Albums, Expectations, Demos, Distribution | Cory & Will

07/07/22 • 54 min

Making a jazz album, from demo to distribution to performance, is a game of expectations. Whether artistic, financial, or personal, expectations keep you on track and help you remember why you're in the game.

Topics:

First question: How to release a jazz album (01:17),
What are realistic financial expectations for making an album? Taking entrepreneurial risk, investing up-front in production, and building a music career over time (11:44),
Cory takes an honest look at the growth of Rhythm Changes and of his radio show, Condition Blue (17:41),
Best-of-2022 highlight: establishing a level of care (24:44),
Next question: How to get gigs by sending demo recordings to booking agents (25:54),
Choosing the right live music venues for your band (29:45),
Making a personal connection with venue booking agents (36:16),
Storytime: the early-2000s distribution deals that established Cellar Music (39:47),
New Cellar Music releases by Sheila Jordan & Brian Charette on July 15, 2022 (48:06).

Links:

YouTube - All Things Must Pass (Tower Records documentary) - Cory said he enjoyed this movie about the famous record store business so much, he watched it three times.
Bloomberg - CD sales in Japan (2020) - CD sales have still been a huge part (over 70%) of the recorded music market in Japan, even as recently as 2020.

Topics:

First question: How to release a jazz album (01:17),
What are realistic financial expectations for making an album? Taking entrepreneurial risk, investing up-front in production, and building a music career over time (11:44),
Cory takes an honest look at the growth of Rhythm Changes and of his radio show, Condition Blue (17:41),
Best-of-2022 highlight: establishing a level of care (24:44),
Next question: How to get gigs by sending demo recordings to booking agents (25:54),
Choosing the right live music venues for your band (29:45),
Making a personal connection with venue booking agents (36:16),
Storytime: the early-2000s distribution deals that established Cellar Music (39:47),
New Cellar Music releases by Sheila Jordan & Brian Charette on July 15, 2022 (48:06).

Links:

YouTube - All Things Must Pass (Tower Records documentary) - Cory said he enjoyed this movie about the famous record store business so much, he watched it three times.
Bloomberg - CD sales in Japan (2020) - CD sales have still been a huge part (over 70%) of the recorded music market in Japan, even as recently as 2020.

Previous Episode

The launch

Here we go! Stay tuned for Jazz Office Hours.

Next Episode

Getting Known for What You Do: Match Your Music to Venues

It's summer! We're on vacation, so please enjoy this top highlight clip from episode one.

In this answer, Will & Cory discuss the secret to connecting with local music venues and booking agents: know what you want to do!

It breaks down into three steps:

Clearly define what you think your band is.
Look at venues and figure out which ones you could potentially fit into.
Make your best demo, and make a statement of how you feel you should be treated by the venues.

After that, you can shift your focus to getting known for what you do, which is as simple as spending time at the venues you want in your musical life.

This clip originally appeared in episode 1: Making Albums, Expectations, Demo Recordings, Distribution.