God this Forum is quiet

[jackbrazzo]

We need to provoke some interest in this board its no QUIET!!!!!

Was thinking about thinking of doing another mp3 vs vinyl snoozefest for a laugh!

How about this as a topic. Self distribution. I've noticed a few people are doing this. I.E Tusk Wax 300 copy only vinyl releases that are now being sold direct from him rather than distros.

You could do this with CD's as well.

Any thoughts on the matter. If you got some juicy track it could be a way of getting a little bit of cash and also getting your name around?

[tone-def]

The problem is if nobody knows who you are. How do you get them to go to your web shop to buy records?

[jackbrazzo]

Perhaps do that first to get a name for your self, then do it?
I am not sure I guess we have to remember that the game has changed as regards promotion.
FB and other social media exposure I guess, Bigger Jocks playing the tunes - T Shirts\Stickers\Playing at established nights.

How much does it cost to press 300 12"'s in ghetto sleeves? £700? - 100 Sales @ £7 each gives you your money back. Perhaps I am being a little naive.

It must be a difficult market to be in I suppose. I am suprised people arent doing the CD thing or USB thing more often as well. Sure people will copy the track but thats already going on in the digital world.

[Opuswerk]

Even if 300 12" are about 700£, you still need to add mastering costs and find a way to sell them to shops. They wouldn't buy it at 7£ each, more like 4-5 £, and you'd be spending a lot of money getting them to the different shops. Imo you have at least to go through a distributor to get your stuff in the right shops and overseas. Else, you'll quickly be stuck with 200 pieces of the same records in your living room
I am thinking the best is to combine a distro with a Bandcamp page, but that still requires a lot of work and implies a few extra costs depending on where you get your records pressed. You need to have the record shipped to you and then from you, so you might need to add a few extra import taxes depending where you're based.

It's really a tough game to find a balance so as not to loose money. But i believe one way of sticking out is to have as much direct contact with your fans /supporter as possible. In a way it's really great that you can achieve that today. However, getting your name out there is very dependent on how famous you are/were when starting the DIY and your connections with press / famous djs etc. Even if the music is exceptionally good you still need to work on promotion hard to shell out those 300 copies.

With Plak ( www.plak-records.com ), we go though wordandsound for the physical distribution and recently opened a Bandcamp to sell the back catalog and some of the records that we still have: plakrecords.bandcamp.com. DIY for us is not an option because of the crazy swiss import and export taxes unfortunately.

I'm always wondering how other labels do it. Anybody wants to chime in?

[jackbrazzo]

PLK21 - Nocturnal Reflection 1#

Like this - does this have a 12" release?

[breton]

PLK21 - Nocturnal Reflection 1#
Like this - does this have a 12" release?

http://www.discogs.com/Ripperton-Noctur ... se/2243824

[jackbrazzo]

Thanks Breton.

[jackbrazzo]

It's really a tough game to find a balance so as not to loose money. But i believe one way of sticking out is to have as much direct contact with your fans /supporter as possible. In a way it's really great that you can achieve that today. However, getting your name out there is very dependent on how famous you are/were when starting the DIY and your connections with press / famous djs etc. Even if the music is exceptionally good you still need to work on promotion hard to shell out those 300 copies.

What would be good i guess is to have 2 of you collaborate of maybe have an A AA side do that you can half the costs. Lets face it at best you would only want to get your money back I guess. Perfectly viable for some to shell out 350 then even if half sell you are only losing 200 notes. Ok its not pocket money but you have to speculate to accumulate!