Nothing beats the excitement of cracking the seal of
your brand new CD album. It's the culmination of your creative efforts, a moment
to relish. But be wary. Anticipation of this 'Christmas morning' experience can
stir the emotions and cause artists to order more CDs than they really want or
need. Go overboard and you could bear the discouragement of hundreds of dusty
unsold CDs. Choose the right number, and you'll cut production costs, increase
demand, boost your profits, and gain confidence when you sell out.
So, how many CDs should you make? Read on to learn
how to estimate your needs based on your fan base, fan engagement, previous
sales numbers, and more.
Every year we produce dozens of albums for churches,
schools and independent artists through our parent company, indie record label
Legacy Productions.
The following factors, ordered from least to most important, help us determine
the quantity we believe a group will sell, and consequently how many we will
manufacture. Because all these factors affect the decision, we won't offer exact
quantity suggestions until the end of the article. No peeking : )
5)
Price
After producing several hundreds of albums, we have found little indication
that price plays a major factor in the number of CDs a small indie artist will
sell. If you are not a large indie group (with over 5,000 fans) or a signed
artist, you must believe that your loyal fans will buy, your so-so fans will
not, regardless of price. Our albums sell for $15-20 and experiments with lower
prices have not significantly affected sales figures.
4) Fan Base Size
One way to gauge demand for your album is to consider how many fans you
have. Naturally, the more you have, the more CDs you will sell. When counting
your fans, remember to include your family and friends, plus people in
organizations loyal to you, such as churches; schools; community groups; and
your workplace. Artists with under 500 fans might consider pressing fewer CDs,
whereas groups with 5,000 fans will push higher quantities. This is not the only
factor, though. So read on...
3) Fan Base Engagement
So you've got a thousand fans. Great! But how you define "fans" is
important. The next factor to consider is the level of engagement of these fans.
In other words, how dedicated are they to supporting your music? Take that fan
base and think about who actually visits your performances and web site. Do the
nitty-gritty work of actually reading your web stats and actually taking head
counts at your shows. This takes courage, but will give you a good indication of
the number of dedicated fans you have, bringing you one step closer to
accurately estimating how many will actually buy your CD.
2) Previous Sales Numbers
Next, take it a step further and consider who will actually plunk down their
hard-earned cash to support your music. One of the very best ways to gauge
future sales is to consider past sales. If you released an album last year, how
many did you sell? That's likely going to be close the the number you sell this
time. Maybe you've never sold an album. If not, consider the success of
merchandise sales or of past fundraisers. If this is your first album,
take it easy, play it safe, and learn what you're capable of.
1) Willingness to Promote
Alright, we've grilled, grilled, grilled your fans. Now think about you. Are
you willing to actively promote your album. To what level? What extent? Will you
be engaged on your album page, on social networks, on other web sites? Will you
hand out promotional cards, hang posters, and make announcements at your
concerts? Will you tell everyone you know about your album, including your
friends, family, and local new sources? Will you display your album with pride
at your shows? These may be hard questions to ask because this is where you
have to work to influence your sales. But, guess what? This is the number
one factor we consider when predicting the success of a group that we sign to
our label. It makes all the difference.
10 Tips for Promoting Your Album
Just give me a number already!
So how many CDs can I sell?
In our experience, large churches, schools,
and independent artists with a solid following and active promotion efforts
typically sell between 200 and 500 CDs; large groups with strong followings can
sell 1,000; small groups with less of a following would be safer to hang around
the 100 quantity. Annual sales above 1,000 are rare for indie artists.
How many should I make?
Take what you think you will sell between now and the release of your next
album and add 100 to that. That's how many you should make. Your manufacturer
will emphasize lower per-disc costs at higher quantities. But there are other
considerations. If you record songs that other people wrote, you will need
mechanical licensing. If you make 100 CDs, a mechanical license is around $25
per song. If you make 1,000 CDs it's $105 per song. Factoring in the lower
manufacturing cost, making 100 CDs instead of 1,000 could save you roughly
$1,000 if this is a cover album.
Reording Ain't that Hard
Was it a struggle to release your album? Was there a lot of back and forth with
your producer, designer, manufacturer? Well, all that goes away with a reorder.
It's basically one phone call to your manufacturer and that's it. Reordering
your licensing is simple too - only one click or one phone call. We offer 50%
off our fees for exact reorders and your manufacturer may be give you a similar
discount. So remember that reordering is an option.
P.S. Quality Considerations
Quality is an issue when deciding quantities. However, we're tacking this
onto the end of this article because the truth is, modern manufacturing allows
you to get beautiful, retail-quality CDs at any quantity.
Here's how it works:
Orders of 500 or more will be replicated.
Replication is the
process of manufacturing CDs or DVDs with a glass master that presses a data
impression onto the disc. Replicated discs also typically have a screen-printed
CD face. When you look at the bottom of a replicated disc, it looks mostly
silver. You have to struggle to see a faint line of silver where the pressed
data meets the blank space on the disc.
Orders under 500 will be duplicated. Duplication is the process of manufacturing
CDs or DVDs with a laser that burns data onto the disc (like on your home
computer). Duplicated discs typically have a ink-based or thermal printed CD
face that looks slightly less refined than the screen-printed face of a
replicated disc. When you look at the bottom of a duplicated disc, it has a
clearly visible break in color where the burned data meets the blank space on
the disc.
The differences between
replicated and duplicated CDs are minimal. The only part of the packaging
affected is the disc itself; the printed inserts, tray, and shrink wrap will be
the same. Reliability and audio quality differences are slight and are
debatable. The key difference is that the printed face will be slightly better
on a replicated disc and the underside of the disc will not look burned like a
duplicated disc.
Your decision about how many CDs to make need not be
a shot in the dark. Armed with this information, you now have what you need to
make a smart, educated decision about how many CDs you can sell, and how many
you should make. If have further questions about this, or any other aspect of
your production, give us a call.
Mark Meikle
August 25, 2011
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Mark Meikle is the President and co-founder of
independent record label Legacy Productions, Inc. Specializing in churches,
schools, community groups, and independent artists, Legacy produces dozens of
albums each year from start to finish. Legacy's licensing service,
easySongLicensing.com helps musicians releasing albums in small quantities
obtain the necessary permission to record songs that other people wrote.