RUMOUR: Amato have gone bust

[RDR]

Can anyone substantiate this???

[koma]

i've read this too on Trash Menagerie site today
apparently they'll come out with official statement next week??

[eyeswithoutaface]

wouldnt surprise me, i know a few people who have approached them for distribution recently and had funny response's from them

it is a shame though, and as a friend pointed out Neuton will probably sweep up most of the labels left homless, Techno's answer to microsoft soon enough

[theledge]

oh dear. neuton will have some but there'l be plenty more for whom this would be more than a kick in the teeth.

vinyl is on the way out though

[RDR]

Mudslinging started already

http://bb.4four.org/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=25765

And to cap it all off i know the fella that runs the climacz music network, they just placed a big order with Amato yesterday.

Chris.

[Sunil]

vinyl is on the way out though

You're wrong there, and you should really do more research on this to find out why. First of all, find out the sales figures of good selling Neuton labels, for instance, are doing.. and see if any of those people believe or are resigned to the fact that vinyl is on the way out... they're not.

Also, vinyl is not reliant on dance music or techno to survive, so to somehow suggest this is being a bit naive.

[dirty_bass]

Indeed, vinyl is fairly strong, it`s just dance music, and techno are a little out of favour these days

[Aratron]

it`s just dance music, and techno are a little out of favour these days

why do you think that is? i get a positive respose from all the parties i play at to techno? i dont get it, why it isnt more mainstream. mind you i live in Doncaster, like living in some black hole of techno.

[dirty_bass]

many many reasons.

For a start when dance music went really big, it basically went pop music.
It was couritnf popularism, and well, pop music is a bubble.
It comes along, everyone goes "ooh, pretty" and the POP!!! it`s gone.

That and I think the myth of the superstar DJ slowly deterioated once everyone had decks and realised "shit, anyone can mix", and that again, it`s as much luck and blag and hype, as it is talent.

The mainstream turned it`s eyes back to rock.
The major labels lost out hugely during the independant label boom of the dance era.
The majors just couldn`t control this, despite trying to stifle distribution networks.
Rock bands are easy to control, burn the desperate bitches into a contract and CONTROL everything.

All these factors and some others contributed to the demise of dance music.

Right now I think we are experiencing a very odd time in techno.
A lot of the big names have moved on to minimal now, leaving techno with a big hole, which unfortunately is being filled with anybody who has the money to press a record.
Everyone with a copy of fruity loops and 700 quid to loaf is bringing out a label, the overall audio quality has dropped vastly, and their is more chaff to sort through. There are labels now that have no guidance from the old skool, big names, to keep the quality control up, which is a bad thing, but not permanent.
Just go to Juno and look at the amount of 001`s released every week.
How many 002`s are there though????

However, everything is cyclic, and techno seems to be back underground. Lots of smaller clubs with devoted fans who really understand the music, and who have the enthusiasm to keep the energy going.
I think some new movements will emerge, new sounds, within techno, and things might slowly build up again, all is not lost.

Meanwhile, hopefully the transition over to digital media will speed up so we can move out of this current limbo.

[theledge]

You're wrong there, and you should really do more research on this to find out why. First of all, find out the sales figures of good selling Neuton labels, for instance, are doing.. and see if any of those people believe or are resigned to the fact that vinyl is on the way out... they're not.

Also, vinyl is not reliant on dance music or techno to survive, so to somehow suggest this is being a bit naive.

fair enough on the second point - although the collapse of (yet another) distributor would suggest things aren't exactly too rosy in the techno vinyl market, wouldn't it?

I'd love to see some sales figures though - would you like to share any? (PM if you prefer)

I'm not sure this is the place for yet another vinyl/mp3 discussion, but sheer cost of producing and distributing vinyl isn't doing anything for getting ground breaking, original music out there...

[Aratron]

Meanwhile, hopefully the transition over to digital media will speed up so we can move out of this current limbo.

i have heard some mindblowing sets on ableton live (dave-oldbugger) being best example.

and i know that it is the future. but im like pretty stuck in my ways, it took me a long, long time to mix to any kind of standard with vinyl and my decks, and i get a buzz out of vinyl.

id like them to released on both formats.

[fils_here]

why do you think that is? i get a positive respose from all the parties i play at to techno? i dont get it, why it isnt more mainstream. mind you i live in Doncaster, like living in some black hole of techno.

try living in buckey dude, there must be all of 3 us into techno :whoops:
but the parties up in cloccaneog are really good, like dave's set up, decks & abelton been some really good tunes on that rig!

[fatcollective]

bloody hell, Amato hold a lot of labels too!!

[lunatrick]

didn't they pick them all up when intergroove went bust?

[dirty_bass]

How much wood needs to hit us in the face before we see the forest?

[Athar]

very sad news for all :whoops:

vinyl versus free mp3 ......

[Sunil]

but im like pretty stuck in my ways, it took me a long, long time to mix to any kind of standard with vinyl and my decks, and i get a buzz out of vinyl.

Stick with it then, no point changing a winning formula.
As long as you can still find music you like on vinyl and still enjoy playing it, then that's all that matters.

[Sunil]

fair enough on the second point - although the collapse of (yet another) distributor would suggest things aren't exactly too rosy in the techno vinyl market, wouldn't it?

I don't know the circumstances, and personally I never had the need to use Amato as a distributor; so while I feel for the people that have lost out here, I'm not reading into it too much.

I'd love to see some sales figures though - would you like to share any? (PM if you prefer)

Well, I could give examples of a few labels, minimal ones mind..

Marco Carola's new label for instance (2M I think is the name, can't remember) is pitching itself as a "limited to 2,000 copies label"

Minimise regularly do in excess of 2,000.

I could go on, but lets just say that 2,000 ain't bad... and these are before you get to your Poker Flats and Minuses etc.

As for other techno labels - there are many people who are regularly selling out of 500+ presses.

Ok, so the market is favouring minimal big style, and the deeper sound has enjoyed a new wind... but it still proves that there is a vinyl market, and a fruitful one for some labels.

I really wish there were more techno releases out for sure, but I do know that good techno releases can and do still sell... on vinyl. A lot of it comes down to distributors - some are *really* good and consistent, others can be just totally hopeless.

[RDR]

fruitful one for some labels.

2000+ as fruitful?

Can we hear ourselves here?

Cripes.

[Sunil]

2000+ as fruitful?

Can we hear ourselves here?

Cripes.

I'm a bit lost, what are you saying?