Re: For those who make their own music....

Datboy (whatthat@vnet.net)
Fri, 22 Nov 1996 01:16:44 -0500


> a buddy & i were thinking about doing the same thing (putting out a comp)
>and
> we were going to charge the same figure, but we were going to limit the
>number
> of artists to 6, and allow everyone 2 tunes--that way people pay more
> attention to each artist. we were also going to give everyone 50 cds, and
>use
> the remaining for promos & whatnot. given that our project would have paid
> for itself w/half as many artists, $200 does seem a lot to pay.

This whole thread to me seems to be a waste of time. It works much better
if people pay you to play, and better still if you can do it for yourself
and make money doing other things. Having been in the business I found I
could make more money by pissing in the wind than I could off of records,
even though I wouldn't say I did badly.

It costs less than .50 (don't know the exact figure, but I'm sure I can find
out if this thread blows up any further -- it may be less than a quarter) to
make a single CD, after you've made the master, and if you can sucker
someone into paying you for him being on it, your profit margin can be a lot
higher, because then you've skirted around licensing his track. I know that
the bulk of what you're going to be paying for is the artwork and packaging,
which is why frequently you can spot these things in the shop not only by
the cheesy music frequently within, but with absolutely minimal covers,
which might be 5"x10" J-card (four page leaflet) or it might be a 5" by 5"
card. Has anything done like this ever gone anywhere? That's not a
facetious question -- I'm interested in knowing, because I can't think of
anything that started off like that. All my friends who do comps in the
record biz make them like Psychic TV or Rising High, where a select group of
people masquerade as fifteen thousand different bands.

So on that note, were I to do this sort of thing again (I'm a musician too,
but my music since I quit releasing records about five years ago is Not For
Sale, Ever -- I firmly believe mine should be given away, because where I
got it I didn't have to pay for it), I'd borrow something from that old punk
band Crass, who released three wonderful albums (maybe more) all called
"Bullshit Detector", which sold for astonishingly low amounts of cash, (L=
3.99 for a double with a poster -- somewhere between $6 and $7) because they
wanted to pay for the cost of doing it, and nothing more. Thought and love
for community went into those releases, and I'll always think of those as
something to aspire to, even though a lot of the material is half-witted.
I'd pace each track to ebb and flow reasonably well with the others, and put
out several series, possibly have a dj whom I admire mix them all. Then I'd
stop completely after a certain period of time (say maybe five years, or
maybe 23 months), and never license the tracks again. It's this sort of
reasoning that can produce a great comp like "Transmissions From The Planet
Dog" or "Planet Dub" both of which are doubles, and which I purchased sealed
at a mall (!!) for less than $12, brand new, and both of which flow well for
me. I think it's wonderful that Instinct's doubles are similarly priced,
because they've never released anything I didn't find something on 'em I liked.

c'ya
db