The Song Fight Bulletin Board

I kind of disappeared from the Internet last night when my wireless connection just bumped me off and refused to let me back in. Just as well, I suppose, since the only reason I was up that late to begin with was because I was waiting on the new Nur Ein title/challenge, which didn't post last night anyway.

At my new place, I've got a much easier-to-use recording setup than before. The microphones and interfaces are permanently stationed around my desk, which eliminated the annoying setup/teardown times before and after recording. I still need to slot my various keyboards and electronic instruments in and out as it comes time to record them, but overall the process is much easier.

It's enough to make me spend most of my time at work thinking to myself, "Gee, I wish I were recording right now."

Question of the Day: Have you ever made any money from your music? If so, how? If not, would you like to?

QoD: If playing out and being paid for it qualifies, then yes and that's how. I don't yet have any recordings that have been bought, that's my next step.

QotD: No, but I would like to, but in the sense that if people want to give me money for stuff I'd do for free then it's all good.

QOTD - No, not paid, even to stop playing. I'd like to play bass in a band, but have yet to make the effort, and will be very selective. General idea: play at less than deafening volumes so that people can actually talk, not scream, over the music. Also, music that is danceable to, including disco, new wave, country and western, etc. We'll see.

QotD: I play out as often as possible. I've got a repertoire of over 300 covers that I play on keys and guitar. And my original stuff too, which draws a little interest from the locals. Occasionally I play shows where the pay is directly linked to the door, but more often it's a flat-rate show where the bar/restaurant considers the music an amenity for the existing crowd. Which works fine until there's no decent crowds, so the onus is still on the performer to generate as much buzz as he/she can.

Yes, people have sometimes paid me earth moneys to acquire some cds i made, and also to acquire digital copies or streams of musics too. it's fun! i like to keep track of where(ish) these people are. i have at least one french fan and at least one italian fan.
-bill

QotD: I don't think so... maybe I could get a virtual tip jar?

QOTD: Just playing live and selling CDs at the gigs. Profit margins are another story entirely. When you have a box of CDs that cost you $100 bux and after they're gone you've got a total of $35 bux, a variety of drugs and a few phone numbers, then you are running in the red.

Jim T wrote:I've got a repertoire of over 300 covers that I play on keys and guitar.

Zoinks! I'd be lucky to get through the Paranoid album, and half a Zeppelin riff or two. Got-dang!

QotD --- yes, once.

When I was in high school (never-you-mind just how many years ago this was, now) I played tuba in a community orchestra. Another member, one of the trumpets, invited a few of us to come play at some special event at his church one time. We muddled our way through a book of Canadian Brass quintet arrangements, and I think they paid us each 20 bucks or something.

QotD: does it count if I was part of a largish ensemble and I never saw any of the money? Otherwise, no. I'm not really planning to make money with music right now, either.

Used to. Now, I get checks from ASCAP for someone else's music. I've called and faxed many times, and they can't seem to straighten the accounts out. I think the uncashed checks total about $800 now.

qotd: I got like 20 bucks from cafepress cd sales of Bed n Breakfast. That was pretty exciting. Especially considering that each cd was 15 bucks - I think I sold 3 albums total.

re: blt - well, yes, i have made some money from selling the cds, but - and that's a big but - i spent more than i made too

roymond wrote:Used to. Now, I get checks from ASCAP for someone else's music. I've called and faxed many times, and they can't seem to straighten the accounts out. I think the uncashed checks total about $800 now.

is it good music? you could just take credit for it, haha.
-bill

DRC: I've got a wicked head cold. So I'm not doing anything except working on Song Fight! reviews. And even that's not going so well.

QotD: I've played a few paid G&G coffeehouse gigs. I think I've made a total of about $85 in the last 20 years...

QotD: I sold 3 copies of my 1st soundclick CD. 1 of my 2nd sc CD. None of the new one yet. I sold 9 copies of Fluffy Lives, which is a physical CD with the best songs from my 1st and 2nd sc CDs. And I've sold 4 copies of Happy Place, the physical CD version of my 3rd sc CD.

And of course as I've written out several times in several diff forums I once got paid $300 for the instrumental version of my 1st ever song entitled Dance of the Techno Angels. It was used in a local commerical in Southhampton, NY for a jewelry store as bg music.

So counting all of that up I have made... $394 in my songwriting career. That's not all profit though. I spent 35 on the 10 copies of Fluffy Lives and I spent 84 for the 20 copies of Happy Place that I ordered.

Honestly if I had a little more money I'd just order a few hundred copies of both my physical CDs and just give them away to as many people as I could just to get some exposure. But I'm a min wage worker ^_^.

I used to busk a lot. I would play until I got enough for a pie and a few beers then stop.

I also use to play in a 3 piece band when I was at Uni. That was good. We would usually average around $150 a show (back in the mid '80s) - $50 each! Back then - enough for a good night out, get really pissed and come home still slightly ahead.

And I once won $500 at the Mt Isa Country Music Star Search - first prize in the Gospel section!

And - not really payment - but I have just been offered a few hours of free professional studio time, to record a song for a local compilation album being made. That should be fun.

I'm going to put out a new CD in June. I'm re-recording a bunch of songs now, mostly from Song Fights. And since people up here in the antiquated northeast are still interested in buying physical copies, I'm going to do a CD release show. The first 100 copies of the disc will each have their own unique album cover art, and they'll be signed* and numbered. I'm looking for a good venue to do the party. Something like ten bucks gets you a 1-of-a-kind copy of the disc and admission into the show. That's the plan, anyway.

*I don't have delusions of fame or anything, and I don't think my signature adds a great deal of value to anything at this point. That's more about wanting to personally thank people for getting my music thing going.

I made a profit on my first album, which was a bunch of melodic electronic wank.

So far I've not even come close to breaking even on my second album. Can I blame the recession for people not buying it?

Nah, you just don't have any friends.

fluffy wrote:Can I blame the recession for people not buying it?

That's what I do for EVERYTHING these day. I personally haven't done anything wrong since the economy took a crap. I'm going to have mixed feeling when it recovers.

....by the way, do you know why I got disqualified from Nur Ein's round 1? Yep, you guessed it, the economy!

edit: I just went and added that to my Nur Ein 4 B&L description. http://blt.songhole.org/music.php?album=1

QotD: Nope. For me, making music is a way to bridge the gap between me and the like-minded people I have always imagined must exist but never had the fortune to meet face-to-face. Therefore to reach the biggest potential audience of potential quasi-me's I should make it free and readily available. Which to the best of my limited abilities, I do.

This is of course a very good way to ignore the knowledge that I'm not good enough to make money from my music

Also, I have made good money from my art (i.e. the paintings I do) in the recent past. Yet as soon as I started selling stuff, I lost all desire to be a painter. What gives there?

Finally, following the 3 ukulele gigs I have played in the last month as a warm up for SF live :NY I find that the feedback is incredibly good and I have been offered an on-going paying gig as part of a comedy troupe that do their thing around London. yet I listen to the audio, and it's dismal, not even vaguely in tune. What gives there?

Clearly I am a self-hating sensitive. Or people are far too easily pleased.

j$