UKGShop.com: ‘How many of my CDs have you sold…?’

I used to get asked this a lot.

It was one of the reasons why I set up the ‘What’s Selling’ page on UKGShop.com.

It’s a fair question, but one that probably needs more space than I can give it here.

So, if you’re an artist looking to submit your music and need an idea of how well your CDs can sell, here are some good tips for you:

Like Commission said: ‘It’s Up 2 U’….

• Firstly (and most importantly): how many CDs you actually sell is down to you.
• Putting it in an online store (or any store for that matter) and expecting the sales to just come rolling in simply ain’t gonna happen.
• Each store will do its best to market the products it holds, but don’t rely on that as your primary source of promotion.

Hit the road, Jack…

• Regardless of the rumours about the wider music business being in crisis, appearing live over an extended period of time is still a great option for almost any artist. You can see it at work around you.
• People get to see you, hear your music, and know what you’re about. And they get a chance to connect with you even more…

Be everywhere – all at once…

• People buy into a high profile… I still get enquiries from artists wanting to place their CDs on UKGShop.com because ‘they see my logo everywhere’…
• The reality is obviously slightly different (but I do place UKGShop.com strategically)

Grow Your Mailing List

• Anyone who knows me (and has chatted with me about music marketing) knows how much I bang on about this.
• Use every opportunity you can get to add names to your mailing list.
• People who sign up via your website/MySpace/Facebook group are more likely to want to buy your stuff… Get their details at every opportunity (ideally with their permission).

And: they aren’t really your friends if they’re on Facebook – or MySpace

• Imagine this: you have a buzzing MySpace or Facebook profile with countless friends! It’s going really well in the runup to the new album/EP/Single release.
• You’re excited.
• Then for some reason, MySpace goes down and your profile (along with the thousands of friends you’ve worked so hard to gather) disappears.
  It happens. Just ask Triple O. He had to start again – from scratch.

The lesson here: a friend is only a friend if you have their contact details where you can get them when you need them (ideally on your own database, not Mark Zuckerberg or Tom Anderson‘s…)

Like Guvna B said: ‘Buss The Kingdom Skank’…

• Create something that unites everyone, and be creative about it.
• The Kingdom Skank wasn’t one of my immediate favourite tracks from Guvna’s album, but he came out with a dance for it, a competition for the best video, blogged about it, and generally created an antidote to a dance craze in the mainstream at the time, the equally infectious ‘Rolex Sweep’…
• And it was good.

Everyone likes to have fun. Give them a good (and Godly) reason to… Buss The Kingdom Skank…

I’ll Be Back…. Maybe.

Depending on what sort of response I get to this, I might continue this some other time.