Should Celtic music be available as a free mp3 download? well that's up to the author I think but what are the reasons for someone who has recorded or written a celtic song or tune to want to allow anyone to download it for free.
When you go to many of the download web sites it is common to hear a sample of Celtic mp3 music of about thirty 30 seconds and from that you have to try and judge whether you like the song enough to buy the full track.
I have listened to hundreds of these Celtic mp3 samples and found that for most of them that in 30 seconds you were lucky to hear the intro part of the tune and therefore had no idea of the eventual song itself including the hook.
When I first set up Celtic mp3 samples on my website at www.celtichorizon.net I did this also as that's the way everyone was doing it and sat back waiting for Cd sales to come pouring in and they did but slowly!
I then tested the water out by visiting all the other web sites with Celtic mp3 samples and when I found that the thirty second sample did not give me enough time to make a decision I quickly changed my tactics.
After I loaded full length samples of my songs onto my web the Cd sales increased dramatically and then I just wondered how many thousands of mp3 web sites are losing out by using short Celtic mp3 samples.
Think of it this way! most people like a song for the hook or that part of the melody that catches them and normally this is in the chorus for the majority of songs, so if a song starts with an intro of say 16 secs, then a 32 second verse that's 48 seconds before we even get to the chorus that may be 32 seconds long as well and the hook can be anywhere in there!
Having done this I then moved one step further and set up a web site on Myspace at www.myspace.com/celtichorizonfolkband and this time I put four full Celtic mp3 music tracks for free download to anyone who wanted them and again the Cd sales started to nudge up again.
So for me the proof was there to see in plain Cd sales-if you want to see Cd sales go up give people full length Celtic mp3 music tracks for either listening to or for free download for promotion .
If you expect people to pay for your music give them a fair chance to make up their mind as their is nothing worse than buying a Cd that you find you do not like.So far doing this syatem i have had no Cds returned or folks unhappy with the music on the Cds-I'll say no more then except for check out my free Celtic mp3 downloads of Scottish and Irish traditional folk songs and music.
Slaintie
Bob Ferguson
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