This is something that took me a while to decide – whether to sell ‘Transcend’ as a retail CD, or whether to just give it out for free.
Throughout the recording process, which took a good six months from December – June, this was something at the back of my mind, and I really couldn’t decipher what would be the best distribution model. You maybe wondering why I am telling you this, but I believe that every active fan of my music forms an integral part of the album, and has a right to know.
I’d like to run you through my thought process at that time.
If I gave out the album for free, there would have been a massive surge of downloads, mentions and listens. But here’s the speedbreaker – the buzz would just fizzle out over time, leaving Transcend a nobody. Everyone likes to put a face/person behind a song – its harder to do that when you’re giving away free downloads. Hmm.
Self-proclaimed Business gurus come and tell me how the free distribution of the first album would have laid the foundation for the next album – which in their opinion ‘would sell like hotcakes’, but hey – let’s get real. If 10% of the people who heard about you buy your first album, probably 15% of them would buy the next one – and it’s no rocket science. Retail models definitely limit your audience – more so when you don’t have much marketing leverage. That number only further discredits the time and effort that goes into making each album.
In tune with my instincts, I decided to go with the retail model – Believing that fans would pay a genuine fee in appreciation of the time and effort that went this album. This model worked really well for me, but I still wasn’t able to sell enough copies – As I expected. I’d attribute this to the fact that I had no label, and I didn’t have much time to market it myself either – and finally I wasn’t completely satisfied with the number of ears I was reaching.
This left me wondering, and I couldn’t figure out how I was about to do it. Until I stumbled upon this great little company called GimmeSound, and after e-mailing them I realized what a fantastic model they have. They let users download artists’ music for free (you just have to register), and guess what, a good portion of the revenue is sent to the American Cancer Society.
It is with much love that I present this to you today – http://gimmesound.com/Sridhar
You just need to Register using the ‘Join Now’ button, and you can download all the music from ‘Transcend’. For Free.
If you’re having trouble downloading, here’s a screenshot telling you how to do it:
Download, Spread the Word, Enjoy the music, and I’d love to hear from you 
–
Sridhar
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