| CD Baby DIY Musician Podcast |
 Nov. 13,
2008
Ep.38 : Pandora Radio
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| The CD Seller; Sell CDs at live gigs - while you play! |
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| posted by Jeff Kartak on Wednesday August 03 2005 @ 11:16PM PDT |
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How Many CDs Have You Sold Lately?
Selling CDs from stage at gigs can be a difficult proposition. If you can afford to hire someone to sit a table and sell your band’s CDs and other products, then you have to find somebody who is actually capable and trustworthy to take the job. And then you have to hope he or she sells enough product to cover their wages.
If you can’t find someone to man a product table or you can’t afford to hire him, then you have to try to sell CDs while you are playing. That means interrupting the show to advertise your CDs, stop performing to make change and hang around the stage after the set in hopes someone will ask you for a CD. Sound dismally familiar?
Well I’m a working musician and that scene was all too familiar to me. So I started looking for a better solution. I searched for some kind of product that I could use to help me sell CDs at my gigs. I wanted a product that could hold and display a few CDs with a locking cashbox and a slot so people could deposit their money and take a CD. I wanted it to mount to a stand and yet be portable. And of course it had to be affordable. Unfortunately after many hours of searching for that product I found it just wasn’t available. So I decided to make one myself. And that’s what I did.
But I figured if I needed a product like this, then there must be a market out there for the product. I mean I have many fellow musicians that struggle selling their CDs from stage. So I decided to patent my idea before disclosing it to the public. I completed a preliminary design and filed a preliminary patent application to protect myself.
Then I completed a detailed design for a device made out of clear acrylic plastic that incorporates a product holder and display that holds 12 CDs, a locking cashbox with a hinged lid and padlock, a sign holder for advertising the price of my CDs, and a fitting attached to the bottom of the unit so I could screw it onto one of my microphone stands. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong! I found that my first design was far too expensive to have made. So I went back to the drawing board and came up with other designs until I found the right one.
At the same time I had a prototype made and started using it at all my gigs. I play in two bands and each one has a CD that it sells from stage. The results were nothing short of amazing! Immediately sales of both CDs doubled and tripled. I found that simply by having the CD’s visible and displayed on a stand next to the stage, people looked, found, came up and purchased product!
Now you can take advantage of this powerful CD sales tool too! Visit my website, www.thecdseller.com for pictures, complete information and to place a secure on-line order or find out where to send a mail order.
The CD Seller Bands and Musicians - Sell More CDs At Every Gig! The CD Seller is a CD display and sales tool that holds and displays up to 12 CDs, has a locking cash box, a sign holder and a fitting that mounts The CD Seller securely to any standard microphone stand.
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congrats, and very impressive, but a couple questions/comments
1 you still need some body or thing to make change
2has any one short changed you??
3 how many cd every went unaccounted for???
i am almost sold get back with me---just outweighing risk to product-ewffectiveness
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Hi, Thanks for the kind words. Yes, exact change is necesssary. I play mostly jazz in supperclubs, jazz clubs and coffee houses. I have never been shorted to my knowledge. But to the contrary, I've had people put in a twenty and skip getting the change more than once. As to theft, I've never had a CD stolen either. I think we may have lost one when I played a gig with a reggae band but I'm not positive about that. But the bottom line is one theft costs you less than two bucks, one extra sale because your CD was visable and available is at least $8 to $13 added profit. You do the math. Best of luck with your CD sales. The CD Seller is a solid investment.
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Hi James,
Sorry if you posted this a long time ago and I didn't get back to you quickly. This article was written and published by CD Baby almost 4 years ago! So I don't get back there very often any more.
Theft just hasn't been a problem. I had one guy say that one CD was stolen from his unit. He puts it in the lobby of the Groundlngs Comedy Club in Hollywood during shows. There is nobody in the lobby then. I've posted more info about theft on the website, www.thecdseller.com. The CD Seller is no different than all the hundreds of thousands of point of purchase displays out there with merchandise in them in every store in the world.
Jeff
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Award winning cdbaby artist Rita Mizrahi Shamie,
also known as "Grandma Rita" is currently seeking a distribution deal for her one hundred and sixty songs, and twelve albums.
What's different about Grandma Rita's songs is that she takes the best of yesterday's music and fashions it for today's children. Her songs are chock full of "Grandma's Love",and kid'sadore them. What make this situation even better is that parents and grandparents are overjoyed because they know the words and can finally sing along.
Compared to Mrs. Doubtfire time and again for her versatility, see Parents magazine, & Grandparents
magazines) Grandma Rita's CD's truly make for a good time had by all.
Rita is seeking a major or independent label who will welcome her on board, and help get her CD's out there. In addition, Rita has written twelve original songs and six storybooks for children, and you can just "Feel the Love".
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I made something similar and display it at most shows. We have a simple tip jar with a sign saying "throw the money in the tip jar and take a CD". The tip jar is obviously not locked, but open.
I've had maybe 2 CDs over the last year taken without getting paid, and had a $20 stolen out of the tip jar once. Hardly anything to worry about, given the number of CDs it has sold for us. More often than this, people throw in a $20 and tell me to keep the change.
I've found the VAST majority of people are honest about it, and I don't worry about the rest.
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Buy it, its a great investment. I've had people hand me money
WHILE I'm playing, this gets rid of that problem SO professionally. I
love mine.
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Hi Jeff,
I was wondering what happened to you. Long time no see. Hope you're doing fine. Say, someone asked about your cd seller so maybe you could send an email their way. www.tangledrootsbluegrass.com
Jerry
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Hi Jerry,
I've just been busy. I've thought about calling you several times but something always comes up. Thanks for the lead with tangled roots. I'll follow up. Things are going pretty well. Ive sold about 500 CD Sellers now and I think the word is spreading.
Hope to see you soon,
Jeff
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Forgive me for posting years after the fact, and I don't intend to be rude or crass. But there is a VERY simnple solution for selling your record as you play, without buying an unsightly contraption to leave on display. But then again, maybe i'm just blessed to have such a supportive wife!
It's fairly simple, I buy her a few drinks, put her behind a table with a cardboard box and a sign so people know how much things cost right up front! As we're playing she deals with people wanting to buy CDs, t-shirts, stickers, etc.
The best part is that my wife happens to be extremely beautiful, so we sell even more CDs at seedy pubs and back alley joints where some drunk is likely just to go buy 3 albums just to talk to her!!!!
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| 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!
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