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Re: What does it mean to you, to "release a record"?



George Ludwig was like,
>In the digital age, what is your standard procedure, as an independent
>artist, to "release an album"? Where do you send it for review? What
>kind of promo kit do you put together? Do you bother having it physically
>duplicated? Etc?

This is one of my favorite musical discussion topics.

As Zoe mentioned, I feel very strongly that an "album" is a carefully
prepared, sculpted and intentional "artist statement". That collection
of 10 or so songs will become your identity as an artist for everyone
who doesn't personally know you. For that reason, it's important not
to turn everything you've recorded into a cd release. It's better to
critically listen to your own music, figure out what is the "cream of
the crop", and find a way to turn it into a cohesive whole that's 40
to 60 minutes (not 80 minutes) long. During the entire process, you
should be willing to cross out songs that are only 80% good, or songs
that simply don't fit well with the others. Yes, this applies even if
you make "non conformist" music.

I personally dislike the idea of a cd as a "document of where the
artist is at this year", or a collection of the most recent 60 minutes
of music the artist has recorded. Over the course of your musical
career, it's much better to release 4 cds that are 100% excellent than
it is to release 14 cd's that are 70% good.

Now, to answer George's actual questions:
To my experience, most reviewers/blogs/radio stations don't pay much
attention to a web-released cd unless there is an actual cd to go
along with it. (Exceptions may apply if you're Radiohead or Nine Inch
Nails.) Frankly I don't blame them - there are too many people who are
into "release everything" when it comes to their music, and that tends
to bring the changes down of finding a quality album. At least with a
physical cd, you know that someone felt passionate about the music to
invest some money into it.

Also, if I was a reviewer, I'd probably be less likely to listen to
anything that comes from CD Baby or any of those other sites that
cater to people who are less serious about their cd releases.

Many cd manufacturers are aware of the transitions to mp3, and are
recently offering packages for runs of 500 cd's. (A few years ago, the
minimum was 1000 discs.) When you have your cd's pressed, shrink wrap
is usually a good thing, but don't get shrink wrap on any that you
plan to send to reviewers/blogs/radio stations. All the radio DJ's I
know personally tell me that they hate shrink wrap. (On the other
hand, someone who buys your cd probably wants shrink wrap - to show
that it's a new cd.)

One-Sheets:
One-sheets are the sheets of artist and cd info that accompany the cd.
The one-sheet should include:
--Artist name
--CD name
--A press-quality photo of the artist if you think it will work in
your favor. If not, a picture of the cd artwork. (I did the latter.)
--Record label
--all track names
--all track lengths in minutes:seconds
--a symbol that denotes any tracks with language that shouldn't be
played on the radio (or "tracks with fucks" as my dj friends call
them)
--a short bio paragraph about the artist
--a short paragraph about the cd
--(if applicable) one or two lines of "pull-quotes" - nice things that
well-known reviewers said about you.
--two or three "similar artists"

Some important notes about your bio: It should focus on what makes
your and your music unique and interesting. Use descriptive adjectives
to describe your music, but DO NOT use self-promotional language like
"Mind blowing", "the most" or "important" - it will just make you look
big-headed. Those terms are great in your pull-quotes, if it's clear
that you didn't write them to describe yourself.

www.allmusic.com is the site that generates most of the cd "metadata"
(track names, lengths, reviews and "similar artists") that winds up
all over the internet. If you get your cd reviewed on allmusic, that
review will appear on emusic and a slew of other spots on the
internet. However, the important thing with allmusic is that the first
cd you send to them is very important. The first cd I sent them wasn't
that great. They gave it a 3/5 star review, and didn't review the
"better" cd's I sent them afterwards.

At some point, the "put out an actual cd" requirement will probably go
away. I predict it will be within the next 2 or 3 years, but something
else will probably take its place to make sure people aren't flooding
the market place with willy-nillily released albums.

Ok, I've gone on enough.

Matt Davignon
www.ribosomemusic.com