Re: Downloading for charity

Tamara:

I don't mean to sound negative but it will probably seem that
way.

We just researched this very thing for a local church group. Here
are some negative and positive things we discovered.

1. Being a church or charity does not cut any ice. If any of the
music lies outside the "public domain", then everybody is going
to want their cut. This includes ASCAP and BMI among others.

2. Technically, there are several ways, (we could probably start
a war on this subject alone), to create a music file and download
it. RealAudio being just one example. The problem is that the
people who "download" the file must have the proper compatible
software and / or equipment to play it in whatever format is
chosen.

3. Even though it is for charity, if--you are going to take their
money, you need a full blown e-commerce site. This may even
require a Merchant Account unless a credit card service third
party is used.

And if it involves downloads, some means must be provided to keep
track of "failed" downloads and where the "customer" can go to
re-try the download without having to pay again.

And again, let me reiterate this business of copyright. EVERY
piece of music is copyrighted in some manner. Even if you had a
church group sing numbers composed by their own members, that
church group would automatically own the copyright and you need
the signed waivers.

If they should happen to sing something they have not composed
themselves it can get sticky. Careful research must be done to
insure that all aspects of the music is free and clear. Example:
Happy Birthday is NOT in the public domain. You can sing it in
your home, and even at a restaurant and get away with it. But if
you "sell" it, you have to pay the royalties.

Now--when you get past all of the above and have purchased the
software needed to convert the music to a file, the rest is easy.
You just create a link to the file and it can be downloaded just
like an image, a .pdf or Word file, etc.

Now some positive suggestions.

There are several music CD on-line businesses that have Affiliate
Programs. www.cdnow.com/ and www.ubrandit.com/ for example. Both
of these allow you to set up pages full of links on your site to
"sell" a song or for that matter, anything in their stocks.

As the "linked sale" is coming from your page, you get a
percentage of the sale. Some of them even place cookies on the
customer's machine so that when they return, you still get the
credit, even if they go directly to the CD music site.

The nice thing here is that the whole thing is just a simple copy
and paste for the web author. They do all the credit card work
and have very slick sites that can be modified to include your
logo and background colors, etc.

Now all the charity has to do is ADVERTISE the site. This is the
single most important part. You have to get hundreds of people to
go to the site. Turn your charity group loose on the city, the
county, and half of the state if you can get them to go that far.
Have them hit every TV and Radio station, every weekly freebee
newspaper, and at least try for a free announcement in the local
papers. (Good luck on that one.) Also con all the sports shows
and Tech Shows out of a free booth to promote the site.

If you get lucky, the charity should make a few bucks and they
didn't even have to buy all that software.

Best wishes
Ted Temer
Temercraft Designs Redding, CA
temer(at)c-zone.net
http://www.temercraft.com
http://www.newsredding.com/




>I am working on a site that wants to be able to allow people to
download a
>song for a donation to a particular charity.  Is this possible
and how do I
>do it?
>
>Thank you in advance,
>Tamara
>-

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