Is there anywhere better than CDbaby for bar codes?

[solarbird]

So Tom Smith linked to this incredibly relevant to our interests article today, featuring this graph:

Plays Share and Growth

So! My agenda is clear and obvious!

1. GET THE FUCK ONTO YOUTUBE. Okay! Have to shoot a video! That’s fun. And:

2. GET THE FUCK ONTO PANDORA. Can do, sport! This one’s much easier to at least attempt. But I need to go ahead and get something I was going to get anyway:

A UPC barcode or several. One right away for Dick Tracy Must Die, more later. I know CD Baby is a decent place to get them but I’ve also heard they’ve kinda started sucking lately. Is there a better place or are they still okay?

Mirrored from Crime and the Blog of Evil.

Comments

[silussa.livejournal.com]

A lot of music on YouTube isn't actually music video; it's a stationary picture or slideshow with the music playing.

That said, yeah, a music video would go over much better, IMHO. And certainly more fun to watch.

As for bar codes, not my thing, but there are companies that sell individual or small groups of bar codes, so you can always google a bit and see what's out there.

[solarbird]

A lot of music on YouTube isn't actually music video; it's a stationary picture or slideshow with the music playing.
That just seems so... lame. I mean, sure, but. agh. I should do it, I'm sure, but it... doesn't sit well with me. But videos take a long time to shoot, and the ideas I have mostly involve ... god dammit, I want a crane shot!

Maybe I could throw something together that says, "hey, we're making a video, we have these ideas, do you have locations?" It'd have the song playing and would have something more than just the album cover, I guess?

[quen-elf.livejournal.com]

It is lame, but most music on youtube isn't put there by the copyright owners, so they won't have a proper video for it.

IMO the reason for music on youtube being so massive is that it is absolutely the best place the world has ever had for showing people music. No faffing around with dubious mp3 download software that has viruses, nothing that's illegal enough to cause problems. Link, play, bam. They have basically every tune ever released that isn't completely obscure, and lots that are. Quality's usually not very good but who cares? This is for showing people music, or for finding that old song you can't quite remember. In your case, maybe if somebody vaguely remembers your band name from a gig or something like that?

To be honest I probably prefer if the video is just a single slide showing the record label... But! Since you are the actual owner I think it would be cool if you made a video. :) Failing that, you could maybe use a bunch of photos for a slideshow type thing?

[goodconceited.livejournal.com]

Ooh, music video. I look forward to this. >:D

[solarbird]

I'm working on a script for Shout at the Desert, in my head. I have some ideas, for which I'll need to head east in the spring. Or at least when there's no snow, which means spring. I need to recruit annathepiper for actual writer bits tho'.

I also have a couple of ideas for "Stars."

But until I get all that worked out I'm gonna throw a couple of tracks up there with text and album cover, just to have, you know, something.

[kodi]

s/shoot a video/shoot lots of videos/

From what I've seen, if you get a nibble on YouTube, the best way to turn it into a bite is to give them more content on YouTube. It's much harder to get them to move to another website after just one song; the most common thing someone does after watching a video on YouTube is watch another video on YouTube.

[solarbird]

s/shoot a video/shoot lots of videos/
Much easier said than done. That said, of course, but still.

I'm gonna throw a couple of tracks up there with text and album cover, just to have, you know, something, but it... doesn't sit well with me. Apparently that's common. Is that even worthwhile? I hate doing things half-assedly.

[kodi]

My sense of the hierarchy is: something legitimately awesome > cute/sexy/funny people actually performing music > other people actually performing music > unrelated or lame video > one or more still frames. But if you've got someone listening to you on youtube, it's probably still best to give them a chance to continue listening on youtube, even if it's not got video associated.

But if you've got a tripod and a digital camera that will shoot time lapse video, that might be a better placeholder than just the title. I'd guess, anyway.

[solarbird]

Time lapse video? Of... what?

(I don't know YouTube culture, so.)

I'm thinking of putting up something that's mostly text saying "hey, we're making a real video to replace this one, we have these ideas, do you have locations?" It'd have the song playing and would have something more than just the album cover. Is that, idk, even slightly worthwhile?

[kodi]

Time lapse video? Of... what?

Anything vaguely interesting, really. If you luck into being able to point the camera at a street during a snowfall, that's always a bonus. Partly cloudy days are nice, too. It's just one really cheap way to get something that people find a little visually stimulating.

Another option might be to storyboard the video, and just put that up as a placeholder. And whatever you do, working in the "we're working..." message is probably a good call as well.

[mdlbear]

I got my barcode from Oasis, who did my manufacturing.

[solarbird]

I'm hoping to do my own replication (c.f. my Kickstarter project to buy a CD duplicator) but I'll keep them in mind should I have to go outside for the base run, thanks! (Sadly, they don't seem to offer UPC bar codes on their own.)