Ty Davison

One Man Garage Band business card

Featuring Marsha Minten’s awesome One Man Garage Band cover art, new business cards promoting the album are now available for distribution. Email me if you’d like a batch.

One Man Garage Band has only been sold via sites like iTunes, Amazon and CDBaby that pay me at least 60 cents per track for each song downloaded. I am changing the payment option today so that going forward the album is also available to other business models like streaming, ringtones, etc. I doubt whether this will result in much greater revenue, but I’m sort of flying blind, willing to give it a shot, and happy to report the results in another few months.

There are two other options which I’ve not yet pursued. One is called “Everything that pays” which is exactly what the name implies. It’s reportedly great for exposure but I’m concerned that it tends to undervalue the product. That may not be the case. It definitely is that case in the final option, “Do it all. Even unpaid.” I may ultimately put OMGB into this “bin” (so to speak) but I’d have to have a very specific reason for doing it. Giving music away is great for publicity, but not so much for revenue. I’m not seeking publicity, in case that wasn’t clear, so at least right now I have a hard time envisioning it. I hate to be mercenary, but “Everything that pays” is a much more likely final destination.

For those interested, album sales have been modest but consistent. Any revenue is better than no revenue, and though I’m not quitting my day job, I remain grateful to those who’ve supported my musical endeavors.

The digital download breakdown is roughly 66% iTunes and 33% CDBaby. This is about in keeping with what I expected, because I’ve been pushing CDBaby a bit (since artists are paid more). Ultimately, I think iTunes is simply a much bigger marketplace with much greater visibility so I anticipate the ratio may even be more pronounced the next time I check.

If physical album sales are included in the mix, the overall sales breakdown is 54% iTunes, 27% CDBaby, and 18% Lulu.com (physical CDs). The revenue breakdown is 53% iTunes, 31% CDBaby and 16% Lulu. Interesting, there have been no sales whatsoever via Amazon.com. Make of that what you will, but since iTunes dropped its Digital Rights Management (DRM) I’m not sure what distinct advantage Amazon brings to the table.

Just a quick reminder that One Man Garage Band t-shirts are available, and they look good! Click on the t-shirt image below to check out our online merchandise. Help support the indie artist!

To send a gift of my album via iTunes, you go to http://itunes.com/tydavison [link opens iTunes], click on the album, then choose the “Gift this music” link then choose the “Gift this album” link. (See http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2687 for explicit instructions.)

If you prefer to give a physical CD as a gift, you can do that here:
http://www.lulu.com/content/compact-disc/one-man-garage-band/7358118

It didn’t dawn on me until the emails arrived, but apparently it’s not obvious how to listen to samples from One Man Garage Band. I’m very sorry about that, and I’ve taken steps to make it more clear. The website’s right sidebar now offers links where you can listen to samples and/or purchase songs.

If you like CDBaby’s 256-bit MP3s–and I do since that’s how I get the most revenue–click the CDBaby link. You’ll be able to listen to 30 second samples from each song, buy individual songs or (my favorite) buy the whole album. Because it’s in MP3 format it will load and play on any MP3 player be it iPod, Zune or what have you.

If you prefer using Apple’s iTunes Store for your music purchases–and I’ve got to admit the experience is fairly compelling–there’s a link for my iTunes page on the sidebar as well. Note that this link will open iTunes on your computer and take you directly to my iTunes page. You to listen to samples, purchase individual songs or the whole album at iTunes as well. Apple 256-bit AAC files are technically superior to MP3s but the difference is unlikely to be sufficient that anyone would notice. (I don’t.) The AAC files will run in iTunes, on an iPod or on any device that supports AAC. These are not copy protected files.

For you old school types who love your physical media, One Man Garage Band is now available for purchase on Compact Disc. I’m using Lulu.com, a publish on demand service, to produce the CDs which means that no CD is manufactured until it is purchased. This saves me from carrying inventory, and it seems to be the most environmentally responsible approach to content distribution for folks who’ve not made a transition to digital music files.

One Man Garage Band is now available both at iTunes and at Amazon. This means that should you for some impossible-to-comprehend reason not want to purchase the entire album, you can pick and choose your favorite songs and purchase them individually.

Physical CDs should begin shipping by the end of the week. Details on that to follow.

Available now for purchase at CDBaby (see the link in the side bar) for $9.99. Each song is in high quality 256-bit MP3 format with no digital rights management (DRM aka “copy protection”). These MP3 files will work on any MP3 player.

CDBaby is the recommended way to purchase the entire album for two reasons. First, you also get some text notes and a jpg of Marsha Minten’s awesome album cover. Second, CDBaby’s payment rate to artists is higher than any of the alternatives, which is another way of saying artists like me make more money when you buy through CDBaby.

If you’re only interested in a few songs, Apple’s iTunes Store will be selling individual tracks in a 256-bit AAC format with no DRM for $.99 each. If you use your music with an iPod or iPhone, this is a very convenient solution. I expect iTunes to be online by August 1 at the latest, but I’ll be sure to make noise here when it happens.

Finally, if you’re still into the old school compact discs, I will have those available for sale by July 3.

It happens tomorrow, June 17, my friends. We’ve got one final snafu to straighten out with CDBaby—my artist/album page is up but you can’t actually, you know, buy anything—and I expect it will be fixed first thing in the morning. I will post all appropriate links here once things are ready, as well as begin my email notifications.

A word about that. I’m planning to notify all family and friends of my album’s availability but only once. The last thing you need is me spamming you repeatedly about my musical endeavors. Really, one spam really should be enough. If you sign up for my online Mailing List, though, well, all bets are off (though I will try very hard to make the occasional email I send worth your time).

I have set 10,000 albums in two years as my sales goal, since that’s about what it will take for me to consider creating music on a mostly full-time basis. To say this is ambitious is an understatement. I mean there are goals, stretch goals and ludicrous goals, and this would be the last one.

I don’t know 10,000 people, which means I can’t do this without considerable assistance. If you like the album, I need you to not only buy it but to evangelize it to your family, friends, and co-workers. I have nifty t-shirts that can help. Seriously, though….

The album is a test, the results of which determine how long it will take me to get the next album out. Even if OMGB sells only a couple hundred copies, I’m making another album. It’ll just take longer to get out the door.