Photographer Opportunity – Rock and roll!

[MarKus Lee]

Do you remember the days of album art? I do, and I’m getting ready to release my CD and need some art. What I’m looking for are 8 high rez images that are dramatic in appearance and if possible match the feel of the songs on the CD. Each image will be imprinted with some or all of the lyrics of each song. Then there will be an option on my shopping cart to buy the song or the song with album art. I’ll charge an additional .50 for the song with Album art and 100% of that goes to you the photographer. My goals are not to make money with your art but to further enhance the appeal of my product. I am an individual and not connected with any label or company. If you’re at all interested I’ll be glad to share some cuts from the CD. Thanks for your time.

 

[waday]

So, are you only paying the photographer $0.50 each time a person elects to purchase the song with album art? Any additional money? If not, there's not much of an incentive here...

 

[MarKus Lee]

Well I’m only making .97 a download and I gotta split that 4 ways. So it’s more than a musician makes. And or course you’d get album credits.

 

[Overread]

You might have luck if you post more details of what you're after - what kind of theme you're thinking of and what kind of music you have - at present we know what you want but there's no real context for your music or the creative vision you're aiming for.

Granted that you might find it works for you; however this might be one of those cases where if you want high quality you will either have to find someone who shares that same vision as you; or you're going to have to save up and pay for it.

Some idea of your past released music and accolades and such might help as well; someone serious who will produce or have the kind of material you want is going to want to know that you're also up to standard as well.

 

[MarKus Lee]

Your right, so here’s some clarification.

I’m a nobody, other than on a local front. That being said I believe in my music and its appeal. I am also am extremely motivated to market this material and all attached art work as much as humanly possible, (I work in marketing during the day BTW). So I guess if you’re already a rich and famous photographer this is not for you.

You can see my band at our website and if you visited the YouTube channel there are two original songs up. www.markusleemusic.com

Thanks!

 

[vintagesnaps]

You expect to market and sell and make money for your work and time and talent - but don't expect photographers or artists to do the same thing?? (or settle for working for pennies?)

For my ability & expertise and time & effort as a photographer someone would need to license usage of my work for an appropriately priced fee (with a written contract).

 

[Overread]

Vintage check the other post the music is only selling for 0.97 per track download and the one with album art is 0.50 more ontop of which that 0.50 goes to the photographer. I agree they are small numbers, but music sold as individual tracks doesn't sell for much at all and it looks pretty fair to me.

It's more a question of volume; if you can get volume sales you're ok; if its small though and very niche and not advertised heavily then you might not get much back at all.


One thought is that if you want album art to be YOUR thing then I'd honestly say up the base price and put the art with it and don't give the customer the choice. Make it a complete package approach rather than giving the option. Because chances are most will just get the music - a tiny handful of loyal fans will get the album art. So it wouldn't work out fair to the photographer to be paid out of sales (again its a question of volume of sales and fanbase size; but I'm guessing that at this present point in time mass volume isn't what you expect).



As a thought if you do local gigs and events you might find that a local photographer might be more willing to take up the offer if they can then get their name on some of your promotional material - ergo turning it into an advertising aspect for them.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I don't think it's realistic to expect other creative artists to be willing to do the same thing and price so low. I think you need to value your work enough to expect to get a reasonable payment. Friend of mine who's a musician was just saying the other day something to the effect of - don't ask me/my band to play for free. I said same thing happens in photography, or if not free then dirt cheap.

Ran across this, about getting appropriate licensing and payment for musicians for their music. I saw a show recently (can't remember specifics) about a songwriter in Nashville who's won Grammys I think and now doesn't sound like even she makes enough for writing music to be a viable option.
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This type subject comes up on here often enough, why expect a photographer to do all the work of photographing and providing artwork for next to nothing? It's time consuming to do good quality creative work.

edit - I agree with you Overread that it would be likely that with a choice people would more probably just pay for the download.