There is nothing that can make you feel like a waste of life like a closet full of unsold CD's staring at you every time you go to put on your skinny leg jeans. Like the day your daddy retired his 8-track and you threw out your CD Walkman for an iPod, the days of staring at the pile of unsold CD's are over. CreateSpace is a website you may have heard of that now allows you to press your CD's on demand. What the hell does that mean? It means all you do is point to a link in Amazon's store and your fans can buy your CD and each time someone orders them they will print them one at a time or ten at a time depending on your orders! You can also order CD's wholesale and sell them yourself through any means and get them to stores. They offer non-exclusive terms for sales and allow an artist to get a professional looking product for a very cheap price. To see what their product is like take a look at the above video and watch me open and take a look at the quality of their product (which was very impressive). What about having CD's to sell on tour? How fast does this take to turn around? We answer those questions after the jump.
I recently wrote CreateSpace and asked a few questions I felt all of our readers would like to know. If there is anything else you would like answered let us know in the comments and we will add it to future articles.
If bands wanted to exclusively press their CD with CreateSpace are they able to order CDs to take on tour with them at a discounted price?
What is your usual turnaround once all the materials are sent in?
Is there any success story from CreateSpace you can point me to?
If bands wanted to exclusively press their CD with CreateSpace are they able to order CDs to take on tour with them at a discounted price?
At CreateSpace, members set their own list prices and earn royalties through retail channels based on the price they set. For wholesale orders, a flat $4.95 manufacturing fee per unit applies for orders of up to 49 discs. Members get a volume discount for orders of 50 and greater. For additional information on order pricing, please visit https://www.createspace.com/Products/CD/ and click on "Pricing & Royalties." Also, I wanted to add that CreateSpace's agreement is non-exclusive, so musicians are welcome to take advantage of any opportunities that come their way.
What is your usual turnaround once all the materials are sent in?
After we receive the materials, members are sent a proof copy within 10 days. After the proof is approved, it takes 1-2 weeks for the disc to appear on Amazon.com and other channels. Wholesale orders may also be placed after the member approves the proof. Customer retail orders placed on Amazon.com are eligible for Amazon's shipping options, including Amazon Prime and Free Super Saver Shipping. Shipping options are given at checkout, but the typical turnaround time for wholesale orders is 1-2 weeks.
Is there any success story from CreateSpace you can point me to?
Sure, you may visit the "Showcase" section of the CreateSpace website for information on some of our members. Also, I've included below a success story about Band From TV that you may find interesting (I sent you a review copy of this disc.)
Band From TV: CreateSpace On-Demand Technology Helps Celebrity Philanthropists Give More Back
Kurt Benjamin, president and CEO of Generosity Records, is one of the engineers behind celebrity musical group "Band From TV" - which includes TV celebrities Hugh Laurie ("House"), Greg Grunberg ("Heroes"), James Denton ("Desperate Housewives"), Bonnie Somerville ("Cashmere Mafia") and Bob Guiney ("The Bachelor") - and their new album, "Hoggin' All The Covers."
In 2008, Benjamin, an entrepreneur known as much for his charitable efforts as his keen business sense, worked with the band to develop "Hoggin' All The Covers," their first CD/DVD combo album. Since the members of "Band From TV" wanted to donate proceeds of the CD/DVD combo to charities including Save the Children, The Epilepsy Foundation, Art of Elysium, Donate Life and CAPP, Benjamin sought out the best distribution model to enable the band to maximize donations for these organizations.
With that in mind, Benjamin and Band From TV turned to CreateSpace, part of the Amazon.com group of companies.
"The reason I selected CreateSpace's on-demand model for our project is simple: we wanted to create a virtual company that would not saddle itself with inventory, manufacturing and packaging responsibilities," said Benjamin. "Without knowing exactly what the customer demand would be, CreateSpace gave us the opportunity to execute our business plan with the Disc on Demand platform, which conformed to our needs perfectly."
Using the latest Disc on Demand technology via CreateSpace, Band From TV's CDs and DVDs are only manufactured after customers place an order, resulting in low cost and low risk for Generosity Records. By avoiding the costs of creating and storing inventory, Band From TV is able to donate 100% of their profits from the sale of the album to their causes. Additionally, the on-demand model means the group makes more money in royalties for charity.
Through CreateSpace, "Hoggin' All The Covers" was made available to the millions of customers visiting Amazon.com. The on-demand nature of the title means that it's always in stock, translating to greater retail sales, which spiked after Band From TV's performance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."
"I found the CreateSpace team to be phenomenal, responsive and exceptional at meeting demands of volume spikes that are associated with my project because of national television performances and other events that create sales," said Benjamin.
Since its release on Amazon.com, the "Hoggin' All The Covers" CD and DVD combo reached #1 in a variety of music categories on Amazon.com's bestseller lists.
"CreateSpace gives producers the opportunity to get product out, promoted and seen, which would otherwise be sitting in their minds or on their computer, not on a shelf - CreateSpace is a virtual shelf," said Benjamin. "I definitely plan to use CreateSpace again. I recommend it to many people and will continue to do so."
I dont really believe in this. I'm selling my EP for 5 bucks a cd, and its much cheaper to order 100 cds with artwork for about 60 bucks than 100 cds for....500 dollars? Ripoff. And inventory costs? Does it really cost a lot to put all your cds in a box/shelf?
Little confused by this comment can you explain a little further so we can try to explain?
It seems to be a rather high cost per unit compared to other manafacturing options. The idea is great but $5 out of your profit after Amazon tax e.t.c. is not that great.
Hello. Great job, I did not expect this, this is a great post. Thanks!
I think Anonymous is missing the point. CreateSpace offers one option for artists that don't want to mess around with printing CDs, taking orders, posting, etc. every day. They might just be on tour, creating music or focusing on building an audience. If you want to save some extra dollars of course you'll do it yourself, but maybe that's not the best use of your time.
I think this fills a market very well and can't argue with the price point. Hell, I've know I've got better things to do:)