tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010292891685799733.post1443502025100224023..comments2024-02-06T14:48:33.376-08:00Comments on Music 3.0 Music Industry Blog: How Many Music Sales Equal Minimum Wage?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010292891685799733.post-61216794621972224332010-05-17T06:26:03.862-07:002010-05-17T06:26:03.862-07:00Depends on either the terms your under or flowing ...Depends on either the terms your under or flowing (meaning contracts or deals)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12670858350967692634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010292891685799733.post-9500081256273029902010-04-16T08:22:04.997-07:002010-04-16T08:22:04.997-07:00Actually- lets go further. Lets include cost of pr...Actually- lets go further. Lets include cost of production as well.<br /><br />Lets assume the most bands have access to a home studio- not unreasonable today for the serious musician. This nulls out studio costs.<br /><br />But mixing and mastering are paramount. Your average indie band is gonna want to do this on the cheap- so lets set aside 500 for mixing and 300 for mastering. And you're going to want to have silver backed CDs with a barcode for. Short run CD-Rs are cool for demos- but an official release should be done properly. On the low end 1000 replication. You're up to 1800 minimum per release.<br /><br />If you're following the new release schedule that's 1800 every 4-6 months. So at a minimum, two releases per year, that's 3200 for physical disks. <br /><br />Then theres the cost of digital distribution. Lets take tunecore's model and rough that out to an extra 50 every six months. 3300 per year for an EP / Full Length on a reasonable schedule. Break that down into monthly costs its 275 per month. If you take "minimum wage" to be your profits then you need to be raking in roughly 1500 a month.<br /><br />If we assume 20% of your sales are going to be digital and the rest direct sales at shows or through your website then that means you should be selling: <br /><br />150 Pressed CDs and 320 iTunes downloads a month. Every month.<br /><br />If we're talking about a band's first release then we're saying they need to sell 900 Pressed Units and 1920 downloads to afford their next album AND still make minimum wage. <br /><br />Hmm. Time to think about printing T-shirts and doing special edition releases kids! 1000 true fans can't cover the spread on media alone!ninetwelvehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12495691092438953108noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3010292891685799733.post-15845858847111354592010-04-16T08:03:13.099-07:002010-04-16T08:03:13.099-07:00I'd love to see a breakdown of these numbers b...I'd love to see a breakdown of these numbers by the average market share of each medium / outlet. Like if 80% of sales are CD and 20% are digital and then bythe market share broken down into iTunes, Rhapsody plays etc. <br /><br />For example what should an artist consider the minimum goal with each release if they are using tune-core, CD baby and selling CDs direct at shows / through the website?ninetwelvehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12495691092438953108noreply@blogger.com