It’s a topic that I’m doing some research on at the moment because I’ve got a few projects on the go which I’d like to release and a digital only release might be a good way to go for several reasons:
- I don’t have the financial support of a label to help me get my tracks on to CD or vinyl
- The current state of the CD buying market in New Zealand for my genre of music is limited
- I like the idea of just getting the tracks out as quickly as possible without all the hassle involved in a physical production process
Steven Corn from Music Marketing.com just posted an interesting article on digital only releases which outlines the pro’s and con’s of this type of release. His main point seems to be that there are 100,000 new tracks uploaded to music download sites each month and you need to differentiate yourself in this type of flooded market. He also points out that the chance of making money on a batch of 500 CD’s is not actually that difficult and you could more easily make a good profit from CD sales than through a digital only release.
My only real issue with his article is the fact that he outlines the zero cost of marketing as one of the benefits of a digital release. Whilst most would not put a dollar value on the time taken to promote a release through your online networks, the cost of a marketing campaign associated with a digital only release should be a key part of your budget for the release. For me it will be the only part of the release that I’ll be spending money on if I choose to go digital only.
Marketing and promotion for digital releases is now the major factor which will get you noticed among the other 100,000 new tracks every month. I’ll be making the most of my online networks to promote my releases but will also be putting money in to some other marketing activities to complement the “free” promotional activities. I’ll let you know what type of marketing I’ll be paying for and if you’ve got any suggestions or experience with online marketing campaigns for digital only releases then leave me a comment and share the knowledge.
Are you looking at digital only?
Would it depend on the genre of music your producing?
Tags: download, Industry, music, Releases
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