Who likes free stuff? Everyone likes free stuff! Especially consumers. But what about retailers? You could give away your CDs to people in the street or at gigs but the success of this is limited because you have to meet everyone to give them a CD. Giving free CDs to retailers lets them do the work for you.
How to give CDs away effectively
Retailers however make money from sales, and them passing on your CDs is unlikely to be an attractive prospect to them because it is of little benefit to them. To encourage them to pass on your CD they need to benefit so suggest them selling the CD for a £1 or £2, enough for them to make easy money, but small enough for customers to buy. Also if the shop is making easy money by selling your CDs, they may play the tracks in the shop or promote it more than other CDs giving you more benefit and publicity. Also the benefit of small music shops is that often they organize local gigs and this can be a platform for you to be part of the local gigging circuit and a way of getting on their radar.
Obviously there are costs involved in producing all these CDs and giving them away so selling huge numbers is unsustainable for your band. However I recommend starting by giving a shop 10 or 20 CDs to see how it goes in the hope that they ask for more, then maybe offer another batch for free but after that you can start asking for some money per sale because they know your CD will sell so they are guaranteed some profit. Before you give them the CD though, make sure it is as good quality as possible and showcases the best songs because it is unlikely that a shop will accept a 2nd CD if the first one is rubbish. Good luck
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