Indie Artists Road Map - Oasis CD Manufacturing

About Carbon Leaf
Blending folk, Celtic, bluegrass, Americana, rock,
and pop, Carbon Leaf’s music is best summed up
by the title of one of their earliest albums, EtherElectrified Porch Music. Carbon Leaf debuted as an
independent college band in 1993, eventually leading
to a recording contract with Vanguard Records in
2004. Among the accolades and accomplishments
in their recording and performing career are being
the first independent band to ever win an American
Music Award, and recording the music for Universal
Pictures’ Curious George 2 soundtrack. In celebration
of 20 years together, the band has an ambitious slate
of new singles and full-album releases planned in
2013 for the turning of each new season, starting with
Ghost Dragon Attacks Castle in February, a 12-song
collection of Celtic-inspired original tunes.
Learn more:
www.carbonleaf.com
www.facebook.com/carbonleaf
www.oasisCD.com
[email protected]
Back Cover
SO90080812, ABJ1517, MktProd
www.twitter.com/carbonleaf
888-296-2747
Front Cover
finding your voice and your model will take a bit of time and
effort. But you’ve got to dive in and get going.
Work in tandem. One challenge facing you as a marketer/
communicator is the sheer number of avenues available to
connect with your audience. There are the numerous social
platforms, video channels, music discovery sites, and your
own website to maintain. It can easily be a full-time job just
managing all your profiles and accounts.
This is where pooling your resources and delegating tasks
will be useful. Perhaps having each band member take one or
two platforms as the one(s) they own, can make the process
of keeping up to date across the board a little easier. Maybe
a fan or two can get involved and be your social marketing
team. Whatever your formula, one bit of advice is to keep your
online profiles manageable. It’s easy to get carried away and
try to be everywhere possible and lose track of what you’re
doing. This can be counterproductive, as a presence on a site
or platform that is stagnant or wildly out of date isn’t good
promotion – it can actually make you look like you’re lazy,
defunct, or dormant.
“Being an independent artist today means being able to
have success your own way, on your terms. I mean, we
work hard and we get to do it full time, so I can’t complain.”
– Barry Privett, Carbon Leaf
The ability to be an independent artist and make a viable
career in music is liberating. If you choose to do it, and are
able to produce the music and brand to support yourself, you
can take control of every single element of your career.
Did we say it’s liberating? Well, it certainly is. Did we mention
it can be pretty scary, too? Scary only because every single
element of your career is now in your hands. In addition to
being a creative songwriter, a recording professional, and
being prepared for any and all live gigging situations, you
also need to be the manager, booking agent, accountant,
social media expert, email marketer, website designer, CD
manufacturer, graphic designer, and everything in between.
Actually, that’s not entirely true.
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The Indie Artist’s Roadmap to Success
SO90080812, ABJ1517, MktProd
Being independent means you have control over all these
things, but it doesn’t mean you have to do it all yourself. In
fact, the real success stories in independent music, which
happen on all different levels of the industry, usually include
a chapter on the team that made the success possible. Being
able to delegate and recognize when you need to hand off a
task to someone else – because they are either more adept at it
or because you can’t afford the time – is a key element to being
successful in anything.
Of course, there is no actual “roadmap” for sales and success
in the music business as an indie artist, but there are some
key tenets and strategies you can apply right away to help you
develop your own model for a career in music.
Pick the sites and services you like best, and the ones your fans
seem most interested in, and use them to their best advantage.
In addition, make sure your efforts are coordinated, so that
your Tweets and Facebook posts relate to the new video or song
you’ve posted, and that the new video highlights the album
that’s coming up. Everything should point to the latest show or
event you’re promoting. In addition, it’s important that your
messages are pertinent, your “voice” consistent, and all your
online efforts coordinate to either get your fans to take your
desired call to action or achieve your promotional objective.
“When we started out,” adds Privett, “we had to manage the
war of time between running the day-to-day business stuff and
fighting for the time to write, rehearse, record, produce, and
play live. Social media, and even maintaining a website, is now
a major component that we didn’t have back then. Our ‘social
media’ was sending out a postcard to our mailing list once a
month with our tour dates! Now, it’s easier to do, but it can eat
up more of your time in dribs and drabs that can pull you away
from the center of your artistic reason to be, which is creating
new music. I’d like to blog more, I’d like to have a Twitter
account, I’d like to be posting more, but my day is full with the
musical side.
of that slack and keep us connected. The last thing I want is
for social media to become over-used but under-utilized, and
that’s a learning process. The challenge is making sure that
we are off in our creative space deeply enough and growing
as artists, so that when the songs emerge and are ready for
release, it’s what fans MUST HEAR.”
Don’t forget email. Amidst all of these efforts,
maintaining and cultivating your email list is one
communication medium you shouldn’t overlook. The folks
who sign up for your email list – either online or at your live
shows – are your real fans. These are the people who have
raised their hands and have expressed an interest in hearing
about your shows, your music, and your story. Don’t disappoint!
Reach out to these super fans with engaging content, special
offers, and the latest news about your musical journey.
Of course, you also have to deliver engaging content.
Particularly with email, if you don’t have something useful or
timely to deliver, your messages will soon become a nuisance
and you’ll be in danger of sabotaging one of your greatest assets
– the people who volunteered to get to know you better and
who want to be engaged. This is why producing content that
will keep them entertained and connected is so important.
Achieve that, and you can deepen the bond and the interest
this group of fans have with your music.
You have the tools at your fingertips to connect to
your audience, create your art, deliver your message,
and build relationships with people around the
corner and around the world. Your roadmap to
success begins with your artistic expression, and
from there, it’s up to you to forge your own path. I
can still hear Casey Kasem’s voice closing out his
Top 40 radio broadcast saying “Keep your feet on the
ground and keep reaching for the stars.” It may be a
little corny, but it’s still pretty inspirational. Just
remember that reaching for the stars includes doing
the day to day promotion, networking, and creative
work that will build your stairway
to success.
“So there’s a balance that needs to be struck, and luckily as a
band, you do have others in the group who can pick up some
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7
many compelling reasons to consider it, and many different
ways to use giveaways as a method of sparking interest in
future sales.
For a new band, giving away a short demo or EP could be one
way to spread some love, help get your music distributed, build
some interest, and ultimately establish a market and demand
for your product.
“We actually spent a year handing out a 4-song demo tape on
cassette,” recalls Privett. “We had this rack of tape decks and
were duping those in our living room and when we were at our
day jobs – any chance we could get – and we made thousands
and thousands of these tapes and just gave them out at shows.
We developed a fan base, enough that when we got 12 songs
together, it was time to call it official and make a CD. So it was
a big deal then – it meant more than just ‘here’s a collection of
songs for your fans.’”
With digital distribution, there are new ways to go about
delivering your demo, but a CD handout at shows is one tried
and true method. And with the ease and low cost of Oasis
Express, you can produce a 4-song demo, make it look
beautiful, and increase the perceived value of the product
vs. handing out a home-burned CD-R with a printed stick-on
label or Sharpie treatment. And with downloads and online
streaming services, or by embedding streaming tracks and
downloads on your own website, you can easily deliver new
songs, outtakes, works in progress, or acoustic versions online
to spark interest. In fact, outtakes and acoustic versions could
also be a teaser giveaway at shows, or an additional “gift” with
a purchase of a full CD, to entice gig sales.
The point is, you don’t need to give away
the cream of the crop and deliver
your A-list product, like your
fully-produced CD tracks, for
free. Use alternate takes,
older material, etc. to build
goodwill and interest in the
products you plan to sell.
Freebies with your merch can also
go a long way toward selling t-shirts
and other goodies. Reward your
street team and merch maven
with your most handsome t-shirt,
adorn the first 15 fans through
the door with rubber bracelets,
or gift the house soundman with
a knit beanie. Nothing gets people
6
The Indie Artist’s Roadmap to Success
SO90080812, ABJ1517, MktProd
convinced something is worth buying like seeing someone who
already made that decision (even if they didn’t actually buy it).
Be Social.
The fact that you need to have some sort of web and social
presence is no mystery, and spelling out a detailed strategy
and game plan for your online endeavors would require a book
of its own. But for a general overview, it is worth noting some
basic fundamentals when it comes to your digital footprint,
and from there, it’s up to you to map out your own personal
identity online.
Be diverse. As an independent artist, one of your missions
ought to be to constantly produce material that will evoke
a response from your audience and give them something to
connect with. Clearly, new music is at the forefront of this
process, and posting new songs – whether it’s full production,
acoustic renditions, covers, or live tracks – is one way to fill
that pipeline.
But releasing new material every week, while possible, is
probably unattainable (not to mention largely unnecessary).
While your connection to your audience starts with your music,
social media and the web provide an amazing opportunity
to take your audience along for the ride of what’s it’s like to
be a creative, performing musician. Hopefully they’re falling
in love with your music, and by giving them access to your
creative process, your everyday endeavors, and other nuggets
“from the vault,” you can connect with your audience on a
more intimate level than your music alone can provide.
What does this mean? It could mean
posting videos of footage of you and
the band preparing to take the stage
before a gig, or post-gig interviews
with fans after the show. It could
mean keeping a tour blog, or producing
a series of posts about the recording
process for your current album. It
could mean Facebook contests, or
collaborative lyric writing via
a web page or Twitter stream,
or personal anecdotes about
the meaning of, or inspiration
for, the songs on your latest
release. What you want to
share and how you go about
sharing it speaks a lot about your
personality as an artist or band, and
Get streamlined
and maximize your
efforts and your profit.
Streamlining your efforts is vital – more gets done, and gets
done better, when you are able to recognize your needs and
pinpoint the right people for the job. Carbon Leaf, Virginia
natives, indie-music stalwarts, and long-time Oasis clients,
can attest to this. They started independently, making an
independent CD with Oasis, then found themselves on a record
label, where the CD manufacturing process was handled by the
label. When the label ride came to an end, the band was back to
being independent, and their ties with Oasis were renewed.
In the music biz, there are all sorts of great relationships you
can make that can help your career, and not all of them obvious.
Fans. Are you forgetting your fans? From pre- or post-gig
hang outs, to social media communication, to recruiting
fans for your street team, there are so many ways to build
relationships with the people who like your music. This can
grow, organically, to find you seeking fan input on things like
what kind of merch you should offer or soliciting t-shirt and
album designs. Including fans in an upcoming video, providing
online remix contests, and organizing post-gig house concerts
are other creative ways to get fans engaged. The more engaged
your fans are, the more likely they’ll be to turn other friends
on to your music.
“For us,” says Barry Privett, guitarist and vocalist for Carbon
Leaf, “I think a big part of working with Oasis was handing
off that component of worry and ‘one more thing we’ve got to
do,’ and being able to hand our CD job to Eileen and Oasis and
just be able to say, ‘Please handle it, here are the components,
here’s when I need the project, let me know what I need to do.’
And you know, it just gets done. That’s a big deal, just being
able to have someone that says ‘Oh yeah, no problem we can
do this.’ It’s been a timesaver, and a turnkey thing, and when
you’re so burned out from recording and mixing, the last
thing you want to do is make a headache of the packaging and
manufacturing process.
Industry. Making personal connections with people in the
“Working with Oasis kind of inducted us into being in business
for ourselves, it was one of those educational steps: ‘This is how
you press the CDs, this is gonna be part of your business, this is
where you learn what a UPC or ISRC code is and why you need
it.’ Even to the point of how to get the stuff registered with the
Library of Congress back in the day when you filled out those
reams of forms. I’d have to say that working with good people
like Oasis on our projects was part of the learning process of
what being independent is all about.”
and musicians who are friends of yours who start doing
well for themselves can be mighty powerful allies. Building
relationships with musicians can lead to gig swaps,
introductions to industry and booking agents, and an increase
of your own fan base. As any of these folks gain notoriety,
this could very well lead to better opening spots for you,
introductions to contacts at bigger clubs, and a chance to play
for bigger rooms full of potential fans.
Build relationships.
So much of business – so much of life, really – is about
relationships. And while, from a karmic “you get what you
give” perspective, it’s just plain common decency to be good
to the people you interact with and treat them with respect
– there are immediate benefits you shouldn’t ignore. A good
relationship with your dentist might mean preferential
treatment when it comes to scheduling, your garbage man
might pick up that extra bag you left out of the can, and your
in-laws might get off your back about not being the doctor they
dreamed their little girl was going to marry.
music industry, especially the local players in your scene, will
go a long way. The music business is made up of networks of
regular people like you, and knowing who is who and being
genuinely interested in what other people are doing in the
industry can help you better understand what it takes to make
an impression – and how you can get involved and be a positive
member of the group. You’re also going to meet likeminded
folks and grow your network, and that will increase the
likelihood of you being in the “right place at the right time”
when opportunity peeks around the corner.
Other Musicians. Other musicians are your allies,
Local Music Scene. There’s no telling what a good rapport
with a local studio engineer or band manager can do. Maybe an
engineer needs a band to sit in and record for a recording school
session, a producer needs a band for a tribute compilation, or a
local manager needs an opener for a hot act he’s showcasing.
Just being on the list when someone asks “Who’s good around
here?” puts you on the map, and having a relationship with the
folks who are making things happen is as useful as being the
“best” music act in town (whatever that is).
Club Managers /Booking Agents. Developing a good
relationship with the people who book your local clubs can
translate to something as powerful as having the ability to
book your own night at a given venue. A good relationship
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3
means your call will get through, and you can float the notion
of organizing a night where you control the bill. Pack the club,
make the bartenders some money, put on a great show, treat
the soundman right, and you’ll get the green light to do the
same thing as often as you want – not to mention you’ll be on
the short list of bands to call when the club needs to fill an
opening slot for a major act.
Manufacturing / General Business Partners.
This might not be one of the obvious partners, but if you’re
busy making music, rehearsing, networking, and building all
the relationships you need to with local fans, musicians, and
industry, having a trusted network of partners to do things
like design your flyers and CD covers, manage your website,
handle your marketing and promotions, and be your CD
manufacturer gives you the time to do all the rest.
When it was time for Carbon Leaf to release their first
independent record after having been on a record label, their
decision to return to Oasis was an easy one. “The relationship
was there, and we had the ambition of releasing a lot of material
more quickly,” recalls Privett, “and since we knew Micah, had
met him and worked with him from early on, it just kind of
made sense. We were trying to minimize the extra work for
ourselves and try to just keep the band’s circle tight – doing
our thing and working with partners to help with things like
manufacturing. It turned out to be a smart decision – keeping
close ties with partners like Oasis within the band’s circle was
a good move.”
The relationship side of the music business takes some work,
and not everyone is cut out for the schmoozing and gladhanding. But that’s not really what it’s about anyway. Building
relationships is about being comfortable with who you are
and with your contribution to the music world and your music
scene. Hang out where other musicians are – open mics, local
clubs, songwriter circles – be yourself, and make friends.
The more you feel a part of what’s happening, the more your
relationships will blossom.
Remember – the music biz is a small world, and local scenes are
even smaller. The girlfriend of the guitarist in another band or
the bartender from the local dive may be the person booking
your town’s hottest club next month. Relationships you make
with everyone down the line can pay dividends you wouldn’t
be able to predict. It’s just good living, being respectful to the
people around you, and people remember you when you’ve
been particularly kind and helpful – and also when you’ve
been particularly unpleasant. You don’t want doors closing for
you because you weren’t able to play nice.
4
The Indie Artist’s Roadmap to Success
SO90080812, ABJ1517, MktProd
Listen to your fans
and give sell them
what they want.
Your fans are hugely important, and listening to them is
one way to know what it is about you and your music they’re
connecting with. It’s never a great idea to change who you are
to try to appeal to someone else’s ideals, but when it comes to
providing a product or service to a customer, knowing – and
providing – what they want is key.
Here’s a tricky line to tread. On one hand, you want to build a
genuine relationship with your fans. On the other, you produce
a product, your music. To sustain yourself, you need to sell
your product to your friends and fans who are, ultimately,
really your customers. It is a difficult dichotomy to rectify,
but the bottom line is, when you produce something that these
folks want – they want to support you, they want to be a part of
what you’re producing, they want a tangible piece of the action.
So give the people what they want!
Merch. When it comes to selling stuff with your band name
or logo on it, there’s almost no limit to what you can offer.
Clearly, it all comes down to cost and quality, and before you
consider what items to offer, the design elements and product
quality need to be considered.
Not every music act has a logo or icon – but it’s something
to consider when you start the whole process of branding.
Clearly, you can always just put your act’s name on a t-shirt in a
cool font, but try putting “The Mighty Awesome Mitochondria
Express” on a lighter or baseball cap. You might be better off
working back to a CD cover, logo, or icon (think of the Dave
Matthews dancer, the Wu-Tang “W,” or the Dead’s dancing
bears) that can stand alone or partner with your band name.
If you’re going to go that route, though, be particular. Just
because the drummer doodled something and feels connected
to it, it might not make for the best image to associate with
your act and adorn every piece of merchandise with. You’re
better off hiring a professional to design something, or finding
a way to tap your fan base for a potential contributor who
might work on trade.
Then there’s the quality of the merch. Of course, you have to
be able to sell it, and you have to make a profit on it, so you
can’t order 1,000 of everything and get designer swag for
every item. At the same time, this merch is going to represent
you, so going with the cheapest quality might reflect poorly
on your brand, and likely upset your fans who are forking out
their hard-earned money for what turned out to be a lousyquality piece of junk.
Ultimately, having a variety of merch to choose from makes
the experience better for your customers, but it’s impractical
to start out with a dozen options. Start with two or three, and
once things start moving, you can add more. A t-shirt is a likely
place to start, as are stickers, hoodies, and knit beanies.
If you’re looking for something a little farther off the beaten
path, you can easily find customized lollipops, embroidered
patches, key chains, buttons, coffee mugs, posters, kazoos,
lighters, temporary tattoos, custom USB thumb drives... the
list goes on and on.
There are plenty of road-tested methods to help you
improve your gig merch sales, which include:
Having a well-stocked, handsomely displayed, well-lit merch table.
Having a dedicated, friendly salesperson manning the booth
at all times.
Putting the table somewhere accessible but not in the way.
Announcing that you have CDs and merch for sale from the stage.
Announcing that you will be at the merch table after the show
to sign CDs and hang out.
Bundling items to encourage more sales.
Bundling merch and CDs can be effective in person and online,
if possible. If you have some control over your web store, in
addition to offering your wares, come up with packages that
can encourage multiple purchases at once. Make sure to lead
potential fans/buyers to your store in any email alerts you
send, and be sure to let them know when something new is
added to the store.
Music. Your main consumable products is, of course, your
music. Just as with your merch offerings, a selection of music,
in terms of titles and formats, will help cater to your fan base’s
varied preferences.
CDs. Whether it’s from the standard jewel case to the Zero
Carbon Footprint Digipak, or from the Green Wallet to the
Green Forestry Sleeve, your CD package can be scaled to match
your product. While it’s strictly a matter of preference, your
debut effort might be suited for a Jewel Case with a 4-panel
insert, your latest album begs for a Digipak and 12-page booklet
tucked into a Tube Pocket, and last year’s Holiday EP is a great
add-on in a Sleeve. Even demos or samplers can now get your
band’s branding treatment in custom (or small) quantities for
sale or as limited editions, giveaways, or freebies with a larger
purchase. With Oasis Express, you can get high-quality
disc duplication, complete with label-quality printing and
detail, with as little as one-day production turnaround.
Digital. Digital distribution of your music online is
something every serious artist has to consider, but you don’t
necessarily need to limit digital distribution to online activity.
“We’ve started to record our shows live and put them on USB
drives for fans who want to take the live experience home with
them,” explains Privett. “We buy a bunch of customized USBs
with our name and our website on them, and it’s certainly
diversifying our products and meeting our fans’ needs.
“Of course, it’s a learning process, and while there are trends
towards digital, there are a surprising amount of people who
are still ONLY using CDs, and will continue to. Just the other
night I was talking to a woman after a show, and I was like ‘You
know, you can get that song we played on this USB,’ and she
goes ‘Well, I don’t do iTunes. I’m old school – I have albums
and CDs.’ That’s what she does, and that’s what she’ll continue
to do, so there’s gonna be that market for a long time to come.
And for us, we’ve got to make sure that our fans can be served
by our group with whatever method they want.”
Of course, digital distribution is largely an online proposition,
and don’t forget that one of the key functions of Oasis’ Tools
of Promotion is to help you deliver your digital content –
including offers from CD Baby and LiveWire Musician. CD
Baby is all about distribution, through its partners who deliver
digital downloads, through the online CD store, and through
Facebook widgets that help you promote your music and sales.
With CD Baby, you have one account where you can manage
your physical and digital distribution network. With LiveWire
Musician, you can book shows, handle email sign-ups, search
and save industry contacts from their database, and send
emails to your fans.
Build a product-buying
fan base through
giveaways and goodwill.
There are differing opinions when it comes to the notion of
giving away your music and other products – but there are
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[email protected]
888-296-2747
5
means your call will get through, and you can float the notion
of organizing a night where you control the bill. Pack the club,
make the bartenders some money, put on a great show, treat
the soundman right, and you’ll get the green light to do the
same thing as often as you want – not to mention you’ll be on
the short list of bands to call when the club needs to fill an
opening slot for a major act.
Manufacturing / General Business Partners.
This might not be one of the obvious partners, but if you’re
busy making music, rehearsing, networking, and building all
the relationships you need to with local fans, musicians, and
industry, having a trusted network of partners to do things
like design your flyers and CD covers, manage your website,
handle your marketing and promotions, and be your CD
manufacturer gives you the time to do all the rest.
When it was time for Carbon Leaf to release their first
independent record after having been on a record label, their
decision to return to Oasis was an easy one. “The relationship
was there, and we had the ambition of releasing a lot of material
more quickly,” recalls Privett, “and since we knew Micah, had
met him and worked with him from early on, it just kind of
made sense. We were trying to minimize the extra work for
ourselves and try to just keep the band’s circle tight – doing
our thing and working with partners to help with things like
manufacturing. It turned out to be a smart decision – keeping
close ties with partners like Oasis within the band’s circle was
a good move.”
The relationship side of the music business takes some work,
and not everyone is cut out for the schmoozing and gladhanding. But that’s not really what it’s about anyway. Building
relationships is about being comfortable with who you are
and with your contribution to the music world and your music
scene. Hang out where other musicians are – open mics, local
clubs, songwriter circles – be yourself, and make friends.
The more you feel a part of what’s happening, the more your
relationships will blossom.
Remember – the music biz is a small world, and local scenes are
even smaller. The girlfriend of the guitarist in another band or
the bartender from the local dive may be the person booking
your town’s hottest club next month. Relationships you make
with everyone down the line can pay dividends you wouldn’t
be able to predict. It’s just good living, being respectful to the
people around you, and people remember you when you’ve
been particularly kind and helpful – and also when you’ve
been particularly unpleasant. You don’t want doors closing for
you because you weren’t able to play nice.
4
The Indie Artist’s Roadmap to Success
SO90080812, ABJ1517, MktProd
Listen to your fans
and give sell them
what they want.
Your fans are hugely important, and listening to them is
one way to know what it is about you and your music they’re
connecting with. It’s never a great idea to change who you are
to try to appeal to someone else’s ideals, but when it comes to
providing a product or service to a customer, knowing – and
providing – what they want is key.
Here’s a tricky line to tread. On one hand, you want to build a
genuine relationship with your fans. On the other, you produce
a product, your music. To sustain yourself, you need to sell
your product to your friends and fans who are, ultimately,
really your customers. It is a difficult dichotomy to rectify,
but the bottom line is, when you produce something that these
folks want – they want to support you, they want to be a part of
what you’re producing, they want a tangible piece of the action.
So give the people what they want!
Merch. When it comes to selling stuff with your band name
or logo on it, there’s almost no limit to what you can offer.
Clearly, it all comes down to cost and quality, and before you
consider what items to offer, the design elements and product
quality need to be considered.
Not every music act has a logo or icon – but it’s something
to consider when you start the whole process of branding.
Clearly, you can always just put your act’s name on a t-shirt in a
cool font, but try putting “The Mighty Awesome Mitochondria
Express” on a lighter or baseball cap. You might be better off
working back to a CD cover, logo, or icon (think of the Dave
Matthews dancer, the Wu-Tang “W,” or the Dead’s dancing
bears) that can stand alone or partner with your band name.
If you’re going to go that route, though, be particular. Just
because the drummer doodled something and feels connected
to it, it might not make for the best image to associate with
your act and adorn every piece of merchandise with. You’re
better off hiring a professional to design something, or finding
a way to tap your fan base for a potential contributor who
might work on trade.
Then there’s the quality of the merch. Of course, you have to
be able to sell it, and you have to make a profit on it, so you
can’t order 1,000 of everything and get designer swag for
every item. At the same time, this merch is going to represent
you, so going with the cheapest quality might reflect poorly
on your brand, and likely upset your fans who are forking out
their hard-earned money for what turned out to be a lousyquality piece of junk.
Ultimately, having a variety of merch to choose from makes
the experience better for your customers, but it’s impractical
to start out with a dozen options. Start with two or three, and
once things start moving, you can add more. A t-shirt is a likely
place to start, as are stickers, hoodies, and knit beanies.
If you’re looking for something a little farther off the beaten
path, you can easily find customized lollipops, embroidered
patches, key chains, buttons, coffee mugs, posters, kazoos,
lighters, temporary tattoos, custom USB thumb drives... the
list goes on and on.
There are plenty of road-tested methods to help you
improve your gig merch sales, which include:
Having a well-stocked, handsomely displayed, well-lit merch table.
Having a dedicated, friendly salesperson manning the booth
at all times.
Putting the table somewhere accessible but not in the way.
Announcing that you have CDs and merch for sale from the stage.
Announcing that you will be at the merch table after the show
to sign CDs and hang out.
Bundling items to encourage more sales.
Bundling merch and CDs can be effective in person and online,
if possible. If you have some control over your web store, in
addition to offering your wares, come up with packages that
can encourage multiple purchases at once. Make sure to lead
potential fans/buyers to your store in any email alerts you
send, and be sure to let them know when something new is
added to the store.
Music. Your main consumable products is, of course, your
music. Just as with your merch offerings, a selection of music,
in terms of titles and formats, will help cater to your fan base’s
varied preferences.
CDs. Whether it’s from the standard jewel case to the Zero
Carbon Footprint Digipak, or from the Green Wallet to the
Green Forestry Sleeve, your CD package can be scaled to match
your product. While it’s strictly a matter of preference, your
debut effort might be suited for a Jewel Case with a 4-panel
insert, your latest album begs for a Digipak and 12-page booklet
tucked into a Tube Pocket, and last year’s Holiday EP is a great
add-on in a Sleeve. Even demos or samplers can now get your
band’s branding treatment in custom (or small) quantities for
sale or as limited editions, giveaways, or freebies with a larger
purchase. With Oasis Express, you can get high-quality
disc duplication, complete with label-quality printing and
detail, with as little as one-day production turnaround.
Digital. Digital distribution of your music online is
something every serious artist has to consider, but you don’t
necessarily need to limit digital distribution to online activity.
“We’ve started to record our shows live and put them on USB
drives for fans who want to take the live experience home with
them,” explains Privett. “We buy a bunch of customized USBs
with our name and our website on them, and it’s certainly
diversifying our products and meeting our fans’ needs.
“Of course, it’s a learning process, and while there are trends
towards digital, there are a surprising amount of people who
are still ONLY using CDs, and will continue to. Just the other
night I was talking to a woman after a show, and I was like ‘You
know, you can get that song we played on this USB,’ and she
goes ‘Well, I don’t do iTunes. I’m old school – I have albums
and CDs.’ That’s what she does, and that’s what she’ll continue
to do, so there’s gonna be that market for a long time to come.
And for us, we’ve got to make sure that our fans can be served
by our group with whatever method they want.”
Of course, digital distribution is largely an online proposition,
and don’t forget that one of the key functions of Oasis’ Tools
of Promotion is to help you deliver your digital content –
including offers from CD Baby and LiveWire Musician. CD
Baby is all about distribution, through its partners who deliver
digital downloads, through the online CD store, and through
Facebook widgets that help you promote your music and sales.
With CD Baby, you have one account where you can manage
your physical and digital distribution network. With LiveWire
Musician, you can book shows, handle email sign-ups, search
and save industry contacts from their database, and send
emails to your fans.
Build a product-buying
fan base through
giveaways and goodwill.
There are differing opinions when it comes to the notion of
giving away your music and other products – but there are
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many compelling reasons to consider it, and many different
ways to use giveaways as a method of sparking interest in
future sales.
For a new band, giving away a short demo or EP could be one
way to spread some love, help get your music distributed, build
some interest, and ultimately establish a market and demand
for your product.
“We actually spent a year handing out a 4-song demo tape on
cassette,” recalls Privett. “We had this rack of tape decks and
were duping those in our living room and when we were at our
day jobs – any chance we could get – and we made thousands
and thousands of these tapes and just gave them out at shows.
We developed a fan base, enough that when we got 12 songs
together, it was time to call it official and make a CD. So it was
a big deal then – it meant more than just ‘here’s a collection of
songs for your fans.’”
With digital distribution, there are new ways to go about
delivering your demo, but a CD handout at shows is one tried
and true method. And with the ease and low cost of Oasis
Express, you can produce a 4-song demo, make it look
beautiful, and increase the perceived value of the product
vs. handing out a home-burned CD-R with a printed stick-on
label or Sharpie treatment. And with downloads and online
streaming services, or by embedding streaming tracks and
downloads on your own website, you can easily deliver new
songs, outtakes, works in progress, or acoustic versions online
to spark interest. In fact, outtakes and acoustic versions could
also be a teaser giveaway at shows, or an additional “gift” with
a purchase of a full CD, to entice gig sales.
The point is, you don’t need to give away
the cream of the crop and deliver
your A-list product, like your
fully-produced CD tracks, for
free. Use alternate takes,
older material, etc. to build
goodwill and interest in the
products you plan to sell.
Freebies with your merch can also
go a long way toward selling t-shirts
and other goodies. Reward your
street team and merch maven
with your most handsome t-shirt,
adorn the first 15 fans through
the door with rubber bracelets,
or gift the house soundman with
a knit beanie. Nothing gets people
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convinced something is worth buying like seeing someone who
already made that decision (even if they didn’t actually buy it).
Be Social.
The fact that you need to have some sort of web and social
presence is no mystery, and spelling out a detailed strategy
and game plan for your online endeavors would require a book
of its own. But for a general overview, it is worth noting some
basic fundamentals when it comes to your digital footprint,
and from there, it’s up to you to map out your own personal
identity online.
Be diverse. As an independent artist, one of your missions
ought to be to constantly produce material that will evoke
a response from your audience and give them something to
connect with. Clearly, new music is at the forefront of this
process, and posting new songs – whether it’s full production,
acoustic renditions, covers, or live tracks – is one way to fill
that pipeline.
But releasing new material every week, while possible, is
probably unattainable (not to mention largely unnecessary).
While your connection to your audience starts with your music,
social media and the web provide an amazing opportunity
to take your audience along for the ride of what’s it’s like to
be a creative, performing musician. Hopefully they’re falling
in love with your music, and by giving them access to your
creative process, your everyday endeavors, and other nuggets
“from the vault,” you can connect with your audience on a
more intimate level than your music alone can provide.
What does this mean? It could mean
posting videos of footage of you and
the band preparing to take the stage
before a gig, or post-gig interviews
with fans after the show. It could
mean keeping a tour blog, or producing
a series of posts about the recording
process for your current album. It
could mean Facebook contests, or
collaborative lyric writing via
a web page or Twitter stream,
or personal anecdotes about
the meaning of, or inspiration
for, the songs on your latest
release. What you want to
share and how you go about
sharing it speaks a lot about your
personality as an artist or band, and
Get streamlined
and maximize your
efforts and your profit.
Streamlining your efforts is vital – more gets done, and gets
done better, when you are able to recognize your needs and
pinpoint the right people for the job. Carbon Leaf, Virginia
natives, indie-music stalwarts, and long-time Oasis clients,
can attest to this. They started independently, making an
independent CD with Oasis, then found themselves on a record
label, where the CD manufacturing process was handled by the
label. When the label ride came to an end, the band was back to
being independent, and their ties with Oasis were renewed.
In the music biz, there are all sorts of great relationships you
can make that can help your career, and not all of them obvious.
Fans. Are you forgetting your fans? From pre- or post-gig
hang outs, to social media communication, to recruiting
fans for your street team, there are so many ways to build
relationships with the people who like your music. This can
grow, organically, to find you seeking fan input on things like
what kind of merch you should offer or soliciting t-shirt and
album designs. Including fans in an upcoming video, providing
online remix contests, and organizing post-gig house concerts
are other creative ways to get fans engaged. The more engaged
your fans are, the more likely they’ll be to turn other friends
on to your music.
“For us,” says Barry Privett, guitarist and vocalist for Carbon
Leaf, “I think a big part of working with Oasis was handing
off that component of worry and ‘one more thing we’ve got to
do,’ and being able to hand our CD job to Eileen and Oasis and
just be able to say, ‘Please handle it, here are the components,
here’s when I need the project, let me know what I need to do.’
And you know, it just gets done. That’s a big deal, just being
able to have someone that says ‘Oh yeah, no problem we can
do this.’ It’s been a timesaver, and a turnkey thing, and when
you’re so burned out from recording and mixing, the last
thing you want to do is make a headache of the packaging and
manufacturing process.
Industry. Making personal connections with people in the
“Working with Oasis kind of inducted us into being in business
for ourselves, it was one of those educational steps: ‘This is how
you press the CDs, this is gonna be part of your business, this is
where you learn what a UPC or ISRC code is and why you need
it.’ Even to the point of how to get the stuff registered with the
Library of Congress back in the day when you filled out those
reams of forms. I’d have to say that working with good people
like Oasis on our projects was part of the learning process of
what being independent is all about.”
and musicians who are friends of yours who start doing
well for themselves can be mighty powerful allies. Building
relationships with musicians can lead to gig swaps,
introductions to industry and booking agents, and an increase
of your own fan base. As any of these folks gain notoriety,
this could very well lead to better opening spots for you,
introductions to contacts at bigger clubs, and a chance to play
for bigger rooms full of potential fans.
Build relationships.
So much of business – so much of life, really – is about
relationships. And while, from a karmic “you get what you
give” perspective, it’s just plain common decency to be good
to the people you interact with and treat them with respect
– there are immediate benefits you shouldn’t ignore. A good
relationship with your dentist might mean preferential
treatment when it comes to scheduling, your garbage man
might pick up that extra bag you left out of the can, and your
in-laws might get off your back about not being the doctor they
dreamed their little girl was going to marry.
music industry, especially the local players in your scene, will
go a long way. The music business is made up of networks of
regular people like you, and knowing who is who and being
genuinely interested in what other people are doing in the
industry can help you better understand what it takes to make
an impression – and how you can get involved and be a positive
member of the group. You’re also going to meet likeminded
folks and grow your network, and that will increase the
likelihood of you being in the “right place at the right time”
when opportunity peeks around the corner.
Other Musicians. Other musicians are your allies,
Local Music Scene. There’s no telling what a good rapport
with a local studio engineer or band manager can do. Maybe an
engineer needs a band to sit in and record for a recording school
session, a producer needs a band for a tribute compilation, or a
local manager needs an opener for a hot act he’s showcasing.
Just being on the list when someone asks “Who’s good around
here?” puts you on the map, and having a relationship with the
folks who are making things happen is as useful as being the
“best” music act in town (whatever that is).
Club Managers /Booking Agents. Developing a good
relationship with the people who book your local clubs can
translate to something as powerful as having the ability to
book your own night at a given venue. A good relationship
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finding your voice and your model will take a bit of time and
effort. But you’ve got to dive in and get going.
Work in tandem. One challenge facing you as a marketer/
communicator is the sheer number of avenues available to
connect with your audience. There are the numerous social
platforms, video channels, music discovery sites, and your
own website to maintain. It can easily be a full-time job just
managing all your profiles and accounts.
This is where pooling your resources and delegating tasks
will be useful. Perhaps having each band member take one or
two platforms as the one(s) they own, can make the process
of keeping up to date across the board a little easier. Maybe
a fan or two can get involved and be your social marketing
team. Whatever your formula, one bit of advice is to keep your
online profiles manageable. It’s easy to get carried away and
try to be everywhere possible and lose track of what you’re
doing. This can be counterproductive, as a presence on a site
or platform that is stagnant or wildly out of date isn’t good
promotion – it can actually make you look like you’re lazy,
defunct, or dormant.
“Being an independent artist today means being able to
have success your own way, on your terms. I mean, we
work hard and we get to do it full time, so I can’t complain.”
– Barry Privett, Carbon Leaf
The ability to be an independent artist and make a viable
career in music is liberating. If you choose to do it, and are
able to produce the music and brand to support yourself, you
can take control of every single element of your career.
Did we say it’s liberating? Well, it certainly is. Did we mention
it can be pretty scary, too? Scary only because every single
element of your career is now in your hands. In addition to
being a creative songwriter, a recording professional, and
being prepared for any and all live gigging situations, you
also need to be the manager, booking agent, accountant,
social media expert, email marketer, website designer, CD
manufacturer, graphic designer, and everything in between.
Actually, that’s not entirely true.
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Being independent means you have control over all these
things, but it doesn’t mean you have to do it all yourself. In
fact, the real success stories in independent music, which
happen on all different levels of the industry, usually include
a chapter on the team that made the success possible. Being
able to delegate and recognize when you need to hand off a
task to someone else – because they are either more adept at it
or because you can’t afford the time – is a key element to being
successful in anything.
Of course, there is no actual “roadmap” for sales and success
in the music business as an indie artist, but there are some
key tenets and strategies you can apply right away to help you
develop your own model for a career in music.
Pick the sites and services you like best, and the ones your fans
seem most interested in, and use them to their best advantage.
In addition, make sure your efforts are coordinated, so that
your Tweets and Facebook posts relate to the new video or song
you’ve posted, and that the new video highlights the album
that’s coming up. Everything should point to the latest show or
event you’re promoting. In addition, it’s important that your
messages are pertinent, your “voice” consistent, and all your
online efforts coordinate to either get your fans to take your
desired call to action or achieve your promotional objective.
“When we started out,” adds Privett, “we had to manage the
war of time between running the day-to-day business stuff and
fighting for the time to write, rehearse, record, produce, and
play live. Social media, and even maintaining a website, is now
a major component that we didn’t have back then. Our ‘social
media’ was sending out a postcard to our mailing list once a
month with our tour dates! Now, it’s easier to do, but it can eat
up more of your time in dribs and drabs that can pull you away
from the center of your artistic reason to be, which is creating
new music. I’d like to blog more, I’d like to have a Twitter
account, I’d like to be posting more, but my day is full with the
musical side.
of that slack and keep us connected. The last thing I want is
for social media to become over-used but under-utilized, and
that’s a learning process. The challenge is making sure that
we are off in our creative space deeply enough and growing
as artists, so that when the songs emerge and are ready for
release, it’s what fans MUST HEAR.”
Don’t forget email. Amidst all of these efforts,
maintaining and cultivating your email list is one
communication medium you shouldn’t overlook. The folks
who sign up for your email list – either online or at your live
shows – are your real fans. These are the people who have
raised their hands and have expressed an interest in hearing
about your shows, your music, and your story. Don’t disappoint!
Reach out to these super fans with engaging content, special
offers, and the latest news about your musical journey.
Of course, you also have to deliver engaging content.
Particularly with email, if you don’t have something useful or
timely to deliver, your messages will soon become a nuisance
and you’ll be in danger of sabotaging one of your greatest assets
– the people who volunteered to get to know you better and
who want to be engaged. This is why producing content that
will keep them entertained and connected is so important.
Achieve that, and you can deepen the bond and the interest
this group of fans have with your music.
You have the tools at your fingertips to connect to
your audience, create your art, deliver your message,
and build relationships with people around the
corner and around the world. Your roadmap to
success begins with your artistic expression, and
from there, it’s up to you to forge your own path. I
can still hear Casey Kasem’s voice closing out his
Top 40 radio broadcast saying “Keep your feet on the
ground and keep reaching for the stars.” It may be a
little corny, but it’s still pretty inspirational. Just
remember that reaching for the stars includes doing
the day to day promotion, networking, and creative
work that will build your stairway
to success.
“So there’s a balance that needs to be struck, and luckily as a
band, you do have others in the group who can pick up some
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About Carbon Leaf
Blending folk, Celtic, bluegrass, Americana, rock,
and pop, Carbon Leaf’s music is best summed up
by the title of one of their earliest albums, EtherElectrified Porch Music. Carbon Leaf debuted as an
independent college band in 1993, eventually leading
to a recording contract with Vanguard Records in
2004. Among the accolades and accomplishments
in their recording and performing career are being
the first independent band to ever win an American
Music Award, and recording the music for Universal
Pictures’ Curious George 2 soundtrack. In celebration
of 20 years together, the band has an ambitious slate
of new singles and full-album releases planned in
2013 for the turning of each new season, starting with
Ghost Dragon Attacks Castle in February, a 12-song
collection of Celtic-inspired original tunes.
Learn more:
www.carbonleaf.com
www.facebook.com/carbonleaf
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