(Good to have Siccness back and runnin)
Without giving up too much game, I have been really doing some research lately on Bay Music. Without boring you witht he details lets just say that a solid group with decent (not even great) promotions can still land nice chunk of sales. I have been rading from different people about how hard it is to get sales inthis day and age, and how no indie group will sell over 10k units. I disagree.
I was in tower records yesterday doing what I do and I watched these cats pour in. POUR in. They were looking for rap music, BAY music. black, white, Philipine, etc. The game is so diverse now. They went to the listening booth and were dissappointed withthe music. After about 15 minutes they turned to the store lady and said, "DO you have that old 50 cent with 2Pac" It was almost as if they gave up onthe new shit and fell back on something that they figured was a safe bet. Maaaaan, I pulled their coats and was like, "Look, its a tape that's comin out on JUly 5th called Ice-COld Heat. We wont dissappoint you, trust me. This is the shit you need to get." I gave them fliers and cut.
My point is that people are looking for good music. If you hit the club circuit, big venues, and get it in stores in those areas..... you can sell records.
I saw one post where a guy said, no indie will sell over 10k units in this day and age, and probably very few will even sell 5k.
Has anyone ever thought that maybe the guys/groups from the Heyday of the Bay weren't all that good. Their marketing techniques weren't all that good...and maybe they were just int he right place at the right time. Not all, but some cats who were successful in the heyday talk as if they did things right back then and had bomb ass music - and that explains why they sold. Maybe for some, but I know of plenty of bad shit that was put out back then, too. Now, people are more slective, the market is tighter, and people are skeptical...but IT CAN BE DONE.
PaperTrail is up for the challenge. We are a small outfit. I tried initialy to get up with Bayside..... no response. Not even a return letter or email. Yesterday, when I was in Tower I looked on the back of several TERRIBLE CD's and saw the Bayside Entertainment logo on it..... so its not all about Bayside. I thin you can start locally (Bay Area - Sac - Seattle/Portland - Fresno) and sell enough units to have bigger distributors looking for you or whatever other way you want to proceed
Sometimes I think successful artist from the past are a little to enamored withtheir own accomplishments and abilities and a little to down on the guys tryin to come up today. I don't see many "established" artists doing big things today. Used to be a gang of artists sellin major units.... but why aren't they stilldooin it. Seems like 40 isout there all by himself. WHat they could do would be to help out some of these newer cats with the connections they have mde in the past.
We comeout with our album on July 5th. It is a compilation of underground cats that we have worked with and created a team of hittaz. excellent production. that is why we copyrighted the phrase an seal "Sideshow Official".
Audio Samples Here: http://www.cdbaby.com/papertrail
Radio song samples only here:
http://www.mp3.com/PaperTrail_Productio
indies keep ya head up. this thang may be hard, but it is doable.
Without giving up too much game, I have been really doing some research lately on Bay Music. Without boring you witht he details lets just say that a solid group with decent (not even great) promotions can still land nice chunk of sales. I have been rading from different people about how hard it is to get sales inthis day and age, and how no indie group will sell over 10k units. I disagree.
I was in tower records yesterday doing what I do and I watched these cats pour in. POUR in. They were looking for rap music, BAY music. black, white, Philipine, etc. The game is so diverse now. They went to the listening booth and were dissappointed withthe music. After about 15 minutes they turned to the store lady and said, "DO you have that old 50 cent with 2Pac" It was almost as if they gave up onthe new shit and fell back on something that they figured was a safe bet. Maaaaan, I pulled their coats and was like, "Look, its a tape that's comin out on JUly 5th called Ice-COld Heat. We wont dissappoint you, trust me. This is the shit you need to get." I gave them fliers and cut.
My point is that people are looking for good music. If you hit the club circuit, big venues, and get it in stores in those areas..... you can sell records.
I saw one post where a guy said, no indie will sell over 10k units in this day and age, and probably very few will even sell 5k.
Has anyone ever thought that maybe the guys/groups from the Heyday of the Bay weren't all that good. Their marketing techniques weren't all that good...and maybe they were just int he right place at the right time. Not all, but some cats who were successful in the heyday talk as if they did things right back then and had bomb ass music - and that explains why they sold. Maybe for some, but I know of plenty of bad shit that was put out back then, too. Now, people are more slective, the market is tighter, and people are skeptical...but IT CAN BE DONE.
PaperTrail is up for the challenge. We are a small outfit. I tried initialy to get up with Bayside..... no response. Not even a return letter or email. Yesterday, when I was in Tower I looked on the back of several TERRIBLE CD's and saw the Bayside Entertainment logo on it..... so its not all about Bayside. I thin you can start locally (Bay Area - Sac - Seattle/Portland - Fresno) and sell enough units to have bigger distributors looking for you or whatever other way you want to proceed
Sometimes I think successful artist from the past are a little to enamored withtheir own accomplishments and abilities and a little to down on the guys tryin to come up today. I don't see many "established" artists doing big things today. Used to be a gang of artists sellin major units.... but why aren't they stilldooin it. Seems like 40 isout there all by himself. WHat they could do would be to help out some of these newer cats with the connections they have mde in the past.
We comeout with our album on July 5th. It is a compilation of underground cats that we have worked with and created a team of hittaz. excellent production. that is why we copyrighted the phrase an seal "Sideshow Official".
Audio Samples Here: http://www.cdbaby.com/papertrail
Radio song samples only here:
http://www.mp3.com/PaperTrail_Productio
indies keep ya head up. this thang may be hard, but it is doable.
