A new kind of music publisher

Comments

1. Abbie Betinis says

   September 19, 2010 at 11:19 am

   Hi again.  And thanks, Philip for continuing this discussion.

    

   I also have to jump in here to defend the cost of digital downloads.  I understand that the cost for PDFs should be lower than for printed sheet music because the buyer must use their own resources to print the music for his or her entire ensemble.  Yes, I totally agree.

    

   On my desk is my most recent Kinkos receipt.  The numbers are right there.  My print cost for this particular piece (copying and bookletizing) is $1.57/copy.  I sell the piece for $2.50 because I need to make $0.93 cents on it.  Why do I need to make $0.93 on it?

    

   ANNUAL SELF-PUBLISHER BUDGET

   $74 = Webhosting

   $1,131 = Website maintenance, 3hrs/wk at $7.25/hr (min wage)

   $1,800 = Office space (1/4 of my house)

   $928 = Overhead for office space alone (fast internet, lights, etc)

   $7,540 = Office time (correspondence, filling orders), 20 hrs/wk at $7.25/hr (min wage)

   $1,885 = eMarketing (emails & social media) 5 hrs/wk at $7.25/hr

   $135 = ACDA “industry” membership

   $850 = Booth at national ACDA convention

   $1,000 = Room, board, and travel to ACDA convention 

   $1,000 = Chorus America convention (mbrship, booth, room, board, flight)*

   $550 = Other print marketing (display materials, demo CDs and covers)

   ——-

   $15,762 = TOTAL

    

   If I have 40 pieces in my catalog, who share the costs above, I need to earn $394.05 per piece.

    

   To make $394.05 back in sales ($394.05 divided by my $0.93 “profit”), I have to sell 424 copies of this one score in a single year.

    

   I’m lucky with this particular score and sell about 850 copies/year.  Where does that ($790.50-$394.05) take-home profit of $396.45 go?

    

   It should go into my pocket, but it goes back into the company.  It will pay for my more advanced pieces who frankly aren’t reaching their sales goals.

    

   So let’s be a little more clear about the costs of being a publisher — in tangible printed scores or otherwise.  Many of the costs are actually the same. 

    

   Abbie Betinis

    

   ——

   * Ha!  Yes, I footnoted my post!  The Chorus America convention costs my company about $2,000 every other year for a shared booth.

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2. Thomas Clark-Jones says

   September 18, 2010 at 11:09 am

   Mark Switzer who runs St. James Music Press in Tryon, NC has the same sort of idea.  He collects works of composers willing to have their music sold for copying.  He issues them in a  CD which is purchased for about $80.00.  In the collection is a series of some 35 to 40 pieces, all from good composers, and often from well known composers.  His business revolves around music for the liturgical church using traditional music … but he has been very successful for the past nearly 20 years in this format.  Purchase of the CD includes permission to copy anything on it for use within your own organization.  Even if I find only 2 or 3 works which I can use, it easily pays for the CD.  If major publishers would adopt this format, or one where all their ‘out or print’ stock was available on PDF and able to be produced by the purchaser for a fee, it would make so much wonderful music we can no longer find through legal channels available for use, and give the composers or their estates extra $$ from the work.  It only makes sense.  Perhaps that’s why they don’t do it.

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3. Michael McGlynn says

   September 18, 2010 at 6:09 am

   An interesting article.

    

   I’ve been doing exactly the same thing since the late 1990s, operating a steadily improving system of Certificate availability, just extensively upgraded. You simply purchase a certificate and then print the number you want – and sending everything electronically. My site also enables you to see YouTube performances and download MP3s and PDFs of the pieces.

    

   The huge reduction in transmission costs has resulted in ever increasing orders over the last few years.

    

   I suppose that the biggest difference to Graphite is that I write the music myself. In my earlier career I was approached by publishers who wanted to publish me, but the percentages offered were [and still are] appalling in an age where digital transmission is the future of music. Graphite appear to be offering a realistic percentage, and I hope others follow suit.

    

   However, the biggest issue is why composers need publishers at all. Why don’t they simply sell their own material, particularly as most of them are computer literate to a greater rather than a lesser extent? I have to say that it is very appealing to actually contact the composer personally when performing the work. Most of us live in lofty isolation, so the human contact can bring its own huge benefits all round. Would Choralnet consider offering a resource that allows composers to advertise their choral wares directly to the public, an also interact with interested parties?

    

   I digress – very interesting posting – you can see my Sheet Music Store on the Anuna site here.

    

   Michael McGlynn

   http://www.anuna.ie

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