When Blank Media Costs Less Than Your Album
Chances are, blank media costs less than your album. What now?
Rarely, do I get a chance to listen to an album all the way through. Writing requires different type of background ambiance; almost familiar, yet not too overwhelming. Therefore, most of the time, when I write, I either listen to streams or non-disruptive titles. Some whole albums are my writing albums, but not many can fill that role; it calls for a certain group of songs and they are always changing. This weekend was different. I had planned to make a trip across state over the holiday and thought this would be the perfect time to catch up on my listening.
Since I’ve decided to go without an iPod, for now, this meant that I would need to burn a number of my digital files onto discs. To my memory, I haven’t bought blank media since high-school. So, I meandered into Wal-Mart and went looking for a small packet of discs that would suffice for the task at hand. Back in electronics, I found what I came for and proceeded to the checkout. As the clerk rang up my thirty-pack of discs, I confessed that I was slightly confused about the price that came out: $10.18. That seemed about right, but I told him that I had come across a pack of fifty discs that were about $2 cheaper than that. I asked what the difference was between the two sets. Unsure, he and I walked back to the aisle. After a quick glance, he told me that the pack of fifty discs, same brand and everything, had been marked down. I swapped out for higher quantity set—that I didn’t need—and now my total dropped to $7.84. Perplexed as I walked towards the exit, I started to wonder as to what message this would send to someone else and how such a relatively cheap resource could be exploited.
What message do you think this sends fans?
Your CD=$10-15 VS. A 50 Pack Of Blank Media=$8
Now, I understand that artists have used this strategy in the past and uploaded cheeky YouTube videos that encouraged their fans to become small-time music distribution centers for their albums. However, I’m curious to hear your ideas on how artists have and can use the falling costs of blank media to their advantage.
How could you encourage your fans to put the love and energy they have for your music and creatively convince them to burn upwards of fifty copies of your album and personally hand them to their friends?
–Kyle Bylin
Was there ever a point when blank media was more expensive than albums?
Good point. It used to also take an hour to burn a CD and you couldn't touch your computer, for fear that the disc would be ruined. I'm using the title to refer more to the fact that massive amounts of blank media are becoming cheaper than the latter. It's just an entry into a possible conversation.
uh, blank laser discs? Were they expensive? did they exist?
Blank vinyl. that’s pretty expensive! Especially one you factor a vinyl-burner into the equation….
Blank 2-inch reel-to-reel. Now that’s DEFINITELY more expensive…
Um, you are young aren’t you? History lesson: Back in the 80s, cheap cassette tapes cost about a buck a piece (and unlike CDs, could be re-used). Even a high quality Maxell cassette tape cost a max of $4 or $5. Taping albums was commonplace and certainly didn’ kill the music biz. The industry just started selling pre-recorded cassettes to meet the demand for cassette’s appeal.
Same with CDs. mp3s were the new “blank tape” and iTunes became the new pre-recorded cassette. The only difference is that the margin is much lower on a iTunes single versus the full-album cassette (and this is killing the big labels).
The trick is not to figure out how to make money giving music away, but how to entice your fans to buy the whole album (or a bundle) instead of cherry picking your songs.
PS. Of course if you’re an ultra-low overhead outfit like Poomplamoose or J. Coultan, you can do pretty well selling singles…
what about selling an album containing 4 CD’s in a bigger packaging (like the old vinyl covers), one for the customer, 3 he can give to his friends?
also important: add to the packaging something cool that cannot be replicated, in order to add value to the real thing (autograph, book, gadget, etc.).
then your fan could share your music with his friends with a beautiful gift, not just an anonymous CD-R, and if his friends like it they could eventually decide to buy the real thing for the pleasure of doing the same with their friends, spreading the word.
“Um, you are young aren’t you?”
Kyle, don’t let anyone ever tell you that’s a bad thing, especially in your role 😉
This has always been the case, since when has convincing fans to burn your music been a new ground breaking idea? (1996??) this just doesn’t seem relevant.
I didn't mean to bring about this idea like it was something new. But, I was hoping to gather a few neat examples that I could compile into a post. I thought it was worth posting about because 3-5 examples of some cool things that other bands have done with blank media could be instructive to the rest of the readers.
Thanks for the sarcasm, Ed! I’m glad senior citizens are learning the ropes of online communication, too. Soon you’ll be LULZing with the rest of us kids.
“…because 3-5 examples of some cool things that other bands have done with blank media could be instructive to the rest of the readers.”
Yes, that would make for a more useful and informative blog post. A compilation of these “cool ideas with blank media” would be welcome.
I forget how, but I remember Chester French getting kids to do this. The mixtape d/l came with hi-res artwork and hi-q mp3s for their fans to print & burn then give to friends.
I remember them having some success with this in 09.
to me the only advantage of the falling costs of blank media is that the perceived value of a burned cd is zero.
when it comes to giving a present to a friend of yours, it’s not cool to give him a burned cd or some immaterial mp3’s.
selling CD’s for personal use only is a pretty much lost battle, since for personal use the mp3’s are preferred.
but a CD with a nice packaging and some enclosed gadgets, still make a beautiful gift.
Is it really necessary to be so condescending and rude to Kyle? You could’ve made your point without that tone. It’s one thing to have a constructive debate, but completely another to judge someone based upon what you perceive their age to be and insult their intelligence by giving them a “history lesson.”
Or we could save the earth and put an end to this hedonistic nonsense. Stop buying CDs so they can stop making them. Who needs them? It’s not an immediate change because my grandma still has a CD player, but we can get there. Kids won’t even miss them, if they never had them.
it’s a different story when there is some great, genuine artwork attached to it.