i have to admit i get tired of hearing this "records don't make money" argument. it's not true. there are some people making money on records still. and there are some who still make LOADS of money on records.
> So your cost of doing a 4x12 with a run of a 1000: $6000 or $7000. that's about right > You'll be lucky to get $12 wholesale for that, meaning that if you that's not. depending on your distribution partner or whatever way you are selling your records, you can get closer to $14-$16 for 4x12" (more if you are going the route of direct sales only for at least part of the run)...$12 would be rock bottom. those few dollars per unit matter a lot. > don't spend a DIME on promotion you'll net $5000 or $6000 on the run. i think a few more thou than that, which isn't too bad... but still, for a huge 4x12" project, that ain't much. > 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. hahaha that depends on what you call real money...for an artist, all money is real money..and the real point #a) if it SELLS. if an album sells 2000 copies on vinyl and cd it is a nice chunk of change - more than half of the average teacher's salary anyways :P > Long story short: making records is a way to spend money, not make money. unless it sells...! > If the records are expensive at the retail level, beyond, say $8 per > disc, either the retailer or the wholesaler (or both) is raising the > price in response to demand. or the label priced the records that way to begin with to cover costs. we had to set the wholesale cost of the convextion 2x12" at 8euros each to cover all the international shipping, initial short pressing run, full color artwork, defects, and most of all, to pay gerard what he deserves. that means our distributor had to add a certain percentage on top, and then the retailer adds another percentage on top of that. it's all percentages, which means that a small increase at the wholesale level becomes a larger increase as it passes through each stage of distribution. at 8euros wholesale, there was no possibility the convextion 2x12"s could be any less than 17 or 18 euro retail, which is well more than 8$ per disc, without having anything to do with demand...
