From Giles Ward Sent Tue, Jan 26th 1999, 22:59
From Giles Ward Sent Tue, Jan 26th 1999, 22:59
> Someone on this list must know the answer to this question: > > What has happened with 7"s? Last I remembered, I was getting domestic > (U.S.) 7"s for $3-$4 & imports for $4-$5. Then I turned around & all of a > sudden the imports went up to $10-$12. Well, not all of them, but > particular ones I wanted, namely ones put out by V/Vm & Skam, 2 lovely UK > record labels. Granted, both labels are releasing limited runs & that can > increase production costs a bit, but I cannot fathom how that alone has led > to a 200-300% price increase. This is the most incredible discrepency in > pricing I think I've ever seen in all my years of record buying (I've even > seen lathe-cut, New Zealand born, limited to less than 100, hand-packaged > 8" records sell new for less than these). > I thought that the whole attraction to 7"s was that they were cheap to > make. Sound quality-wise, they are surely the poorest choice of a format. > Unless I'm mistaken, they are the worst at reproducing audio out of all the > formats presently available, but they are so cheap to manufacture. That's > usually been the reason why I've seen them latched onto: because > small-time musicians with little funds can use them to start to spread > their music to others. The musicians don't have to put up much money & the > record buyers can experiment with buying 7"s with little financial risk. > So where did $10-$12 come from? I am not trying to stick out & blast > our friends V/Vm, who I know are on this list (don't know about Skam), & I > believe them to be honest fellows & fine music-makers & they do say that > they are trying to get the prices down, but how did they get up there in > the first place? A Skam 7" such as the Bola Aguilla cost 4.99 pounds from Picadilly Records in Manchester. And I'm pretty certain Picadilly get them delivered by the labels in person. So... at say 500 pounds to produce 250, it's a 100% markup. However, even at around a pound profit per unit for the label, it's not a huge amount of cash. Maybe that's why V/VM are releasing 50? I'd like to see more labels doing things like the Muslimgauze 'Melt' release. You got a top quality release and even the super hi-res artwork files. If the labels cared about getting their music out to people rather than playing games with the spotters they'd all be doing internet releases. The download times for a typical 12" release are bearable even on a modem connection...there's enough people keen enough to pillage that Bleep Bloop ftp site. And as for DJing with two copies of Winamp, I reckon you'd need two soundcards or a single fancy one. Dunno how practical it is getting two sound devices on a laptop though...