October 12th, 2006
Dead Format launches Mix CD Club, Special Invitation
I am very excited about a new project that we are officially launching tomorrow. I wanted to share this idea with all of my friends on IndieHQ first and see what you guys think. The idea is very simple. We are going to allow customers of Dead Format to submit their very own mix CDs containing songs available from releases on Dead Format, we will post them in our special Mix CD section of the store, and future customers can select 1 free mix CD with their order.
This is kind of our last ditched effort to operate a CD online retail store. I like the idea a lot as it allows music fans to share their favorite songs with their friends and music fans can get turned on to new music. We will soon be launching our version of CD baby where we will allow smaller bands and labels to offer their products on our store and so when that happens, these bands can use the Mix CD as a marketing tool for their releases.
When I told Jordan over at Pastepunk about my idea, he was concerned about the copyright issues involved as he comes from a copyright law background. I realize that there could be issues with sharing the songs, but I argue that we have made a few rules that safeguard from people making a Sleater Kinney greatest hits album. People will only be allowed to post 1 song by any one artist and 1 song from any one album. The other big argument I have is that it will help fuel CD sales. If someone shares their mix tape with friends, it may expose them to new music and may motivate them to purchase the CD so they can get another mix CD. My last argument is that we are not charging anything for the mix CD (our webstore makes us charge 1 penny, but I don’t consider that a charge). I hope that labels will realize the value in this Mix CD club, but only time will tell.
I would like to invite all of you to please consider making a mix CD and sending it to us at Dead Format/Suburban Home. Please make yourself familiar with the rules we set up.
We at Suburban Home are having an inner office contest to see whose mix Cd gets selected the most. The winner will get a $50 gift certificate to a place of the winners’ choice. You can check out my personal contribution to the Mix CDs here as well see all of the Mix CDs made so far.
This could potentially be a mixing of newer viral marketing strategies with one of the oldest ways to share music. I am excited to see how it goes.
Written by Virgil Dickerson
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On October 12th, 2006 at 5:25 pm
Corey said:
the text at the top looks the same as that on the gatsby’s album…
but this is a really cool idea.
what does brandon proff do for you guys? i thought he was going back to school or something…
On October 12th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
Corey said:
one more thing. i really like the design of the deadformat.com site, but to me it is confusing when you click the online store and everything is differe,t including the header. i realize that it is run through a different site, but is there any way that site will let you keep a similar color scheme (the greens are nice) and use the same header?
On October 12th, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Nicole said:
I LOVE this idea … I think it will be a fabulous way to encourage people to both share and purchase music. I don’t, however, think you’ve escaped copyright issues BUT I know where you’re coming from. I reckon you could be on the edge of something very .. very .. um, good.
Can I be the first .. or probably 374th to sign up for the CD Baby-esque store please?
On October 13th, 2006 at 4:51 am
Virgil said:
corey, brandon has been working at Suburban Home since the fall semester began. He is primarily our art director, but he has also been producing music. He just finished producing one of our bands, Love Me destroyer, which will be in stores January 30th. He did an incredible job.
and corey, i agree with you about the dead format sites. Your post will make me consider doing something to make them more closely related. thanks.
Nicole, of course you can do the cd baby thing once we get it rolling. thanks.
On October 13th, 2006 at 3:44 pm
Julian said:
Virgil, I LOVE IT..and right now I’m working in this “little proyect”. And of course this will help to promote bands.
On October 23rd, 2006 at 4:49 pm
IndieHQ is the ultimate resource for independent bands and indie record labels. said:
[…] Not very long ago, I made a post about the Mix CD Club we just started at Dead Format. In addition to our staff all making mix CDs, I asked my good buddy and partner at IndieHQ to make one, too. He just gave me his mix on Friday and I just posted it on the site. If you are curious to check out what songs we have been listening to, you can find each of our personal mix CDs at the following links: […]