expound on them in the upcoming months. They will be explained one at a time...

For now... JM

                          To listen to Midnight Reign click here!

Valentines Day Blues

     Trolling craigslist can be a lot of fun, but today is not such a day... Today is a day for those fortunate/unfortunate musicians who do not have significant others to go out and talk to everyone you meet.   Use this wretched holiday as an excuse to flex your networking muscle.

                                                CountessGrotesque

  
1. Take fifty of your promo/business cards and go out to the most populated area in your city.

2. Talk to everyone you meet.  I mean EVERYONE, homeless and prostitutes included.

3. Smoothly work in what you do into the conversation.

4. For every person interested in what you are saying hand them a card. Tell them you have a

(party, show, orgy, anything make it up...if anyone calls you host the damn get-together)

THAT'S NETWORKING...


In your face gorilla marketing...

Here is my facebook page...Join my Network and feel free to ask anything...

Joseph Michael

Create Your Badge

Ebay, DIY Record Label, and You...

     Ebay? WTF? Yes, ebay. One of the easiest ways to get your music out to the masses and still make a profit. This will be one of the easiest marketing activities on your list. Let's explore.

     So, you have released a cd. Now what? You could just throw it up on cdbaby or amazon and hope it sells. Perhaps you have a website. Nice, but who goes to an indie bands website except the people that already have your cd or fucked your hot bass player...? Not many.

     Amazon is cool...but not only do they charge $30 up front every year, remember those 500 cd's you sent to college radio? Half of those discs ended up being put up on amazon if not sold outright to local record shops. Undercutting your sales.


Visit Countess at:  http://www.thehollywoodrxrecords.com/

CountessGrotesque.com

     What's a band with little to no real online presence to do? Get a partner. That partner is ebay!

Let's look at the numbers.

Your selling your new ten song for $10.00 disregarding cogs and fixed expenses.

                                                    Host SRP     -      Their Cut. (%)    =    Your Net Profit

Amazon                                     10.00                      5.55                                  4.45

Cdbaby                                      10.00                     4.00                                   6.00

Local Record Store                  10.00                     5.00                                    5.00

Hot Topic                                  10.00                     7.00                                    3.00

EBAY!                                       10.00                     1.40                                    8.60 

     Let's take a real close look at each. First there is Amazon. Out of your cut you will be paying for shipping the cd's to them( 5 cd's priority mail $5.20 or 1.04 per cd), factor in the $30 annual fee and if your lucky enough to sell 10 cd's a month that's another .25 cents per disc.

AMAZON NET:  3.26 P/U

     Cdbaby is probably the most indie friendly but still a better deal is to be had. You still pay to ship, so that will be $1.04. The Fee per disc is $39 so sell 100 cd's and your per unit cost there is: .39 cents. Better than Amazon, Less visibility.

CDBABY NET:    5.57 P/U

     Your local record store is a good place to have your cd's as a vanity vehicle but how many local artists have you bought lately? Thought so.  Usually they want a 50% commision/consignment deal. This isn't bad so take it.  Hope they let you put your gig posters up and you might sell one this month.

LOCAL RECORD STORE NET:   5.00 P/U

     Hot Topic has been trying to build an indie friendly name for itself,  But all i can say is: BLINK 182.  Lets drop the fuel costs to get to the store because you were cruising for thirteen year old emo sluts anyway... Same Goes for the hour you wasted on the phone trying to get a MUSIC
BUYER on the phone...They MIGHT give you as much as 4.00 per unit if you beg. Though the higher you go the less discs you will sell they will price you out of the market.  To even compete you gotta sell these wholesale $3 or less

HOT TOPIC NET:   3.00 P/U

      Last and in my word the best bet EBAY!  Auctions are free...set it at .99 and shipping as high as allows. You do this with one disc only... See how high you can take it.  Worst case scenario your cd doesn't sell and you are out nothing.  Put up a listing for 30 days. Buy now or Best offer. $12.99.

Here are your costs. .50 cents for the listing for a month! The shipping is paid for by the buyer and you might profit from that. If your item sells you pay ebay .90 cents. You pay paypal .41 cents. Charge 2.50 shipping and handling and your...

EBAY NET:     8.79

     Assuming you did the smart thing and ordered your cd's glass mastered in bulk. Keeping your costs down by taking advantage of scalar economics your cogs per disc is around $1.20. Take a REAL close look at your margins now. Ebay should definetly be in your marketing and sales strategy and structure.

Here is HRX Records EBAY page...  We cannot keep cd's and shirts up long enough!

We even do a charity drive...

So stay creative and stay in the game...

HRX RECORDS LAUNCHES EBAY PAGE!Please Take a Look at our Item List Page. I'm sure you'll find something really special whether you are buying  as a gift or lookig for something just for you!
A percentage of the proceeds go to Charity (AHF*).

Please take a look...

http://shop.ebay.com/thehollywoodrx/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

Releasing Cover Songs; The Pros and Cons

     So you or your band are thinking about releasing a cover version of a popular song.  Visions of your big break dance in your head. Your reminded of countless big name artists such as: Marylin Manson (sweet dreams), Aerosmith (mama kin), Jimi Hendrix (name a Dylan song), Van Halen (you really got me, your no good, insert Motown classic here)...  The List goes on and on.

     Well here to burst your bubble as usual, reality walks through the door.  Perhaps you may gain a foothold to a broader Internet based following due to more views in search engines. A flattered musician that happened to come across your tribute may take you under your wing (right). That aside you, well at least i do not have the multi-million dollar budget of a major corporation to push a release into the arms of pop-culture.


    But wait you say, i can just self release the song and follow the compulsory license instructions here at CDBABY! [see bottom]  Well let's do some simple math. Assuming you have no overhead such as studio costs or session musician fees here are the numbers for selling 100 downloads on I-Tunes.(for a song under 5 minutes with no negotiated lower license fee)

100 dpd's sold (I-TUNES) x .694 = $69.40

Sounds good eh....you didn't even need to put a note to staf!

now for the fun part...



100 dpd's x .091 (statutory royalty rate) =    $9.10  ad that to the $9.00 upfront to CDBABY and thats

$18.10 COGS

ok so $69.40 - 18.10 =  $51.30

looking good right?

Now get out your abacus class.
   


  Let's assume that all these downloads happened to be spread evenly throughout the year.
You are required to make monthly statements of account to the Publisher or copyright owner.


That's:   

stamps                           12 stamps x .44 =   $ 5.28
certified                         12             x  1.15     13.80
12 envelopes                 12             x    .12       1.44
Return rcpt.                  12             x   1.10     13.20

Total Mailing Costs:                                   $33.72

ok....  $51.30 - 33.72 =  $17-FUCK-MY-MOTHER-WITH-A-VIBRASLAP- .58

$17.58 not a bad profit for a year. That's if you can sell 100 downloads, and trust me i know some bands that can't. Also, speaking of bands you guys all split the earnings evenly right?

Don't get me started on your fixed costs like Internet service ( around $600 a year) Mechanical License Fees ( if you plan on producing tangible copies of this release) and at the end of the year you need to have the anual statement auditied by a licensed CPA( you know someone that will do that for free, right) .



"gratuitous seminude model break"

   Elena Bathory http://www.bloodgoddess.com/

Now for the PROS!

You look cool.

You may get some residual sales from exposing new people to your old catalog.

You really flex your production chops working on a classic song.

You have a new catalyst for connecting with audiences online and off.

and the number one and only reason that truly matters...

YOU WERE GONNA DO THIS ANYWAY!

So in closing have fun building your dream one brick at a time...

SELFLESS SELF PROMOTION:
My Band Ellipsis' Version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's Tuesday's Gone

Ellipsis - Tuesday's Gone

(Lynyrd Skynyrd with a prog twist
featuring Dino P. from Vicious Fish, and
Frank Avalon Jr. [Frankie Avalon's son])

http://diymusician.cdbaby.com/2011/01/how-to-legally-sell-downloads-of-cover-songs/