10 things you'll realize when you release an album

[Kyo]

Disclaimer: This is a shameless cross-post to several forums, but since my original post generated a lot of very interesting discussion with lots of good stories and valuable comments from other musicians, I thought I'd just go ahead and post it here as well:

I'd like to share this little list of things I learned in the six months following the release of my band's debut album.


When you release an album, you will realize that...

1. ... relying on online acquaintances to help promote your music (e.g., by writing reviews if they like it) is mostly futile. This can even harm your however loose relationship with people when they disappoint you for no good reason.

2. ... on the other hand, sometimes perfect strangers can become untiring champions of your music which feels just great.

3. ... some magazines and review pages can't even be bothered to reply to a promo offer via e-mail. Makes you really want to send them a CD just like that, eh? 

4. ... a large part of many reviews is just a slightly re-phrased version of your official band biography. So better make sure it's well-written.

5. ... a surprising percentage of positive (!) reviews doesn't include a single nicely quotable sentence.

6. ... even when your guest star is very obviously featured on your entire album, some "professionals" will still write that he "guests on a couple of tracks". 

7. ... you were clearly influenced by <insert band you've never heard in your life>.

8. ... some people buy your album (thanks!) but then share their download link with all their friends (WTF?!). It's one form of "support", I guess... 

9. ... quite a few of your online acquaintances don't legally obtain music at all (they might make an exception for their favorite band).

10. ... you shouldn't expect people to stick to public announcements like "I will buy this ASAP", especially coming from other musicians. 


To be continued...

[bosk1]

7. ... you were clearly influenced by <insert band you've never heard in your life>.

[ZBomber]

7. ... you were clearly influenced by <insert band you've never heard in your life>.

That made me laugh as well. 

But I think people sending their friends your album is a GOOD thing. Honestly, exposure is the most important thing early in a band's career. People are much more likely to buy an album from a new band if they have already heard the album, instead of taking a chance and blowing 10 bucks if they don't like it.

[Kyo]

7. ... you were clearly influenced by <insert band you've never heard in your life>.

That made me laugh as well. 

Which reminds me, I really gotta check out Canvas Solaris. Maybe
it's the other way round and they've been influenced by us? 

But I think people sending their friends your album is a GOOD thing. Honestly, exposure is the most important thing early in a band's career. People are much more likely to buy an album from a new band if they have already heard the album, instead of taking a chance and blowing 10 bucks if they don't like it.

Hey, I'm really all for people HEARING this music. Please, everyone, listen!
That's why we put the whole album on MySpace. We don't take down any
YouTube uploads of the songs either. That's all fine. People listening can and
will usually lead to people buying. But people who have already downloaded high
quality mp3 files (or even FLACs in our case) are far less likely to buy anything.

[yorost]

7. ... you were clearly influenced by <insert band you've never heard in your life>.

Yeah, I always wondered how oft that was the case!

[Kyo]

Btw, my favorite comment so far (from another forum) and a real eye-opener for me:

Wow times have changed. 10 years ago a topic like this would also have included another 10 items about the crooks that run the record company and the deal they conned you into signing.

So true, and yet I never even considered it since we never had to deal with a record company to start with!

[Adami]

If you were live band (I understand you don't gig regularly), you could add

11. The dozens of people pledging to come see your shows but who somehow ALWAYS have something come up last minute and can't answer their phones the night of the event, leaving you to play nearly empty club.

[Kyo]

If you were live band (I understand you don't gig regularly), you could add

11. The dozens of people pledging to come see your shows but who somehow ALWAYS have something come up last minute and can't answer their phones the night of the event, leaving you to play nearly empty club.

Yeah, I can totally see that happening. We had some people act like that when
it came to attending our little release party gig last November, but thankfully it
was just two and one seriously apologized for it afterwards. I hope the ratio stays
like this when we play some real gigs in the future (possibly later this year).

[Ultimetalhead]

Yeah, this stuff is mostly true. I don't really care if people spread my music around, especially since it's free to begin with.

That's right. That's an open invitation to download ALL my music and share it with EVERYONE YOU KNOW. With such freedom at your fingertips, you should totally do it now.

[skydivingninja]

7. ... you were clearly influenced by <insert band you've never heard in your life>.

   Reminds me of an interview Mic Todd of Coheed & Cambria did.  The interviewer said how much of Mic's bass playing was influenced by Saga and asked him about it, but all he could say was that he had never heard of that band in his life.

[Nick]

If you were live band (I understand you don't gig regularly), you could add

11. The dozens of people pledging to come see your shows but who somehow ALWAYS have something come up last minute and can't answer their phones the night of the event, leaving you to play nearly empty club.

Frankly the problem is people shouldn't have to swear they are coming to things or have to answer their phone to answer to you. From personal experience I can say this is VERY annoying. If you're writing or playing music for any other reason than you love the music than you are entering tricky ground.

[yorost]

7. ... you were clearly influenced by <insert band you've never heard in your life>.

That made me laugh as well. 

Which reminds me, I really gotta check out Canvas Solaris. Maybe
it's the other way round and they've been influenced by us? 

But I think people sending their friends your album is a GOOD thing. Honestly, exposure is the most important thing early in a band's career. People are much more likely to buy an album from a new band if they have already heard the album, instead of taking a chance and blowing 10 bucks if they don't like it.

Hey, I'm really all for people HEARING this music. Please, everyone, listen!
That's why we put the whole album on MySpace. We don't take down any
YouTube uploads of the songs either. That's all fine. People listening can and
will usually lead to people buying. But people who have already downloaded high
quality mp3 files (or even FLACs in our case) are far less likely to buy anything.

If you were live band (I understand you don't gig regularly), you could add

11. The dozens of people pledging to come see your shows but who somehow ALWAYS have something come up last minute and can't answer their phones the night of the event, leaving you to play nearly empty club.

Yeah, I can totally see that happening. We had some people act like that when
it came to attending our little release party gig last November, but thankfully it
was just two and one seriously apologized for it afterwards. I hope the ratio stays
like this when we play some real gigs in the future (possibly later this year).

Your line wrapping, it broke.

[Jamesman42]

10. ... you shouldn't expect people to stick to public announcements like "I will buy this ASAP", especially coming from other musicians. 

Just waiting on some money to come in...I want to get it.

[Adami]

If you were live band (I understand you don't gig regularly), you could add

11. The dozens of people pledging to come see your shows but who somehow ALWAYS have something come up last minute and can't answer their phones the night of the event, leaving you to play nearly empty club.

Frankly the problem is people shouldn't have to swear they are coming to things or have to answer their phone to answer to you. From personal experience I can say this is VERY annoying. If you're writing or playing music for any other reason than you love the music than you are entering tricky ground.

Not my point at all. When you have a show, and you tell your friends and they tell you they will all come, you get really excited. Then the night fo the show, no one shows up and you lose all level of excitement. Sure, they don't owe you anything, but you didn't demand they promise to come.

[Kyo]

If you're writing or playing music for any other reason than you love the music than you are entering tricky ground.

But if you're playing gigs hoping for people who promised to show up and
in the end nobody does, pretty soon you won't be able to get booked
anywhere, no matter how much you might love the music you'd play.

[Kyo]

10. ... you shouldn't expect people to stick to public announcements like "I will buy this ASAP", especially coming from other musicians. 

Just waiting on some money to come in...I want to get it.

Haha!  I believe you, I really do.    I just know some people whose promises go back more than half a year. 

[Nick]

In my personal case the problem is people don't ask you if they are going to come and then leave with a "maybe". They bug you and bug you and bug you until the point where you just say yes whether you plan to show up or not.

For the record, I did end up buying the CD, even broke my rule of how much I'll pay ($15) to get it here in America.

[Kyo]

In my personal case the problem is people don't ask you if they are going to come and then leave with a "maybe". They bug you and bug you and bug you until the point where you just say yes whether you plan to show up or not.

Did you tell them all this in such clear terms? Maybe sometimes it's better to just say no...

For the record, I did end up buying the CD, even broke my rule of how much I'll pay ($15) to get it here in America.

Excellent, thanks!

It's $15 at CD Baby, but of course that doesn't yet include shipping
costs. I hope you found the CD artwork and booklet worth it! 

[Jamesman42]

10. ... you shouldn't expect people to stick to public announcements like "I will buy this ASAP", especially coming from other musicians. 

Just waiting on some money to come in...I want to get it.

Haha!  I believe you, I really do.    I just know some people whose promises go back more than half a year. 

I read the review that was cross-posted from your new FB group and progarchives, and I am more pumped for your CD.

[Orbert]

I like the list.  A nice blend of humor and sad reality, so to speak.