INNOVA® UPDATE:
The Distribution Game

by Robert Macht

In 1980, I traveled to Java, Indonesia, and studied the gamelan. The traditional orchestra of Java and Bali, the gamelan is best known for its tuned bronze gongs, though it also includes mallet instruments, calf-skinned drums, rebab (a two-stringed bowed instrument), bamboo flute, zither, and vocals. The general effect of traditional Javanese gamelan is to convey a sense of floating and drifting.

When I was ready to return home to Baltimore, I bought a set of instruments and shipped them home. I’ve been composing works for gamelan ever since. As you might presume, major record labels aren’t looking to gamelan as the proverbial next big thing. Recording and releasing albums that make my music available to its audience has been an ongoing challenge.

In 1998, I composed and recorded Suite for Javanese Gamelan and Synthesizer. After sending the recordings to various record labels, Dorian Discovery decided to license the work (they retain the rights for 10 years) and released it. For every CD sold at $13.98, I would receive approximately 50 cents in royalties. If that sounds like a small amount, it’s even worse when you consider that I spent the money to record and master the CD. Eventually, I ended up settling for a couple of hundred CDs in lieu of the money.

While I’m certainly not happy with the way things turned out, I can’t really complain either. It was a commercially risky project for Dorian, and the label did pay for the manufacturing and a small amount of promotion. If the CD had taken off, it would have been great for my career. Unfortunately, it didn’t.

Last year I finished a second album of gamelan works, Vishnu. This set featured the beautiful soprano of Hyunah Yu, combined with drums from Ghana, a zheng from China, bamboo flute, and the intricate drumming of tabla master Sandip Burman.

Looking for a better way to release the album, I began researching my options. I had wanted to put out Vishnu myself, but I was unable to find wide distribution. If stores can’t order your product, there’s no sense going forward with a project.

Having been chosen as the composer for the Delaware Continental Harmony project, I was curious about what other services the Forum might provide. While checking out its Web site, I noticed the section on innova Recordings®, and decided the label met my needs.

With innova®, the artist has to pay $4,000 in manufacturing and administrative costs – expenses that wouldn’t be charged by a commercial label. The payoff is that innova® doesn’t retain the rights to the recordings, and the artist gets all the profits (the wholesale price of every unit sold). The label has worldwide distribution to retailers such as Tower, Borders, Barnes and Noble, and most major Internet retailers. The music is also available for paid download through Liquid Audio, and CDs can be ordered directly through several toll-free phone numbers.

Working with innova® will require my involvement in the marketing and promotion. Though not all of the artists do this, I’ve hired someone to work radio, media and retail promotion. She will send out CDs to radio stations that play world music, magazines and newspapers, and follow up with phone calls. She will also provide retailers with in-store play copies. Though this is an additional expense for me, any profits reaped from this album are mine as well.

I have no illusions about the probability of profit. My investment – from recording to manufacturing – is approximately $7,500. With a wholesale price of $7.50, that puts my break-even point at 1,000 units. But if I were still with Dorian, I wound have to sell 15,000 CDs to see that much money, assuming the label actually paid me. Regardless of whether Vishnu finds a lager audience, I’ll know that I gave my release every reasonable chance of being successful. By giving all the proceeds of record sales back to the artist, innova® makes the artist a business partner rather than a commodity.

Robert Macht graduated in 1980 from Bennington College, where he studied composition with Henry Brant and acoustics with Gunnar Schonbeck. He has composed numerous works for orchestra, chamber groups and gamelan, and has taught gamelan at Peabody Conservatory and Towson University. Vishnu (innova 537) is his most recent release.

All innova releases can be ordered by calling (888) 749-9998 or from www.innovarecordings.com.