Blackdown said:
i dont think people who have never released a record, appreciate how much hassle and cost it is to put one out. you pay all the costs upfront, put months of effort in getting it out there and then get paid in dribs and drabs back. somedays you break even. the simple bit is going to the shop and buying a 12"...
Of course, this is often overlooked / misunderstood by the buying public - I agree.
but would you not agree that the people releasing records in underground scenes often don't appreciate how much difference a controlled promotional campaign can make? I'm talking about the low level stuff here too when I say "campaign" - everything from putting up info on your website / blog to giving out dubs to DJs.
Fair enough, if it's the first thing you've ever put out it's understandable that you might misjudge the amount of time it takes to get from finished track to product on the shelves. But once you either make the mistakes once or twice yourself or see other people make them it's pretty easy to plan things more effectively -
- make tunes
- get reactions from a very specific group of people who will give you some idea about whether or not the music is worth releasing
- arrange the manufacture
- once that process is underway, then send out CDrs / tell people about it / plan a release date and do everything you can to stick to it
I got into UKG / Grime through your column in Muzik and I quickly learnt that I'd have to write down the names of any tunes that you'd inspired me to check out cos I knew that I often wouldn't be able to find them for weeks (perhaps even months).
Now I've got web access I know that there's little point in paying much attention to the tracklistings of radio sets - I just check the shows for "entertainment", then listen to everything that gets put up on the Independance, Juno and Uptown sites... who knows, sooner or later I might come across that track I heard 3 months ago on a Rinse FM MP3, but I'm not going to waste my time trying to find out anything about it in the meantime.