OUT SOON - Elec Pt.1 - We Play Acid - Mini LP - Abstract Acid (Page 3 of 4)

Well we agree here, - Thats exactly why i'm going to focus most of my new release info to my Facebook area only, better to have all the new updates in one universal area, that way people wont miss out on the news.

But I disagree here, I spend a huge amount of effort and a lot of money to release music I like on vinyl, it doesn't matter if its 50 units or 500, the time and effort I put in is the same. I've had about 10 releases, and every one apart from this one, has had at least 200 units pressed and even with a distributer thats pretty much all you can sell worldwide these days. Its not a 'growing trend' its the sign of the times, wake up dude, - the vinyl industry is dead so I for one salute all the labels who are willing to lay the cash down and press up an artists works on such a risky format, whether its 50 or 500, better to appreciate and embrace than deny and criticise. Yeah sure some people may miss out but that will always be the case with a vinyl pressing, I could have pressed 500 or even a 1000 and someone in Tasmania may have not heard about it because they we're holiday and missed a forum post and they're pissed because all the record shops sold out. Come on its all relative.

What IS actually the standard (if there is one) these days when it comes to vinylrecords and number of pressings?

So if you're selling 500, you're doing alright. That's not very much (to me) still.

As they say: you can't stop progress....or should I say the step from vinyl to digital, regress?....

There are still enough vinyllovers to keep the record alive for a while but that's another discussion perhaps (we had it more than once here on the forum).

we agree on several things, but some things you say are nonsense too.

first off, the vinylmarket is NOT dead. on the contrary, sales in the US alone have gone up something like 40% last year. vinyl is currently the only medium that reports growing sales figures. yes they are small compared to the old days, but that it happens in itself is quite a good sign.

as for numbers, any decent label with a good release and good distribution can still sell 300-500. is that bad? yes and no.. i mean, in the early days of bunker, guess what we sold? 500 copies. 200 is definitely not the maximum.. maybe because you are a small and relatively new label.
the upper numbers? well, i just heard in the pressing plant here they were pressing copies to be included with a magazine (!) in italy.. this was a complete vinyl album (dont remember what music, i think jazz).. numbers? 70.000. look at bigger bands, and represses, and you're looking at tens of thousands.

the problem is not vinyl itself, the problem is that the 'dance music' ,market is now finally going digital, which the 'pop and rock' market already did in the 80's. there, they have a vinyl resurrection now, and im sure it will come in our scene too. problem is we may have to wait 10 years..

Anyway, I could debate this for days but I feel its taking the focus off what I should be doing, which is getting the release out 

Like I said earlier, we will press another 50 or 100 at a later date (minus the artwork) for anyone that missed out and wants a copy. Keep an eye on the Facebook page. Cheers

the point i was trying to make is that vinyl itself is more alive and kicking than in a long time. its just in the electronic music market that it's different.. the pressing plants now press more rock/pop vinyl than dance music, for the first time in 20 years. thats the reason the sl isn't selling anymore: most dj's these days don't use vinyl.
the fact that record shops and distributors shut down is due to this, but also 100 other reasons, varying from mismanagement and rising property prices to a shift to downloaded music (both legal and illegal). then again, go to berlin, and record shops there are actually increasing.

you don't have to do anything because some people on a forum complain. as far as i'm concerned, you can press one copy of a record. i just made a point about how all these super limited editions are causing people to stop buying records all together, and i know for a fact that me and ray are not the only ones. do whatever you like with that fact..

We have hard times to sell 300 copies, and we're distributed by rush hour.

Dance music vinyls are very hard to sell, I can also see that more and more electronic releases come in double 12", or LPs, with artwork and everything. Perhaps is because of this rock pop selling up more than before, trying to give people the feeling that they buy more than one track, and a finished product. As a buyer, what I can't stand is releases, perhaps even very good, that come in a crappy, all crumbled inner sleeve, and even a withe label; the beauty of the vinyl, beside the vinyl itself, is the fact that it can be a finished product, with a nice package etc etc. Or this is how I see it.

I think its better to let the customer know if something is limited, otherwise they might miss it and so even more angry emails. "Why didn't you tell us it was limited???" Cant please everyone.

Cheers, so true.

if ever one of my records makes it 2 a 3pages discussion , but about the music not the amount of pressed records i'm going to    and 

I want to add my own half € to this interesting discussion here.
Speaking about my own label (Astro Chicken) which has only been around since last year I can already see that it can be a real struggle to sell even small quantities directly to shops. the big players like Juno and Decks are very willing to risk not selling too much initially and buy decent amounts.
however cool little shops that add a lot to the scene are often very reluctant to take more than 5-10 copies if at all.

Though I do have a small international distributor I sell most of my records directly to the shops and I don't know how long I'll be able to continue if it doesn't turn out at least "break even" in the long run.
All the shit amount of work, love and passion that goes into releasing a vinyl record used to mean something, that is "I do care, otherwise I wouldn't wire 1000+ € to a pressing plant".

So, yes I think that 200 copies is realistic for an underground label. Big Pressing plants like MPO (France) or Pallas (Germany) used to have minimum 500 quantity policy, now it's 200 or even less (for an additional charge).

maybe on-demand vinyl cutting is the answer. much less risky.

I doubt this very much to be honest.
Dance music never had the artistic approach of rock/pop/jazz music where the album format played and still plays a role. Dance music was always focused on the quick and instant kick for the moment. A single or EP is just not the same value as a real album. This, plus the fact that the whole dance scene is 99% focused on club culture and deejays is the problem for a healthy vinyl market. Because in no other genre/scene the artistic value of a product as a whole is so low. People in a club don't care if the music they dance to is played from vinyl or as an mp3 nor does the deejay. All of them also don't care about any sort of attached artwork etc. so there is not really a need for a real product anymore. The lack of lyrics adds to this aswell in my opinion. As this is all instrumental music there is nobody out there that would potentially like to read lyrics and would enjoy a lyrics sheet or printed inner sleeve.
Dance music is not artistic and cultural enough to sustain. That never was the real purpose of it. But we should not wonder why sales in that genre are decreasing whereas in other genres it increases.