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Hey I'm getting my Soundcloud page organized. Usually at the rally I bring a stack of discs but I was thinking the trend may be moving toward just handing somebody a card with my Soundcloud info on it. Have people gone this route with much success? I'm afraid it may look too chaotic for people to find anything, if I don't do it right. I'm getting a bunch of my unsigned works in there into different playlists, such as "world" and "country". Up to now I haven't really gotten to know Soundcloud very well so just wondering if you guys have found ways to streamline the process of approaching industry people with a link, rather than a disc. www.soundcloud.com/jennings-music
Thanks, J

hey Jerry,

Not sure if all digital is good or bad. Might as well give it a go.

But as far as your soundlcoud:

If you get a "Pro account" which will likely cost you $50 or so (maybe its more now $69 Idk?)

You can have "playlists" or individual tracks arranged at the top of your page in the "spotlight".

So at least when somebody visits your page, they see everything organized at the top - like https://soundcloud.com/andy-gabrys-music

Works for my mind but YMMV.

Good luck!

Yep, without a 'pro' acccount your tracks are ordered as uploaded; you can work around it, but it's a major pain. As to cards, it's probably a wash; CDs are persistent in a way that cards are not; they don't end up in pieces, in the dryer, for one.They sit on a desk staring at you, accusingly, until you put them in a drawer and forget about them, but they're not as portable and wallet-friendly as a card. Probably, you should have both, cuz I'm not sure if they can play Soundcloud tracks in the big ballroom for the listening panels.

Thinking about spending some money in a handful of thumb drives... better or worse than offering an old school CD?

As far as CDs go, are we talking data cd so sups can browse directories, or an audio CD of 10-15 samples that they would play?

I think both are good. Biz cards and Demo CD with soundcloud link. The CD cost some money if you want to make it look cool and get it done by a professional printer but I think its worth it. Its also a fun project I like to do every year. People still seem to like the idea of getting a CD. Maybe next year it might be a different story..

So the next question then is... do professional looking CDs with color labels matter? Is this partially about image and the appearance of being a "legit" studio versus a home studio composer? The pessimist in me wonders how many of these CDs will just get tossed out.

Paulie wrote:So the next question then is... do professional looking CDs with color labels matter? Is this partially about image and the appearance of being a "legit" studio versus a home studio composer? The pessimist in me wonders how many of these CDs will just get tossed out.

Yes, the better the CD looks, the more likely it will get positive attention. It says "PROFESSIONAL."

Whether or not the CDs get tossed out is not in our control. What IS in our control is getting them into the right hands.

Having both Business Cards and CDs would be the best way to go I think. And make sure all the info on the business card is ALSO on the CD and the Jewel case. And use full sized Jewel Cases... those tiny thin ones are BAD BAD BAD for your image and they don't stand out in a crowd.

I agree with Russell except you can use jackets. they cost less and look cool. the jewel cases break. I hate them. also dont bother wrapping the jackets. people need to be able to whip out your CD and listen to it. they dont like wasting time unwrapping it. these are the jackets I did last year. I got 100 made:

TheElement wrote:I agree with Russell except you can use jackets. they cost less and look cool. the jewel cases break. I hate them. also dont bother wrapping the jackets. people need to be able to whip out your CD and listen to it. they dont like wasting time unwrapping it. these are the jackets I did last year. I got 100 made:

Those look cool & legit, imh (not-yet-pro) o.

Further to the "professionalism" Russell referred to is getting your own .com domain. If creating a website is too much to handle, then getting a .com for about $12/year, you can have domain redirect to your soundcloud page. This way you have "worldsbestcomposer.com" on your business card instead of "www.soundcloud.com/worldsbestcomposer". It just makes for a more professional looking biz card, in my opinion.