Complain all you want, but at least consider the economics of it. Some back of the envelope figuring:
Cost of pressing 4 12" -- roughly 4-6 dollars per unit plus about $1200-1500 for cutting and plating. Labels - 5 cents a piece (10 cents per record) Cover to hold records - $500 setup for custom art, 25-50 cents for cover printing. So your cost of doing a 4x12 with a run of a 1000: $6000 or $7000. You'll be lucky to get $12 wholesale for that, meaning that if you don't spend a DIME on promotion you'll net $5000 or $6000 on the run. You have to pay the artists out of that. The only way an artist makes real money out of a release is if a) it gets them gigs b) the track is picked up for a high-profile dj mix or c) it's sold into the advertising/soundtrack market. Long story short: making records is a way to spend money, not make money. If the records are expensive at the retail level, beyond, say $8 per disc, either the retailer or the wholesaler (or both) is raising the price in response to demand.
