6 thoughts on “Scratch My Brain Podcast #4”

  1. thanks for the love! man that piano line on the Garchik tune… whew! nice all around on that one. the hi-hats and the trombone all converge!

    as always, important thought provoking stuff. jazz activism! thanks again jeff!

  2. On the topic of buying music by living people, I highly recommend Kneebody’s album on Dave Douglas’s Greenleaf label.

    On the topic of taking a risk for music: A band that I used to play with made a CD that the manager of a local TOWER Records liked a lot. He decided to give the disc prominent placement through out the jazz section, with the hit records at the end of the aisle and a display at the purchase counter. He had it set up this way for at least a month. The CD didn’t sell a single copy. Perhaps the packaging wasn’t sexy enough.

  3. Yeah, there is another step that can be mysterious sometimes. Placement or visibility doesn’t always mean sales. People have to trust it, or think they need it.

    I think I’ll talk about that some more on the next podcast. Rob’s comment stirred up some more thoughts in my creaky brain.

  4. Schlarb, thanks for the complements and Jeff, thanks for featuring my album on the podcast.
    I think people buy cds at shows when you go on tour (at least that’s what I’m hoping).
    I didn’t try to get my cd in stores. In my wildest dreams I couldn’t imagine anyone walking into a store and buying one. I can imagine someone at one of my shows buying one, though.

  5. Yes, shows are a great place to sell CDs. I have definitely sold more at shows than in stores, and probably more than online too. They key to that is to stay working in front of diffent crowds. A regular Tuesday night gig at a funky dive with a regular crowd with good taste is a great way to get the band happening, but after each regular audience member has a CD, it becomes a tough sell.

    Load up the van, let’s hit the road! 😉

  6. A friend of mine told me he read an article that claimed NASCAR was the fastest growing entertainment phenomenon in the US. His next record is going to be called, “NASCAR” and will feature a bunch of music with NASCAR titles that is completely unrelated to racing…but closely related to selling discs. I hope he’s able to do it without getting sued. We’ll see….he’ll have to be clever.

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