How much does an indie band really make from streaming/digital downloads?

[pinkoos]

Very interesting read:

http://uniformmotion.tumblr.com/post/965...-economics

[(vikm)]

The first thing that jumps out at me as I read is...

"Without a distributor, you cannot sell your CD’s in record stores."

Now, does that mean they contractually cannot sell their cd's in a store or that it is super difficult logistically to get this done? Reason I ask is that I've frequented countless record stores all over the US and the indie's more often than not will have at the very least a "local band" section set up (I'm talking bands that have no label deal and it's been a homegrown deal to an extent). Just curious what they are getting at as I don't know the potential legality behind the statement. Or if that was even where they were going with it.


Now I'm further confused. They state this:

"There’s a 70-30% split there too, so we will keep 6.28 EUR/album.

That being said, it costs us 35 EUR/year to keep an album on iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon (105 EUR per year for all 3 of our albums!) so we don’t make any money until 24 people have bought a digital copy of the album on iTunes"

Wouldn't they start making money if they made 6 sales @ 6.28 ea. (37.68 covers the 35 EUR listing fees, right?). Did I miss something? I'm not proud. Tell me I'm missing something or misread or...

[Black]

I want so badly to see this model become universal:
DIGITAL:

We allow people to pay what they want for the digital version. If you choose to pay 5 EUR, Paypal takes 0.37 EUR, Bandcamp takes 0.75 EUR. Uniform Motion keeps 3.88 EUR. it doesn’t cost us anything to have a page on bandcamp.

If you decide to pay nothing, well, we get nothing, but at least you didn’t give money indirectly to major record labels, which seems to be the case with Spotify!!

Would especially love there to be a check box for "already have the media, just want to pay."

Anyone know what the file size/quality is on this particular download? Can't check due to work computer limitations.

[(vikm)]

I don't see any specs on sizes.

Wasn't it Radiohead that was one of the biggest names to first do the "pay what you want thing"? I was never a big Radiohead fan but you gotta respect that they tried that (if it was in fact them).

[Black]

(vikm) wrote:
I don't see any specs on sizes.

Wasn't it Radiohead that was one of the biggest names to first do the "pay what you want thing"? I was never a big Radiohead fan but you gotta respect that they tried that (if it was in fact them).

You're right with Radiohead-- "In Rainbows" had a pay-what-you-want release.

I don't recall whether it was considered a success or not.

[decay]

Radiohead:
http://www.nme.com/news/radiohead/40444

Warner Chappell concluded that the new release style was a financial success, but did not reveal whether Radiohead plan to release an album in a similar way in the future.

[blooz]

I think Amanda Palmer makes money selling digital downloads and physical product but she:
A. Has a rabid fan base
B. Makes up packages that go from 1 CD to a package with 1 CD, a poster, a T-shirt, a vinyl, and even once a ukelele.
The packages range from $.68 for a digital download to $1000 for a big package with ukelele etc.

[Dennis S]

"Now, does that mean they contractually cannot sell their cd's in a store or that it is super difficult logistically to get this done."

Sometimes the former, always the latter.

[michaelb]

It is interesting to see how much less emusic pays per track. As much as I have loved emusic over the years, I understand how it must be to keep the labels signed up.

[graylocks]

(vikm) wrote:
The first thing that jumps out at me as I read is...

"Without a distributor, you cannot sell your CD’s in record stores."

Now, does that mean they contractually cannot sell their cd's in a store or that it is super difficult logistically to get this done? Reason I ask is that I've frequented countless record stores all over the US and the indie's more often than not will have at the very least a "local band" section set up (I'm talking bands that have no label deal and it's been a homegrown deal to an extent). Just curious what they are getting at as I don't know the potential legality behind the statement. Or if that was even where they were going with it.

it's difficult logistically. if you're a local band you can walk into a small shop and maybe get into a local band section, usually on a consignment basis; a store can handle that. what a store can't handle is a zillion individual bands from all over the globe approaching them. stores get their product from distributors. they used to be called 'one-stops' because with one order (and more importantly one billing) stores can get the products they need. this includes the major labels who go through distributors for small stores. i worked for a one stop in milwaukee years ago.

things must be different in Europe if this group has to pay yearly to keep their product available on iTunes and such. my music is available digitally to iTunes et al through CDBaby.com. i paid them $35 per title once and that's it. it's not a yearly fee.