Rick said..
"Unless you are a well-known artist with significant regional clout and fanbase, along with some amount of national exposure, your CD is a vanity project -- one that you will be lucky to break even on." -Rick Reid

AMEN, Rick...that's exactly why I resisted my band members overtures for 4 years to do an album/CD. I could see what was gonna happen.

Yep...lots of ego strokin' for some of the guys.

Sure...lots of compliments and airplay on some radio stations..but if you put a $ value on my, and the other guys, input time to the album, we'd be WAY down the gurgler..as they say !
..break even seems to be our outcome and for that I'm thankful...and that's only because we kept a lid on the process eg. recorded at my home studio with Apple Mac technology, mixing done by me, friends of friends in the mastering and packaging industry helping out with discounted fees , etc etc.
I think my all up time input ( composing, bed tracks, computer time, band rehearsals and recording, administration, mixing, etc ) one way or another was in excess of 300 hours...and that's not counting the frequent waking up in the middle of the night with my mind on the album.

....but as a business deal, absolutely not worth doing a CD...would rate as a poor business decision when you look at the books objectively. If it was another business i'd have been given the sack !!!

Musically, however, I'd have to say the process of composing, recording , etc. made us better musicians ( more attention to detail ) and un-earthed new original material that has gone down really well at gigs....which makes me feel good...but , it's funny, somehow I always knew they'd go down well.

I still have some band members asking about doing the next CD....hmmmmmmmmmm !

D.

Darryl said..

"Musically, however, I'd have to say the process of composing, recording , etc. made us better musicians ( more attention to detail ) and un-earthed new original material that has gone down really well at gigs....which makes me feel good...but , it's funny, somehow I always knew they'd go down well."

and AMEN to that!

So you see, to CD or not CD comes with both rewards and regrets. It's a catch 22 for bands that are trying to legitimize themselves and keep up with the competition. While it is true that creating a professional CD is a break-even venture at best for most bands, here's a little devil's advocate to mellow the brew with -- Here's why one "should" CD:

From amateur to professional -- the quickest way to make the jump from dabbler to ace in the eyes of the world, is to record a full-length, high quality CD.

Gigs -- without a professionally produced CD, your chances of landing important and rewarding gigs, are greatly minimized.

Building a following -- people that like your music will want to take it with them wherever they go and they will also want to share their zeal of your music with others. A CD is the easiest way to reach your fans -- and their friends -- when you are not gigging.

Exposure -- with a CD to market, your band's visibility will flourish more, especially if the music is good and the CD was recorded and produced with high quality means. If it is, then radio airplay and other good ego stroking will soon follow.

Progress and time encapsulation -- once you've released your first CD, the world will be expecting another within a year. If you don't continue to create, you'll be swept aside for the band that is showing progress. Also, a CD is a great way to preserve your personal music history; one that you can enjoy the rest of your life, and a legacy that will live long after you've left this planet.

This has been my personal observation with all this CD recording stuff. I just released my forth one, there were three others that basically fell apart at the end and never made it to final production due to money, egos, or band collapse. So getting to a shrink-wrapped product is a helluva achievement!

Rick

Yup..some real good stuff there ..thanx for puttin' your thoughts down Rick..I'm chewin' that all over as I write.....LOL.

...it's quite an interesting exercise to put down thoughts from a music creators viewpoint and then read a music consumers take on things....


BTW..
Don't ya have a quiet chuckle when folks come up to you at gigs and ask you if you could play this or that song....like right here and now...
Ya just smile and say...'sorry, no...but we'll have a look at it and see what we can do for the next gig'.

Ha...I'm sure some folks think we're just karaoke or jukebox robots..shove the coin in and press the buttons.....but we love 'em all the same !.

Actually....it's kinda flattering to think they've been enthused enough by the band to go that next step and ask a question...so we always give them the respect they deserve.

I'm done....time for bed here..and you guys are just about ready to be steppin' out of the shower and throwin' down a coffee and whatever for breakfast...Crazy World !!...hmmm.. a song title....stop me pleeeease !

later..Darryl.

Plenty of fodder for new threads running amuck in this long thread! And Good Morning! Err G'Day!

I get the jukebox requests and can't figure it. Especially stuff that's contrasting genres, like new country stuff -- Garth Brooks, Kenny Chesney. Why on Earth would someone request stuff like that when we don't even breach anywhere close to that Nashburg muck? Plus none of us listen to that stuff.

I think the most reasonable requests we've had consistently over the years is for Sublime tunes. We don't play any, but their stuff is a possibility.

People are funny. Especially the human ones.

"People are funny. Especially the human ones."
Providing of course you mean in the particular and not in the universal.
Le Piquant

Huzzah! Yes!

... and they taste funny too...

I may go to Lafayette and not visit family but I won't pass up Walt's Record Shop on Jefferson. Bought a LP by Joe Bonsall I had not seen. I think I have them all now. But I will keep looking. Give my the hard copy. If it is available I will buy it.
Le Piquant

I think you mean Walter Broussard's in the Pioneer Trading Post on Johnston Street just south of Acadiana mall? If so, I like that place for used records! I recommended it to people who were looking for records after the Festivals Acadiens, but I never heard if they found it. I got quite a few Goldband 45s there on my two past visits.

Hi Neal,

I didn't go to your address. Not the time. And I regret. I loved Floyd Records Shop, of course, and Abbevile Records Shop and also Music Factory (N.O).. I found my other CDs on the Festival and at Savoy M.C. But with Internet, I already have the principal.

Marc.

Hey Marc! Glad you found your music! There's always stuff at Marc Savoy's that you can't find anywhere else.

Yes Neal, at Savoy M.C., for my collection I found 3 CDs by Maurice Barzas and a the last CD by Dennis Mc Gee.
And Tina's smile.
And the boss was away........

Marc.

Yes Neal, I am a regular there. I told him I had the LP-Belton Ricard Meets Aldus Roger and he sure perked up. I will have to bring it next time to show him.
Le Piquant

That's the record shop in the same building as the antique store by the Acadiana Mall. I've been there too. Has anyone seen that brown Magnolia accordion for sale in the antique part of the store? It had been there for a good while. The guy was trying to sell it for $1800 if I recall correctly. I asked him to play on it and he allowed me to. It looked pretty good and was in good shape, but it didn't play or sound good at all. A "DUD". It sounded like it was in some sort of tune, but the action and feel and the sound of its voice were just a mess. Not to be pessimistic, but that $1800 price was a little too high for that accordion in all fairness. I handed it back to the feller and tried not to act as disgusted as I felt. If one of you guys happened to buy it, I hope you were able to have it worked on and put right.

Off subject I know, but the Trading Post was mentioned and the overpriced Magnolia came to mind.

Rick...and others...refer my post a few lines back.

Also, in response to lepiquant, neal , hebert etc.

I guess it's nice that recordings and repackaging of old artists, most of whom have passed on...are made available to enthusiasts and archivists.

My spin on that is that it probably says a lot about what's actually happening right now, today, in the C & Z recording industry....ie. not a lot !..comparatively.
And where are the larger than life C & Z artists/characters now??..oh man, I feel another thread happening...better stop !

Grammy nominees
Hope this link from the Times of Acadiana works. Lots of music came out this past year, looking at the long list of Grammy nominees.

Of course, they never seem to nominate any of the historic stuff. It's a young man's game as far as Grammy goes, but not in the business of worldwide sales. I bet in Europe they scoop up the old stuff quicker than the new, when they can. The copyright laws in Europe are allowing some of our old music to go into the public domain there and be released maybe 50 years before it ever will be here. That is not necessarily a negative reflection on the current music scene, just a matter of economics and crazy monopoly here in the U.S.