Have you ever looked into having your own shrink-wrapped CD's manufactured? It's usually about $1000 investment right off the bat. This is a risky little venture, because you never know if they will stock the shelves of your closet for the next 10 years. There really is a much smarter way to go. You can get started marketing your own CD's for as little as $350, and make all the CD's you want. Test-market concepts and see if they really fly.

 

 

Click the Image to Check out the Brown Bomber Web Site! With LightScribe technology by HP, you can burn audio cd's and then flip them over to laser-etch an image on the top. The cost comes out to about 35 cents per CD. No worries about investing in a printer, labels, or the high cost of ink jet toner. (Ink Jet toner runs twenty cents per cd just by itself.)

 

LightScribe CD-duplicators start at about $350 and go up from there depending on how many units you can copy at a time. We recommend starting out with what you can afford and adding another unit once your business grows. Available Software Let's You GET CREATIVE With Your Own CD designs.

 

Unique CD Art offers Important Advantages If you offer original artwork etched onto your custom-duplicated CDs this creates a collectability factor that can drive sales by itself. This uniqueness is an incentive to purchase an original album rather than just relying on "free" shared copies distributed online.

 

 

We recommend the following price points: depending on the venue. $6 all original / $8 with copyrighted material owned by someone else. Use this price point in crowded venues where you can turn a high volume and get your sound circulating to as many people as possible. People still need money left over to buy a couple of drinks. This is your audio business card and it gets the word out!

 

$12 all original / $14 with copyrighted material owned by someone else. Use this price point in places like shopping centers and smaller fine venues. People are in a more spendy frame of mind in these locations. You will probably do a lower volume in such markets so the higher price makes up the difference.

 

Make sure your web site URL is on EVERY CD you sell. If you have enough material, Double Up on your website. We recommend offering two-for specials on the web. For example: a two CD set for $10/$12 or $16/$18. Another value-added web sales option is to add a couple of exclusive tracks to web-purchased CDs. This creates enhanced value, exposure and income. Also helps drive repeat business.

 

What's with the extra cost for CD's with copyrighted material owned by someone else?? Mechanical licensing laws require that you pay the owner of a copyrighted song 9.1 cents per physical copy, ( the current rate as of January 2008 ). Please visit MakingMusicPay.com and read the section called Knowing Your Royalties.

 

Do the math! For every hundred CD's you sell, you will create between $500 and $1200 worth of income – after expenses! Even selling just 20 CD's in a couple of hours will put between $100 and $200 in your pocket. NOT BAD for a weekend hobby! In fact you might even find that money DOES grow on trees!

 

Remember to leave space on the front for the autographs! Someday your material might become so POWERFUL that it will become a part of that huge shrink-wrapped corporate music machine. When that day comes, these original autographed treasures will become valuable collectables!!

 

 

We took WEEKS searching the web to find the BEST values on LightScribe duplicators and media.  

 

 

 

Live Show Sales Efficiency A wise idea is to have two units for live sales purposes. This way you can generate a new set of duplicates every 5 minutes on a continuous basis. One set can be labeled, packaged and sold to the public. At the same time: duplicator A is being reloaded with media – while duplicator B is in the process of burning the next batch. The smart way to handle the sales table is to take payments from concert goers and give them a voucher to claim their copy once it is ready. This way you have secured their business and they can go back and mingle. They can stop by and pick up their copy before they leave. You can also ask them to fill out your email notification list and put down their Myspace URL if they have one. You can put in a field for telephone notification if they would like to receive a call when you are having another show near them. For this reason address and zip code are also useful – but optional. There is nothing like receiving a personal phone invite from a member of the band.

 

Marketing Hints With each purchase give away a special "thank you" coupon "for you or a good friend" which enables them to buy any one item from your web store at 50% off! This gets them in the habit of coming back for more and enables them to share your music with friends. Create compilation CDs with other great musicians that you trust. Have each member give away free copies with any purchase of their own albums. This helps everybody on the compilation to get exposure. Make sure each one of you has your web URL next to your name and song title on the label. Put your best song on the compilation and the public will go out of their way to hear more of your material. Getting a freebie with their purchase also sweetens the deal for the customer and makes them more likely to make a purchase.

 

ell Albums on iTunes and in Stores: Now you can sell your music on iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, Emusic and Napster! Click to get started. **BONUS** Includes UPC retail bar codes for your albums. These UPC symbols can also be placed on your LightScribe Duplicated units for sales in stores.