what do you guys do with your music after you record it?

[bozmillar]

I record songs, put them up on BTR, get feedback, then... that's about it. then they just sort of sit there. What in the world are you supposed to do with a song? It has no value on it's own. I already have a wife, so I don't need women. I already have a job, so I don't need money. What in the world am I supposed to do with these things when I'm done?

[kakeux]

Good question...

My answer will be: I don't know......

Maybe send them to CD-baby, it won't change a thing but you can maybe earn 2$ in the next 10 years...or you can suddenly become famous and you could buy 100 Neumann.....

I also have a wife, I also have a job and some "finished" songs that are sleeping on my hard disk...CD-baby will be my choice if one day...

[Stan_Halen]

Something to consider if you have instrumental songs, or passages in a song with instrumentals: Music backing tracks! There are tons of websites that sell music tracks for backing music for commercials and videos etc. Boz - Your "Around the Kitchen" from about 1:33-3:00 has a great mellow passage that could be very useful for commercial purposes. They frequently are 0:30 or 0:60 lengths, sometimes longer, but custom lengths are usually fine to as the producer will edit them to fit and use the part they want. The heavier passages in that song could be a separate music track for another type of project. I have seen some sites charge $30-40 for a track less than one minute! Most are priced less than that, but ironically for the time length they charge much more than an iTunes download.

[Dahla]

I hope that one day I can magically learn to sing and get vocals on my music. Or find a vocalist that is thrilled with the prospect of working with me. Other than that, my music does not have to go anywhere. I'm happy to create just for me. (Is that musical narcissism?)

[Big Al Rocks]

Are you in a band that wants to play live shows? Use your music to get people to your gigs! (Yeah, I know. Easier said than done.)

Do you just want people to hear your music? Put your songs in video form, put them on YouTube & monetize your channel. You won't get rich from monetization but if one goes viral, you might make a few bucks.

There's my totally unprofessional advice. I have all of two songs that are a "finished product" and one more that's almost done, FWIW.

[JoshERTW]

I've heard good things about this site: TuneCore : Digital Music Distribution

Apparently my dentist records his own acoustic guitar songs and actually has sold some on here. It's global distribution and although you have to pay to sign up you get some exposure I think. Haven't looked into it yet, but when my band finishes recording our first album we're going to try this out, plus Youtube etc.

My friends band has an album out on CD-baby as well (which is where I purchased my copy) which seems like another good option.

[rook2c4]

For MY music - once a year I burn an audio CD of whatever I have completed (usually anywhere from 10-20 tracks), create some artwork for the jewel case inlay, then hand out copies to most of my friends. That's it. At group jam sessions I sometimes may get a request to play one or more tracks from the CD.

For other people's music, it depends on the situation.

[wankerone]

First - You should make a video with fat kids falling down, sexy babes, gingers, asian babies, and dogs. Put the songs on I tunes with tunecore, then sit back and make lots of money. Second Pay Glee to cover your songs in a show then sit back and make some more money. Third - 30 years from now talk about how the music today sucks compared to when you were a songwriting and recording star.

For my music I teach the band the song, unless it is my own solo thing, put up a video maybe, put it on tune core, make a cd, play them live, collect lots of young girl fans, collect hundreds of dollars. Still working on the thousands.

I also think your own CD makes a good gift especially for relatives at christmas.

[brandondrury]

I love this thread.

I always intended to take my little noise pieces and put all of them on a webpage. If someone stumbled onto them, great. Maybe if they actually liked one, they may like others. Then, if this happened 85 times, I'd have 85 fans. Then I could make another one and email those 85 people to tell them about it.

That's all I got.

I do know a file on a hard drive on your home computer is worthless. A file uploaded to Youtube or whatever is worth something. Not much, but something.

I have no interest in touring, playing shows, etc. So for me, I like the idea of passively tossing these on the web, sending a quick email to everyone who cares, and then forgetting about it. It's kinda like buying penny stock $1 at time from one company at a time. Over a few years one of those companies may be the next Google and I can sell my single share for $99.

I also like the idea of saying, "Well, I tossed up 137 songs in the past 6 years and have gotten about 228 plays." That sounds fun to me, too, since I don't really give a damn if anyone likes the crap I make. It's purely masturbation and nothing more....which is what I'd say about 80% of the stuff I record for money.

Brandon