Releasing music yourself (1 Viewer)

[Moods For Mallards]

Money is a huge factor in a label, you will be far far better off spending that cash on pressing something (again which isn't really a good idea unless you can really shift at least 500 copies) which will be your main expense. Start small, don't press 500 copies of your EP or 7 inch and then realise you can't shift them.

Aye, but unless you're doing a crap homemade job, will anyone do small batches of pressings that cost you any less than getting a couple of hundred done?

 

[aoboa]

Registering? Tax? VAT? Wha? Unless your're going to be getting in a turnover of several grand a year then it's worth it. To be honest there's really only 2 or 3 labels on this board which would need that. If your label gets "successful" then sure you may need to register it or what not but most labels that start out in the fashion your planning to will fail after a few releases.

Money is a huge factor in a label, you will be far far better off spending that cash on pressing something (again which isn't really a good idea unless you can really shift at least 500 copies) which will be your main expense. Start small, don't press 500 copies of your EP or 7 inch and then realise you can't shift them.

So true.

 

[cpr]

Most vinyl pressing plants will not set up an order for less than 500 or if they will press 100 7/10/12 inches you still have to buy 500 covers which they then offer to destroy onsite for you to save p&p.The whole vinyl experince wrecked my noodle , we planned to only get 100 and at the last minute plumped for 500 cos it was basically only a few quid more for 500 and I really hated the idea of 400 covers going in the bin. We were very lucky cos the first 100 went the week we put it out, we would have been fucked if we got the basic 100.We did 150 limited edition ones which included a board game/poster and cd which all disappeared pretty sharpish. Still and all there are about 250 of them sitting in our rehearsal space gathering dust!back catalogue anyone?

 

[Rimbaud]

You'll have to look at the overall output of your label to gauge the financial situation you are in and to see if you can keep going.
7inchs won't make you cash to put out another release and thats a fact - you release a cd, which may get enough return to do another cd, then do a 7inch (break even on that), do an lp etc..the larger formats will keep the label going, not 7inchs unless their by bands that will sell.
BUT you should do one release first and see how it goes.
You can do what ever you like release wise, all you have to do is look for places to get it done.
Short run? No problem, Ameise in germany or Mobienko in england - why not do the covers up yourself?Or pay for nice card to be printed and fold them yourself?

In my opinion there's no point in thinking of register for anything until you have went through the motions of putting something out-
see how it goes, see if you get distribution etc...hell you might find out that its not so cool doing a label after all when your packing packages for hours and getting hit at the post office for postage bills or the bands your releasing break up leaving you with a bunch of cds under your bed, or your too broke to go out for dinner with your lady friend (or man friend) cause you've cash tied up on a record.

Best thing to remember is bands sell music, not labels.Alot of bands seem to forget that.
You release something - be it on your own or via a label - you have to tour the fecker, the band has to get out there and play.I've yet to hear of a band selling all their cds and getting profiles/pieces done in magazine on the basis of a good review that someone might have given em in some mag.Sure you have bands trying to contact all the 'insiders' or journo people they know..but thats a bit embarrassing in the long and short of it now is'nt it...
Giveamanakick are a pretty good example of how to sell records - they're on the road all the time.


Of course if your going for all that imra or imro route and want to get in the charts and be popular among people who buy one cd a year (i'll try and say nothing bad here)...you should probably register and do a course in marketing...maybe contact your local small business resource centre too...but all that ain't very cool now is it.

UP DA PUNX!WOOOHOO!

 

[Bren.Manazo]

Best thing to remember is bands sell music, not labels.Alot of bands seem to forget that.
You release something - be it on your own or via a label - you have to tour the fecker, the band has to get out there and play.I've yet to hear of a band selling all their cds and getting profiles/pieces done in magazine on the basis of a good review that someone might have given em in some mag.

UP DA PUNX!WOOOHOO!

On the giging point Id add that getting one or two good support slots is worth ten of your own "headline" gigs untill youv built up a good profile.

 

[magnetize]

Most vinyl pressing plants will not set up an order for less than 500 or if they will press 100 7/10/12 inches you still have to buy 500 covers which they then offer to destroy onsite for you to save p&p.The whole vinyl experince wrecked my noodle , we planned to only get 100 and at the last minute plumped for 500 cos it was basically only a few quid more for 500 and I really hated the idea of 400 covers going in the bin. We were very lucky cos the first 100 went the week we put it out, we would have been fucked if we got the basic 100.We did 150 limited edition ones which included a board game/poster and cd which all disappeared pretty sharpish. Still and all there are about 250 of them sitting in our rehearsal space gathering dust!back catalogue anyone?

as rimbaud says, theres a few places that do less than 500 copies. for covers you need to do them seperatley either with printers or yourself...

 

[Moods For Mallards]

as rimbaud says, theres a few places that do less than 500 copies. for covers you need to do them seperatley either with printers or yourself...

Hey - do you have links/contact info for those places? Googled the ones Rimbaud mentioned but found nothing.

 

[magnetize]

Hey - do you have links/contact info for those places? Googled the ones Rimbaud mentioned but found nothing.

what are you looking to press - 7", 10", 12" or cd?

 

[Moods For Mallards]

what are you looking to press - 7", 10", 12" or cd?

Either 12" or CD.

 

[avernus]

ya I'm thinking about doing something along these lines.. that or getting some other jerks to do it for me. but then I don't want to share the profits with anyone.. all for Silas. "profits" hehehe

anyway.. yeah good luck with this

 

[Wilbert]

A mate of mine who used to run the CD copying end of Trend has set up a company of his own.

They will do smaller runs and are looking to be pretty competitive as they are just a new company.

Worth checking them out for a quote.

www.allwritemedia.com

 

[magnetize]

Either 12" or CD.

well, for cds the no end of places that you can get small runs done. i beleive this place is decently priced (never used them myself) - http://www.musicmattersinternational.com/

for 12"s -
http://www.totalvinyl.net/
http://www.randmuzik.de/
http://www.tailrecvinyl.com/
http://www.billsmithcustomrecords.com

 

[Moods For Mallards]

well, for cds the no end of places that you can get small runs done. i beleive this place is decently priced (never used them myself) - http://www.musicmattersinternational.com/

for 12"s -
http://www.totalvinyl.net/
http://www.randmuzik.de/
http://www.tailrecvinyl.com/
http://www.billsmithcustomrecords.com

Cheers, though I didn't think that that Music Matters place did small runs.

 

[Stereobaby]

Cheers, though I didn't think that that Music Matters place did small runs.

They specialise in small runs.

Got 100 cds done last week.

Well recommended. Had them for me the following day.

 

[aoboa]

They specialise in small runs.

Got 100 cds done last week.

Well recommended. Had them for me the following day.

Were they CD or CDr?

 

[Stereobaby]

Actually just went to edit my post and say they were CDR.

I got them for promos.

Still well worth it.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Someone should do a thumped article containing all this information and more, or is there already one?

 

[taubstumm]

for vinyl - http://www.gzcd.cz/

apparently the last place in europe doing direct-metal-mastered heavyweight 7"s.

plus, as others have said, there's not much difference in getting 100, 500 or 1,000 records pressed, price-wise. it's better to give yourself a budget for the whole 'project' (i.e. recording, pressing, covers, posters, promotion, launch gig, tour) than to stress too much about how many copies you'll do.

 

[taubstumm]

Someone should do a thumped article containing all this information and more, or is there already one?

this sounds like a thing we're missing

 

[Bren.Manazo]

Someone should do a thumped article containing all this information and more, or is there already one?

As it happens Im working on a piece about my experiences over the last year or two.
It will basically go through the decisions we made along the way from the planing stage right through to release time and whats happened since.
Its going to be along the lines of "what not to do when releasing music" but it might be of benefit to one or two people.
Well it might help them save some money anyway!