something new and blue...

I'll stand by the idea that one of the best things for an independent artist to do to get their music "out there" is to get an account with CDbaby. I held off for a long time. I think just because I didn't like the name and/or logo and mostly because I figured that if I set my mind to it, I could do everything that they could do for me on my own web-site. That may still be true for the most part, the fact is that CDbaby is HUGE and has all kinds of perks and connections and at a whopping $35 to set up a new CD, it's worth it. Having Gypsy Heart selling on itunes in Austria make it worth it all by itself!

Even though I LOVE getting random emails saying "You've made a sale! Your money's on the way!" or even better: "You're getting some money from CDbaby because you've been moving some digital downloads all over the world! Here's some money!", I've been slow to set up any of my older projects on CDbaby. Mostly, because whenever I think to do it, I don't really have $35 to set it up and it would take a few months for that CD to get into the system and show up on itunes and stuff like that. I'm an instant-gratification kind of guy. But, that would sure eliminate the struggle I have with keeping that old stuff available for the few who might be interested without having to order more CDs. So, I'm trying something new.

I just found this software/service that encrypts the audio files and sets it all up so that I am now selling my own files from my very own web-site. So far, I only have Vagabond Dancing available, but I plan to get everything else posted; including the very first recording that was only available on cassette tape!

The only big problem is that I'm having a hard time figuring out how to integrate this into my web-site as it is right now. Really, it's high time that good 'ole shacknotes.com got an overhaul, but I was lucky enough to have a web-design master do it last time, and I don't want to take a step backward...

Anyway, if anybody out there wants some "back catalogue" shack stuff, please let me know how the system worked for you. I'll be getting more stuff up there soon.