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My New Album Released Today

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Zensō

Zensō

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Wow. It's awesome. And your other albums too!

Do you have small runs of CDs pressed with all the artwork or is it just stream/download with digital artwork?
Thank you so much! I’ve only so far been self-releasing for streaming/download. It would be great fun to have a physical release on CD or vinyl, but that may not happen unless I manage to get picked up by a label.
 
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Zensō

Zensō

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Yes artwork is lovely, would make for good presentation CDs in a collection. Love the music too, many thanks. Sitting back on a rare warm spring day here with a sandwich and coffee, ignoring work, listening to your tunes.
Thank YOU so much. I‘m glad you’re enjoying the music - that makes it all worthwhile!
 
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Thank you so much! I’ve only so far been self-releasing for streaming/download. It would be great fun to have a physical release on CD or vinyl, but that may not happen unless I manage to get picked up by a label.
Have you investigated having a small run done?
Last I checked, a decade ago, there were companies that catered to exactly this situation.
You ship them your masters and artwork and payment, they ship you a 1000 copies of your record/album/CD/what-have-you.

... though perhaps less now due to the ubiquity of streaming
... though I would expect small acts still sell physical media at shows

Edit: Though I don't remember the price per unit of either CDs or 12" vinyl, it wasn't unreasonable. The overhead of making plates (and whatever else goes into pressing a vinyl record) made small runs of vinyl expensive, though the price per unit once the overhead was paid for was similar to a CD, depending on packaging/booklet/etc.
 
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A Surfer

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Yes artwork is lovely, would make for good presentation CDs in a collection. Love the music too, many thanks. Sitting back on a rare warm spring day here with a sandwich and coffee, ignoring work, listening to your tunes.
Sigh,
Your spring is our fall. Getting ready for snow, ice, long dark nights and cold. The birds are all leaving us. It is oddly comforting to picture that somewhere else when we get ready for sub-zero temperatures that others are welcoming spring. Great music to usher it in.
 
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Zensō

Zensō

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Have you investigated having a small run done?
Last I checked, a decade ago, there were companies that catered to exactly this situation.
You ship them your masters and artwork and payment, they ship you a 1000 copies of your record/album/CD/what-have-you.

... though perhaps less now due to the ubiquity of streaming
... though I would expect small acts still sell physical media at shows

Edit: Though I don't remember the price per unit of either CDs or 12" vinyl, it wasn't unreasonable. The overhead of making plates (and whatever else goes into pressing a vinyl record) made small runs of vinyl expensive, though the price per unit once the overhead was paid for was similar to a CD, depending on packaging/booklet/etc.
Hey thanks. I have looked into it, and it’s certainly a possibility. On the other hand, I have a very small audience and dread the idea of a box full of unsold CDs or vinyl collecting dust in the attic. And like you intimated, with the ubiquity of streaming these days, it’s a tiny minority who purchase physical media. Even just over the past few years I’ve seen my sales of downloads drop while my streams have picked up significantly. Of course that means even smaller payouts, but I’m not doing this for the income (it’s a good thing or I’d be starving).
 

Phorize

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Thanks for indulging me here.

My new album is out today on BandCamp and the streaming services. Like my prior releases, jazz-inspired melodic and percussive improvisations layered over ambient soundscapes form the basis of this album. Some of the compositions are also infused with elements drawn from various world music genres, resulting in my most eclectic release to date. I hope you enjoy it, thanks for taking a listen.

https://zenso.bandcamp.com
Nice! Enjoying it on qobuz, feeling slightly conflicted as I should be really buying if on bandcamp:D
 

atsmusic

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I wouldn't have any CDs produced. Hardly anyone buys them anymore. And LP makes no sense, since it was digital to begin with.
 

TLEDDY

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Very enjoyable, relaxing mental images from your compositions! Thank you…

Idea - I like your album art. How about monetizing a download for printable file of the art… at least get some benefit.
 

A Surfer

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I wouldn't have any CDs produced. Hardly anyone buys them anymore. And LP makes no sense, since it was digital to begin with.
Vinyl as a format for the majority of the world probably makes little sense, and yet it actually has managed to reclaim some market share. Very, very little, but it is there. I notice a moderate amount of Bandcamp distributing artists offer vinyl issues. I suspect that for many people the tangibility of holding something, and the cover/sleeve/vinyl disc artwork are a big part of why they continue to buy vinyl still despite the downsides of the format.

There are people who genuinely believe, and because they believe, hear vinyl as sounding better. Defies logic perhaps, but nonetheless those vinyl aficionados still exist and they do indeed spend money on the format, quite a bit actually from what I can tell.
 

pseudoid

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Thank you. I provided 24/44.1 FLAC masters to the distributor, they then processed the files to MQA before submitting to Tidal. The FLACs were distributed to the other services without alteration.
Your thoughts on the MQA-version sound quality (re: original submitted or master) would be irreplaceable, for all of us.
ASR would/should be like the best place to have you discuss it.
Thank you in advance and what you have created is just awesome even if it was just mono...
 
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Zensō

Zensō

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Very enjoyable, relaxing mental images from your compositions! Thank you…

Idea - I like your album art. How about monetizing a download for printable file of the art… at least get some benefit.
Thanks so much! I'm glad you enjoyed the album. People like yourself enjoying the music is my motivation.

That's not a bad idea about the album art, but I'd probably just offer it at no charge. I'll definitely look into it!
 
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Zensō

Zensō

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Vinyl as a format for the majority of the world probably makes little sense, and yet it actually has managed to reclaim some market share. Very, very little, but it is there. I notice a moderate amount of Bandcamp distributing artists offer vinyl issues. I suspect that for many people the tangibility of holding something, and the cover/sleeve/vinyl disc artwork are a big part of why they continue to buy vinyl still despite the downsides of the format.

There are people who genuinely believe, and because they believe, hear vinyl as sounding better. Defies logic perhaps, but nonetheless those vinyl aficionados still exist and they do indeed spend money on the format, quite a bit actually from what I can tell.
BandCamp saw something around a 700% increase in vinyl sales over the past few years. They started with practically zero, so I don't know what that means in real numbers, would be very interesting to find out.

I'm old enough to remember spending many Friday nights at Tower Records, getting high in the parking lot (don't tell!) and spending hours thumbing through the albums. There's definitely a very high enjoyment factor in hunting down a rare album and then having the physical object in your possession. I miss that aspect of music collecting/listening. I guess for me, Roon came the closest to mimicking that experience in the digital realm. I only wish their apps on mobile devices were less buggy.
 
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Zensō

Zensō

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Your thoughts on the MQA-version sound quality (re: original submitted or master) would be irreplaceable, for all of us.
ASR would/should be like the best place to have you discuss it.
Thank you in advance and what you have created is just awesome even if it was just mono...
Thanks so much. I'm glad you enjoyed the music.

Back when the MQA debate was raging here I sent some files to @GoldenOne for analysis. As expected, there were some subtle differences in the high frequencies. Honestly, I couldn't reliably hear a difference between the MQA files and my source 24/44.1 FLAC files and didn't pursue it any further. The fact that I see MQA as mostly a money grab is enough for me to avoid using it personally. The reason I had the distributor submit MQA files to Tidal is that I assume most audiophiles who are still on Tidal prefer to have MQA files, and those who don't support MQA have likely left for another service.
 

pseudoid

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...Honestly, I couldn't reliably hear a difference between the MQA files and my source 24/44.1 FLAC files ...
Shucks! If you had not used that first word about honesty, I would have thought you were just being PC.
Me be thinking, you would be the ultimate authority in such a comparison, bar none!
Maybe we have to get @amirm to instrument you to the fullest and have him tell us your tested SINAD or sumsuch.
 

ta240

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Very well done. I'm so impressed with the artistic mind that can arrange sounds in a way that is so pleasing to listen to.
 
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Zensō

Zensō

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Maybe we have to get @amirm to instrument you to the fullest and have him tell us your tested SINAD or sumsuch.
Ha! Yeah, well I suspect my hearing is somewhere down in the lower green area, if not the red. Too many years behind a drum kit, too many loud concerts... :)
 

Teyry

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Really enjoying this,,,,added to my library. Glad I decided to give it a listen
 

Fox _ Mulder

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Muito agradável de ouvir, muito boa qualidade de gravação. Aproveitei e coloquei em outro fórum que eu participo.

Muito agradável de ouvir, qualidade de gravação muito boa. Aproveitei e postei em outro fórum do qual participo.
 
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