A historical day!
27 January:
Today, I bought CDBaby distribution - so, I have now secured the future publication of the Change My Mind album globally, digitally and in CD (print on demand through Amazon etc.) I filled in everything they asked for, paid the fee and now all I have to do is get the music done and upload it and the artwork.
The poor economics of music: I wish you guys knew how much a musician has to pay out to get this far! And when and if this album ever sells or is streamed/downloaded, CDBaby takes a 20% cut, STIM takes and additional 15% of what they get from CDBaby and I am left with paying taxes on the rest. I am not in this for the money. It isn't lucrative. We are doing this for you who want to find peace of mind. Thanks for supporting us in prayer and financially so we can bear this burden more easily.
When and if I ever print physical CDs I'll have to pay 5000 or 6000 SEK for 300 albums up front with no guarantee of selling anything. The main thing is to get the digital music done and see where this goes. If it turns into a house concert tour then I need the physical CDs as well.
We took a whole day and rearranged the living room/studio: according to the helpful insights of a professional audio technician's advice. We hung up a wall-long curtain rod and curtain (5 panels) on one side of the room and turned the studio 180 degrees the other way with my back towards the curtain. (The curtain covers a part of the ceiling that is caved and was causing some strange issues.) This has cut the echoing and difficult bass problems I've had. We also moved two chairs that now effectively absorb bass in each corner. Sounds much better now. We did lose some space, though which is a bummer. I hope I get used to it....
29 January/Monday
Saw the following video: Great to get started with reverb. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=26&v=XIkii9fF2Sg
Practicing for tonight and creating a set list and a song sheet for the ppl at my home church.
The new Music Business: I am going to read Ari's book on the way in (train ride).
Mood: The weather is lousy. I am longing for Spring and summer to come. Aren't you? Grateful, still, for family, friends and fellowship.
Learned about future live broadcasts with OBS and GAB: Read through a SlideShare presentation on Gab: https://www.slideshare.net/getongab/official-gab-official-howto-tutorial
30 January - 1 Feb
Time is going by so rapidly now. The worship time on Monday went well.
I've been mixing music washing clothes, doing the weekly shopping, planning...many hrs go to household stuff :-(
New decision about mastering
IMPORTANT: I have to admit that I can't do everything. I need to outsource a few things in order to move on. The mastering needed to be outsourched
So, I contacted Per G Imsen from Sonic Media and we spoke about giving him the mastering job for the album. He accepted. This frees me up to do the mixing and wait with learning the mastering and it is a way to tie the whole album together with the five songs he already mastered. It will cost me a bit, but I need to make this decision, otherwise I'll never get done. There is always a trade off between cost, quality and time. It will now cost a little bit more but save me tons of time. Btw I am spending less time on promotion, social media and Wattpad too all in an effort to concentrate on the mixing part.
Name check
I contacted STIM and CCLI to check if my name was the same through all agencies. My name needs to be the same everywhere- just as it is registered on CDBaby. If not I won't get reimbursed when and if people start to buy, download the songs. STIM is o.k. I found out. I am still waiting for a CLLI response. This could take a few days.
Album art
Contacted my artsy, graphic wiz nephew in New York asking him to design the album cover and label for the physical CD. Sent him all the pictures, discussed all the details. I cant do the final art - I'll leave that to someone else. (2 hrs)
The templates I will be using are found here: http://duplication.cdbaby.com/quoter/templates.aspx
Book tip: House Concerts
Just finished a book on how to hold house concerts by Shannon Curtis. It is a good start. Check her out at: http://shannoncurtis.net/
This weeks videos haven't been all that many and not so name worthy so I'll leave it at that this time around.
P.S. When I get down and out and wonder why the heck I am doing all this, your support means the world to me and helps keep me going! Thanks! D.S.
YOU ARE READING
An Indie Musician's Diary VOL. 1
Non-FictionThis is how I go forward with my music - the real story from November 2017 and towards the album release but it took Volume 2 to get the whole way there. Creating, editing and mixing music is a complicated effort but loads of fun. For all you who wa...
