Does your band still make CD's?

bbottom · November 21, 2017, 04:51:19 PM

Why or why not? And for those who do....do you sell many of them and what's the average age of the people buying them?

mortlock · November 22, 2017, 01:36:08 AM

nobody buys music. you will have way more success selling t shirts and patches and shit like that.

Pissy · November 24, 2017, 07:09:35 AM

Our last album we got 100 (?) CDr's. Got rid of all of them. Mostly sold, rather than given away. It really surprised us that there was still interest in them. In fact we took heat from a few people that they were CDrs and not CDs, because of sound quality perception.

No idea about age, but most of what we sold in general, including the CDs was in Europe.

We recently received a request from someone who bought a CD for a download code. Dude thought the CD came with it, and wanted us to send him a code. I guess someone who has a genuine CD player, and no CDR/W drive on their computer (so they're exclusive to tablet/phone or netbook) would want that. Who knew?

mortlock · November 27, 2017, 11:36:46 PM

Quote from: Pissy on November 24, 2017, 07:09:35 AM
Our last album we got 100 (?) CDr's. Got rid of all of them. Mostly sold, rather than given away. It really surprised us that there was still interest in them. In fact we took heat from a few people that they were CDrs and not CDs, because of sound quality perception.

No idea about age, but most of what we sold in general, including the CDs was in Europe.

We recently received a request from someone who bought a CD for a download code. Dude thought the CD came with it, and wanted us to send him a code. I guess someone who has a genuine CD player, and no CDR/W drive on their computer (so they're exclusive to tablet/phone or netbook) would want that. Who knew?

my bands next release is going to be a download code on a piece of paper in a fortune cookie.

socket · November 27, 2017, 11:58:02 PM

WTC7"

Mr. Foxen · November 28, 2017, 10:12:06 PM

My drummer is keen on doing CDs but she comes from a village where people getting eaten by bears is just something that happens. Reckon if we turn over the shirts and patches, will consider it.

Lumpy · November 29, 2017, 03:01:47 AM

A pretty good idea I see bands in Asia doing for new releases... come to the album release show, $8. Come to the show and get a CD with admission, $12. Come the show and get a CD and t-shirt, $16. Show, CD, t-shirt, patch and poster, $20

I made up the prices and there's not usually all levels of swag, but that's the basic concept: You already paid to get in, for a few bucks more you can get a CD.

bbottom · November 29, 2017, 07:12:15 AM

Quote from: Lumpy on November 29, 2017, 03:01:47 AM
A pretty good idea I see bands in Asia doing for new releases... come to the album release show, $8. Come to the show and get a CD with admission, $12. Come the show and get a CD and t-shirt, $16. Show, CD, t-shirt, patch and poster, $20

I made up the prices and there's not usually all levels of swag, but that's the basic concept: You already paid to get in, for a few bucks more you can get a CD.

That is a pretty good idea. Thanks for sharing!

Stonergrunge · November 30, 2017, 01:23:52 PM

Quote from: Pissy on November 24, 2017, 07:09:35 AMWe recently received a request from someone who bought a CD for a download code. Dude thought the CD came with it, and wanted us to send him a code. I guess someone who has a genuine CD player, and no CDR/W drive on their computer (so they're exclusive to tablet/phone or netbook) would want that. Who knew?

Wow, that's weird, I understand (and also appreciate a lot) when a vinyl comes with a download code... but a CD? I modified my laptop so I bought an external LG CD/DVD driver and burner in order to keep on ripping the CDs I buy and therefore carrying the music on my cellphone wherever I go... I like to listen to my CDs when I'm home.

CDs are still a very important part of the industry, labels are still manufacture them and they're still being sold at big stores like amazon, CDUniverse, ImportCDs and a shitload of other places. Have you ever seen a warped CD? I don't think so, but warped vinyls are a pretty common thing and they're usually a total loss.

bbottom · November 30, 2017, 07:17:12 PM

I looked into having some records pressed and doing splits with other bands but I couldn't make the finances work. From my figures we would've had to have between 1000 and 1500 records pressed in order to break even. And that's if we sold them all.

I personally like the idea of records more than the actual things. And I think that it would be really rad to put an LP out on vinyl at some point, but I don't see it happening anytime soon.

So when Mass Driver's next album is released, probably in the middle of 2018, we're going to have some CD's made but focus more on the streaming services.

Lumpy · December 03, 2017, 04:44:22 AM

Here's a sample flyer showing the merch/show combo deal, in case you thought I was totally making that up...

Prices are listed in Philippine pesos. Calculated for dollars - 150php = $3.00, 400php = $8.00, 500php = $10.00, their economy is totally different of course. And no guarantee this would work with your fans.

nyarlathotep · December 19, 2017, 03:45:24 PM

Merch deals work for us too (when we remember to bring merch :/ ) - making the 'best deal' a round number like $20 is a good idea, since people are more likely just to go for that.

We tend to give away CDs a lot, too... unfortunately "download codes" don't make sense when you have everything for free on Bandcamp, but maybe we should start putting a big notice on the back that it's available online free too.

bbottom · February 02, 2018, 06:27:48 PM

So we had our first show a few weeks ago since I redid our merch stand and prices. And we sold more at that show than the last two shows combined. The package deal that I ran on shirts really did well. As did the "name your price" for our cd.
I was charging $5 per cd for years. I changed it to name your price and not one person payed less than $10 for one.

Thanks for the suggestions guys

mortlock · February 07, 2018, 12:00:23 AM

Quote from: bbottom on February 02, 2018, 06:27:48 PM
So we had our first show a few weeks ago since I redid our merch stand and prices. And we sold more at that show than the last two shows combined. The package deal that I ran on shirts really did well. As did the "name your price" for our cd.
I was charging $5 per cd for years. I changed it to name your price and not one person payed less than $10 for one.

Thanks for the suggestions guys

im fucking trying that. what was the package deal you had?

bbottom · February 09, 2018, 04:09:39 PM

I raised the price of the t shirts and made the two that we had the same price...$20. One is a full color the other is black and white. I made it two t shirts for $30. They can mix and match them anyway they want.

The pins were 2 for a buck the same with the stickers. But, I have the cost of those items figured in to basically give them away for free. So if someone buys a t shirt or two, I'll throw them some stickers and pins in for free. And of course I always give the people who book us and any hot bartenders a free t shirt and stickers.

Hemisaurus · April 12, 2018, 06:38:32 PM

Great thing about CD's is you can DIY far easier than T-Shirts, so your outlay is way lower.

We did a box of CD-R's before hitting the road last year, and with the few CD's we had. All helps.