Selling Music from a WordPress Website... help

My wife is a recording artist and I built her a WordPress website...
- now I need to find the best WP plug-in

I've told the best method for selling music these days is have
your own app that people can download. I like that idea, but
I'm not sure where to start.

Anybody have any suggestions? thx

a reply to: wasaka

CD Baby will get it up digitally on things like iTunes; but I have no idea about apps. Best of luck!

a reply to: wasaka

You can start with Woo Commerce in WP. Woo has a whole lot of 3rd-party stuff going on and it's extremely versatile.

a reply to: wasaka

Where did you get idea having an app is the way to go?

MS 45 yrs music industry
Multi-published, recorded and copyrighted musician (collecting royalties the rest of my life quarterly)

Group member in Billboards top 100 R n R groups of all time
(just my credentials)

originally posted by: mysterioustranger
a reply to: wasaka

Where did you get idea having an app is the way to go?

It just makes sense. People may visit your website once
and never come back.... so you ought to collect their email
address if you can... better yet is to get them to download
an app on their smart phone. Then it is always one-click
away, and you can feed the app new data, like a new song
or a new album (that they can buy from the app).

That just makes cent$$$$ wouldn't you agree?

Here is the first app builder I've looked at:
evolver.fm...

mysterioustranger - tell me, if I did use an app like this,
what concerns ought I to have about royalties, etc?
I've heard iTunes and CDbaby are not good in this regard
and don't have the artist best interests at heart.

a reply to: wasaka

A couple things...no matter what you hear...major labels, distributors, publishers (music, videos, movies) wont touch you if you haven't copyrighted your stuff...thats to protect them...I can get a YouTube video pulled off in 3 hours because Ive proved copyright ownership, and they are very good about it.

If you don't, they will of course... if they think its worth giving you a deal in the long run...and they do look at stuff like "Well, these 10 songs are great...but...have you got ten more? And can you keep them coming over the next say 3-5 years for us?" Investment. They don't dump $ on one shot deals. (They DEVELOPE their artists over time)....but then...theyll own the rights with you.

We have been with Universal for years, and worldwide they handle distribution, sales, management and publishing with a multitude of other companies. There are many markets worldwide to consider you have to deal with.

There's North America, Mexico and Canada, South America and its countries, Africa and the Middle East, the Netherlands-Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland...the North Countries of Greenland, Iceland...the UK-Wales, Ireland, Scotland, England...Asia-Japan, S. Korea....and Ill stop there. You can sell records in each, all or none of the buying area markets...up to you, how much you advertise or how big a company signs you (not many do anymore).

Lastly, our stuff is in movies, the Sopranos TV show, many commercials etc....and we are or have been paid by all....The Sopranos for one episode was $20,000.

Ok...applications are a relatively new concept. I would ask you to consider how much, where, when, who and how much $$ can you spend to ADVERTISE the app so you can get sales? That answer is the same for everyone: youre better off connecting with some company, advertiser, website, distributor WITH worldwide connections to take your copyrighted and owned by you music...and get it out there.

They have they connections, and more people go to internet sites as opposed to joined or downloading apps. You have to reach a LOT of people everywhere to make just that...worth your time and $$. You are talking new tech here...its a relatively new facet of this industry. Yes. We are on websites. Yes we have it on Amazon. Yes we have...have that...have those...you name it.

Protecting your music on sites like CD baby and stuff if violations occur? Its a crap-shoot. I'd say with Amazon, CD Baby and the like, they are better than others. If you have to sue somebody...I hope you have a lot of $$ or a company that does. Our attorney in in LA, another London, another Belgium, one in Sweden and our Trademark attorney has his office in N.Y.

The cheapest of them is around $250 per hour...and of course, you usually have to get to their location for counsel. Not always, sometimes. That's a lot of money to come up with. Sometimes one or two visits costs more than your recent sales.

Lastly...my advice. So as much as you can yourself. Copyright EVERYTHING including watermarking your photos. Hook up with some International Company like Amazon or CD Baby...because of their worldwide connections. Plan ahead and for the "what-if's" that will come your way unexpectedly...because they will.

The app is a great idea if you tie it in with all of the above so they reach out to the world and not just you from your single office somewhere.

Good luck to the lady, and feel free to PM me sometime if you get more confused...bottom line? Never...NEVER stop pushin'...and LEARNING.

MS