itunes over old media?

the other question: say I went with an itunes only distribution. will anyone review this? does this count as "releasing an album"? it seems like it should. I mean I'm sure I could count on stylus to maybe review it, but what about magazines? maybe no-one reads magazines anymore. I don't!

Unless the label is going to do more than just "get you on iTunes" (which you can do yourself for $55 through CD Baby), I'd be careful signing much. With digital-only distribution, you'll struggle to get reviewed in mainstream old media, especially monthly magazines, and it will count against you with new media and zines, but not so much. You'll certainly need some physical promo CDs and printed one sheets, which may be where this indie label would be useful.

You can also do this yourself through http://www.tunecore.com

Yes, you can do this quite easily on your own.

the other question: say I went with an itunes only distribution. will anyone review this?

Speaking from my experience as a reviewer for a variety of newspapers and magazines in the last twenty or so years, no. You'd have to depend on the reviewer having a gratis account on iTunes and wanting to take the time to download it. It could happen but it's not at all bankable from any pro orgs, ones where people get a lot of stuff coming in the shoot everyday.

You need promotional copies, at the very least. And if you can get some reviews, even in the local newspaper, a few people might even like to buy your CD at gigs or a local emporium.

I get send links to download stuff for potential review and when choosing between what's in the mail or sitting on the desk or following a link, the former wins most of the time.

That said, the local big daily, the LA Times, reviews songs published through links every Saturday. But they're not from acts as small as yours, almost always coming from something that already has stuff in stores and carrying pro promotional clout. Even the acts which look like just-discovered nobodies in this type of paper, are generally not nobodies with regards to that.

thanks everyone, this is pretty much what I'd come to believe after talking with other people. Luckily i think another label might be willing to go the trad CD route, so we'll see what happens.

thanks for the tunecore link dudes, I had no idea. Now I can make my relatives pay to listen to people they don't know talking about going to the bathroom over a bunch of noise I made on the computer.

this is going to be awesome.