Quote Originally Posted by crime
Quote Originally Posted by jonnyspeed
they can sell what they like - they are called shops. You give them samples and the customer want them - hay they get sold.

Stop giving shops promos or don't worry about it.
The real issue is the fact that no money from the promos gets back to the label and artists.. Shops are given promos by distribution companies to encourage them to buy titles, so there's no way you can stop promos getting to the shops as it's part of the process..
And shops shouldn't really be selling promos as they are technically speaking "for promotional use only" although I do understand that shops have a tight enough time of it anyway trying to make money. It's just if I give my distributor 60 whites to do the presales, and they all get sold, that's 60 record sales I'm down.. considering I only sell 100-150 of a release in the UK, and this is where most of the whites go, that's quite a dent in my UK sales...
Good thing I'm not in it for the $$ really eh?
then you need to talk to both your label and distributor. really, each shop needs one copy to see whether they want to buy more - else it really penetrating DJ circles that will play your records. That you can do through an exclusive mailing list, which you or your label would have to manage.

I see your issue and I also understand that small artists have little sway with distrubutors - if their rule is 60 whites per release then its catch-22. in that case I feel your pain.