By: Kip Batiz
Lots of bands and groups are still in an old mind set as far as releasing albums. Those of you old enough to remember when cd’s first started taking over, there used to be at least one ‘singles’ release for every major album published through major record labels. As soon as labels figured out that the market value in these singles was considerably less than a full album while still having the same unit production cost and shelf space value they dropped the whole concept with a handful of exceptions.
However if you are an independent or even and underground group or artist this idea can be used to your advantage. Market value on albums is mostly determined by demand of the group or artists music, if you are trying to sell your cd’s for the same price that people go to the store to buy their favorites they are very likely to pass on the deal.
Keeping the albums short and sweet is a good way to keep the same perceived value of your music to the major companies value (which is important when you later market to the same crowd online) and also drop the overall price point of the product making it more affordable. A 5-song cd for $5 and a 10-song cd for $10 is still $1 per song, but a $5 price point is more likely to sell to a person who is taking a chance on buying your cd. And the production cost is about the same.
-KB
