tallchris wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 10:25 am Is the vinyl pressing issues also being impacted by the Apollo lacquer plant fire from just before the pandemic? Or an issue with raw materials getting delayed coming from overseas? Or plants not at 100% staffing due to local COVID regulations?

I'll be curious to see how much of this is cleared out once supply chains and business capacity are back to normal.

Bernardo wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 3:20 pm

brownreasontolive wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:54 am One band I played with and recorded, paid for 3 LPs in a row, 80% funded by bandcamp sales.
After people kept asking about Shitify for two years, we agreed we didn't like the model but would acquiesce because "would could be missing part of our audience".
Our Bandcamp revenue dried up immediately. I mean, IMMEDIATELY.

This bit stood out, I'm curious if this is common.

DrAwkward wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:08 pm For our last record, we were able to press 100 vinyl records with just white sleeves at Gotta Groove, then had a friend custom screen the jackets. In our experience a lot of places won't do less than 300 because of the jackets more than anything. But that was before The World Changed, so who knows if that's still a possibility.

Kniferide wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:55 pm
What did a thing like that run you, cause its exactly what I'm interested in?

Another thing i'll add, Try to find a place to press that you can go pick up from because shipping 500 lp's can be spendy.

DrAwkward wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 6:08 pm

Bernardo wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 3:20 pm

brownreasontolive wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 7:54 am One band I played with and recorded, paid for 3 LPs in a row, 80% funded by bandcamp sales.
After people kept asking about Shitify for two years, we agreed we didn't like the model but would acquiesce because "would could be missing part of our audience".
Our Bandcamp revenue dried up immediately. I mean, IMMEDIATELY.

This bit stood out, I'm curious if this is common.

Hasn't happened with us, weirdly - we had an order just last month for our whole digital catalogue on Bandcamp and they even overpaid! (Thanks, mystery person!)

Kniferide wrote: Tue May 18, 2021 12:23 pm We never do CDs because we have never sold a single one that I know of. I barely know anyone that ever pulls out a CD anymore.

I'm not wild about Cassettes because it was the MP3 of the 80's, and I don't see the point. All the players are old and beat up. Other than some sort of nostalgia for DIY labels, which they are probably the best use, they get a big meh from me.

Streaming. If you are not putting all your music on at least Apple Music and Spotify, I don't know what to say. I personally almost never listen to Spotify and Apple Music is unusable horseshit software, but It makes your music easy to find for people and its how it's done these days. Has to be done. Bandcamp is a must, and where I always direct people to my music if it ever comes up. I would love to see Bandcamp implement some sort of playlist creation/sharing system.

Vinyl... well, we are still sitting on about 160-180 of the 300 7" we pressed so I doubt we will ever press anything again. We were going to Press the last Bone and Bell record but since it came out at the cusp of Covid and weren't going to be playing any shows we decided to hold off. Given the streaming and download numbers that was a good idea because we probably would have sold about 25 of them. I will say stay away from those short run plants that just make lathe cut records. Every one that I have heard sounds like total garbage. (edited to clarify Lathe Cut)

Honestly, I think we are done with physical media as much as I love it. We just don't play enough to support sales, and I think most sales of records comes from shows. At least if my streaming numbers are low I can blame it on a typo in the URL. Makes me feel a little better.

turnbullac wrote: Thu May 20, 2021 8:37 pm
I loved how the Bone & Bell record came with a limited edition print & download. Not all of us can be so multi-talented but it was nice.