Music Distribution on the Web: Create Buzz, Sell CDs!
Introduction to Online Music Distribution
Amazon.com
Review
Review
by David Nevue, The
Music Biz Academy
Author
of How
to Promote Your Music on the
Internet.
Amazon.com
is by far the Internet's
biggest and most popular store,
and they provide a music distribution
outlet for independent musicians
as well. Amazon.com offers what
it calls the “Advantage” program,
allowing independent artists
to sell their own CDs from the
catalog. That means that like
MP3.com,
your music can be found for
sale right alongside commercial,
mainstream acts.
Setting
Up Shop at Amazon.com
Once
you sign up for the Advantage
service, you submit your CD(s)
for review. If they are approved
(bar codes on CDs are required),
Amazon.com will give you a page
from which you can, to a limited
degree, edit your content. You
can include your bio, CD descriptions,
short editorial reviews and
artwork. You can also assign
your music to two browseable
categories in Amazon's catalog,
meaning you have some limited
ability to target Amazon.com
visitors browsing a particular
genre of music. When Amazon.com's
stock of your CD titles get
low, they e-mail you to request
more, which you have to put
in mail to them within 5 business
days. Finally, you are paid
once per month via an electronic
funds transfer directly into
your bank account.
The
benefits of the Amazon.com Advantage
program are obvious: you get
to sell your CD on an extremely
high traffic web site, one that's
flowing with people who have
money to spend. Also, your CDs
are easy to find for anyone
surfing the Internet. Most everyone
who shops online knows and trusts
Amazon.com, so if someone heard
your music somewhere and wants
to buy it online but doesn't
know about your personal web
site, there's a good chance
the first place they'll go to
search for your music is Amazon.com.
The
Disadvantages...
All
this being said, there are some
disadvantages to the Advantage
program. First, there's a $29.95
annual fee required to participate.
On top of this, Amazon.com takes
55% of your retail price. So
if you sell one of your CDs
retail for $12.99, your cut
is only $5.85. Also, unlike
most of the other distribution
points reviewed here, you can't
create a link directly back
to your official web site. Finally,
in what I consider the biggest
disadvantage, you cannot include
sound clips with your product
in Amazon's catalog, so customers
who happen upon your CDs while
shopping at Amazon can't sample
your music. Note: Amazon.com
does provide a “Digital Music
Network” for artists to upload
their MP3s to, but that network
has no relation to your product
page other than as a promotional
tool to direct traffic to it.
The
Amazon Marketplace
There
are ways to somewhat
overcome these disadvantages.
In addition to Advantage, Amazon.com
offers a program called the
“Amazon.com
Marketplace.” Participation
in this program is much
less expensive than Advantage,
in that your cost to sell a
CD is only 15% of retail plus
.99˘ per sale (as opposed to
55% overall). So, from that
same $12.99 CD, your cut is
$10.05 (and you have to do your
own shipping). But here's the
tricky bit: in order to make
use of Amazon.com Marketplace
program, your product has to
first be in the Amazon.com store.
If you're an independent artist
with no official distributor,
the only way for that to happen
is to sign up for Advantage.
So you're back to square one.
You have to first sign up for
Advantage, pay the annual fee,
get your CDs approved and in
stock, and then sign up for
Marketplace. At that point,
you'll want to sell your CDs
at a discount to encourage people
to purchase your CDs direct
from you (via Marketplace) rather
than from Amazon.com. Even when
you sell at a discount, you
make more through Marketplace
than you would selling at full
price through Advantage. The
only hitch in this scheme is
that in my experience people
still prefer to buy direct from
Amazon.com, even when discounts
are available via Marketplace.
Does
that all sound confusing? Yea,
it is a bit, and it sounds about
as convoluted as it is. But
let me encourage you to take
the time to research these options
at Amazon.com. Amazon is one
of the most recognizable brands
on the Internet. So despite
the huge percentage they take,
despite the confusing setup,
it's a place you ought to be
stocking your CDs. Music lovers
will find you there. I make
CD sales at Amazon.com just
about every single day.
If
you'd like to see how a completed
product page looks, just search
for ‘David Nevue' at Amazon.com
and you'll see my products there.
Note the ‘Used & new' listings
on my products. The discounted
CDs are the additions I've make
through the Marketplace system.
Tip:
While the administration
system is confusion, the Amazon.com
shopping system is quite amazing
and very customer-friendly.
When you search for an item
and view the details for it,
Amazon.com will recommend other
items to you based on the purchase
history of other customers who
have bought the same item. You
can use this feature to your
advantage (pun intended). Encourage
the folks on your street team
(see chapter on Targeting Your
Customers to the Max!) to purchase
some of their favorite CDs at
Amazon.com, and while they're
at it, buy a copy of your CD
as well. This way, your CD registers
in Amazon.com's database as
having been bought in tandem
with other CDs or artists your
target audience is likely to
search for. As a result, when
targeted visitors at Amazon.com
are searching for their favorite
artists, there is a chance your
CD will be recommended to them.
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