doesnt really work in the old fashioned "were gonna sign u up to our label exclusively" way..... more often than not its friends with labels or label owners u get to know thru gigging, or sending demos or links out, hookin up with them and working things out....

as for payment, haha, well, not everyone pays these days for a record release, which is another debate altogether i think.... really depends on the label, the amount being pressed, the market for release (for those doing non-techno, or other electronic, releases)...

i think the level of payment recieved/requested/offered differs from person to person, on both a personal relationship and business levels... eg doing records for a friends label where payment isnt really an issue is different from doing a record for a say a bigger label who may just come in and say "we wud like an ep, we can pay so much advance etc"

tis a funny one