Quote Originally Posted by thefaced
I was hoping to see if anyone can help me and give me a few opinions with a few of the finer legal points and shortcuts....
There are none, big or small, the rules are the same.

Is it an essential part of the procedure to inform the MCPS of your release so they can issue the license to manufacture? or can this be looked over for say a run of 1000 pressings or so? - also what if the tunes on the release are new artists tunes that have not been registered with anyone or released before (for example one of mine and one other artists unreleased work)?
You may get away with the first couple but most pressing plants wont press without one, as it makes them responsible for anything illegal.

For exporting of vinyls is it essential to have a barcode (or if we did our own exports via website would they still be needed)? Would there be many major drawbacks (for example trying to work with a distributer) putting a release out without one?
Your distributor may give you one, but I should point out that this is illegal. You can easily get this set up with the e-centre.

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Would anyone reccomend joining the BPI or AIM for support? or for a label initially getting 1000-2000 pressings a release aiming at the techno / house scene would people feel this is a needless expense?

As a label is it essential to join the PPL?
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Wouldn't bother until you are doing the numbers.

Can anyone reccomend a good low cost publisher? Or again something on our scale would anyone reccomend to do our own publishing?
No such thing ;)

Basically I got a good run down of the 100% legalities for a major label but im trying to find out how many corners we can cut as a smaller scale to make the label work?
What you really mean is save money, here's one, if you can't afford to lose everything then don't do it. That's the best advice you get.