[ZACHEOUS JACKSON]

@Phats
seroius reasoning there my brother fi real..selling Cd's at a gig is a great idea, i have been asked after i have done a set 'do you have a cd?' and i don't have any with me.
The download thing can work also to build a listener base, because through that i was invited over to croatia to do a show last year, and was invited and went to poland .
i eventually put together a not for sale promo cd of my own works and songs that i wrote and sang on riddims for various producers..the positive side of this was that i sent it out to stations across the globe with a profile of who did what who was who etc etc, which got me a lot of airplay in different countries on web and live radio, which led to that same promo cd being reveiwed in the US BEAT reggae magazine, with a wicked review which bigged up my I 'Sit and I Pray track that i did for king sammy, my 'Garvey Garvey' track and my 'Weh do de yute' tracks that i did for Brizion and Lackatee .the whole cd get a good lick abroad an was just something that i knocked up on the pc at home..through that i even did station id's for a few US radio stations
In fact there is a steppers remix dubplate of my weh do de yute song that brizion has done for blackheart warriers
the down side is that my promo cd was ripped and seems to be all over the place now, so i suppose that kinda good still because it getting me and the other musicians involved exposure, through which i get mail every couple of month from people i dont even know asking me to write and vocal riddims for them, which i will do when i set myself straight with recording equipment in my yard, because when i do my works i go to a proffessional studio,the results are good because the guys knows my vocal range but it deh bruk mi packet seen!
but in the end i am laughing because even though the cd got ripped the tracks on it only had the basic vocals because i have other vocals on them but pulled them out of the final mix, so when i do eventually release an official cd with all my previous works and more ..them going to sound different and of a higher quality(hope that makes sense)
in closing i say that you have to know how far you deh tek this ting, because i have now reached an age that me nah play no more because i have mout to feed and bill to pay..so money hafi now mek seen!

A lot of good comments from people here. Thanks Dubflash for sharing your views. (I found it very interesting to read). Phats mentioned how different things were 20 years ago. It was very difficult (Music Business) in the 1980's. Equipment very expensive and it was more challenging to promote yourself than it is now. (I often feel fortunate just to be able to do something that I want to do and have the means to do) Every individual has different goals or ideas about what they want to achieve. If I sell a download at .99 each, the amount of money I would make in a month would be laughable. ($30. maybe, give or take-maybe a lot less)??? Zacheous made some really good points and has a good plan. One has to always pay a price to be able to do something. (eg. pay for equipment, musical instrument, internet, studio time.... and so on) It is sad that many are not well compensted for what they do. I'd gladly take the money and run as they say. There are many artists who became well known, but they are certainly not well off financially.

The point about selling a download .99 each, maybe sell 30 in a month ($30.), would be about the same income a 12 year old child would make by delivering newspapers. "Got to love what you do."

[phatsemelia]

yes 555,every time i go for a drink with professional musicians,they are always skint,lol.most of them are painters and decorators too.not very good ones.
funny story,a good mate of mine who has toured with max romeo and some other big artists was working,up a ladder,painting the outside of a shop when a passer by commented to him "are you a musician".astounded and thinking he'd been recognised he replied "yes,how did you know" the passer by replied "i can tell by your painting"and then sauntered off.
made me laugh.

but seriously though,there is so much music out there now that we are all just little fish in an ocean and to make music a profession,i think you need a lot of luck.

i have had a little bit of good luck lately,better gigs,great collaborations etc. but we still go out and play for free because for me,audience response is what i get back from it.i also learn what works and what dosn't.it also gives me a very cheap social life and living in london,that is good thing.

i have noticed that people are getting into the live music thing again.and if they see you live and really had a good night,cd's are still in quite good demand.especially amongst older people.younger people have usually spent all their money on drink.

the music business seems to be becoming like loads of little cottage industries,cause you can do it all yourself now,bloody hard work though.

[safira]

True I feel all everybody have to say but as for me individually I don't buy 1 single file. I go to 7 eleven and walmart sometimes and they have singles out for sale at $3 and I not buying it even though it is a hard copy but it is 1 song on there and maybe the instrumental or live version but to cut the chase it is 1 song. Why (speaking for myself and most people in reality) spend 0.99 on 1 track. what if for the year the artist makes 20 tracks? That is $20 right. Why not wait for the artist to release an album and pay $10-$15 for the 20 track album and save $5 lol. People are money hungry these days and gas price is killing us all over so to save 0.99 and put 3 more dollar on it that can buy one gallon of gas to get me to the next gas station. 1 artist selling their single chune and 50 artists are giving free downloads, guess what? My pc will be loaded with free downloads until the day Bill Gates sends me virus and crash it lol. Anyways let me stop the madness. Artists sell your music if you think thats best. I will give free download cause I think thats best. Right now I want to upload 3 new tracks and I cant do it because the producers them warn me bout infringement. My voice on it and I cant share it for free so I just wont upload it. I would not upload it for sale cause it is not 100% my property to sell nor to share. However once I get a go ahead to upload a chune here it will be free to stream and free to download.

Some very good points Safira. (why spend $20. when maybe you can get a CD with 20 tracks for $10-15.) I still buy plenty of CD's, but I am NOT your average consumer of music. Some people still like the CD, the package etc. Times are changing with internet and downloading of music.
Greetings Phatsemelia:
I have heard many tracks on this website RDW that are so good. It's not a bad deal (for the buyer) at .99 for an mp3. (Check out Jammo and Don fe track here at RDW)IT'S FREE!!! but certainly worth more than $.99 ...
I'm sure there are many here (myself included) that live fairly cheap. You do what you must to survive and try to enjoy what you can.

Well, back to washing dishes and sweeping the floor... haa haa

[dubcreator]

Some people don't seem to understand that there are also producers that have a family they have to support. So need an income. Here's people that say i like that tune but i don't want to pay for it. Would be nice if i go to the grocery and say... well i'd like to eat that carrot but don't want to pay for it.

I'm some sort of established producer, get played by the big soundsystems and so on. I have expenses as well to make a tune. Pay for singers, pay for food, drinks, travelexpenses when there's an artist in the studio...... pay for gear. So if people don't want to pay for tune, well i can tell you if there's no income i have to stop building tunes and seek for something else to support my family. I think if people like the music them have to pay for it. Producers put a lot of efford in their works.

If you want to give away your tunes... that's upto you but don't start complaining when others don't.
I guess most of the producers here work right outta the box with free plugins, free (or cracked) software. So no investment. I got a proper studio and that was an investment.

I did put up a recordlabel, but have to quit with that as there's too many tieves who download my tunes for free becouse someone put up my tunes as MP3's on the net and even selling them without me seeing a penny.

I did this Peter Broggs album, Igzabihir Yakal. The profits from that album should go to Peter for his medical bills as he suffered a stroke and is almost blind becouse of gloucoma.
As soon as the album was released it was already available pon these site as 2 dollar download for the full album... Peter don't see a penny from that and the sales for official album were dramatic. Pure thievery.... i did an investment for pressing the album, lots of money. Do you think i got it back ?
No becouse of the free downloads.

[Duffcott]

Allionsonny and Meef have been very helpful

[ZACHEOUS JACKSON]

Originally Posted by safira

Right now I want to upload 3 new tracks and I cant do it because the producers them warn me bout infringement. My voice on it and I cant share it for free so I just wont upload it. I would not upload it for sale cause it is not 100% my property to sell nor to share. However once I get a go ahead to upload a chune here it will be free to stream and free to download.

I hear sista Safira on that, because as you say it not 100% your property, but maybe you could a ask them for permission to ride the track, and split whatever cost/ gain that mek.
as i was saying ealier i want to release an official cd, with my works and works from the collabs that i do, and i and them would a work out how to share what is made, because in the end it would have to be me that has to do all the producing for the CD mastering etc pressing so i would a try sell it through itunes/cd baby /reggaedubwise either as the whole cd or as seperate track download.
On the infringement thing artists and producers have to well careful that permission is asked before you ride someones tracks , use their lyrics or even rework their track i am not so sure that is ok to rework a producers track just because an artist or producer like it because permission should be asked first, and if them seh no and you go ahead and do it,and sell it then a whole heap a lawsuit can lick you, does anyone remember that track that the uk band musical yute did? when they reworked pass the kutchie, from what i overstand there was a lot of claims
remember that the mcps and prs are very serious with things like this.
So in closing i say stay original..do your own thing that would avoid people saying he sounds like...or she sounds like...(hope i make sense)
Forgot to also say that being on one of the latest and hottest riddims that getting airplay, would get you known a lot faster..its just finding these riddims and getting the permission to voice them...
i remember sending don corleon a mail some time last year saying that i would like to write lyrics and vocal one of him riddim...all now i don't get a reply back..the reason is him must be asking ' a who dis facety bwoy mi nuh know him'(ha ha)