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Charging for a mixtape?
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| Allied Nations |
I'm sure the thread title brough about quite a few thoughts already....
In any case, I just had a bunch of CDs professionally printed and sorted and it ended up costing me a good bit, especially for the poor student that I am.
My friend who runs the printing company is a DJ as well and he suggested I sell some of the copies to cover costs and make a buck of two. I've been going back and forth with the idea bouncing it off people all day getting different perspectives. Some claim promos should be handed out, others say if they want the properly made cd they can buy it, otherwise download it for free. I thouught about charging 5 dollars, but that seems like a lot, then again $5 is half a pack of smokes.
They cost me $1.25 per cd, so costs arent too high... If I was going to do it, I planned to have them for sale at the door, which means I'd have to cut the coatcheck girls a little bit which is totally reasonable if I were to go through with it... So then let's say I cut them .50 cents on each unit sold, I'm taking about $3.25 minus costs of the tunes on actual cd.
Hmm... Seems businessy to me... not so sure...
Then I thought about charging $2 (we have a 2 dollar coin in Canada for those who dont know) which makes it very easy and much more like a tip, small price to pay for the service and a nicely labeled, fresh cd .
Now obviously I'd give some away but having them at the door for 2$ would allow people who didnt know me, left at a random time, or whatever reason to get ahold of the music easily. It also means you have to want it, just a little bit. The whole problem with when CDs are given away unless you have a massive quanitity so many just end up in the trash, I didn't make these for that. , I'd pay 2 bucks for a cd at a random party if I liked the music- it's the reasonable thing to do, in fact I think I'd be happy if I had the option to snap up a cd like that.
These are just some rambling thoughts I need to put together by friday...
Then again do I even want to charge? Never really thought about it before today.
feel free to add anything to the discussion :) |
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| Oreoh142 |
| It seems like a good idea. Cant you post a picture of the CD and case and what not so we get a general idea of the quality. Selling them at the door would be a pretty good idea, but only if you put like a business card or some sort inside as well so people can contact you after words. |
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| Darkarbiter |
| quote: | Originally posted by Allied Nations
I'm sure the thread title brough about quite a few thoughts already....
In any case, I just had a bunch of CDs professionally printed and sorted and it ended up costing me a good bit, especially for the poor student that I am.
My friend who runs the printing company is a DJ as well and he suggested I sell some of the copies to cover costs and make a buck of two. I've been going back and forth with the idea bouncing it off people all day getting different perspectives. Some claim promos should be handed out, others say if they want the properly made cd they can buy it, otherwise download it for free. I thouught about charging 5 dollars, but that seems like a lot, then again $5 is half a pack of smokes.
They cost me $1.25 per cd, so costs arent too high... If I was going to do it, I planned to have them for sale at the door, which means I'd have to cut the coatcheck girls a little bit which is totally reasonable if I were to go through with it... So then let's say I cut them .50 cents on each unit sold, I'm taking about $3.25 minus costs of the tunes on actual cd.
Hmm... Seems businessy to me... not so sure...
Then I thought about charging $2 (we have a 2 dollar coin in Canada for those who dont know) which makes it very easy and much more like a tip, small price to pay for the service and a nicely labeled, fresh cd .
Now obviously I'd give some away but having them at the door for 2$ would allow people who didnt know me, left at a random time, or whatever reason to get ahold of the music easily. It also means you have to want it, just a little bit. The whole problem with when CDs are given away unless you have a massive quanitity so many just end up in the trash, I didn't make these for that. , I'd pay 2 bucks for a cd at a random party if I liked the music- it's the reasonable thing to do, in fact I think I'd be happy if I had the option to snap up a cd like that.
These are just some rambling thoughts I need to put together by friday...
Then again do I even want to charge? Never really thought about it before today.
feel free to add anything to the discussion :) |
Why not sell your best (or at least a reasonably good one) for $2 and charge $5 for the rest. That way they can demo it... and if they really like it then they support your efforts. |
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| Oreoh142 |
| quote: | Originally posted by Darkarbiter
Why not sell your best (or at least a reasonably good one) for $2 and charge $5 for the rest. That way they can demo it... and if they really like it then they support your efforts. |
Because then if he plans on giving them out at the door they would have to go home or listen to it on the car ride, and if they like it, well honestly it might be too late to go back and get the others or what not. |
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| veezee |
I dont think I need to point out the obvious, but unless you get permission from every artist on the "demo" that you make, it is not legal.
Then again, charge or no charge I think they are illegal.
I could be wrong.. *shrug*
I have always given my cd's away (because they are dirt cheap) and are not so bad even if i just used a sharpie to write on them.
Also, a printer that prints directly to CD (ie: Epson R220) , is dirt cheap ($90) and only $30 (approx) to refill ALL 6 carts.. If you only need one replaced it is $8 .. each full replacement of all gets you 150 + CD/DVD's (heavy on color too) printed.
my humble thoughts... :)
Jay |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| quote: | Originally posted by veezee
I dont think I need to point out the obvious, but unless you get permission from every artist on the "demo" that you make, it is not legal. |
yeah, its not legal to sell mix CDs. its no different to copying CDs and selling them.
stop being such a tightarse. |
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| Storyteller |
| quote: | Originally posted by veezee
I dont think I need to point out the obvious, but unless you get permission from every artist on the "demo" that you make, it is not legal.
Then again, charge or no charge I think they are illegal.
I could be wrong.. *shrug*
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Yep always illegal. Unless you have written permission of the company/person owning the rights on the track. Which in general is not the artist but the record label. |
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| Rick D |
| what the others have said really, whether you give them away or sell them its illegal, although giving them away tends to be overlooked because its the way the scene operates, however i'm sure that if any of the artists featured found out you were making money from it, they would be less than impressed... |
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| skip |
| i can see the dilemma you're having, but IMO selling the CDs is not the right solution. i'd just give them away if i were you. but you'd have to come up with some other way of sorting out the people that really want them and the ones that'll throw it in the bin when they've gone out the door. make them do something for the CDs. dunno what that could be, but asking money for them is wrong IMO. |
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| Stu Cox |
Essentially it's a bit of promotional material (rather than something designed to directly make you money) and the benefits of people supporting your music, in my opinion, is worth losing money on the printing costs.
Also, if the artists find out you've been charging for copies of a mix with their tracks on it, they're likely to be a lot more pissed off than if you hand them out for free. The legality thing doesn't really come into it as it's just as illegal either way, but artists & labels are more likely to do something about it if you're charging.
Having said that, if you were to charge $1-2 it would be quite obvious that you're not making any money on it and people just having to dig something out of their pocket would make them think about whether they actually want a copy (rather than grabbing it cos it's free then chucking it away, like you say).
I agree that I'd happily pay £5 ($10) for a CD at an event if I liked the music, but the issue isn't really with whether the punters will go for it or not (if it's that cheap, I'm sure it'd be popular), it's more of a music industry morality/courtesy thing imo. |
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| Watts |
I know in America you at least need some kind of license from the copyright holder to sell a CD with its track on it (I believe Canada has similar laws). Also you're officially a record label, even if you have a name or not. Congrats!
Honestly I would just sell it as a bootleg. Hip-Hop djs have been doing that since Flash's time. |
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| Trance Nutter |
you gotta spend money to make money.
Don't be a tightarse. |
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