'Can I Get Your Email Please?'

DIWO Example: Marillion

If there ever was a golden ticket to self-distribution, it would be an email address list. So  to get one, all you got to do is start asking: "Can I get your email please?"  To learn how beneficial such a simple question can be, check out Mark Kelly's story in The Telegraph.

Mark Kelly plays the keyboard for Marillion.  The band started distributing their own albums nearly 9 years ago.  Here's an excerpt from his article that describes how collecting email addresses have paid off:

 

"When we left EMI in 1995, our most recent album had sold over 300,000 units. While we were still contracted for more, EMI decided to drop us. We were no longer commercial.
Today, after the internet boom, that level of sales would get us a deal with any of the major labels. After three more badly-marketed albums with an independent label we were down to 100,000 units. 

In 1999 we released our final contracted album for Castle Records and, in anticipation of the way we planned to do business in the future, called it Marillion.com. We had already collected the email addresses of more than 20,000 fans through free CDs, downloads, etc. and by asking these fans to order and pay for the upcoming CD in advance, we were able to finance the writing and recording.

We maximised the profit from the pre-order by cutting out the record companies, distributors and retailers, manufacturing and shipping direct. We also released the album in the shops through an independent distributor to reach the fans not on the internet.

We released three more albums between 2001 and 2007 using this business model and despite continuing falls in CD sales worldwide we have managed to shield ourselves from the worst by continuing to build our database of email addresses, currently more than 65,000, and by offering special edition pre-order CDs with 128-page hardcover books containing beautiful artwork."

 

For other DIWO Examples:

DIWO Filmmaking: Finding Audiences & Dollars
NIKE Just Did It: Film Distribution
Self-Distribution: Reaching a Tipping Point
YouTube Goes 90 Minutes

Comments

[Slow Down and Fast]

This is a really interesting model idea for filmmakers as well. Perhaps with the right script and budget, you can get a number of producers to pre-order the dvd and become part of the filmmaking process.

Adam
http://slowdownandfast.blogspot.com - a blog about the journey of an independent filmmaker and self distribution.

http://www.blindlylefilms.com/slowdown - the film about we are self distributing.