Screw the whole system!

[Ritzi Lee]

I've had a discussion with Discomania about my label, and about many underground techno labels in general. It seems like the the trade of records are way out of the personal level of selling underground music. The commercial system doesn't work for underground music.

Nevertheless they struggle hard, as all the other distributors as well,
to fight against the diminishing vinyl sales. Mp3 and CDR DJs getting
more an more each day, and so the vinyl sales go down. This is like a general opinion for most distro's.


They told me a 100% cover of the market with an underground label like mine is not possible, as it is not interesting enough for 100% of the world vinyl market.

Vinyl sales are going down and we all want hits, no matter if they
come from James Holden, Anthony Rother, Sven Väth, Ricardo Villalobos, Mylo or whoever
...


Many Distributors and stores will not take what they consider as 2nd
class or 2nd or 3rd priority records anymore. This makes it hard for
them and for every other distributors too sell records of more or less
unknown (or hardly known) producers and djs. That's a truelly bad development. In my younger times I just went to the recordshop to go and search for interesting unknown stuff that can blow your mind.

It was getting harder and harder and they figured out that this style (UK techno sound) is much less popular than they thought it could be.

Did we ever wonder why companies like Prime, CPL and other went down?

Nevertheless times will be hard, and 95% of the guilt for (likely) unsatisfying sales of you and many other labels, if you and they do not come with big names remixers or productions on their labels, are caused by the general vinyl problem (mp3, cd final scratch, economical crisis). Its nonsense, that we can not sell techno, or loose many labels or customers, but they can not change the market and it's problems. Even distro's like Neuton will have to cope with this situation.

People need strong and good records and more & more big names. Anyone, who offers this to distributions in general, will be satisfied with the sales of for instance Discomania, if he does not expect the sales of 1999 or 2000.

The quoted message above was one of the messages from Discomania that got most of my attention. It realized me to just f.u.c.k. the whole system of distribution. Labels need to get more personally involved with the stores around and the people in general. Because it's going to take a long time again before the situation will be improved again. This is more of a structural problem. Structural problems will take a long time to heal.

And there isn't a problem when the records are in store. For instance, i've sold around 30 / 40 records in Outland records store in Amsterdam. Meaning the people do dig my techno!! So we need to create and break the wall ourselves to reach the people.


Comments, suggestions?

[holotropik]

Well....

why was it different years ago and that sort of thing doesnt work now? (relating to your comment about going out to buy records that were unknown and underground).

????

money, and lots of it.....greed.....economics and business.

you see, when something that is new and uncharted grabs the attention of the commercial world it goes from obscurity to popular overnite. suddenly its no longer Ok to just do short runs for very little or no profit in order to just get tunes out there.

Originally it was a DJ who needed a track so he went....ummm....I really want this track but its gunna cost me like $200-$500 to get pressed.....well, why dont you press 100-500 and sell them to your mates to share the cost....OK thats a great idea, I'll do that.

So, then suddenly he sells 100-500 easy....he then thinks well why dont I try 1000 or 2000?? coz i know a dude who can get them put into shops everywhere, even OS.

Thats why now its no longer a cottage industry and selling vinyl is an expensive and risky business.

Digital has made it a boutique/cottage industry again coz the overheads are less and it doesnt matter if a tune doesnt sell coz if the A&R is big enough or quality enough there is money in it for the label as everything ebbs and flows according to taste and trend.

get it?

[crime]

one small point... how many labels were running 10 years ago and how many labels are running now? think about it....

[AcidTrash]

If you're waiting for someone else to do the donkey work with your music you'll be waiting a hell of a long time. Theres no substitute for getting off your arse and doing it yourself. That's how Havok records did it. In the car every weekend taking there stuff to anyone who'd have it and massive expense to themselves. Thus proving if you want it you gotta want it more than the next guy and you've got to be willing to loose a small fortune before you start making any money back (if at all) Most of the payback you get for work in this industry comes in the form of respect. That's fine and good and does go a long way to making it worthwhile but the fact is, respect however great does not pay the gas bill. If you think you're going to make a reliable living out of underground music without having a sideline think again, otherwise you pay big time.

[AcidTrash]

one small point... how many labels were running 10 years ago and how many labels are running now? think about it....

Yep, and there ain't much room for the johnny come latelys either.