Re: [313] Industry Advice...
> What do I need to do in order to put my stuff on vinyl? How do I get it in stores? Either: 1. Have your DAT/CDR mastered (here's an article I wrote on mastering: http://www.geocities.com/tom_mf_uk/XFade/FC.htm) 2. Pay a pressing plant to press some copies. 3. Send sample copies to likely distributors and ask them if they're interested (here's an article I wrote on distribution: http://www.geocities.com/tom_mf_uk/iDJ/Distribution.htm) 4. Sign deal with distributor/s (hopefully) 5. Do some artwork etc. 6. Get as many pressed up as the distributors will take (plus a few more) & send them to distributors to sell for you. 7. Wait for sales statements and, hopefully, cheques to start coming in. Or: 1. Make CDR/tape copies of your best stuff. 2. Send to likely distributors asking them if they'd be interested in a P&D deal (Production & Distribution): ie. they press, sell and distribute the record for you, in return for a greater cut of the revenue, but not all distributors will do this. 3. Take it from there... Or: 1. Make CDR/tape copies of your best stuff. 2. Send to record labels. 3. Wait & see. Below is an article I wrote on setting up your own label, I just haven't got around to putting it on my site yet. It's aimed at a UK audience, but the principles are the same. Hope this helps, TOM *** Inside the Industry: Setting up a record label Fancy being a music industry mogul, but unsure how to go about it? iDJ looks at the do's and don'ts of setting up your own record label and takes advice from three of today's hottest independents. Why? Ah, the eternal question. Ask yourself - why do you want to set up a record label? Because you're sick of your day job in the Spam factory and you foresee endless days of liquid lunches with Brandon Block and coke-fuelled nights partying with Manumission dwarves? In which case, forget it. Most independent record labels hardly make any money, if any at all and for every Global Underground or Warp there are literally thousands of labels who have long since gone to the wall. On the other hand, if you have lots of music which you think is brilliant and deserves to be heard but you can't find anyone to put it out for you, then setting up your own label is probably the way to go. This reasoning was good enough for plenty of the best dance labels in history, so it should be good enough for you. The other reason people set up their own labels is simply to have total control. After all, if it's your label, no-one can tell you that releasing a limited edition of fifty copies with triple gatefold hemp sleeves and a free packet of crisps is out of the question, can they? This particularly applies to producers who've already had a few records out, but who weren't happy with the way they were treated by other labels. And lord knows there are plenty of them. Who? The person ideally suited to setting up a label is someone with years of industry experience, lots of contacts, masters degrees in business studies, marketing and accountancy, impeccable musical taste, buckets of enthusiasm, anal attention to detail, lots of drive and a good few thousand quid they can comfortably risk. Not much to ask, is it? That said, plenty of people with little or none of the above have successfully run labels. If you're careful, start small and follow a few basic rules, you too can be a record label boss, even if you're only selling five hundred copies a time. When starting up, the key phrase to remember is advance planning. Your aim should be to have everything in place before you release your first record. Some careful preparation now will save you a lot of grief in future. Image is everything The image of your label is vitally important - there are thousands of labels out there these days, so you need to stand out from the crowd. The starting point here is the name you will choose for your label, which must instantly encapsulate the image you want to portray. But make sure you pick a name which hasn't already been claimed - to check on this, run your ideas through a few Internet search engines. Once you've picked a name, you'll need a logo. A striking, easily identifiable logo is crucial because you want your label to sell on the strength of its name alone - your logo must become a guarantee of instant quality to record-buyers. You could pay a design company to do this for you, but most small independent labels either do their own artwork (pretty simple with today's design software) or just slip an artistically-minded friend thirty quid to do it for them. Remember that you'll need new artwork preparing for every release, so it's worth learning to do it yourself. Nowadays a website is also a prequisite for any label wanting to maintain a careful public image. Assuming you don't want anything too fancy to begin with, these don't have to cost very much and even a complete novice can design a site these days using cheap site-building software. Also, sort out an email address for y
Re: [313] Industry Advice...
Also check out the Dance Music Business Resource by Chris Sattinger @ hyperreal.org Tristan __ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/
Re: [313] Industry Advice...
I checked this earlier, after writing off list about it, and there's a more up to date version at: http://crucial-systems.com/dmbr/ so that's, umm, more up to date... > Also check out the Dance Music Business Resource by > Chris Sattinger @ hyperreal.org
RE: [313] Industry Advice...
> 1. Make CDR/tape copies of your best stuff. > 2. Send to likely distributors asking them if they'd be > interested in a P&D > deal (Production & Distribution): ie. they press, sell and distribute the > record for you, in return for a greater cut of the revenue, but not all > distributors will do this. > 3. Take it from there... Most people I know outside of the US did it this way. It means you lose total financial control but it also means that a) i) You don't have to front up all the cash to pay for cutting, processing and pressing. ii) this also means that it's not necessary to wait months for the returns before doing the next release. They just pay for it and it comes off your account. b) you can leave a lot of the work, booking arrangements, dealing with pressing plants etc to them, leaving you a few more minutes a week to make music, when you're not at the 9 to 5. c) the distributors have a little extra incentive to sell the records. I don't know about others but my distro, Prime, don't pay less for a P+D produced record than any other. Of course, as Tom rightly says, not every distro will go for a P+D. Another problem you face is geography. I know people who run labels in the US, and they have to deal with more than one distributor. I knew a guy that dealt with over twenty in the US alone, and I only know a couple of people who only deal with one.
RE: [313] Industry Advice...
> What about Kudos?? Never heard of them.
RE: [313] Industry Advice...
I think he might mean promos... sending them to magazines/websites/freelance writers. I think MEK From: "Max Duley (ARC-art)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "313" <313@hyperreal.org> Subject: RE: [313] Industry Advice... Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 21:52:31 +0100 > What about Kudos?? Never heard of them. - To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
Re: [313] Industry Advice...
hahaha no I mean: http://www.kudosrecords.co.uk/ ollie M Elliot-Knight wrote: > I think he might mean promos... sending them to magazines/websites/freelance > writers. > > I think > > MEK > > >From: "Max Duley (ARC-art)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: "313" <313@hyperreal.org> > >Subject: RE: [313] Industry Advice... > >Date: Thu, 12 Apr 2001 21:52:31 +0100 > > > > > What about Kudos?? > > > >Never heard of them. > > > >- > >To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > _ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com > > - > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: [313] Industry Advice...
> hahaha no I mean: > > http://www.kudosrecords.co.uk/ Well, the original request was about distros that specialise in techno.
Re: [313] Industry Advice...
also try intergroove for punish/tortured/electrix/euka & a whole load of german stuff infectious in london also seem to be picking up a few good labels of late, less acid more minimal baked goods in manchester for electronix & deep cologne style stuff vital for peacefrog and one or 2 others paul www.innercity.co.uk - Original Message - From: Max Duley (ARC-art) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: 313 <313@hyperreal.org> Sent: Thursday, April 12, 2001 11:56 PM Subject: RE: [313] Industry Advice... > > hahaha no I mean: > > > > http://www.kudosrecords.co.uk/ > > Well, the original request was about distros that specialise in techno. > > - > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >
RE: [313] Industry Advice...
> one bad thing about have a contract like that is if you dont sell > enough to > pay off the pressing cost then you dont get paid and you have to pay the > balance out of you pocket. The solution: get a good distributor that has established business practices, and release good music that people would want.
RE: [313] Industry Advice...
Hi Max. I've accidently called your cellph. several times trying to get hold of Oliver. GMT Audio is anothedistribution compagny that is distributing techno labels. Both experimental and straight techno and also some house. // janos At 11:56 PM 4/12/2001 +0100, you wrote: >> hahaha no I mean: >> >> http://www.kudosrecords.co.uk/ > >Well, the original request was about distros that specialise in techno. > >- >To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Jan Andersson A&R / Editor. Ph + 46(0)8.7298807 Fax ...+46(0)8.7298816 Cell .+46(0)708.405077 Adress:.. .P.O.Box.. 21127 Tomtebogatan 36 ...SE-10031 ..Stockholm ..Sweden
