my first CD ... advice needed

[Michael Peters <MPeters@compuserve.com>]

Advice needed.

I'm currently busy finishing my first CD. It is not a carefully constructed
collection of perfectly played complex compositions, but rather a best-of
showcase of the solo loop improvisations which have piled up over the last
2 years. (I've also done one or two real compositions but I'll save them
for my next project.) None of this stuff is of much commercial value. I'd
say some of it might be as interesting as the more obscure Torn loops,
minus the famous name. So I don't expect to sell a lot.

Originally I had planned to publish this thing as CDROMs which I would burn
myself, but this would mean a lot of work. There are companies here in
Germany who would print a quantity of 300 CDs for DM 1800 (about $1000),
and I'm considering doing that instead. I'd give away 20 or 30 CDs as gifts
to friends, and maybe sell 20 or 30 CDs to other loopers via the web. 

That would leave 250 CDs which would be sold very slowly, on occasional
gigs (I don't do many at this time) or otherwise. 

Has anyone of you realized a similar project, and what are your
experiences? Where would you send CDs to get more publicity? Is there a
distribution method/company (especially for the US, since I'm in Germany)
that you would recommend? How would it work? Also, I don't know anything
about composition rights and how to deal with them (some of my
improvisations might go through as compositions).

___________
Michael Peters   
        http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mpeters
HOP - Fractals in Motion ..."the only screen saver you'll ever want"
        http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/mpeters/hop.htm