Would you buy this song for (insert price here)?

[originalpckelly]

It's Take My Fear Away, and it's definitely an experimental type of piece.

Here:
http://www.myspace.com/pckelly

Stupid Myspace won't let me make it easier for you to play the song right now, they just updated their system and it's slow, so you'll have to actually click on the song to listen to it before the "unfinished bit". It seemed like some folks around here were interested in it, when I posted about that unfinished bit on myspace. So I'm considering selling it, but I want to know what you'd be willing to pay.

I've decided to distribute it through both iTunes and Soundclick, but unfortunately only Soundclick allows floating prices of the two. iTunes, however, is far easier to use and more people have iPods. I've already sent it out for iTunes and it'll be a buck in late October if you want it (aside from streaming, which is free of course. :P)

But for Soundclick, as I said, I have the opportunity to select different prices. So I'm taking a survey of some very helpful inputters on 'puters here on DU to give me some feedback as to what they'd be willing to pay for the song. Ideally, I'll find a way to distribute it free to folks here, if you even want it, so that you guys don't have to pay anything for it, I mean unless you really like it and want to you know keep me from starving.

:-( Hungie, hungie originalpckelly. :-(

(Just kidding, for now. :P)

Anywho, please tell me what you'd pay, if you were one of the unlucky suckers who'd actually have to pay for it.

[originalpckelly]

1. Do you think the cover art, and sales title of the song is good?

[harmonicon]

2. I don't pay for downloads

Simple as that.... I'm just old-fashioned that way, I guess. Can you not offer free downloads on myspace anymore? My thinking is, that information is free, and you should give it away. Interested folks will buy actual vinyl or cds, even if they can get a free download - when a hard drive crashes, cds and records are still there on the shelf.

A record that I produced came out this year. I didn't have anything to do with the business side of releasing it, but so far as I know, it's only available as a cd, but is also streamed on web radio. Am I just a stale old person? Do people really prefer to buy downloads over physical cds these days? Perhaps.... I did just discover beatport this week, and that made me think of downloading some songs, so... on there, they're between one and two british pounds to download, but having never actually paid for a download, I can't tell you that I think it's worth it yet.

[originalpckelly]

3. Well, here's why I'm doing it:

I have to prepay for the CDs, while I don't have to prepay for downloads, except iTunes, but then it's dramatically lower than buying small run CDs.

The CDs cost hundreds of dollars to have made, while I can put a song up on the internet to buy for a cut of the profits from the song. I only pay for what people actually use in this case, if you catch me.

These songs on Soundclick are completely DRM free, so you can do what you want with them. Burn an unlimited number of CDs, back them up to whatever website you choose.

It's a much better model for artists who distribute their own music, because you do not have to pay for an inventory of CDs that may or may not sell. It's also better for listeners, because music costs less over the internet than a physical CD. Of course you can always pirate music or have the artist distribute it for free, but of course that prevents artists from investing in newer equipment and devoting more time to their art. By rewarding people with money, you make it more likely the quality of their art will increase, rather than giving it away for free.

[harmonicon]

5. oh, I wasn't trying to suggest that you make your own cds

I've only ever dealt with putting things out through record labels run by other people, or giving free downloads on websites.

I guess I'd have to ask if you're planning on making money from this. Again, I may be totally out of touch, but actually making money from downloads seems unlikely to me. Say you make $0.50 from each download, you have to have 2,000 downloads to make a grand, and I just don't see an independent artist being able to do that (I've certainly never sold two thousand anything, even with live shows as promotion) without some sort of label or promotional marketing backing it up.

[originalpckelly]

6. I getcha. Yes, I am planning to make money.

It's nearly impossible for me to make any without advertising. I don't think the label is an necessary though, as other indies have managed to do well by using YouTube to promote themselves. (To the tune of 100,000 albums sold.)

Right now, I'm focussing on synthesized stuff until I raise enough funds to purchase a good sound iso booth. I'm too experimental to pay for studio time, I need my own studio. Yes, I'm climbing a mountain of buying the equipment and everything, but considering that I'm the tinkering type, I think it's absolutely necessary for me to have that kind of freedom.

People do pay lots of money for downloads, it's thought of as a convenience, in fact. Although, my plan is actually to charge only 25 cents per song, from which I will only make 17 cents of profit. However, most people will be willing to pay a quarter for a friggin' song. Or a dollar for four. That's my plan. I'll make 68 cents per purchase ideally, thus making it much easier to make money. I'm hoping to get enough purchases to stash away some money and start investing it.

[harmonicon]

9. good luck

It just seems like trying to climb an ever growing mountain to me. I have no idea how my friends who have stayed in the pop (generally speaking) music business have stayed afloat over the past few years. I basically stopped in 2004 - I wish we had gone on a bit longer, but if I were trying to do it now, I wouldn't know where to start.

I applaud your bravery for trying, but I wouldn't count on actually turning a profit. Love for the music should be the main motivating factor, I think.

On a technical note, I wouldn't worry about getting an isolation booth for vocals. I recorded lots of things that were commercially released with halfway decent microphones (but sometimes a sure SM-57 - I love the 57, even though it's crap) sitting in living rooms, or at times making a sort of mock iso booth out of a coat closet. If you have good songs with good lyrics and performance, sound quality doesn't really matter that much - people are buying songs, not production values.

[originalpckelly]

10. Oh I agree, I've been writing songs, but not actually recording them and stuff...

for a long time now, I've finally decided to put my feet in the water.

If I go anywhere with this, I'll be sure to tell you. :P

The reason I think I need an isolation booth is that:
1. I live by the highway
2. In an apartment

And unfortunately, while it's quiet most of the time, there are times when I'm working on something and some random ass sound comes by to fuck it up.

We just moved too, I used to live in a bomb shelter that was totally quiet. It was absolutely perfect for recording, but we moved to a newly remodeled unit just a few weeks ago. If you'd seen the other place and what a hole it was compared to the new one, I think you would understand why we moved. My old joke that it was a slum, but someone came by and stole the 's' off it last night, and now it's a 'lum.

[originalpckelly]

4. I also forgot to mention that I DO NOT DO LIVE PERFORMANCES...

mainly because I myself detest most live music, other people's because they're tone deaf and I have fairly good sense of pitch, and my own because I'd hate to bruise the ears and blind anyone who might be so kind as to come see me live.

Yes, I'm seriously on the ugly side, due to circumstances beyond my control.

[MilesColtrane]

7. If I were you, I'd shop it to some video game development companies.

I hope you don't take this as a diss to your music, but I think it would work well as part of some interactive video game.

[originalpckelly]

11. Well, all the input I can get is good.

There are weird people out there who buy videogame music. :P And I'm willing to bet they use computers to buy music over the internet.

[originalpckelly]

13. I actually forgot to tell you...

that a filmmaker friend of mine was interested in using this in one of films! So you're instincts about this being used for purposes other than straight up music sales are correct.

[DarkTirade]

8. Not bad, but it could use a little depth as far as the volume goes.

For the most part the volume is kinda flat. Needs some ups and downs. Gives it more life.

[originalpckelly]

12. I agree, but unfortunately this was written 3 years ago...

I've since lost the masters and the use of the instruments used to create it. :-(

So I'm stuck with it. I might be able to fool around with it a little, but I don't think I can create too much in the way of dynamics.

[DarkTirade]

14. D'oh.

I was afraid I'd lost all of my original tracks and whatnot recently when a harddrive died... what I'd forgotten was that I'd forseen that harddrive failure and switched some files around to make room for 'em on my network drive. :) I was totally shocked and surprised when suddenly I found them all intact in a place I hadn't expected them to be.