I designed an ongoing recording project for my students with a fundraising feedback – so the next project will always be funded. After kickstarting the costs for the first record, we were able to use sales from the first CD to cover costs for the second. We’ve recorded and released four CDs in six years in that way.
However, the evolution of the music industry, and digital music in particular, has reached even high school choirs. I do not believe that we will be able to continue selling enough CDs long-term to continue to fund the project in that way.
My goals are several for each recording project:
- Give my students a true studio recording experience, which is powerfully educational.
- Release a high-level finished product that reflects well on their hard work.
- Give my students a physical memento that they can look to in ten, twenty, thirty years with pride.
- Break even.
The problem is that digital releases on iTunes etc. are not nearly as profitable per sale as physical CDs. I currently need to sell about 200 CDs to cover the costs for our next recording; even after eliminating the CD production costs, I need to sell about 3,700 songs on iTunes or about 370 albums to cover the same costs.
The other solution is to adopt a GoFundMe/Fundraising/Kickstarter model for every album, with the goal of offsetting costs for every album. I don’t know if that’s a feasible solution, but it may be my only choice – to essentially underwrite the costs of an unprofitable project because the educational components are so valuable.
In any case: the writing’s on the wall. I’ve been trying to ignore it for as long as possible, but when Best Buy announced they were eliminating CD sales this summer, it became clear I needed to start thinking about a new plan.
What about you? How do you handle studio recordings of your ensembles, and how have you navigated the changing terrain of modern digital music.