The Main Point: Do you want to record music and sell it? Then you need to spend more time selling your music than making it.

1. Embracing Sales Ideas and thoughts for recording artists. LaSean Smith // www.lasean.com

2. Target Audience Recording Artists

3. The Main Point Do you want to record music and sell it? Then you need to spend more time selling your music than making it.

5. Not interested in the cash? You can stop reading if you don't care about making money from the music you record. Just clear the rights with all the contributors, put your music on the web as a free download, and enjoy making music .

6. Want to sell your music?

7. Just press up some CDs and put it on the Internet. Right?

8. Uh, no.

9. Making your album available for sale is relatively simple.

10. Actually selling CDs and digital downloads is hard .

11. I’m not kidding.

12. Most recording artists can make more money from other sources such as performances, merchandise, & film/television licensing.

13. But you're special right?

14. Most artists think they're here. Talent Population

15. Ask yourself if you're really here. Talent Population

16. Regardless of where you sit on this curve, why would anyone pay money for your music?

17. Think about the number of downloads or CDs you paid for this year?

18. Um, yeah...

19. No matter how talented you are, people have other things to do with their money.

20. You have to convince people that you're special .

21. Friends and family will buy your first few copies.

22. How do you get from a few copies to 1K, 10K, or 100K units sold?

23. You need to create artist and product demand .

24. There's no formula for how to generate this demand. Especially if you're on a budget.

25. Even with a boatload of money creating demand is not a trivial task.

26. The important part is to realize that generating this demand is just as critical as your musical talent when it comes to how many units you will sell.

27. Don't depend on word of mouth alone to generate demand. It's not nearly enough.

28. The Bottom Line You need to become a sales guy or gal if you want to actually sell your own music.

29. Don't have the skill to sell your music?

30. Get off your butt and learn.

31. Sales is a skill that reaches beyond the entertainment industry. Nice bonus.

32. Notice I'm not using the word marketing .

33. Marketing is also pivotal, but someone has to actually close the deal .

34. This goes for selling people inside the industry too.

35. You have to convince people to take a chance on you.

36. Let's think about the skills necessary to create and sell a song.

38. Wow that's a lot.

39. As a single individual, it's not realistic that you'll be able to do all of these well.

41. Option: Get Signed The only reason to sign with a record label is because you don't want the headache of all these jobs and/or you want to be famous. Run from this option if your ego will let you.

42. Option: Pay For It Find other people who can do the jobs you can't and pay them boatloads of money for third-party services. I don't recommend this unless you're a trust-fund kid or a street pharmacist.

43. Option: Partner Find other like-minded people and figure out ways to barter and trade on a project basis. Don't rush to start a company with someone. Focus on the project at hand and let partners come and go. The good ones will stick around.

44. Option: Learn It The internet and local communities are full of fantastic information. Build an expertise in multiple job areas and you will reduce your overall risk and dependency for cash. You still can't do it all, so partner for the rest. This is your best move.

45. After all of this you may think that this doesn't have much to do with music at all.

46. Exactly.

47. Of all of the jobs you could outsource, sales is one that you should not shy away from.

48. If you put sales fully in the hands of someone else, you're handing over control of the cash register .

49. But what if you want to just focus on making the music?

50. Good luck with that, but don't expect to get paid for most of the music you create.

51. Embrace Sales Even if it goes against your DNA.

53. Have fun!

54. http://www.lasean.com