Selling Independent MP3s Direct to Customer?

jetsetsc asks: "I am not a programmer but I am a musician. My band's recordings belong to the band, and we'd like to skip the middlemen — labels, iTunes, Amazon, CDBaby, etc — and setup a way to sell MP3's cheaply, and directly to fans. I have searched quite a bit and found nothing that fits the bill. Snocap is sort of similar, but they are more about a central store with a MySpace tie in. We don't need a fancy search, or a complicated 'if you liked this try...' feature. I figure potential fans can find our webpage on their own, referred by Pandora, a music blog, internet radio, or even (gasp!) a print article. When they get there it'd be great if they could listen to samples, check off the songs they want, pay 39 cents (or however much) through PayPal, and get a secure non-transferable download just like iTunes. DRM not required. I can't believe in this day and age that a service or software package like this doesn't exist. Any ideas?"

You're selling software

[petard]

Since you don't need any of the music-specific features, look for a package that helps you sell software. It's the same problem you're trying to solve and there are many options. This one [paypalshoppingcart.org] was near the top of my google search results, and looks to meet your needs. There appeared to be numerous similar apps.

Something to think about.

[DaveV1.0]

OK, no DRM means that the file will be transferrable. That is just a fact of life.

If you don't go the DRM route, you might as well just set up a website with a standard store and sell the files and a donation button so people can "tip" you. This is not difficult and could be done in a few days. Of course you are going to have to hope that

1. People don't get your music off a torrent from the 4 people who paid the $1.00 to get the song
2. Those people that do get your song off of a torrent actual bother to go to your website and then actually "tip" you.

Your band can literally be the test case for musicians using micropayments as a means of making a living as so many people claim is possible.

One other thing, you can try this with one or two songs to start. That way you don't give away your entire catalog.

Another idea - tip jar

[richieb]

Put your files on your website for free and set up a Paypal link for donations. If your fans like your music they will tip you. Forcing them to pay will only decrease your audience.

Re:What you ask for is contradictory.

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

"DRM is required to have a "non-transferrable download". Once you do that, it's not an MP3 anymore. MP3 files are not encumbered by DRM and are transferable. You are going to have to ask: do you want MP3, or do you want DRM? You can't do both."

I think by 'non-transferable download' he means he doesn't want somebody to get the URL to the MP3, then paste it to all his friends on ICQ so they can get it too. In other words, he wants a unique download link per customer. I bumped into that problem myself when I worked on a Lightwave plugin a year ago. We were able to incorporate an unlock code into it, but that's not something that can be done with MP3. So the solution he needs has to be on the server end, not in the MP3 file.

Get it on all of them

[Anonymous Coward]

I have an independent label. We have interns manage getting the releases out to all of the major sites.
We track royalties and sales data from all of them.
in addition to iTunes store, the catalog is available on most pay sites:
http://www.playittonight.com/ [playittonight.com]
http://www.dancerecords.com/artists/Synthique [dancerecords.com]
http://www.last.fm/ [www.last.fm]
http://www.emusic.com/artist/11616/11616213.html [emusic.com]
http://www.napster.com/view/artist/index.html?id=1 1638090 [napster.com]

I just noticed that I have stuff on the WalMart music site. That's disturbing, since I don't remember anyone contacting them..
http://musicdownloads.walmart.com/catalog/servlet/ ArtistServlet?id=36183 [walmart.com] //teh evil