memetastic
blimey, paul, that's an incredible breakdown, you sound like you know your p&D & retail shit inside out
so i guess someone like Wiley, who puts out something every month seemingly, could be quite well-off? yet must also have to invest in his gear?
it's a vicious circle perhaps -- selling less, so you have to up the mark-up to get a good return on small-runs of vinyl, leading to people be more picky about what they buy... you could call it the Dead C syndrome
when i go through stuff in black market or uptown, i'm inclined to give a release i'm not 100 sure about, the NON-benefit of the doubt whereas jungle days i would do the opposite (resulting in a lot of tunes i subsequently was unable to work out why exactly i bought them)
presumably a lot of the vinyl is only bought by djs and aspiring MCs
the fact that the music even more than jungle really comes alive and reaches fruition in the mix, on air, with guys shouting over it, must incline people to stick with their pirate tapes, or wait for the DVDs
i was talking to jammer the other day (no i was, honestly, in a williamsburg cafe where he looked kinda uncomfortable) and he said there was only about 4 grime pirates -- and way more other ones. the other ones he said, had better broadcast radiuses, better rigs, cos they were more established and had older experienced people running them -- anybody know if this is true? he's probably got an East-centric viewpoint though
it is a smaller scene clearly, than it would appear from the amount of noise it generates