I guess I would call what i do a "record label" (toast and jam)
http://members.nbci.com/headphone/
My reason for doing it is because some of my friends (and i) create music
that I enjoy and I think that other people might enjoy it also. I've
expanded into releaseing some music by other artists that weren't my
friend's before we started the label, and I've also been trying to put
together a conceptual compilation of music created by artist from songs they
dislike,, though that is really really slow, if anyone new is intersted
contact me.
The lable:
The way I work is this:
I know i'm not going to make any money doing this.
I want to reach as many people as possible with out bothering with too much
money transaction.
I don't like to spend lots of money on music, so i don't want to charge a
lot for our music.
So I make cdrs and I charge $3-4 shipping paid in the US.
With cdrs i can create as many as the demand requires, so i don't lose money
by creating too many and i allow as many people as want the release to get
it (with an amount of time that the artist feels their release should be
avalible)
Our artwork is done with photocopies and our cases are just plastic bag slip
cases, this makes it inexpencive to make and ship, and i'm more intersted in
getting music listened to then having pretty packaging.
We are distributed by safety in numbers, which helps because they reach
people that I don't, but I do most of the sales of cdrs direct from my place
(which cuts out the middle man and drives down prices for the buyer),
getting distribution just involved talking to people, sending some promos
and some text information along with them.
Ideally I'd like to create a Music collective where artists submit their
projects and work together to distribute (along with some sort of
administration i'm sure), and cut out middle men in order to keep the prices
low.
I guess the biggest problem is people's view of cdrs, many people think that
a cdr is not a "proper release", but cdrs are a way for music to be
inexpensively distributed.
Also cdrs allow the artist to make an album and change it over time if they
like. Also cdrs make it so that you don't have to wait so long between the
making of the music and the distribution of it (don't have to wait for test
pressings/pressings/ (in my case artwork printings)..
I guess I've been pretty happy with how things have worked so far, we've got
some great response, though Since we don't have much in the way of money (i
think my initial investment was about $200-250 and i've not used and extra
money on top of that) we don't have much for advertising, though we do send
out some promos.
Sorry that this text isn't very cohesive, i'm very tired and at work and
it's just all coming out at once.
any more questions?
-Alex Norman
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