All label owners please read

This is one for all the label owners who post on this site.

All these vinyl/MP3 debates recently really have led us no-where. And I think this is because none of these formats are 100% keeping the dance/electronic scene in business.

So here's my thoughts, based upon something I was reading today. The club scene is just a healthy as it always was, people are just as enthusiastic about music as they always were. CDJ's are now replacing decks as centre spot in the clubs. DJ's are gradually swapping over. It really is inevitable. Vinyl is making no money, but neither are Mp3's. Yet DJ's are burning off their collections onto CD, burning from mp3 to CD. Record labels are now promo'ing off CD. So what's the common factor here? That's right - the CD.

So tell me why us, as record labels are not making CD's? Why can we not change? There's obviously a demand, and like I say, nothing has drastically changed in the club scene. The market is there, the CD's arent. Well the answer to this is easy. Record shops don't buy them in because a) labels don't make them b) they'd have to have shelves put in and CD listening posts (cost) c) The very name 'Record shop' means it's a record shop and this means more reluctance to change d) 6,000 other reasons.

OK, so tell me this. If there was a way where you could send your finished wav to a shop, a one stop shop for techno music, THEY press it up, THEY sell it and you get a split of the profit, would you do it? Of course you would. You're going to bypass the distribution companies and begin on the path to keeping a physical product but changing with the times. Now I believe the demand is there. So I'm going to put my money where my mouth is here. We have a site of 7000 members. Why the hell don't all the labels on here sell CD's on the site. Oh that's right - there is no shop on here. WRONG.

The new site is done. All I have to do is add the new Blackout Audio logo to the top. It's a full-on Portal and there's a shop in there too. BINGO.

You send me the wavs and the artwork, I sell them on the site, We work out a deal. The more labels I can get interested in this, the cheaper the pressing will be. If we can turn this new shop on the new site into a one stop shop for techno music on CD and it is known as such, I really think we can turn this whole problem around for alot of labels out there.

I don't know many other techno sites with this many members and a shop attached. It seems the perfect solution. If the record shops and distributors wont change, we have to.

Let me know your thoughts on this here, and PM me if you're seriously interested. I will look into costings as soon as I know there's enough labels that want to do this. Let's keep it to established labels for now or ones that have got at least 5 releases under their belts, then we can expand and take this perhaps to the stage where we're at last giving the up/coming talent a way to start a label. Look, let's give it a shot, even if we all only try it with one release at first and a run of let's say 100 each.

I'm also interested in hearing from any member in the UK that would want to get involved in the shop side of this ie processing the orders, sending out etc. You'd obviously get paid for it too and you never know how this all may end up :) If we all club together, I know we can make a difference here.

Let me know. :)

Brilliant Idea if you ask me Mark... always thinking of the future you are mate... it deffinately makes the difference!!

I just realised aswell... a load of House lables have been selling CD's for well over a year or so now, Labels like Subliminal and Defected..... I know that House is more Comercial and there is a lot more money to be made.... But hey, it must be working!!

Saves having to buy the Vinyl and then burn it all on to CD if you prefer that format.

:clap: :clap: :clap: fairdooze ;) would be cool man.

sounds like a plan

http://www.legendarytv.com/the_a-tea...hannibal_2.jpg

Really like the idea , but surely , all that it would take is one asshole to buy a cd , stick it on soulseek or whateva , then everyone would download it for free ? Or am i missing somat ?

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Originally Posted by LOCKED

Really like the idea , but surely , all that it would take is one asshole to buy a cd , stick it on soulseek or whateva , then everyone would download it for free ? Or am i missing somat ?

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its happening now, so i dont really see the difference to be honest.

I guess it's easier to rip from a CD and stuck it up on a fileshare, but yeah, it does happen - it's inevitable, but if we worried about that too much no one'd release anything.

I think it's a good idea and should get tunes out to more people.

And if it does take off enough so that the name and idea gets recognised that upcoming talent can start getting stuff out by it, and people will notice them, trust the quality 'cos its got blackout as a name behind the distro then even better.

Hope this takes off!

cool

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Originally Posted by MARK EG

a) labels don't make them

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Not true...I'm already one step ahead.

Check it:

www.modernrecordingcompany.com

Here I have a CD in finished form, mastered, shrinkwrapped, with opening jewel case and slick artwork. I'm only selling them for a whopping $7 (plus S&H) which is cheaper than most EPs! There are 12 tracks on there, 4 EPs worth of music, which will eventually be put out on vinyl. So if you do the math, that's 4 EPs x $10 USD = $40 USD for 4 records, but is only $7 on CD. I would prefer to do it all on CD, but there are still many who are vinyl elitists and I want to cater to them as well so for that I plan on doing short runs on vinyl.

I have distribution through Complete in NYC, but that's only for the vinyl (for now). I am distributing these myself and have done fairly well so far. Also, I believe with a more professional looking package (as opposed to a white label with an artist most have never heard of) more people will be prone to check it out. If anything its my was of advancing promotion for the vinyl itself.

There are drawbacks to this, mainly that there is no guarantee of the return on the CDs, but with multiple CD duplicators out there (at least in the States), the prices become cheaper than 100-150 white labels.

I believe the DIY method MUST be reclaimed by musicians and label owners alike. Some new method of promoting quality music must be arranged. I feel strongly that your store on BOA will work, but in the meantime I must do what I can on my own to promote my labels...

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Originally Posted by dan the acid man

sounds like a plan

http://www.legendarytv.com/the_a-tea...hannibal_2.jpg

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:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

:clap: :clap: :clap:

it looks to me like the early idea of a record pool with a member list and a contribution price.

i think its a good idea and im surprised not many people have jumped on this already

i'd like to see how this works out

if i'm being honest, i think the reason why it's not happened is the distro's are all saying 'no we can't sell cd's', presicely because of the reasons why record shops wont/can't shift over.

you need a customer base to sell cd's. and a way of listening to them before buying. and you need to see them all neatly laid out. what better way than to start to sell your cd's on the net to a customer base of 7,000 people. after word spreads I'm sure everyone will know about it who needs to know. I'll even promote the hell out of this in the press, cause this is one area i totally understand.

we're all in a strong position here. rather than just talking all day long about the state of techno or which tracks we love, we all need to be doing something.

the new site has a store, a radio, an event calender, hell, there's shit loads on it. not just things that labels owners can be doing, but also things that joe bloggs at home can be doing to get more involved in the techno scene. anyway, you'll see.

oh and before someone says it, there may be issues here with distributors if you have p+d. well 1st of all ask them what the position is on this and if it's a no do, we create a purely cd label 'from the makers of xxx'. although you must be established or a label that has got a little bit of a rapor. we want to give this the best kick start we can. remember, if it works we can then get totally new labels involved later.

meanwhile i was also looking into cd burners - print them ourselves to get the costs right down. can someone answer me a question? is there a cd burner out there that prints to shop style cd's rather than the green backed cd-r crappy things? preferably one that does in bulk (perhaps 20 a time or something).

also, i can see alot of people wanting to buy both cd's and vinyl, i know i would

well yeah. the key is to keep the quality control. sort if like an already a+r'ed shop if you get me. if there's labels out there that want to sell records in the shop too, my idea was for them to have an admin area on the shop where they can u/l mp3 snippets and graphics and when the orders come in they get an automatic email teeling them who's paid and what their address is. they then send out direct from their end, thus cutting out the distro. which means they have to sell much much less to break even. but this is the next idea. i was going to do this first but with there being such a need to do something about the cd market, i thought i'd focus on the cd project first ;)

I can't see anything but success for this idea.
I think it is important like you said to start with a small group of established names and labels to start with to build a quality image. I have to confess the first thing I thought was "great I can get my tunes on this" but I have to agree that it is important to build on quality not quantity. You dont want this turning into a free for all!

Great idea Mark I really hope this work sout respect for having the sack to put the ball in motion as it were!

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Originally Posted by MARK EG

If there was a way where you could send your finished wav to a shop, a one stop shop for techno music, THEY press it up, THEY sell it and you get a split of the profit, would you do it? Of course you would. You're going to bypass the distribution companies and begin on the path to keeping a physical product but changing with the times. Now I believe the demand is there. So I'm going to put my money where my mouth is here. We have a site of 7000 members. Why the hell don't all the labels on here sell CD's on the site. Oh that's right - there is no shop on here. WRONG.

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Interesting idea. I'm a big fan of the cd and its possibilities... one thing I'm a bit iffy about is the need to have a store press them up? It's easy enough for a label to do a high quality run of cd's, much much cheaper than vinyl. And the label would know exactly how many they are getting made etc...

Also, how would the shop be able to ensure a high standard of prints/pressings and how/why would this be better (for the labels) than stocking a label's finnished product directly?

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Originally Posted by MARK EG

well yeah. the key is to keep the quality control. sort if like an already a+r'ed shop if you get me. if there's labels out there that want to sell records in the shop too, my idea was for them to have an admin area on the shop where they can u/l mp3 snippets and graphics and when the orders come in they get an automatic email teeling them who's paid and what their address is. they then send out direct from their end, thus cutting out the distro. which means they have to sell much much less to break even. but this is the next idea. i was going to do this first but with there being such a need to do something about the cd market, i thought i'd focus on the cd project first ;)

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Nevermind my previous post!

You said exactly what I was thinking, should of read the whole thread before posting :)

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Originally Posted by LOCKED

Really like the idea , but surely , all that it would take is one asshole to buy a cd , stick it on soulseek or whateva , then everyone would download it for free ? Or am i missing somat ?

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:eh: good point locked .