Hi all,

While I am not in the industry, I do remember some discussion of this sort
of thing in articles on several different bands.  If I remember correctly,
a year or so ago, Martin Zellar was talking about the same thing and he
estimated it would take selling 2,000-5,000 CDs for him to break even
assuming that he produced the music himself and I also think he has his
own studio.  This would not include any paid advertising nor any touring.
On a label owned by someone else, it takes about 50,000-100,000 sold to
break even the difference being that the label takes its cut, but also
advertises the release and puts money into the band touring and pays for a
producer.  The way you made money when on a label is by touring.

So to me this seems to have both good and bad points.  You cut the
overhead but probably will only sell to your dedicated fans.  It would be
difficult to tour in any sort of style so either you only play locally or
you bring the old Econoline van out of mothballs.  Thus, I will probably
never get to see the Connells live again except maybe for a farewell show
because they won't be going anywhere outside the east coast and I can't
afford to go there very often.  Also, the Connells don't have much desire
to do long national tours in any case as they are ancient in musical years
anyway.

So let's do some analysis for the Connells.  Still Life sold maybe 15,000
copies total (at least I seem to remember something along those lines.
After paying off their costs, each band member makes about $1.40 per CD
sold assuming $10 cost for the CD and an equal disbursement of the money
to each of the 7 band members.  Thus, each band member would make between
$7,000 and $15,000 given sales of 10,000 to 15,000.  So to make a decent
living they probably need to play at least 50 live shows a year.  I don't
know what the Connells make for a show but $250 per person is $1750 which
means the venue would probably need 200 people at $10 to want them there.
Conversely a solo artist could make plenty of money without even touring
if they can sell 10,000 CDs with no paid advertising and if they can do
their own producing.  So for the Connells given about 1 show a week and
average sales each member would make about $22,500 per year.  Of course if
they get $500 per person per show they would make about $35,000 per year.
A solo artist could make $50,000 to $100,000 off a CD.  This indicates
that larger bands may be a thing of the past, particularly for people that
can play many instruments and write songs and produce themselves.

Way back when Darker Days first came out, Black Park's distribution was
extremely poor, at least outside the SE.  Hopefully they would be able to
handle a more web based approach as they should be much more savvy after
15 years in the business and they would only be filling requests not
trying to figure out what stores to send the product.

Bill Cross

On Mon, 24 Jul 2000, Evan J. Kline, III wrote:

> In the weekly entertainment tabloid here in town, there was a discussion
> concerning the effect the interent and things like Napster could have on the
> music industry.  One interesting thing it discussed was how many "mid-range"
> bands (i.e. not the big sellers) would in the future turn the tables and
> make more on their own than with a label.  If I remember the figures
> correctly, it said that lesser known bands could hope to make only about $1
> for every album sold on a label, but could hope to clear about $7 for each
> album sold independenly.  Is there anyone out there familiar with the music
> industry who can say if these figures are in the ballpark?  If so, it would
> seem this would make it more promising for lesser known bands like the
> Connells to make a decent living.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dede Davis <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Saturday, July 22, 2000 5:25 PM
> Subject: Re: Other Bands (NCC)
>
>
> > --- Chadd Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hearing songs like these on the radio makes me hopeful that there's
> > > still
> > > a demand for the kind of pop music that the Connells play.
> >
> > Mike, Perry Lin, and I were discussing this the other night.  As Perry
> > pointed out, unfortunately, it would be difficult to for the Connells
> > to get airplay on what Mike calls "the Young People's radio", because
> > their style is sufficiently unlike what is being played now.  I mean,
> > even the bands you enumerated really don't have that much in common
> > with the Connells' sound.  Really, most of what is played on
> > "alternative" radio (the only difference between alternative and
> > mainstream radio these days seems to be that on alternative, the rap
> > acts are white) is pure dreck.  At least around here it is.  The only
> > band that I've heard on the radio that I'm kinda liking these days is
> > Eve 6--I think they have a clever way with lyrics.  But I'm still not
> > convinced enough to buy their album, or pay to see them live.  And if I
> > hear one more annoying Third Eye Blind song (Hello!  Do none of the
> > other band members realize that their singer has an atrocious LISP?), I
> > may be forced lay violent hands upon myself.
> >
> > > (Not that there's anything necessarily wrong
> > > with
> > > other acts out there.  It's just that somehow jangle pop, and pop
> > > with
> > > a little more substance, got forgotten along the way.)
> > >
> >
> > The thing is, there are tons of great pop bands out there, only you
> > won't hear any of them on the radio.  Mitch Easter's new band, Shalini,
> > is just FANTASTIC.  I just got Bill Lloyd's most recent CD out of the
> > used bin at a store in Nashville--granted, he started out country but
> > this album is 100% pop.  Ditto Steve Earle--on his newest one there's
> > everything from bluegrass to Celtic to Beatlesque rock.  Haven't heard
> > the Aimee Mann, but everyone says it's great.  It seems like there's
> > this huge underground movement of fabulous pop and rock that everyone
> > who's into music knows about, but for some reason still can't break
> > thru to the public.
> >
> > > I'm really hopeful that the time is right for the new album and that
> > > this
> > > time around the band can get enough promotion to generate the
> > > attention
> > > that it deserves.  Still Life was an excellent album, and yet no one
> > > seemed to notice except the die-hard fans.  I hope this album isn't
> > > similarly forgotten.
> > >
> >
> > O.K., this is my take on it.  Since there's no label this time out, my
> > personal belief is that promotion is going to be up to US, folks.  I
> > have already decided, and told the band and their manager, that I will
> > do everything that's in my power to get this album out where people can
> > hear it.  I know others on this list have said the same thing.  I
> > really think this is a case where the fanbase can be an invaluable tool
> > to the band.  And then there's the Internet--the importance of which
> > the Connells and their management have ALWAYS underestimated.
> >
> >
> > > Okay, back to lurk mode.  Thanks for letting me rant.
> > >
> >
> > Thanks very much for your imput, Chad!
> >
> > =====
> > Dede
> >
> > "You get what you pay for,
> > But I just had no
> > Intention of living this way."--The Counting Crows
> >
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