From Steve Sent Sat, Jan 3rd 1998, 01:50
From Steve Sent Sat, Jan 3rd 1998, 01:50
Re : Repressing of records.... and vastly inflated Auction Prices I know paying that much money for a record is crazy (i myself have sold and bought rarities at inflated auction prices)... but you cant give examples such as warp and ninja tune in defence of repressing records, they have years of success in selling records behind them (i.e. money)... labels such as skam and mask cant usually afford to repress records... i dont think 99% of people on this list realise how little money small labels make (or more often how much they lose).. The main interest for small labels that are pushing the boundaries of music is the continual release of new music, that is their major concern (it should be anyhow...) so represses of older titles often are not possible. Hardy at Spymania couldnt afford to Repress the first squarepusher titles himself... and if warp hadnt bought them up then they wouldnt have seen the light of day again.... this was the first noticable profit spymania had made since they started... and dont go thinking Warp did this purely for the fans! they did it to make money and corner the squarepusher market, im not making an attack on warp in any way with this comment! its just the way it is...... it all comes down to money whether we like it or not. Record sales in the uk are decreasing steadily and have been for a few years now, this isnt noticable to the consumer, but small labels are often doomed b4 they even manage to get their first release out, regardless of quality. Vital Distribution (the major distributor of independant labels in the uk dropped around 30 small labels yesterday! (01/01/98) including Clear Records who most people on this list would describe as 'successful', Vital described this as 'streamlining' (i believe Clear are now signed to 'ideal' distribution ....who are in fact now owned by warp records!....incest). Its distribution problems that have held up the Planet Mu label (which thankfully are sorted! expect new info soon :) And major label bullshit which held back the release of the mealtime compilation by 8 months! I mean virgin really dont give a fuck at all!! they couldnt care less about you or me... and b4 you flame me... the virgin who put out Mealtime as opposed to my ISP are different companies these days... im still with mr Branson :-) Steve /k/./F/ http://freespace.virgin.net/kung.funk/kf.htm