[Dixielandjazz] Digital ONLY Sales – No Physical CD To Produce!

[BillSargentDrums at aol.com]

Digital Only Sales – No Physical CD  Needed!

The new technology on the internet opens up new  possibilities for publishing 
and distribution of your music.

You no  longer need to have an actual CD produced to sell your music – 
worldwide!  Although in some cases it's getting really inexpensive to do so as an 
example  that Steve brought to your attention recently and I'll discuss that 
also in  a future post.

All you need are individual songs or tracks. Maybe  all you have is an old LP 
of your band or an old tape release. Maybe something  that’s never been 
released.

What ever you have, all you need to do  is get loaded on your computer and 
sounding the way you want it. Many music  editing/recording programs can assist 
you with this. Nero 8 is  one.

Then you’ll need to convert the tracks to mp3s. I suggest you  originally 
save these tracks as .wav files, or the highest bitrate mp3 you can.  Nero can do 
that too.

Then you can adjust them according to the  selected distributor’s 
requirements. They will usually be between 128kbps and  320 kbps.

Then you can upload them to individual sales sites and  aggregators. I have 
discussed the aggregators CDbaby and Tunecore. Other  individual sources and 
technologies will be in upcoming posts.

You  should also do an artwork of a CD cover, as many sites will want to 
display a  picture of the front cover of your “CD” also.

With CDbaby, you’ll  need to burn your tracks as .wav on a regular audio CD, 
and make an artwork  cover. It doesn’t matter how many or few tracks. You’ll 
request Digital  Distribution only. They will then convert your files as 
always, scan your  artwork and then distribute your tracks for Digital Download. If 
someone tries  to buy the physical CD, your site will just always show it to 
be  out-of-stock.

BIG WORD OF CAUTION HERE!!!  I know there’s a  HUGE percentage of bands out 
there that have been selling product for years over  the stage and a few other 
places without ever paying royalties and clearing  proper copyrights.

Let it be known, you can NOT get by with that  here. The internet makes it 
far too easy for the copyright police to find you  and know what you’re doing. 
Don’t try to live in gray areas here. Be sure of  what you’re doing.

Either your stuff is REALLY public domain,  original material, or you’ve 
obtained the appropriate licenses or JUST DON’T DO  IT.

That being said, it may well be worth your while to pay the  royalties and 
expand your horizons.

You can pay royalties for  Digital Downloads ONLY if that is what you wish to 
do.

A complete  briefing and education on this topic can be found at CDbaby.net 
and CDbaby.org.  I suggest you read Derek Shivers complete explanation about 
how to go about this  stuff. Not everything has to be done through Harry  Fox.

Websites:
Nero.com  -  Nero  8
http://www.pdinfo.com/  -  Public Domain  Info
http://www.mpa.org/directories/music_publishers/  -  Music  Publishers’ 
Association of the United States


Hope this is  helpful to  someone!



Bill
414-777-0100
BillSargentBands.com

Just  released: "The Best Of Bill Sargent Bands - Volume 1"

Available at: _http://billsargentbands.com/recordings.htm_ 
(http://billsargentbands.com/recordings.htm)    


myspace.com/billsargentbands
cdbaby.com/cd/billsargentbands
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



**************Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape.     
http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489