Thursday, December 20, 2012

Pricing and Home Recordings

It has been a couple of weeks now since I released "Never And Forever" as a digital download.  (The CD version release is still in the works and will be officially announced soon.)  You may have noticed that I decided to do things a little differently with the pricing this time around.  In the past I have "sold" my music at a "pay what you want" price.  That means that if you wanted to own it, it was yours, free of charge if you so desired.  It also meant that you had the option to pay for it if you had the means and felt it was worth something to you.

One of the main reasons I have done things this way in the past is because I've always known that my (home studio) recordings were not of a professional quality and I felt a bit weird asking someone to pay for something that was not up to normal audio quality standards.  That's not to say that I didn't believe in the songs themselves.  I have many songs that I feel are truly great tunes.  But I know the sound quality has always been an issue with the home recording process.

Things are a little different this time around.  With the recording of "Never And Forever" I feel like I have set a new high standard for myself in the quality of these recordings.  Is it perfect?  Of course not.  But I feel like it has now reached a point where I can feel comfortable asking someone to pay something for the work I've done.

I've set the album download cost at $5.  Individual tracks are $.75 each.  (But also, if someone feels so inclined they can pay more than that.)  Not really a lot to ask for something that you get to keep forever.  We all pay a lot more than that every day for things that are gone much quicker.  Will people be willing to part with a little hard earned cash for a handful of heartfelt songs written and recorded by a part-time amateur?  Maybe they will and maybe they won't.  I really don't know.  It's a good thing this is not my day job so I don't really have to worry about that.  Either way I am proud of what I have accomplished.

Thanks again for listening.  Peace and happiness to you and yours this Holiday Season.

James