[Dixielandjazz] OKOM Musicians - More profits

[BillSargentDrums at aol.com]

I have a new product for all you long-timers in the music  business.

This has the potential to make some of you guys a whole bunch  of money.

Anybody who's had a long history of recording, or even a short,  prolific, 
history will benefit from this.

I came up with this idea after  a combination of observing a good friend of 
mine on the public speaking circuit  who is pretty cutting edge, combined with 
what I observed myself  doing.

My friend mark has recorded a vast collection of audio and video  material he 
sells through his website and at his speaking engagements. Don't  know where 
he got this idea, but . . . he now sells the ENTIRE collection of  material, 
both audio and video, preloaded on an iPod. He sells the actual  iPod. He also 
gets a real good price for it and sells a bunch of them. Here  is what he's 
charging:

"(If purchased separately, Audio CDs & DVDs  & iPod would cost $3,122.00)
You Save: $2,124.00
Your Cost:  $998.00"

Now, don't get ahead of me here, because that's not where I'm  going.

A couple of years back I bought CD players for my daughters and  myself that 
play regular CDs and MP3 CDs.

What I have done for practicing  is to take a combination of CDs and MP3s and 
make "super discs" . . .  CDs  that hold around 200 songs or more. That way I 
can play for hours without  changing CDs . . . and I can make "best of" discs 
with all songs I like . . .  just like the mix tapes we all used to make.

When my daughter was  traveling to Europe, she asked me to make her an 
"Oldies" CD. I did so and it  held about 14 hours of music . . . enough so she could 
listen to it both ways  and not have it repeat.

This is where my imagination, combined with where  I saw technology and the 
market going, combined with the musical resources  available, kicked in.

I work with this one guy as a duo. He is known  worldwide as the very best in 
his genre. He performs full-time for a living to  support him and his fairly 
large family.

His bread and butter has always  been his CD sales and carries 12 different 
CDs by the caseload to all his gigs  and elaborately lays them out on sales 
tables. People would routinely buy 2, 3  or 4 CDs. His fans were really fans and 
follow him.

Last summer, I  suggested he try a new product. I told him I would 
manufacture it for him. I  suggested taking all but one of his CDs (11 of them), convert 
them to MP3s, and  package them all on one disc that he would then sell at a 
premium  price.

Advantages were that people could have all of his recordings on  one disc 
that would play in newer CD players, in DVD players, in their  computers, and 
were ready to load in their iPods (all MP3 players) and their  cell phones. They 
could also burn individual audio CDs of the individual albums  if they like.

Also the price for the disc would be a savings over buying  all his CDs 
separate . . . and they would have the entire collection in one  place, in one 
neat, easy to reference CD.

Our trial run flyer advertised  the price this way:

"The regular price for all 11 CDs is $165.

11 CDs, 197 songs, HOURS of music, the COMPLETE collection - 

ONLY $95 !

You SAVE $70 !!"
 
We sold more than $1,000 worth of these at the first weekend. And before  you 
start judging the demographic of the audience that weekend, know that it  
consisted of 95% older, retired folks.
 
This is where you guys come in. I know you guys have recordings in various  
formats that have not been re-released, mainly due to the cost of doing  so.
 
I suggest taking your old tapes, reel to reel, 8 track, cassettes, 78s,  45s, 
LPs and CDs and convert them all to MP3s, place them on however many discs  
it takes and sell your entire collection at one nice premium price.
 
The process isn't that hard, and your production costs are extremely  
minimal. Finally, you don't have to sell a ton of these to make a big impact on  your 
bottom line.
 
I will give you the "How To" in a follow-up post.
 
Hope this helps someone,
Bill
414-777-0100
BillSargentBands.com
 
Just released: "The Best Of Bill Sargent Bands - Volume 1"
 
Available at: http://billsargentbands.com/recordings.htm
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



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