The accidental success story
With no record label, management company, or music industry connections, Steve Acho’s music has seen over 150,000 downloads and streams on iTunes and other pay-for-download music sites.
In a downturned economy, Acho consistently earns over $2,000 per month strictly from online music sales. He has found a way to use the Internet - a medium typically blamed for hemorrhaging music sales - to gain music sales. This is in addition to paid performances and appearances around the country.
He credits his continued success to his soulful, acoustic versions of popular songs. “I’m a huge fan of acoustic music”, Acho says. “If I hear an acoustic version of a song I love, I’ve got to have it! I had this idea to do acoustic covers, so I booked a studio, invited friends, and recorded a live concert featuring two hours of my favorite songs with just my piano and vocals.
After obtaining legal licenses to sell downloads of each cover song from their respective publisher, Acho used Tunecore to distribute and sell them via iTunes and other similar sites.
“When people searched iTunes for songs like ‘Hallelujah’, my versions would come up along with others. Many people would buy my cover songs, then end up buying my previously released originals as well.
“I really didn’t expect such an incredible and immediate response from fans. I earned over $500 my first month with no promotion. Since I never produced physical copies of the album and just paid for the live studio recording, the whole project only cost $300 to record and distribute.”
In the beginning, I knew people weren’t searching iTunes for ‘Steve Acho’, they only stumbled on my music because they were searching for a song they loved. I’m fortunate enough that more and more, people are actually searching for me by name.”
“It’s so inspiring to get fan mail from all over the world, and encouraging to see that if you make music people love, they become supporters and spread the music. It’s especially encouraging to know that even through a recession fans are still willing to pay for music that moves them.” said Acho.
www.steveacho.com
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www.myspace.com/steveacho