Ok,
So I'm a solo musician and I'm moving to a new town in August, and i fancy building up a new fan base. My idea was to burn off a load of CDs (100+) on the cheap, hand them out for free at gigs / on the street etc. You can get a spindle of 100 CDs for a tenner, and those little plastic wallets cost next to nowt.
Then I got thinking that the CDs could eb used as a demo, to be sent to the various press media for review, or to promoters for gigs etc etc.
But then I arrived at a dilemma: How much effort is too much (or too little) effort for a CD demo? I could spend an insane amount of money on recording in a studio, getting it printed with problem artwork, get some nice photos done for a press pack... but I'm only just starting out really, and I'd rather keep the cost down so I can give it away for free instead of asking people to pay for it.
Think about it - say you're an audience member, and the band are giving you a few tracks for free. Would you be happy that it was burnt on a CDR, with the band name scrawled on with a pen, in a plastic wallet? Would it offend you if it wasn't particularly well mastered/produced? And what would you think if you were a promoter / reviewer listening to it?
Putting in too much effort is better than putting in too little effort - but my money and time is limited. I'm still wondering what to do - I have a bit of time over the summer to get some mastering / recording done if absolutely necessary.
I would love to hear from anyone who has any advice... maybe you're a band/musician with a demo, or maybe you're a promoter who receives loads of CD demos every day, or maybe you're a writer who reviews said demos all the time...
Cheers,
RB
if the songs are good nothing else matters
when you're giving something away for free people don't really have the right to complain - and mastering is irrelevant providing that people can enjoy the songs because they're actually good.
a lot of people won't even listen to a cd given out at a gig - it'll go in their back pocket and snap when they catch the nightbus home and sit on it.
Hi.
Just do what you can. I can imagine that when wanting to get any kind of demo heard it can be quite disheartening to spend money and then maybe not get as much feedback as you might've hoped for. Obviously make them listenable first, some cheap CDR's are really poor and i know certain brands skip or sometimes don't even play on my stereo/PC. I'd also consider maybe getting your music to people without physically burning it onto CDs at first, perhaps email your tracks to people that review that way, many won't but some do. Maybe get speaking to people who write blogs, or post the link to your Myspace on here, people might be brutally honest sometimes, though, so be prepared. I'd put together a list of blogs and fanzines, then contact them all with details and links to your music online, and offer to send a demo down for review if they like what they hear. If you're not in a position to be spending money, as is the case with most people, then just try and make it stand out a little, if you or any of your friends can draw then maybe get a cover done and copies printed off, anything really to make it stand out, i expect the people you might send them to might see dozens of demos a week, more in some cases. I wouldn't go all out, it's your first demo, people won't be expecting it to be all-singing all-dancing and expertly done, just make sure the recordings are of a reasonable quality and you get it to the right people. Saying all this, it goes without saying that the biggest factor will be whether your stuff's good or not. All the best.
hey mate
as a frequent gig-goer i'm always up for freebies (don't denounce me as northern scum yet!) why not get your own blog going at the same time with some free downloads from mediafire or whatnot, don't worry about recording too succinctly, demos are all about being raw but make sure they are not too shoddy recordings, i hear you can get away with recording straight onto Mac with decent enough quality
I agree with you cbrb1
If I go to a good gig and the artist I haven't herd of has a free CD at the merch stand or something I will pick it up and give it a good listen. Maybe dont just give the CD to anyone do it at the merch stand or your self at the bar after you play so people can come up to you and get it, so there is more of a chance they will acctualy want to listen to it. I would even write about it on my blog with links and all that too. Get a mypsace going if you haven't alrady and a blog is a cool idea to keep people updated and give them some tunes. If the music is good then the package doesnt really matter for a demo but some kinda cover would be fun. With contact info on too. Good luck
as they folks above have said
the recording quality isnt massively important as long as it gets the general idea of the songs across and isnt unbearabley shit.
as for the presentation try and put a bit more effort in here - if your not artistic try and rope one of your friends into doing a bit of artwork that you can print out and stick in the front of the plastic sleeve, also you can get those onbody cd stickers which you can print straight onto pretty cheap from WH Smiths etc
Personally,
I would prefer a CDR with a personalized design or something so you know a huge effort has been put into putting it together.
I would feel guilty for not giving it a listen then.
good point
guilt the swine into listening to it and falling for your music.
I don't care if it's a CDR with just a name on it
as long as the tracks are good ( and not too badly recorded )and the CDR plays correctly on my player.
This is all good advice
cheers everyone.
My best songs are recorded (except for some new ones which I'm happy with how they're going - maybe I'll record those over the next month or so), I'll the songs on a CDR as .wav mixdowns, then slip that into a plastic wallet with a suitably size piece of paper with all the necessary stuff and some artwork. I might even do a CD sticker thing, if I can be bothered.
Thanks everyone, keep it coming :)
Any bands out there who've done something similar? Has it gone down alright?
bump
just because :)
Just to say
sometimes I'm not sure about the handing cd's out at a show thing based on:
1) the reluctance of people to take them (especially at larger shows! I gave out a friend's cd at a goldfrapp show and people thought i was handing out AOL cd's! duh)
2) Even though I've done this, if I get a free cd it may sit around for ages before it gets a listen, I feel very guitly about this, especially as there's nothing more dishearteneing than fishing your own cd out of a bin when someone's taken one and chucked it away straight away. Some people are scum!
We're about to unleash our new album out there and are toying with different ideas for reviewers, mostly considering doing a sendspace zip file with pdf artwork, promo sheet/pics (moody pics of us standing round burnt out cars obviously) and mp3's then promoting via emails and nice letters etc. We'll be prepared for rejection and being ignored!
Uploading a zip with photos, bio and Mp3 is the way forward
definitely the best way to do it.
Environmentally friendly, also.
Yes, ok
but i guess it is the way that advertising/promotion has been done for ages, the whole 'throwing shit at a wall, some of it will stick' idea (though obviously not shit... let's say pasta).
Maybe handing out CDs at random and indisriminately is a foolish idea, fair enough. At a more intimate gig perhaps, it might have more of an impact.
And yes, I spose an 'electronic demo' wouldn't be a bad idea, either, environmentally and econmically. It would be good for reviewers/promoters/venues who have established email addresses, but not for audiences... unless you have their email address in a mailing list in which case you might as well give them a physical copy. I like physical copies of things, though maybe I'm just fussy.
I suggest
that you don't give CD's away for *free*. If someone gives me a CD at a gig, likelihood is I won't ever listen to it. The best thing you can do is offer to give it to people in return for an email address. That way you can start building up a mailing list. It also means that people will most likely listen to the CD when they take it home (and you won't just find a bunch of your CD's in the bin down the road after your gig) as they have had to do something in order to get your record.
^^^ good idea
with the 'CD for email address' thing.