Worth a DVD?

Welcome to the new Chetboard!

Worth a DVD?

Postby keener » Mon Jan 06, 2014 9:02 pm

I posted the following question to Facebook the other day and it went over kinda like a fart in a spacesuit. Ron Wise said he'd buy one and my daughter-in-law seconded, and that was it. (Ron is 10 times the picker I could ever hope to be but always gives me a thumbs up, which of course makes me feel good).

BEGIN QUOTE
"Question for my guitar-picking buddies: I have 100 YouTube videos of me playing various tunes, such as medleys, original tunes, and a few that are devoted to teaching a certain style or way of playing a tune. I still have the QuickTime mov files for these, and have thought about putting them on a DVD and selling. The resolution of the videos is better than what one sees on the youtubes, and might be a halfway decent way to learn a few of my better mistakes. I am thinking $19.95, including US shipping, might be a decent asking. Is this reasonable? Price too high or no interest? Seems a shame (to me) for them to go to waste, and YouTube has become a vast wasteland.
END QUOTE

A smart man would probably say, "give it up Keener ... nobody's interested in that crap." But, nobody ever accused me of being smart. Besides, sometimes stuff just doesn't get seen on Facebook: if I saw all of what my 150+ friends were posting, I'd probably have to literally live on FB, but instead I just see samples of what they post. So, I figured I'd ask you folks, just to test the water a little further.

Honestly, I'm not sure that what I am "proposing" (thinking about) is even doable: not sure I can fit 100 videos onto a DVD. Not sure that, if I make it on my iMac, that it'll be readable on a Windows laptop. I just dunno.

And, of course, I don't know that 100 of my videos is worth 28 cents, let alone 20 bucks. But I do know I won't do one for 28 cents.

Thoughts?
keener
 
Posts: 764
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:16 pm

Re: Worth a DVD?

Postby Jim Prater » Wed Jan 08, 2014 12:47 am

Mr. Keener,
I would love to have one of your DVD's. Let me know when it is ready.
Thanks.

Jim Prater
Jim Prater
 
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 11:34 am

Re: Worth a DVD?

Postby Randy Finney » Wed Jan 08, 2014 12:18 pm

I would set up a simple website for people to selectively download the videos they want - for example, using wordpress and basic estore software costs almost nothing and it can be completely automated for both you and the user.

People can burn their own DVD at home after if they want your videos in this format. You can still allow downloads of all 100 for $19.95 but, you can also charge a buck each for those who only want one or two.

In a nutshell, an automated download website requires very little investment, requires you to spend very little of your time on dealing with the logistics of distribution, and increases your profit margins.

I would certainly buy a few.

Randy
Randy Finney
 
Posts: 181
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:44 am
Location: Toronto, Canada

Re: Worth a DVD?

Postby keener » Wed Jan 08, 2014 3:44 pm

Jim,

Thank you very much. If I go through with this, or some variation on it, I'll let you know.

Randy,
I appreciate your thoughts on setting up a website, giving more of a piecemeal option. I'm pretty much done with WordPress and the like, though, and setting up an maintaining a server, and I have Zero interest in running an ecommerce sort of site: they typically require users to enter a credit card number, and my own policy is that I do not buy from such sites anymore. If a site doesn't offer a Paypal option, it doesn't get my business.

But, I can sure see that not many people, if any, would want a full 100 videos, especially when half of them are probably crap. Perhaps I could go through the list and select those that had the most "likes" (people don't seem to use the "like" buttons anymore, and I don't blame them: it's just more info that Google and NSA learns about you when you press a "like"). I'm not sure that's a great measure to use, but it's one consideration. Maybe try to cut it down to 50 videos?

In my grandest expectation on this I would probably sell 10 DVDs, certainly no more than 20, under even the wildest of scenarios (three or four seems more like it, which might not be worth ordering a box of DVD's for).

I just hate waste. I hate that the videos are just rotting on YouTube, being lost in amongst a semi-infinite number of other videos. But maybe I should learn how to adopt the attitude that "during their time, they caused a few smiles," and just leave it at that.

Any how, thanks folks. I'll cogitate some more. I appreciate you guys letting me work this out in my head.
keener
 
Posts: 764
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:16 pm

Re: Worth a DVD?

Postby DagerRande » Fri Jan 10, 2014 10:21 am

Hi Bruce,

My Internet has been down for a week. I'm now using my iPhone as a "hotspot" for my laptop. Right now I'm in my 3rd week of a 5 week "financial drought" between semesters. I consider you to be a friend and when I'm able I'd purchase your DVD just to study those 100 videos. Let me know what you eventually decide.

thanks,
Rande Dager

We are all capable of doing more than we think we can!
DagerRande
 
Posts: 1102
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:53 pm
Location: Battle Creek, MI

Re: Worth a DVD?

Postby keener » Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:05 pm

I guess I'll attempt this, guys. I looked over the list of videos I've made and it turns out that there are 115 of them. Some are pure crap. Some not so bad. I've discovered some that are not on Youtube and that do not totally suck, such as the following, which is entitled A Few Licks (about 1 minute long):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuLaPhnH ... e=youtu.be

(Please excuse the link, Tom).

I've ordered some blank DVD's and will attempt to create about a dozen of these DVDs next week. Email me at brucekeener@gmail.com if you want to order one so I can send you my address. It'll be $20 and I'll pay for shipping inside the US ... it's too expensive for me to deal with shipping outside the US (as Boris and I have discussed). If it turns out that you order one and don't like it, I'll refund all but the shipping costs.

So, sorry to have turned this into an advertisement. I'd not really intended to do so. Was just sort of exploring a thought, but might as well make a decision and wrap it up while we're at it.

Just so you know: I don't see myself as some great guitar player that everyone would want to copy. But the one thing I TRY to do with these little videos is to show people exactly how I get each lick, to the extent that my cheap recording setup lets me. 30, 40, and 50 years ago, when they actually used to show Chet on TV, it would really piss me off when he was getting ready to play a hot lick and they would switch to viewing his face. I wanted to see his fingers. All of them! But, no. So, I've tried to at least make videos that let people see how to do things, with the hope that at least some of what I do is worth seeing done.

Thanks.
keener
 
Posts: 764
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:16 pm

Re: Worth a DVD?

Postby DagerRande » Fri Jan 10, 2014 3:58 pm

Sounds good, Bruce. You're a good source of ideas and perfect execution isn't necessary before they can be picked up.

Thanks!
Rande Dager

We are all capable of doing more than we think we can!
DagerRande
 
Posts: 1102
Joined: Fri Mar 15, 2013 2:53 pm
Location: Battle Creek, MI

Re: Worth a DVD?

Postby keener » Wed Jan 15, 2014 4:40 pm

UPDATE: I've decided to NOT do this.

I received only one request (which is okay, no complaints, didn't expect much), but the thing that got me was that it cost almost half the $20 to ship the DVD. There is no planet on which that makes sense. So, I will not do any more of the little creatures.

Was an interesting exercise for me and hopefully for the one customer.

Later
Bruce
keener
 
Posts: 764
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:16 pm


Return to Announcement and News

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 22 guests