Do artists make more money off CDs they sell at gigs?

[Guy Berger]

...vs music sold through amazon or other outlets? I assume the answer is yes, but just wanted to verify.

[Big Beat Steve]

Can't tell you specifically for today's jazz artists but from what I've witnessed in other musical genres (niche markets where musicians/bands marketing their own CDs do exist) it's a definite YES. The calculation is easy: The price the musicians/bands sell their own CDs for is not very much below what the CDs go for via the usual outlets, but "avoiding the middleman" (or rather the middleMEN) makes all the difference.

[Chuck Nessa]

Yup.

[Jim Alfredson]

Yes, and after the gig is where we sell the most.

[Homefromtheforest]

Over my 20 years of attending jazz concerts I always try to buy CDs from the artists after the gig because I know they make more money this way...

[Justin V]

I once overheard a club promoter tell a musician that most musicians charged $20 for their CDs, and that the club asked for $4 from each CD sale to help offset any loss of revenue from people showing up late (and presumably paying less of a cover). The club, of course, had a good turnout that night. The musician agreed without comment. Is this a standard practice?

Regardless, I always try to pick up an album at concerts. Unless I missed it, it appears that the Detroit Jazz festival only had the Mack Avenue tents and no outside CD vendor this year, which was the first time that I've seen that. As far as other labels go, Motema was on hand to sell at a table for a bit, but I didn't see anything else being sold. The outside vendor from prior years, Street Corner Music, used to have tons of Detroit artists, a bargain bin, general releases and selections from every artist performing. It's where I discovered Phil Nimmons and was able to snag a copy of Kenn Cox and Donald Walden's then-elusive (and excellent) duo CD.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Justin V

[Chuck Nessa]

I find it hard to believe this is a real question. Always buy from the artist!

[JSngry]

I once overheard a club promoter tell a musician that most musicians charged $20 for their CDs, and that the club asked for $4 from each CD sale to help offset any loss of revenue from people showing up late (and presumably paying less of a cover). The club, of course, had a good turnout that night. The musician agreed without comment. Is this a standard practice?

Fuck that.

[Jim Alfredson]

Yeah, fuck that. Janiva Magness never accepts that proposal.

The two times that we played the Detroit Jazz Festival, they told us we couldn't sell discs from the stage. Instead we had to go through Street Corner. They were nice people to deal with but the percentage that we got from each sale was pretty low.

[BFrank]

I usually wait to buy CDs at shows when the artist has a new album out.