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Anybody want some really cheap copies of my solo album “Looks Like I’m Tall”? You can get them at Amazon used for as little as $3.96! Of course, that money will go only to feed a business model of questionable origins.
This is what happens. My record label sends out copies of the cd to various media locations, reviewers and radio stations mostly. The idea is that good reviews or plays on the radio will create more awareness of the record. What often happens, though, is that the people that receive the packages, just sell the CD on their own and keep the money.
It’s perfectly legal, and hey, I might do the same thing if I were in their situation with all these albums coming in every day. Why not?
But, it’s frustrating to us tiny artists because now before anyone on Amazon.com is going to buy a cd from me, there are a bunch of cheaper ones there for them to choose from. For a regular sale on Amazon, the artist receives about half of the money, which helps cover some of the cost of shipping and production. With these other sales, only Amazon and the Seller see any profit. So, basically I spend the money making a cd and sending it to a radio programmer and they sell it and keep the money.
Obviously, I’m not in this music thing for the money. I’m not relying on the five bucks per disc to feed myself or anything.
But it helps.
To be fair, a number of the cds for sale are actually used and opened, so at least they probably listened to a bit of the first song and decided it wasn’t for them. That’s fair enough.
But, having these low prices on my Amazon page creates two other effects to think about, too.
One is that maybe the low prices will entice more people to actually give the album a shot and then they will become interested in my other stuff. It’s possible.
The other, more sinister one, though, is that seeing a price of $3.96 gives a devaluing impression of the album. If you put a lower price on something, lots of times people assume it is of less value. It’s like seeing the album in the cut-out bin of a record store. That’s not so cool.
I guess the answer is that I should be putting those ‘promo-copy, not for resale’ stickers on the discs I send to the media. Duh. Why didn’t I think of that before? Thanks for talking through this with me.
4 comments:
hey henning
an ingenious idea that someone we know came up with is this:
open your own store on amazon, and sell your own cd at prices cheaper than or comparable to those bad people.
yes its cheaper than the regular price at shows and on your regular site, but only those trowling for a super bargain will find your special amazon cheapo store. and you pocket all the money.
most folks will still probably buy them at your normal price through othert channels.
everybody wins.
You must be making a good chunk of change from the Dunkin Donuts T.V. commercials, no?
"Packing a ton of stuff for a 3 day weekend at my uncle's beach house!"
"It's one billion degrees!"
"But now, I won't be hungry anymore!"
All classic tunes
henning, while it's true that you're not driven to create music because you expect a windfall, I also think it's true that actually earning money from your work validates your role as a professional musician. So it must be frustrating to have that undercut.
Even though I do not shop online for anything, I don't think you have to worry about the low price translating into a perception of low quality. I'm no market specialist, but I can't imagine the consumer who would somehow find your record online (having no prior knowledge of your band), but then see $3.96 and think: "Gosh, I was gonna buy this, but since it's so cheap, it's probably bad." I mean, I'm sure you can find Beatles records for that price, right?
You could get a table saw and do your own "cut-outs" on the CD case spine, like on a lot of the used CDs I see at Turn it Up. Then it's very obvious that they were formerly review copies.
I shop online a lot but I agree with Ina. I pretty much don't even pay attention to the "other sellers have this for cheaper" section at Amazon, as they must be cheaper because the thing is used, or will take forever to ship to me, or whatever.
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