For months, I had anticipated opening that first box of CDs, ripping
off the packaging, and putting it in my CD player so I could finally
hear my music blasting out through my speakers (as much as relaxing
music can blast). I imagined that the CDs would arrive on a beautiful
sunny morning. Marianne and I would listen to it in its entirety.
Satisfied, we would then go out for coffee to celebrate. That's
not even close to what actually happened.
We live in Vancouver but the manufacturing company that pressed
our first CD has its headquarters in Toronto. By coincidence,
I just happened to be in Toronto working on an episode of "Kung
Fu: The Legend Continues" the day the CDs and cassettes were
completed. During a break in my shooting schedule, I went over
to the manufacturer and greedily took off with a handful of CDs
and tapes. The rest would be shipped to Vancouver where they would
be waiting until I returned home. I couldn't wait that long.
Later that day, I went to work at the studio where some of "Kung
Fu" is filmed. One of the drivers (a fringe benefit of being
an out-of-town actor: you get driven back and forth between the
hotel and set) convinced me to go into David Carradine's (the
star of "Kung Fu") room at the studio and play "Inspirations"
on David's stereo. So, there for the first time, in a TV star's
dressing room thousands of miles away from home, I heard my first
CD. Midway through "Confession 1," David came in and
asked, "What the hell is going on?" Jeff, the driver,
explained that it was my first CD. David listened for a few minutes
with us then announced that he wanted to take a nap. I popped
out my CD and quietly got out of there. Not what I had imagined
but I still felt great. I celebrated by going to the snack table
and gorging out on ham, cheese, and tomato sandwiches.
I got home from Toronto the second week of September, 1994. On
the plane, I had sold the first tape to a couple sitting across
the aisle from me. I don't waste time.
The boxes arrived a few days after me: 1000 cassettes and 1000
CDs of "Inspirations by Ronin." We stacked the boxes
in our living room where they formed a four-foot high barrier.
(Some of the books on the shelf would have to remain unread).
The creation phase was complete. Now, we had records to sell.
I like to keep souvenirs but I thought that 2000 copies of the
same souvenir would be overdoing it.
We had booked a room at the Planetarium for September 16 for the
release party. I got on the phone and invited about 150 people.
These were friends, people I had met working on film sets, relatives,
and some music business people. To my surprise, about 100 of them
actually showed up. The room was packed. Maybe they came because
of the food. Marianne, with some help from my cousin Angela, had
prepared hundreds of awesome miniature cheesecakes for our guests'
consumption.
The party was a huge success. About an hour after it started,
I played the CD to the crowded room. I let it play a few times
while the guests mingled. We sold about 50 recordings that evening.
It more than covered the cost of the food and the room rentals.
More importantly, it launched some word of mouth. Now, if we could
only make it easy for people to find our CD - ie. get it distributed
into stores.
Initially, Marianne and I believed that it would be difficult
to get into the big record stores while the smaller specialty
stores would be more supportive. We found exactly the opposite
to be true. The small independent stores were slow to respond
and sometimes downright rude. One store seemed to want to make
a point of telling us that we were poorly planned and that we
shouldn't bother them. The store manager claimed that she was
inundated with releases. I think part of the problem was that
there was a backlash against 'New Age' music at this time. That's
too bad because there are many talented musicians who have been
lumped haphazardly into this genre. However, there was also a
lot of garbage out there which created the backlash in the first
place.
In the big chain stores, the people were quite pleasant. Their
main concern was that we were professional and that the product
was shrink wrapped. A&B Sound, Sam's, and HMV all accepted
"Inspirations" without a hitch. At first, we hired others
to help us service all the stores. But, we soon discovered that
we were the only ones who cared enough about our records to do
all the necessary work. So, Marianne took up the responsibility
of visiting the stores on a regular basis. All of her work paid
off. In January, the central distribution warehouse of A&B
Sound ordered another shipment. They had sold out of the first
batch we brought to them. Other stores followed suit and "Inspirations"
gradually became a good seller.
When you're an independent record company, you have to be creative.
One of the things we tried was renting a booth at a local psychic
fair. "Inspirations" has nothing to do with extrasensory
powers. I certainly do not purport to have any (although I wish
I did). However, the manager of the fair felt it would be nice
to have some pleasant music playing while people roamed the aisles.
So, I borrowed a ghetto blaster from Dan Peters (Proofreader Extraordinaire
at MMM and SFA) and played "Inspirations" repeatedly
for three days at the fair. I fully expected people to get tired
of it but nobody did. Also, I couldn't believe the sales. Marianne
and I paid our monthly rent and food bill in those three days.
In addition, we generated more of that all important word of mouth.
One thing I didn't expect was how much individual selling I would
end up doing. I decided to carry a Walkman® with me wherever
I went. My objective wasn't to make sales. It was to tell people
about my CD. To my surprise, many people were willing to buy right
then and there from me. Some people prefer to get it right from
the artist. I gratefully signed every copy I sold this way. For
the first few months of release, I was outselling all the stores
combined. I felt strangely guilty about this. I was getting money
from people I know. But then Marianne pointed out that they were
getting a great piece of music. It's not like I'm magical or something.
If people didn't like what they'd heard, they certainly wouldn't
have bought my recording. Eventually the sales from the stores
took off and I slowed down on direct selling so I could focus
more on developing my music and my writing.
A year and a half after being released, "Inspirations"
had easily paid back all production and manufacturing costs and
was starting to generate a decent profit. Many people who had
bought "Inspirations" wanted to know when the second
recording would be coming out. Marianne and I decided it was time.
Together, we had worked out the idea for "A Comet's Tale"
in the summer of 1995 but I had not yet composed anything for
it. We got to work in February, this year, and by the start of
June, we had more boxes again. This time, my parents have let
me store some of the CDs at their house so that I can once again
have access to my bookshelves.
It's been a lot of work. I think marketing a CD can be just as
difficult as creating a CD in the first place. But now, Marianne
and I are happy knowing that our trials and tribulation are starting
to pay off. Recently, we secured national distribution for both
"Inspirations" and "A Comet's Tale." The next
step is global distribution.
If you've read all four parts of this article, you'll have completed
the journey that Marianne and I made in creating our first CD.
If you're interested, I welcome you to visit Gopher's Underground Music Store
where you can hear selected audio clips. If you like what you
hear, please ask at your local record store for the recording(s)
you like. Alternatively, you can order directly from us.
Bye for now,
Ronin.
