Several years ago I picked up a used copy of Jana Stanfield's independently published book "A Musician's Guide to Outrageous Success (Making and Selling CDs and Cassettes)" at Westport Used Books. The irony of getting this book used was not lost on me, but I was in the early stages of starting my label and was eagerly consuming any indie journals I could get my hands on.

This one isn't bad either. Most of it draws on Jana's personal experience as a folk songwriter searching for ways to make a living in this business. She's realistic, though her treatise at times reads a lot like one of those overly optimistic self-help books Oprah always used to push. Of course, it promises that you'll be able to easily make $30,000 a year and tour all over the country selling merchandise effortlessly. She wouldn't have been able to market this book if it didn't.

It is possible. ALL things are possible. But for most of us who've given a shot at selling our own CDs, we've learned our lessons the hard way about how much marketing skill it takes, and how it truly is at times the luck of the draw.

I started rereading this book the other night, and it made me think: if I were to write one of these "Here's How You Sell CDs" books, what would mine include? What have I done right? Where did I screw up?

I jump back to 1999. Background: I had spent a good portion of the prior year organizing this wacky Duran Duran tribute album called "Glue: A Tribute to the Music of Duran Duran". It was made up of fans I'd met through internet newsgroups, messageboards, and mailing lists who had recorded (mostly homegrown) versions of their favorite Duran Duran songs and had no way of releasing them. Most of the songs had a techno/lofi vibe and targeted a different audience than the Mojo Records' punk/ska Duran tribute from a few years before. I learned a ton about licensing and artist relations by producing it, and I had picked a great organization for it to benefit (the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network), so the project was well on its way by this time.

When the CD Baby order page went up in January of '99 (one month before release), I could not have been happier. We got 50 preorders within the first few days! My distributor was patting me on the back, and I felt I had done everything perfectly. We would sell out of inventory in no time, right?

Several hundred went relatively fast. Then sales slowed quickly, then stopped.

Ever have this happen to you? C'mon...I know I'm not the only one who thought it would be a lot easier than it was. You have a pretty concise list of resources to hit, and you use them all up...immediately. Maybe you have a decent following, but your band can't seem to sell merch outside of it. You sold 100 CD-R's, so you thought getting 1000 CDs pressed was a great idea...and now you have lots of fancy coasters. You don't want to oversaturate the market by playing every weekend locally, but then you're not getting enough shows to effectively sell your stuff at.

It's a catch-22 a lot of the time. You have a big enough market to sell SOME merchandise to, but you can't seem to get to that next level. It's a constant learning process, and no Amway-like plan you can adapt from some book is going to give you that experience without going through the sales famines firsthand.

So...enjoy the Outrageous Struggle (Making and Selling CDs and Cassettes, mostly to friends and family who already have it)!!

Dana Detrick-Clark
dana@thezone.org

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For more on Dana, check out her band (Post Orgasmic Trauma) and record label (Serious Vanity).