IS THE CD ALBUM DEAD?
Findings From My Recent CD Album Release
As an independent, aka unsigned musician, I am my band’s sole marketing and promotion department. I do all our social media as well. So, I regularly watch videos and read articles about promoting on social media and streaming platforms, a constantly changing landscape. So here is what I have found so far
Marketing Advice
Sometimes, marketing advice about releasing an album can be ineffective or inaccurate. The marketing landscape is continuously evolving due to rapid technological advancements. What worked well in the past may no longer be relevant or practical. Some music marketing advice is overly generalized, treating all artists in all genres similarly. However, each musician is unique, and a one-size-fits-all strategy might not work in every context. Plus, the added overemphasis on trends tells us we must follow the latest fads without a solid understanding of their relevance to our goals.
For example, many music marketing experts suggest artists release a track every week. The point of it is to increase buzz and engagement. The ludicrous advice comes from people who have little concept of how much time, money and effort goes into writing, recording, mixing and mastering a piece of aural art. Just change the speed up or change the vocals and rerelease it with a sample of a man saying sausages over the top. It doesn’t matter. Just keep feeding the streaming beasts, I mean platforms. It’s like saying Leonardo Da Vinci should have released several versions of the Mona Lisa every week. After the original one, he could have just knocked out another one, but this time added a moustache, the week after glasses, or as a special limited edition, he could have released Mona Lisa with a moustache AND glasses. Just keep diluting your art to get attention. But if I were to do this, it would be a) time-consuming and b) lack creativity.
Now, more than at any, people seem to have lost sight of the fact that music is art, it’s not just the background sound of a game or film. All art takes time to create. Yet we’ve played the game, and we’ve tried this strategy. We received a release planner from a non-profit music generator/incubator for local music talent. We’ve used it three times on every release. We put the same amount of effort in, and here are our findings on whether the CD is dead.
We have released two singles and one album in the past 2 years. The singles, despite the promotion and accompanying music video, only led to about £10 in sales over a 12-month period. In fairness, the singles were digital only as we don’t produce physical media for singles, as it would not be cost-effective. However, we have just released our fourth album. We ordered only 500, as in all honestly, that’s all we could afford, and we have sold over 100. That might not seem like a lot, but it is for an underground, obscure goth band like us. Even though we sold them on a presale for £13 and they are now £15, people are still buying them. Most sales have been CDs, with a small percentage being digital downloads.
In the age of streaming, we acknowledged this competition and produced a CD that would encourage people to buy the physical media. The pull-out sheet folded out to reveal all the lyrics on one side and an Ouija board on the other. The disc had a planchette artwork printed onto it with the idea that fans could pop it out and use it. The whole artwork concept and photography all tied into the spooky-themed songs and title of Meddling With The Forces. The attention to detail we have given to making a piece of artwork people would want to buy has paid off. It may be a gimmick, but one people want to own.
We often get told, well, all kids stream nowadays. There’s always such a preoccupation with what young people do in society. We cater for streamers as all our music is on all major streaming platforms, but as a demographic, young people are in the minority. Different social media platforms indicate our fan base is between 25 and 45. That suits me just fine. I want fans with disposable income who will come to our shows and buy our merch. People who stream music our music while supporting us, when we sell our CDs for £15, that goes straight to us minus a small fee from Bandcamp. To receive the equivalent in money from streaming, we would need 3000 plays on Spotify. Again, for an obscure band like us, it’s difficult to achieve with zero marketing budget.
The album format is still alive in the streaming era but has evolved. While individual tracks and playlists are more popular than ever, albums play a significant role in the music industry. Not only have our CD sales been good, but I still buy physical albums as a music fan.
Here are the main reasons CDs still have a place on our shelves and hearts.
Artistic Expression
Firstly, an album is a gestalt of everything the artist is and how they felt while writing. The longer formats provide musicians with a way of setting a tone and telling a more extensive and cohesive story. Albums allow for exploration of experimentation that would be difficult to achieve on a single alone.
Fan Engagement
Many fans still appreciate the experience of listening to an entire album as a journey rather than a collection of singles. For dedicated fans, albums can create a more profound connection with an artist.
A Marketing Tool
Albums are still a powerful marketing tool. A well-packaged album release can generate substantial buzz and media coverage, helping to reach new audiences. We also produced flyers for our new album and have been putting them out at festivals and events. Having a new album shows that an artist is serious and has put their money where their mouth is, particularly artists like ourselves who don’t have label support.
Streaming Services: Streaming platforms support album releases by allowing listeners to quickly access an entire collection of songs. Artists can still earn revenue through streaming services based on album listens.
That said, the music industry has indeed changed with streaming. Artists may release more singles and EPs to keep their audience engaged between album releases. We also make music videos and post them on our social media regularly to engage people with our music. The way albums are marketed and consumed may have evolved, but they remain significant in the music landscape.
If you want to support an unsigned band, please visit our website and pick up a copy of our latest album, Meddling With The Forces.
