tedmanzie Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 [quote name='thebassist' timestamp='1421681125' post='2663881'] I dealt with shops/distributors in 2010. If I recall, they weren't selling digital then. But I really can't remember in all honesty so I can't help there I'm afraid. Contact them mate - I'd start with Phil at Norman. Top, top bloke. A treasure to deal with. Very supportive. Great shop. My only other bit of advice for you (and please choose to ignore any of the advice I've given too) would be to only release music that you're proud of promoting. I only release music I love which, at the start, wasn't necesarily good commerically but I'm super glad I did it that way. Now all the physical releases on my label are sold out within a few days of being put up for sale. Generally, to people that buy everything released on the label. [/quote] Good stuff. I used to know quite a few of the guys that ran the London record shops at the end of the 90s (Atlas, Smallfish, Rough Trade, I forget the names now most of them are now gone), and I did do quite a lot of trecking around with my first 7" release doing the old sale or return thing! (think I made about £1.50). So I'm happy to do a similar thing again to make some personal contacts. I'm definitely only releasing stuff I love, I often make commercial music for TV so I need an outlet for music that doesn't having anyone offering emailed suggestions on its merits! Well done with your releases. I found some on Bandcamp - interesting stuff! (I think you need to update the links on the minuspilots website, they aren't directing to the right bandcamp page?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tedmanzie Posted January 19, 2015 Author Share Posted January 19, 2015 [quote name='mickster' timestamp='1421680723' post='2663876'] All good advice above IMO. I used to work for a large independent label & distributor in the 90's, obviously before the advent of digital sales via Bandcamp etc. I think the independent distributor route works when you're producing and selling quantities above a certain threshold...a distro can get stock into shops & outlets that you can't reach yourself, and they will chase payments on your behalf and deal with postage & packaging. We used to charge anything from 8-25% of the wholesale price for doing this (wholesale price in those days was around £7.00 for a CD that would retail at £11-12). Obviously, teh bigger the label / act, the lower the distro fee you can negotiate. But as others have said, dealing with a distro does itself add a degree of complexity - contracts, payment terms, keeping an eye on stock levels & arranging for new stock to be pressed / delivered etc. For small quanities (ie <500 units), you're probably better off doing it yourself. You may well struggle to get stock into even independent stores like Rough Trade, Sister Ray, Piccadilly etc, and yes, getting paid by these shops can be a headache; I'd just focus on direct physical sales via yr label website & Bandcamp. You have to deal with postage & packaging yourself, but you will get more per unit and all payment is upfront. Put the effort into publicising the acts on yr label & stimulating direct sales rather than on getting a few vanity units into 'cool' shops like Rough Trade. [/quote] Very interesting thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebassist Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 (edited) [quote name='tedmanzie' timestamp='1421681926' post='2663884'] Good stuff. I used to know quite a few of the guys that ran the London record shops at the end of the 90s (Atlas, Smallfish, Rough Trade, I forget the names now most of them are now gone), and I did do quite a lot of trecking around with my first 7" release doing the old sale or return thing! (think I made about £1.50). So I'm happy to do a similar thing again to make some personal contacts. I'm definitely only releasing stuff I love, I often make commercial music for TV so I need an outlet for music that doesn't having anyone offering emailed suggestions on its merits! Well done with your releases. I found some on Bandcamp - interesting stuff! (I think you need to update the links on the minuspilots website, they aren't directing to the right bandcamp page?) [/quote] Yeah, I know I definitely need to fix that... I started it as a vinyl only label. Once a release is sold out, that's it, they're gone forever. They're never ever re-released on vinyl. Virtually 100% of the people that buy music from my label only care about vinyl. I only started the Bandcamp very recently, like earlier this month. Personally I still don't push the digital side of things hard at all and the artists know that. When I started I made a big thing about being "vinyl only", etc. and then when I started thinking about digital releases early in 2013 I was a bit concerned about how the customer base might react when getting an email from me essentially saying 'forget everything we said, we're now doing digital downloads' – I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not even a medium sized label but it was something that worried me a bit because I didn't want them to think I'd "sold out" or whatever. As it turns out I was worrying about nothing! Nobody cared - the reaction has been that those same people generally don't even use the free download that comes as standard with the vinyl copy - the vast majority really only want the physical product! Edited January 19, 2015 by thebassist Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurbs Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 [quote name='thebassist' timestamp='1421679663' post='2663863']Stuff about business being difficult...[/quote]Starting a business is hard. Getting money out of people is hard. It is the same if you are running a tiny record label or a multimillion pound business (as I do). Nothing you have said surprises me. There is a reason only a tiny amount of businesses stay around for the long term... To the OP, if it’s a hobby, then make sure you do it for the “love” and ignore the sh*t. If it is a business, then be prepared to enter the world of commercialising a product or a service and the real world realities of doing so. Of all businesses out there, starting a label would be a great challenge for any entrepreneur... ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Admiral Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Sound on Sound ran a great series of articles about this. A bit dated now, but still worth a read : http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep07/articles/recordlabel.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xilddx Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 The only value a record company can add is marketing and PR clout in today's environment as far as I can see. Unless I'm missing something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 If the label has a distinctive sound and/or style then bands on them can get new fans through their association with the label. Certainly worked for Factory Records in the 80s and more recently Leaf and Morr Music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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