"Sales figures" for chip releases? (Page 6 of 12)

Even if the labels posted their downloads and/or sales, you'd still not get the pirated numbers. I think there is a crazy ratio of pirated albums vs sold (10+ to1?). If an artist has 500 sales, but has 10,000 pirated copies...do they get a gold pirate ship plaque? lol

I know many chippers don't sell their work so this doesn't apply to everyone, but for those that do, its a pirates bounty on the sea of internets!

Last edited by 8bitweapon (Jun 25, 2010 4:24 pm)

I guess back to the original question: from "sometime in 2007" to now all my MP3s on my website have been downloaded between 800 and 2600 (on average, some exceptions up to like 8k) times, and the NSFs are like between 100 and 800. 

Out There and The Voyage (both on the same album) are at 6500, and fighting for control is at 5500.

Here's my nonsense at last.fm

and Light's Ultimate Solution and Wily Capsule are at 1746 and 5678 views, respectively

edit: i have no idea how to get numbers on how many times people have downloaded my 2 albums at 8bitpeoples.  It'd be interesting to know :X

Last edited by RushJet1 (Jun 25, 2010 5:02 pm)

While I totally agree with Tom, I feel he might be selling himself a little short. I would break this list down a little, expand it a bit and take a look at why I think he is doing such a good job. This little train of thought will probably come off a little mercenary which isn't the intention. I think a couple of points really deserve highlighting.

***People will always have a way to get your music for free***

Tom has obviously seen the value in having as many people as possible listening to his music.

***A lot of music buyers buy for packaging/aesthetic***

I would expand the packaging/aesthetic list to include cultural identity. Perhaps not a major addition but I think one worth bearing in mind.

1 - Quality + Exposure = Reputation/Value

Tom has assured the first by producing seriously high quality music and the second by gigging like a fucking maniac (something like 40 or 50 gigs in the last 2 years). Also, his site is social networked up the wazoo and updates with interesting, personal info about what he is doing with his music.

2 - Fans/Customers

Ok, so what type of people like 10k freemen? I would see 2 or 3 groups

a)People who like his music and will pay for a physical CD at shows.
b)People who like his music and will buy a CD online.
b)People who like his music and will pay for a download.
c)People who like his music but don't want to pay for it.

I think we like all four of these groups, a,b and c will give us money and d will probably spread the word to other people who might fall into groups a,b and c. All 4 groups are likely to come to shows and we like people at shows.

3 - Reputation/Value + Access = Potential profit

Ok, so we now know more or less 10k's fans are lets see how they are catered for,

For Group A, he has CDs at shows.
For Group B, he has CDs available online.
For Group C, he has a donate button.
For Group D, he has free downloads.

All of the above are available on a nice clean and tidy website.

This was 10k's goal and I think he has gone about it really well so and indie music Gold Star for him! In the future I would predict we see from 10k

- T Shirts sold online and at gigs.
- More quality Music distributed as widely as possible both paid and unpaid.
- Live EP???
- More gigs and hopefully shows outside of Aus
- Back catalog of music kept in print so people who discover his music a year from now can buy it.

Last edited by Lazerbeat (Jun 26, 2010 3:08 am)

Since there's talk of marketing, I'd like to hear about "marketing" to venues... bars, basements, college auditoriums... why should they book you?

now, by marketing *to* venues, do you mean to ask "how do I book" ? because there are some things that can definitely help you out. and others that can really harm your chances.

I've found that this line works: "If you book me I will be bringing X number of people into your venue, to watch me play and pay money for your products and services."

It sounds dumb to say, but the trick is having people to watch you. Friends are a good start, especially if they like your music, they will in turn bring their friends. In order to build a live following you have to start with mates, even if they stop coming later down the line. They are the people who will tell you what works and what doesn't in your set as well!

I have a few mates in local bands. We always make sure we turn up to each others gigs to be sure there are at least 10 people in the room that are 100% there to see whoever out of us is playing that night. To have people at every gig who sing the lyrics to your songs, or know when things are dropping looks great to a venue. It also helps convince people you are awesome.

Maybe someone could start a thread dedicated to people posting their top 3 download figures or something? Keep it simple ya know?

Example:

SONG TITLE                  Date Released                   Downloads
Lewd Title here               07.18.209                           7,231,314
My 1st LSDJ tune            01.12.2002                          10,111
Cover song #23              11.22.2010                           1,111

Last edited by 8bitweapon (Jun 29, 2010 4:27 pm)