Tips & Tricks - Create and Sell Mp3

If you have any information that would be useful to other 1-2-3 Music Store users, let us know. easybe@gmx.net

Create and Sell Mp3

$68 for bands, $168 for labels

1) Create

• Protecting your rights to your music
• Registering the store with the Open Directory & Yahoo
• Preparing the songs
• Basic tips for "getting the sound right"
• Creating sample files
• Creating artwork

• Pricing
• Using categories effectively
• Customizing the shop interface

• Getting the most out of e-mail
• Press, customers and partners
• Promotions
• Fanclubs

1. Create

Registering your site - improving search engine rating
Registering your site means that it will be easier to find. A lot of web users use search engines, particularly Google, to find what they're looking for. Search engines have a rating system which they use to sort the thousands of results they get from a search enquiry. These work in different ways, but in general, the more popular your site is, the more chance it has of being on the first page of search results. And many users don't look beyond the first page... We recommend registering your site with the following services:

dmoz - the open directory project

http://dmoz.org/Arts/Music/Sound_Files/MP3/Downloads/Bands_and_Artists/

A "100% free" service, the dmoz open directory project aims to be "the definitive catalog of the Web". On big advantage here is that the directory for music and artists is almost totally empty! Get in there and be one of the first...

Yahoo

http://dir.yahoo.com/Entertainment/Music/Downloads/

Registering with Yahoo will seriously boost your search engine rating. Click the link to "Suggest a Site" in the top right corner. Now you can decide whether you want to invest time or money - for $299 you can get your site registered within seven days. If you are prepared to wait quite a long time, go for the free option. Yahoo warn that "Due to the volume of suggestions, we cannot guarantee a timely consideration of your site".

The choice is yours...

Preparing the Songs
Encoding is very easy if you have your songs on CD already. Using a player program like the Musicmatch Jukebox (which you can download for free), put in your CD and "rip" the songs - just record them onto your hard drive as mp3 files.

If you haven't recorded a CD yet, you can record your songs with a wave editor/sampler like Wavelab from Steinberg and then encode them as (or "save as") mp3 files. This takes a bit longer than simply ripping, but gives you a chance to add effects, correct errors and "get the sound right" before encoding.

We recommend using 128kbps quality mp3 files. Pay attention to writing the ID3 tags for each song and setting a copyright flag. You also have the option to include an ISRC tag for unique identification of your track although ISRC for mp3 is very definitely optional - read more about ISRC here. While you're encoding or ripping, make a note of the track length time. You will need this later.

News: just discovered http://www.1st-free-music-download.com/ - this site has a whole load of interesting information about ripping using the Musicmatch software plus other useful stuff including free tagging software - take a look!

Basic tips for "getting the sound right"

Tip 1 - record in a studio: save up some money and record your stuff in a good studio with a good producer. Often, even small studios have better equipment than most songwriters can afford and the expertise of a good producer is priceless. Don't forget, too, that an external producer is (or should be) more objective than you are and will hear things in the songs that you may not. Talk to friends, local bands and bands you've played with to get recommendations for studios and producers that provide value for money and are good to work with.

Tip 2 - you get what you pay for: doing things your way in the comfort of your own bedrom studio has a lot to be said for it. You have total control, you get to hold onto any equipment you invest in and your artistic integrity is intact. Plus it still has a kind of punk attitude, even if you sound like the Pet Shop Boys. Also, with a good audio card, a fast processor and a bit of analog hardware you can produce astoundingly good results. Spend some money on your audio card - cheap usually sounds cheap but don't overdo it; unless you're recording live drum tracks individually alongside a string quartet you won't need a lot of inputs and outputs. Just get the best you can afford. If you have any money left, look around for a channel strip or pre-amp for recording vocals (mic goes through here before going into the audio card, signal gets boosted, compressed, becomes warmer etc etc). It's a bit of a luxury, but makes a big difference.

Tip 3 - work the levels: it is important to get the sound levels of your songs roughly the same. Otherwise, anyone listening to your album will be fiddling with the volume control the whole time. In the professional world this is called mastering; the only mastering advice you will hear is "get it done by a professional". This is normally very expensive. We recommend trying things out for yourself (even the experts started out this way). Using your audio/wave editor experiment using:

• normalize - this regulates the level of the song to a specified value, often 0db (decibels) or -5db. You can do this using the "maximum" level (the loudest part of the song is then 0db) or the "average" level (the average level of the song is set to your chosen db value)
• compressor - this "cuts off the tops and boosts the low levels" or in other words, gives all of the song roughly the same level. This should give you a more even and more powerful sound but kills the dynamics if overdone.
• Limiter - simply puts a limit on peak levels
• De-esser - kills the hiss that sibilants like "s" produce

Don't forget to experiment with eq, too. Take a look at how the preset effects work and use them as a basis. The internet is full of good resources for homerecording tips. http://www.homerecording.com is a good starting point; you can branch out from there.

Creating sample files
A sample file is a "reduced" version of a song. Potential customers can click on a sample file and listen to it for free - this is the main factor behind the decision whether or not to buy your music. You should provide a sample for every song if possible. There are two common types of sample file:

• the 30 second sample - just 30 seconds of your song to showcase the best bit.
• low-quality version - the whole song in poor quality.

We recommend the 30 second sample - it sounds better, it's a more accurate representation of the original music and it's quicker; the customer can decide quicker if she wants to buy; the sales process is shorter! Sample files are easy to create. In your wave editor, pick out the best part of the song and crop a generous section around it. IMPORTANT: Save the cropped song under a new name now! Now work out roughly a 30 second long sample - your wave editor may have tools for this, if not just use your watch and set markers. Crop again. Add a short fade in and out and you're ready to encode as normal.

NOTE: if you use ISRC codes, each 30 second sample should have its own code, independent of the ISRC code of the original song.

Creating artwork
The 1-2-3 music store uses two kinds of artwork:

1. product image

   For CD covers, use our templates #link to relevant area#. It's easier than measuring out your own. CD covers are based around a 12cm x 12cm image and depending on the box type, have different measurements for spines and back covers. Just insert your images into the template and you're done. Make sure the image looks good when its very small and try to stick to web-safe colors. Use the jpeg format for all images.

2. storefront

   For product images, you should use the same image as the CD cover. You will have to resize the image, though: small image (thumbnail) is 100px x 100px, large image is 200px x 200px.

2. Configure

Pricing
The money you take for your music is your business. We expect, though, that most 1-2-3 music store will sell songs for around ¤1 and albums for around ¤5 - 6. Just make sure you cover your transaction costs.

Here is an overview of transaction costs:

Using categories effectively
Categories are just a way of organizing your albums. Think of a category as a folder, although the analogy is not so great when you consider that an album can be in multiple categories at once. How you organize your categories is up to you. However, there are some tried and tested methods that are very effective. Many labels have only two categories:

• release date
• artist name

All albums are in both categories, but the categories are sorted differently. This allows customers to find albums however they want. This approach works very well for labels. For bands, you can even manage without categories altogether, packing everything into one big folder. For bands whose members have side projects, a category for each project is also very effective. Or group by genre, calendar month, alphabetically or according to what the music is (i.e. demo, studio or live recordings). It's up to you, just keep it simple.

Customizing the shop interface
We recommend that you customize the interface to fit in with your website. The templates are standard HTML with stylesheets, so anyone with a bit of HTML know-how can customize the interface ina standard HTML editor. It's quite easy to change colors, fonts and basic layout. We request (and advise) that you leave the "structure" of the store (buttons, forms, etc) as it is. Coming soon! A selection of cool skins for the 1-2-3 music store to make customizing even easier.

3. Communicate

Getting the most out of e-mail
Your mailing lists and e-mail communication is your hotwire to your fans, customers and those who may yet become fans and customers. Music is special - no other artform becomes so much a part of peoples' lives. People often identify themselves with the music they listen to. They are interested in the artists who make the music they like - music can generate a feeling of community. It is essential that you use this - in simple commercial terms, once you have a fan, you want them to become a customer. Once you have a customer, you want them to stay "faithful".

Use your e-mail communication to inform your subscribers about new releases, to pass on concert dates, to present interesting news stories and reward subscribers with a free song every now and again. "Bind" your subscribers to you and give them something back for their time and interest.

Here are some suggestions for useful mailing list types...

Press
Create a mailing list for the press. Use it to contact webzines, magazines, local reviewers etc. Send these things:

• promotional songs to review or listen to
• news of new releases
• band info and band news
• concert schedule

Customers
Customers are automatically added to mailing lists when they buy. Use these mailing lists to keep your customers' interest in your music. Send these things:

• Promo song from new releases as a "teaser" - i.e. "this is why you should buy the new album..."
• News about new releases and band info/news
• Bonus stuff - if you have demo songs, live songs or even special recordings like Christmas songs, send them as a bonus or "reward" to your customers. You can also send extra artwork, Christmas cards etc.

Partners
Create a mailing list for your affiliate partners. Keep it focused on partner issues. Send these things:

• News of changes in the affiliate agreement
• Partner newsletter with information about how the partner program is going and any new developments

Fanclub
Create a mailing list for your fans. These may be people who haven't yet bought anything but they are interested in your music and want to know about the artist. Basically you can send the same kind of stuff as listed above under "customer" but consider these things:

• Provide more focus on "secret" information about the artist
• Some fans have maybe not yet bought anything - try to encourage them to buy and make it clear that the fans who are also customers are getting a better deal!

Create and Sell Mp3

$68 for bands, $168 for labels

Still got questions? No problem - mail us to: a.himmelweiss@berlin.de.