aww man, i allways miss the best bits of a discussion - i spend half my waking life checking this feckin board and i STILL miss the good shiz...

I say absolutly: two projects is the way to go to make few quid and get some feeling of achievement at the same time.. this is actually what i do - cept i have several secret projects..
the other thing is to think what else we can do with our equipment/skills..
surround mixing? dvd authoring? tv production? engineering shite hard house for nugs with big chains round thier necks? not forgetting public toilet fellati...oh no, sorry thats just me.

Its all a bit cack, but if you force yourself to do stuff you wouldnt otherwise do to earn a few quid you actually do learn quite a bit (well, i have) so when you come to do your own stuff you have new techniques etc you can apply, which obviously is good for the creative process.

One point i would like to make here is when crime said somthing about it being the distributors job to market the record etc. Im not sure i agree - it seems a lot of peole expect too much from thier distributor, they are just there to sell in my eyes. IMO It is down to the label to make sure everyone knows who they are and create demand for the records. Could be misunderstsdin you here though as i cant see exactly what you wrote..