how important is vinyl to you guys?

[theolalic]

Im starting a little singles label and i've been thinking about not putting out any vinyl because its so expensive for small runs.
I dont want to just do digital sales so have other plans to ensure that there is something that you can hold in your hands, it just might not be able to play music but point you in the direction of somewhere you can download the tunes in all the formats you care to imagine.

There arent any genre limitations on what im going to be putting out but purely because its whats been exciting me the first few things might be more dubstep/grime/garage than the rest of what we put out. obviously these genres have more of a vinyl culture than other types of music so i thought it would be worth throwing the question out there to you....

[theolalic]

sorry if this is in the wrong forum....

[tundra]

honestly, its my dream to see my tracks on vinyl. id love to be able to put them out myself, but in the States, its so expensive to do anything relating to vinyl.

im going to start doing what so many small hardcore punk/noise labels do: limited CDR runs with handmade packaging. if i can actually sell them (maybe pair up the releases with a digital release), then id like to press vinyl. i would also be into doing limited run cassette runs (maybe!)

[theolalic]

yeah i totally get the romance in putting out vinyl and even more so seeing your own music getting pressed but these days it just doesnt seem practical (for a lot of types of music).

im not expecting to make any money from this as it is but by keeping costs down theres more chance of the label and artist making a bit of pocket money.

got quite exciting plans with regards to having some kind of physical product that i'l keep you updated with on here. if it flops then i'll start doing vinyl. fingers crossed it works like a dream though and neither the artist nor the people buying the music feel shortchanged!

[abZ]

Well I don't buy vinyl at all anymore... well at least I don't buy any dance music on vinyl. That said, yeah I still want to have some tunes on vinyl. I had one release 6 years ago and it didn't sell too well. I don't want to have that happen again, going to have to be something that I know will sell. Am looking into putting out vinyl for my label too. I just think digital only labels get looked down upon. Yeah it's easy and anyone can do it but I actually put effort into keeping releases consistent and quality. I think some vinyl would help showcase the work that is put in. Anything to make my label better I am going to do.

[angry]

Depends what it is really. I generally don't buy vinyl if I'm planning to use it mixing because I use traktor and recording vinyl is a massive pain in the arse. On the other hand, if the packaging is proper nice, the tune is quality, and the price isn't mental (>£8-10 for a single... no) I'll be more inclined to buy it. Free wav/flac usually seals the deal for me.

if you're sticking out stuff other than dubstep etc don't forget about tapes (w/ download again is nice, lot of people don't have tape decks these days), even unique memory sticks... Of Montreal did a load of t-shirts with download codes which were pretty cool.

[herbalicious]

Well...although I don't own decks and buy vinyl myself, I think it's important for this music to be played on Vinyl by DJ's. It sounds better, and it has a kind of romanticism to it that is just lost with CDrs. There's nothing like seeing a DJ come prepared with a bag of goodies and carefully placing that needle on the wax.

For me anyway.

[DRTY]

Vinyl is very important to me, because it's a lovely format. Plus the price of alternatives is a fucking JOKE.

Fucking grand for a CD player, no thanks.

[spire]

Vinyl is very important to me, because it's a lovely format. Plus the price of alternatives is a fucking JOKE.

Fucking grand for a CD player, no thanks.

thats kinda how i feel. thats 100 singles there...

[DRTY]

Vinyl is very important to me, because it's a lovely format. Plus the price of alternatives is a fucking JOKE.

Fucking grand for a CD player, no thanks.

thats kinda how i feel. thats 100 singles there...

Sorry, OCD made me find out exactly...... 166 vinyls lol.

People say yeah but you save in the long run with CDJ.......... sure, after about 5 years and being able to part with 2k for a pair of CDJs in the first place.

I think Pioneer are stnuc and are price fixing majorly. If they lowered their prices I think they'd actually make more money. And it'd probably have a huge effect on record sales too.

[1rw1n+]

I only buy vinyl. I DJ and also just enjoy collecting good music on a format that is tangible. If I miss a release and it's out of print it makes me want it that much more and then I gotta track it down. This is part of the fun/experience to me. I also think that pressing vinyl in some ways legitimizes artists since it is more of an investment for the label/artist. Some clown that started making music yesterday is not gonna go out and press vinyl of some half ass tune. The fact that pressing vinyl is expensive seems to filter out some of the garbage because only those serious about the music are gonna invest. There's definitely some great digital/CD releases, so I miss out on a lot, but there's enough good stuff on wax that I will pass on a CD to get something else on vinyl. I've been doing this for a while and I know times are changing, so no disrespect to any format. Ultimately, it's all about the music.

[djchup]

Nothing like vinyl, makes me feel like i own my music.

[the wiggle baron]

While I know this isn't the greatest school of thought (you do get some absoloute gems released solely on mp3 etc.) I always see vinyl as a bit of a quality assurance type thing. I know this isn't true of like, probably 90% + of vinyl releases for me within dubstep these days, but I think to see something being put out on vinyl shows a real vote of confidence on behalf of the label for the tracks in question. If you think your label is definitely going to be pushing something new or interesting that people will likely recognise and latch on to then I would definitely at least consider vinyl releases in the future, possibly see what the reaction is like to a different format though I guess.

[theolalic]

wow, thanks for all the replies!
kind of expected vinyl to come out on top to be honest so no huge surprise there.
i was talking to a friend of mine who makes tunes and dj's and we spoke about how digital releases dont seem like proper releases and digital only labels often seem to have a lack of quality control or get the worst tunes from artists.
im not sure that that is a inherent problem with the release method though, rather a problem with half arsed labels not going to much effort in finding something worthwhile to put out/not doing releases justice. (none of this is a dig at any label in particular!)
the way i see it, the money saved on non pressing vinyl can be spent in other ways, promoting the release, getting a good team of folk on board etc...

the actual plan is to get limited A2 sized art prints made and package them with a download code, if that makes any difference to any of you.
it means you still have something to show for your purchase rather than just slightly less space on your harddrive.


thanks again for the opinions!
T

[Motorway to Roswell]

I love vinyl.

[Roflrilla]

You can decapitate someone with a vinyl.

CD's are much safer.

[dusk governor]

I love vinyl.

i love lamp

[thinking]

the actual plan is to get limited A2 sized art prints made and package them with a download code

that's actually a pretty dope idea. IMO not something that's going to guarantee you a lot of sales, but if it's offered as a pricier alternative to a plain digi-only download I think you might have a small market there.

[south3rn]

I only buy vinyl, for all genres.

I have high quality audiophile equipment to rip all my vinyl to digital format for mobile listening.

[boogiemeister]

I only buy vinyl. I DJ and also just enjoy collecting good music on a format that is tangible. If I miss a release and it's out of print it makes me want it that much more and then I gotta track it down. This is part of the fun/experience to me. I also think that pressing vinyl in some ways legitimizes artists since it is more of an investment for the label/artist. Some clown that started making music yesterday is not gonna go out and press vinyl of some half ass tune. The fact that pressing vinyl is expensive seems to filter out some of the garbage because only those serious about the music are gonna invest. There's definitely some great digital/CD releases, so I miss out on a lot, but there's enough good stuff on wax that I will pass on a CD to get something else on vinyl. I've been doing this for a while and I know times are changing, so no disrespect to any format. Ultimately, it's all about the music.

^^^what he said. Personally I think a vinyl release is in a way a real accomplishment for the artist. Not trying to belittle those that release stuff on CD or digitally but my take is if you want to get your music out, vinyl is like the ultimate goal to strive for.
nothing against serato, final scratch, traktor etc. they're great but it simply isn't the same as spinning vinyl. tbh honest I think digital sounds better than vinyl when you listen at home or in the car but when you play out real loud, vinyl takes the cake by far.