Of course that's true - the amount of money we are talking about is pitiful if you view it as an income - but if it's money that drives you, then Detroit Techno and the like is not, and never will be, the place to find it. If you want to make money from music, then you have to have a product that more people can latch onto, ie something more mainstream. Or, as previously mentioned, you can try to make money as a performer - for example, even if Jeff Mills were to sell 10,000 copies of each Axis release, it would still leave him with less money than a single big gig.
The point is, in my opinion, that we produce, sell and buy this music because we love it - music, like all art, is something to spend our money on, not a way of making it. To be an independant label manager, you basically have to accept that you will never see any more money from a release than you would get from a nights work in a bar, at best. You do it because you want to, not because you can make a living from it. And most people lose badly - in another example, word has it that Andy Weatherall lost over £60,000 over the lifetime of his excellent Emissions label... Not wishing to be overly idealistic about it, but the fact is, there is no money in our scene - so it's a waste of time and energy trying to find it (IMO!) ----- Original Message ----- From: Greg Earle To: 313@hyperreal.org Sent: Tuesday, September 23, 2003 1:34 PM Subject: Re: (313) peacefrog Matt Chester wrote: > That's true - the mark-up on 400 records at that price would be about £14 - > take away £1 for postage and admin etc, they'd still make about £5000 for > selling through all copies, which they will undoubtedly do. Split between > the label and the artist, it's still a pretty hefty cut, much more than > they'd ever get on a standard 12" release... I don't know what the split is (I assume it's not 50-50, but for the sake of argument ... ), but if what you're saying is true, I'd have to put out a record (in this way) every two weeks to match a decent (read: long-term, many years of experience) Engineer's salary. What a conundrum. We (rightfully) piss and moan about 16-quid record prices, but even in the best of circumstances (the aforementioned scenario), it doesn't even provide a (slightly) comfortable living. And I don't see any solution to this situation, either. No wonder KDJ doesn't get out of bed for less. Sure glad I'm not trying to live as a musician ... *phew* - Greg
