Songstuff: Sell your soul online ... (or your funk or your r&b)

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By Steve Perrett

The advent of the "Home studio" which Tascam and others like them helped implement with the introduction of the 4 track cassette recorder, was a major boost to creative musicians. Some of the later incarnations of the 4 track were superb machines, capable of some very good results.

Over the past 4 or 5 years, the digital bug has bitten us all.

Whether you use a PC, Mac or stand alone digital recorder, the process has been made much easier for the backroom musician. Now, even those with little talent for an instrument but with a good ear for music are able to lay down some very good tracks. Now the digital age is here to stay with hard disk recording on our PCs a common practice.

My first foray into this realm was an AMD K62 450mhz machine with 64mb Ram, running Cakewalk Pro Audio 8. The results I was getting were far superior to my old Vestafire MR10. 4 track,

(I know! Sounds like a curry...) which meant of course that I had to re-record all my old songs...

I try not to kid myself that I am a brilliant musician or an outstanding songwriter, BUT I do know a few people with the talent to make some very commercial and "Sellable" music. The trouble is how to go about it?

Wouldn't it be nice if there were a way to sell your own music? Without having to sign up to some incomprehensible blurb, presented to you in ultra fine print, tucked away in the darkest recesses of a contract, by a shady character in a gabardine suit, cheffin away on a very expensive Cuban cigar! (Well that's the image I get!!)

It's a sad fact, there are an enormous number of amateur musicians, backroom rock stars and weekend songwriters that nobody ever gets to hear. Turning out some very good music, and generally not knowing what to do with it! By their very nature, musicians are creators not business people. Just thinking about what is involved in the business side of the "business" is enough to give anybody a headache! Labels, A&R men, deals, contracts, promotion etc. Where does it all start? More importantly, where will it all end? It's enough to make you want to hang up your didgeridoo!

Adding to this confusion of course is the ever present and very real danger of having your creations ripped away from you by some unscrupulous individuals or companies, who's soul intention is making money from other peoples efforts.

Well, fear not! A solution may be at hand!

Actinic Audio Store

You can now have your own online store selling your own music in MP3 format or CDs!

This was copied from the Actinic site:

"Actinic Audio Store is a brand new product that enables bands, records labels, DJs and producers to sell merchandise and music on the Internet.

Based on Actinic Catalog, the UK's market leading e-commerce solution for small businesses, Audio Store provides a secure, easy-to-use and low-cost means of promoting your output.

Actinic Audio Store integrates with fifteen online payment systems including PayPal, so even the smallest of businesses can get online. Furthermore, it can run on basic commercial Web space.

Actinic Audio Store is available in two versions. A 25-product limited version of the software costs £199 and an unlimited version (tested with up to 10,000 products) costs £499 (prices include VAT)."

Now I don't know about you? But I think this is a great idea! For 200 quid (Err, that's UK quids) you can have your own outlet for your music.

I happened across this product whilst looking for something else. On the Actinic site www.actinicaudiostore.com they have a mock up Audio store where you can check out how it works! You can use the shopping cart to choose the products (I choose a CD, an MP3 download and a T shirt) Then you can see how it all fits together by actually using a given credit card number to purchase all your goods. I must say that it all seems pretty impressive! The look and feel of the mock up was a bit plain, but I see no reason why that couldn?t be changed. And having used online stores myself, this appears to be a simple and fuss free operation. When an order is placed, the transaction is encrypted, and payment can be made in real time via your chosen preference, i.e. PayPal, or credit card details can be taken for offline processing using bank approved SSL and Java encryption.

If you are serious about your music, and have some tracks ready for download or maybe even CDs for sale. Why not check out this option!

Actinic Audio Store.

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About Steve Perrett

A Songstuff staff member for sveral years, Steve plays guitar, writes songs and records his own material.

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Actinic Audio Store

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