 |
|
  |
| Top selling CD Baby artists share their tricks of the trade |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Every day, CD Baby receives e-mails and phone calls from artists asking what other artists are doing to become top sellers on CD Baby. Instead of just giving out standard answers to our valued artists, we figured we’d go straight to the source and talk to our top sellers to see what they are doing to become top sellers on CD Baby.
So, with this in mind, I interviewed five of the top sellers from last week to see what their marketing strategies and plan of attack was, and how they became top sellers on CD Baby.
Here is what they had to say:
Trespassers William: Different Stars.
“I don't know if there are any magic tricks, it all boils down to hard work and keeping at it,” states Trespasser William’s Matt Brown, when asked how his band became a top-selling CD Baby artist. “It’s been seven years of hard work. We went from playing coffee shops in front of one person to drawing crowds.”
“I guess the key would be to not give up,” furthers Brown. “We were very persistent.”
Talking for a bit, and discussing CD Baby’s role in the band’s ability to sell CDs, Brown tells me that CD Baby had a lot to do it with it, because they always made sure their fans knew where to buy the CD by driving as much traffic as they could to their web page and then, on their website, making sure the CD Baby link was prominent.
“We always made sure our CD Baby link was available all the time, on everything, whenever we contacted people. Every time we e-mailed someone about a show, the CD Baby link would be present. Any page that was on our website, we made sure there was a link to our CD Baby page. Back in the days of MP3.com we made sure our MP3.com page was also linked to our CD Baby page.
“We had a consistent web presence. From the time when we weren’t doing well until the time we started doing well, we always made sure we had a page people could go to. And we made the CD Baby link very visible from there”.
Mari Iijima: Gems AND Wonderful People.
Mari Iijima currently has two titles on this week’s top-sellers list, and was more than happy to share with me (so I could share with all the other CD Baby artists) how she was able to achieve this.
“I keep in touch with my fans”, Iijima tells me. “I refer them to my website all the time and update it pretty often.”
Iijima then went on to tell me why she feels the website is key to her success, and her ability to sell CDs.
“If you go to my website, you can sign up for my mailing list. I try to get all my fans to sign up for it, because I keep them posted with shows and everything else through the mailing list.
“When I send out the mailing list update, I plug the website and CD Baby, and always remind my fans that the website is constantly being updated, so they should keep checking back. And then I tell them in the mailing list that they can buy my CD (through CD Baby) on the site. Once they get to the site, I make it clear once again that they can buy the CD – through CD Baby”.
Liquid Blue: Supernova.
Liquid Blue offered a lot of insight into their marketing campaign, using traditional and outside-the-box methods to reach new fans.
“We originally had our CD listed at $12.99, but we discounted it to $5.00 for the month, and then we e-mailed our fan base to let them know,” says Scott Stephens from Liquid Blue. “When people found out they stopped hesitating and bought the CD. It was a limited time only deal, but it moved a lot of CDs, and got people to talk us up to their friends once they heard the album”.
Liquid Blue also implemented a lot of the same techniques as the above artists: mailing lists and pushing traffic to their web page, where they made it easy for fans to buy their CD from CD Baby. All this on top of a grueling touring schedule that has seen the band play over 60 countries in their lifetime.
However, the most unique method the band has used to get new fans and spread the word of their music was their tenacity in contacting political figures that could appreciate the political content of their music, including presidential candidates John Kerry and Ralph Nader.
“We wrote a song that was a very political, very direct, very pop-oriented, mainstream song, and we thought we could get it out to the masses about why the current administration needs to change,” explains Stephens. “The Kerry campaign talked to us and they were going to use it. It was very close. But then the Nader campaign wanted to use it, so we let them have it. Now it is the official campaign song for Nader’s bid for presidency”.
Celldweller: Celldweller
“We have limited distribution into brick and mortar retail stores, so our street team, these kids that love the band, became our retailers,” says Tyler Bacon, Celldweller’s manager. “We offered quantity discounts to them so they could buy the CDs at a cheaper price, and then sell them to their friends – either at cost or to make a few bucks.”
Celldweller’s quantity discounts worked like this:
2-5 CDs – 25% off
6-9 CDs – 25% off + free shipping
10+ CDs – 25% off + free shipping + a free t-shirt
“We gave out the free t-shirt,” Bacon continues, “in hopes that our street team members would buy 10 or more CDs to get the free shirt, and then sell the CDs to their friends, to help us spread the product out there. And it worked”.
Set-up time also worked in the band’s favor, Bacon tells me.
“We did a lot of internet marketing, especially via MP3.com – back in the day. We had a ton of listens and downloads there. Around 400,000 listens on MP3.com,” he recalls. “And it was probably a year and a half to two years from when we put up the demos until the record was done. So set-up time was a big contributing factor.”
Indecision: The Great Road.
Indecision is lucky to have a friend in website and digital media manager Duncan Freeman, who has been helping the band promote themselves, using the internet, and CD Baby, as the main outlet for fans to obtain the band’s CDs.
“You really have to be an evangelist for your band, if you want it to happen,” Freeman tells me via the phone. “Especially when you have no budget”.
Promoting a record on no budget? It seems to be every band’s dilemma. Freeman has found a way to combat it, spending time, rather than money, to get the word out there about Indecision.
“We got into every message board and chat room we can - from Grateful Dead's web site to http://www.Phish.net. Anything related to the jam band scene, we go in there and post about Indecision, especially their new album”.
He further explains that he spends over seven hours a week posting, replying, and chatting potential fans on these message boards.
“It's time consuming, but we're not spending a single dime,” laughs Freeman. “Everything we’re doing is free”.
Freeman has also been working very hard to brand the band’s name, taking steps such as purchasing three domains: http://www.indecision.net / http://www.indecision.org / http://www.indecision.com to promote the band’s web presence.
More Marketing Tips
Keep checking back at http://www.cdbaby.org as I interview more top selling CD Baby artists to find out what they are doing to market and sell their CDs, and how they continue to grow and expand their audiences. Hopefully some of these ideas will help you grow and further your music career.
-Alex
alex@(nospam)cdbaby.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
thanks alex. I really appreciate reading about what others are doing to sell more product.
Eliana Gilad
www.voicesofeden.com
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Great forum! Please continue interviewing top sellers. Please tel
us about the top filter sites these sellers have found.
Thanks,
Ben Makinen
www.cdbaby.com/makinen
www.cdbaby.com/area15
www.cdbaby.com/tball
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It gives me a warm buzz to see so much support for fellow
musicians. Thanks CDBaby and thanks to those sharing their
success stories - you're an inspiration.
Michael Morris - Tonight&Only
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
im gonna try all these ideas thankes yall!
mkinav from cdbaby
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| NOTE: If you need a reply you should email CD Baby directly instead of posting here. We don't often read old message board postings, and have no way of replying to them!
|
|
|
|
|
