Preorder "The Grafting"

[Michael]

...from ChristianBook.com: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/ ... no=CD90123

[crossways]

ordered!!

[sue d.]

Guys, if you want to help John (and Bob as well), please purchase DIRECTLY from them at http://petramerchandise.com/

Direct link to John's New Merch page:
http://www.petraproductionsinc.com/stor ... 3f81eeb2dd

You will also get to see a peek at The Grafting's cover too!

We'll be offering Shake & Swine for sale online as well.

Spread the word!

[petrabandca]

hey sue,

the petramerchandise site isn't allowing a pre-order yet, when can we expect a pre-order for the album?

James

[Michael]

Guys, if you want to help John (and Bob as well), please purchase DIRECTLY from them at http://petramerchandise.com/

Hmm...

Here's a question. My understanding is that CDs purchased directly from the artist are not counted in sales counts of CDs for SoundScan and what have you. Now, John seems to have worked pretty hard to get this CD distributed via retail outlets. If we buy a bunch of units from Bob & John directly and they are not recorded in CD sales charts, John & Bob will get cash right away but we may be circumventing the bigger picture... respect and "legitimacy" in the industry. Would it actually be better, say, to go to the bookstore in your town and buy a bunch of copies from them, so that those sales will be clicked in by the bean counters? I mean, if John wanted to get all the money himself, there was no reason to bother with distribution agreements at all; he could have sold all of them indie (like they've been doing with the II Guys CD up to now).

Not trying to tell anyone what to do, of course... obviously we all have options on this one. But if the goal is to "help" then we need to do what will "help" the most, even if it is more of a delayed-gratification type of thing. Maybe Brent could fill us in on some of the details of this kind of situation.

[sue d.]

If I remember correctly, you have to 'buy into' having Soundscan record your number of sales; it's not something they do just to be nice.

Brent, correct me if I'm wrong.

[crossways]

Well, I hope I didn't hurt them by buying from Christianbook.com. My thoughts on that are kind of what Michael said.

However, I would happily buy another copy form petramerchandise.com too!

[executioner]

If I remember correctly, you have to 'buy into' having Soundscan record your number of sales; it's not something they do just to be nice.

Brent, correct me if I'm wrong.

I believe the retailer buys the soundscan rights not the artist, So if I'm correct the album would be soundscaned if bought at any retailer that owns rights to it. I'M not to sure about the whole process but maybe Brent can fill us in.

[brent]

Neilson SoundScan reports sales of CDs REGISTERED with SoundScan to SoundScan subscribers. It costs nothing to register the CD. The CD must have a UPC code to receive the SoundScan code.

If you are a resourceful feller, you can find a good friend to give you the information...cough, cough.

SoundScan has nothing to do with payment. It is a means for labels and artists to quantify sales. It allows them to see who, what, when, where and how.

If you are on your way out (like Petra), or doing the indie thing (like most artists will be soon), it is a moot point. SoundScan probably isn't even looked at by Bob and John.

There are plenty of services that are cheaper, that will handle selling and shipping CDs, processing payments/orders, hosting MP3s, wavs, AIFFs, etc. The cat is out of the bag.

The other side of SoundScan is PollStar. PollStar is the touring bible. It reports who books who, for how much, tickets sold, blah, blah, blah. Any promoter worth his/her salt would subscribe to this. It has other resources as well.

Sales:

When artists sell merch at shows or from their homepage, they make more money. I would almost always buy from the band direct now. The labels pay the artist an average of 8 to 10 cents per disc. Screw that. I would give Bob and John whatever they ask. They probably have $1.00 to $1.50 in the disc for manufacturing. Let them eat and pay the bills with the rest.

I don't generally like buying or selling merch at shows, unless it is at a church or someplace where the promoter does not take half. This is why a concert T-Shirt at a secular show is $50. The band gets half of it, and still has to pay the $5 to manufacture, insure and ship. Buy or sell direct.

Word to yo mama

[petrabandca]

brent

would it be in an artists interest to push having their music on iTunes? What type of percentage does Apple take for that, how does that all work?

I'm glad to hear that buying directly from the artist is the way you see it going. I guess everyone that has a link to buy Petra albums and John's albums on their Petra fan sites should direct the links to petramerchandise.com. People are saying all the time that they would like to help out and I think that is a great way if not the best way.

James

[brent]

iTunes is the biggest retailer of music...PERIOD. They just sold their 4 BILLIONTH album, which only counted as 10 tunes, and some CDs have more than that. Yahoo is the biggest music search site.

iTunes is a must, because of the "albums", "mixes" and "playlists" features of iTunes itself. Artists can create an infinite number of album mixes, which pop up in the search engine. If everyone were to go on there and create favorite album lists with five popular bands on the front page, and then five Petra albums, then Petra would pop up more, and people might try it and buy it.

iTunes is not hard to get on if you are paying a third party like TuneCore, SongCore, CDBaby, etc. There are several that can get you on. However, you have to be a BIG, BIG seller to deal with iTunes directly. Petra could not do it if they were still around.

It is impossible to get an ad on iTunes to advertise and direct people to your album. The staff picks those. There is no money in the equation. Some think that is fair, some don't. The ARTIST must be exposed on the web and/or where ever their customers read/hear/shop and drive people to their iTunes page, or else the buyer will get sidetracked looking and listening to others.

So, if the artist must advertise, network on Myspace, Facebook and Shoutlife, then heck...why not sell it from your own homepage? They should.

All of the download services are different. iTunes takes a cut per album each year, and then a cut per tune each year. Basically you give away three or four CDs, then the third party takes a cut, which is about the same. VERY worst case, we all make about 8 cents a download. But that is better than the label paying 8 cents a CD! Best case, you keep about 85-90%.

Selling it from your site = keeping all of it. BUT web retail is time consuming and "stuff happens" somtimes that hacks people off. Big companies that do it for a living don't have those issues.

[executioner]

Neilson SoundScan reports sales of CDs REGISTERED with SoundScan to SoundScan subscribers. It costs nothing to register the CD. The CD must have a UPC code to receive the SoundScan code.

If you are a resourceful feller, you can find a good friend to give you the information...cough, cough.

SoundScan has nothing to do with payment. It is a means for labels and artists to quantify sales. It allows them to see who, what, when, where and how.

If you are on your way out (like Petra), or doing the indie thing (like most artists will be soon), it is a moot point. SoundScan probably isn't even looked at by Bob and John.

There are plenty of services that are cheaper, that will handle selling and shipping CDs, processing payments/orders, hosting MP3s, wavs, AIFFs, etc. The cat is out of the bag.

The other side of SoundScan is PollStar. PollStar is the touring bible. It reports who books who, for how much, tickets sold, blah, blah, blah. Any promoter worth his/her salt would subscribe to this. It has other resources as well.

Sales:

When artists sell merch at shows or from their homepage, they make more money. I would almost always buy from the band direct now. The labels pay the artist an average of 8 to 10 cents per disc. Screw that. I would give Bob and John whatever they ask. They probably have $1.00 to $1.50 in the disc for manufacturing. Let them eat and pay the bills with the rest.

I don't generally like buying or selling merch at shows, unless it is at a church or someplace where the promoter does not take half. This is why a concert T-Shirt at a secular show is $50. The band gets half of it, and still has to pay the $5 to manufacture, insure and ship. Buy or sell direct.

Word to yo mama

I feel most if not all bands should have gone indie by now. A new and up and coming band might need a label to get their feet in the door, but someone like Petra should have ditch Word about 10 yrs. ago and gone the indie route; They should have used the internet and fans to their ADvantage.

Radio is also slowly dying. 10 yrs ago 65% of car stereos were tuned into a radio station on a daily basis now it's only 33%. Most people have their CD/MP3 going now and don't need radio. The only radio markets that is growing is the Hispanic and sports/talk radio markets, All others have seen a huge decline in the last 8-10 yrs.
I found out this week that KLTY(most successful CCM station) is in huge financial trouble and are considering selling( I know Belo the company I work for is cosidering a bid); According to media reports they haven't had a profit since the 2nd Quarter of 2005.
This is why I don't understand why these artists now a day (including Petra/John) still harp on pushing their stuff to radio. "Revival" was totally done for the radio aspect and it turned into a huge mistake; that is when JAH should have been done.

[brent]

Every car manufactured has a radio. Every home receiver has a radio tuner. Most if not all RF broadcasters are producing internet content. No it is not the driving force that it was in the Top40 days, but it is still the best bet. People DO listen to radio. Radio will always exist. It may not be able to work with the current model.

(What sucks about the major Christian radio networks is that the homogenized crap is coming from one place, and the local news, weather and traffic is a joke. There is little local imaging or association with the listeners. So, people might as well be listening to MP3s IMO.)

There are a couple of Christian stations in markets that have continued to grow. So, while it is not the norm, it is happening. The stations are NOT growing in our favorite genres. They are growing by playing more mature, softer music, sometimes with a mix of teaching. It is a fraction of the market for sure, but it is growing. Christian rock radio is dying a quick death.

Being played on radio is not really the goal I suspect. It is having a radio friendly album that would have the widest appeal, sell well, and be a calling card to the church concert market. Radio right now still reaches the majority of the people. Internet radio is not a force to be reckoned with. And, currently, most internet stations will only play artists that will not make them pay mechanicals.

[sue d.]

As promised, the Petheads are the FIRST to see/hear "The Grafting"!

Visit the FAN SITE for lyrics, song clips, complete credits:
http://johnwschlitt.com/fans/solo.htm

Visit the PROMOTERS SITE for lyrics, song clip, short credits:
http://www.johnwschlitt.com/promoters/solo.html

Post your thoughts/opinions below!

[calicowriter]

Although I can't listen to the clips at work, I just finished reading the lyrics. Wow. Terrific songs. I felt several tug at my heart, but the line that keeps resonating within my head is from Carry On:

Why have a new life if all that you do is survive?

It seems like for the past year, survive is all I've done. Just trying to survive my roommate's illness, jobs coming and going, my financial situation, my health...I keep waiting to just get through them, but I forget that there is grace to be received by being faithful in the little things -- carrying on as it were.

I can't wait to see the Daystar show when I get home from work.