If you plan on selling your music yourself, you will enjoy a few benefits and face a few hurdles, too! The first benefit is that you keep all the money after you subtract the cost of making the product. Nowadays, you'll make more money per CD or download if you sell the music yourself than if a record company sells it for you and gives you a cut. The only difference is the volume of sales you can achieve with a company backing versus selling it yourself. In either case, before you sell your music, you have to get it ready for duplication if you want to make physical CD copies.

CD Duplication

The simplest way to duplicate your music is to burn it at home on a CD burner. The CD burner can be either a standalone system or part of your computer. Blank CDs continue to plummet in price, so the cost of making CDs at home is an attractive option. You can even produce professional-looking computer-printed labels for the front of the CD and the insert materials for the jewel case. Considering the price of good-quality printers these days, you can yield some impressive results at home with a relatively small investment.

If you're opting to use iTunes to sell all of your music, do consider having some CDs available, even if you burn them yourself. The Internet is great, but there is an immediacy to physical CDs. Plus, a CD is a tangible item that you can hold in your hand. Even if your fans never put the CD in a player, they will have your band's name attached to a physical product. They can look you up online and get your music digitally if it's easier for them.

For those who want to leave the duplication to the professionals, you'll find many options. Usually, these duplication companies deal in large runs, say of 500 or more CDs at a time. While you can order fewer, the difference in price between 100 and 500 is small enough that most people opt for more. You submit either a burned CD or individual stereo audio files and the company takes care of the rest. You can supply the art or pay to have it designed for you. Professionally made CDs look better than homemade ones because the duplication company uses better printers and it inks the CD labels onto the case rather than applying inexpensive adhesive labels. It also shrink-wraps the CDs in plastic. There are literally hundreds of places that duplicate and package CDs. You can find them by searching the Internet and local music magazines and papers.

Selling at Gigs

Now that you have a CD ready to sell, either from home or a duplication house, the most logical place to start selling it is at your gigs. You can generate a lot of sales and buzz at live shows. Having CDs for sale, especially if you tour around, is essential for promoting yourself, not to mention for making extra money. Most bands that sell CDs at gigs don't charge record-store prices, and this can make the CD attractive to an audience member. If you come across people who don't want to buy your CD, consider having some postcards printed with the same cover art with a link to the iTunes store or another digital distribution site you're using.

The website www.cdbaby.com is hooked up with the Apple iTunes Music Store, so any music you sell through CDBaby will also be available for sale through Apple's legal download service. This is a great way to spread your music.

Barcodes

If you plan to sell your CD online or through stores you'll need a barcode. CD manufacturing houses typically provide barcodes, but you can also get them yourself by registering for one through a CD duplication facility. Whenever your CD is purchased, the barcode is read by SoundScan, a service that tracks record sales. If you're interested in having real sales data to show a record company, get all of your CDs equipped with barcodes.