What else does a distribution company do?

[serox]

I guess they would sort out shipment of records from the pressing to storage ready to be sent to shops but what else do they do?

[AnalGangstaHo]

They'll more than likely know what'll sell where and dish stuff out accordingly.

[boomstix]

yeah, they have a relationship with a lot of shops, so they know who to sell what to. helps to get things in the right shops if you want the right customers to see them

i used to work for one so if you have more questions i'd be glad to answer

[abZ]

Depends on the type of distributor. Digital distributes don't do a whole hell of a lot. They have software that does most of the work for them. Vinyl distributes do a lot of P&D, mostly P&D probably which means on top of distributing they are making the investment on the records. So they are dealing with mastering houses, pressing plants and oking the music that the label wishes to put out.

[serox]

They'll more than likely know what'll sell where and dish stuff out accordingly.

Really? well tbh there is not that many websites or actually record shops you can go into so I do not think it would be hard.

[serox]

Depends on the type of distributor. Digital distributes don't do a whole hell of a lot. They have software that does most of the work for them. Vinyl distributes do a lot of P&D, mostly P&D probably which means on top of distributing they are making the investment on the records. So they are dealing with mastering houses, pressing plants and oking the music that the label wishes to put out.

Whats stopping someone from mastering, pressing their own 12"s and then approaching shops to sell? I would not think it would be hard to get shops to stock stuff tbh. Cutting out the distro would save money. Every time you need to move the records you need to pay for it.

[serox]

yeah, they have a relationship with a lot of shops, so they know who to sell what to. helps to get things in the right shops if you want the right customers to see them

i used to work for one so if you have more questions i'd be glad to answer

See above, thanks

[Sharmaji]

they pay you!

[Sharmaji]

Whats stopping someone from mastering, pressing their own 12"s and then approaching shops to sell? I would not think it would be hard to get shops to stock stuff tbh. Cutting out the distro would save money. Every time you need to move the records you need to pay for it.

nothing. tho you're rarely going to be able to sell more than 5 copies or so on commission as a new artist. that means you'd need to sell to 100 stores in order to get rid of 500 copies of vinyl... and then come back and get paid by them once all the records have sold. Very few shops will pay you up front for records on commission, and many will only pay you once all copies have sold.

[serox]

nothing. tho you're rarely going to be able to sell more than 5 copies or so on commission as a new artist. that means you'd need to sell to 100 stores in order to get rid of 500 copies of vinyl... and then come back and get paid by them once all the records have sold. Very few shops will pay you up front for records on commission, and many will only pay you once all copies have sold.

I am thinking 300 copies. I dont think it would be that hard to phone all shops and see if they are interested in taking the units. I can then get them shipped to the shop directly and collect money once items are sold that's cool. This would cut out distributions costs and costs of moving the records! every time you move them somewhere it is going to cost.

I am only guessing here, working it out as I go along!

[FSTZ]

DIY record distro is possible.... but why not leave it to the professionals?

if you have great tunes and you believe they will sell, you can press them, master them and then have the distro "distibute" the records to the shops that place orders

my brother had an indie rock label and at first they signed a few records to cargo...

he didn't like the way cargo was handling things so he decided to go DIY

now, 13 years later... he has a basement full of records

[reveal]

A good distribution company can take the final mix and artwork and then arrange mastering, pressing and get the final product to exactly where it needs to be.

All you need to do then is invoice them when your sales reports some back.

Your profit margins are obviously reduced compared to doing it yourself. But if you think as your own time as money then there's no contest.

[boomstix]

cosign what the others are saying, it is totally possible to do it DIY style.

just takes more time and effort

[serox]

Seems like quite a few distribution companies are not doing P&D. They are happy to give the records to shops but they want to final product.

Anyone know of some decent distribution companies I can contact to see what they are doing?

[midnightminustwo]

Whats stopping someone from mastering, pressing their own 12"s and then approaching shops to sell? I would not think it would be hard to get shops to stock stuff tbh. Cutting out the distro would save money. Every time you need to move the records you need to pay for it.

factor in fuel, delivery, phone usage, postage/delivery damage and you'll most likely make a loss. plus most shops will stock what their dealers/distro send them, as they know it's got something else behind it, ie a label or distributors seal of approval, which means the quality is of a certain standard. distributors don't take stuff that doesn't sell, so if you hven't got distribution, the assumption is it wasn't good enough to get it. probably wrongly, but this is their livelihood and risks are big things in the current climate.

They'll more than likely know what'll sell where and dish stuff out accordingly.

Really? well tbh there is not that many websites or actually record shops you can go into so I do not think it would be hard.

there are literally hundreds of online retailers though. sure, if you don't want to go beyond beatport (who only take people with distro, or with big track records, plus they don't look at your label's sales individually, they look at the amount the distro sell, protecting you from being dropped), trackitdown, juno and boomkat, all of which prefer distributors anyway.

then ad the fact that to make sure your tune is done, there is a fair amount of chasing to be done, and if there are errors you need someone full time to sort these out.

it CAN be done, vinyl probably more so than digital, but with the sea of dirge out there as everyone and their hound starts a digital label when no-one else signs them up, it's always going to be an uphill battle. i'd rather spend the 4 days a week on making music than hassling secretaries and office staff tbh.

[midnightminustwo]

Seems like quite a few distribution companies are not doing P&D. They are happy to give the records to shops but they want to final product.

Anyone know of some decent distribution companies I can contact to see what they are doing?

for the uk/vinyl/digital/dubstep. try contacting mike lennon at z audio.

we use finetunes, they get you into itunes and all the major and native language sites out there.

[Pedro Sánchez]

Seems like quite a few distribution companies are not doing P&D. They are happy to give the records to shops but they want to final product.

Anyone know of some decent distribution companies I can contact to see what they are doing?

Have you tried the obvious... STHolding and Z-Audio?

If you can get the product to the distribution stage with your own funding then using a distribution company is still worth it because of the hassle it takes to do it the d.i.y. way. I good distro will take your music national and in most cases international, where as with the d.i.y. approach if you want it sold more than local, you are either driving up and down the country to get your records in shops or dealing with couriers then having to maintain the sales updates.

edit: was all said above

[serox]

ZA are not dong P&D at the moment. Will have a look at STHolding, thanks;)

[Pedro Sánchez]

Another option cutting out the distro is always the Bandcamp.com way, which is proving successful for a lot of independent bands/artists as they now support a physical release option where you get you're short run pressed up as cheap as you can, then buyer can buy the physical release direct from you via bandcamp using paypal then you mail it out to them and that service is free. You can even give them a digital/vinyl bundle and bonus tracks and all that, you just need to promote/advertise the release yourself.

[serox]

Another option cutting out the distro is always the Bandcamp.com way, which is proving successful for a lot of independent bands/artists as they now support a physical release option where you get you're short run pressed up as cheap as you can, then buyer can buy the physical release direct from you via bandcamp using paypal then you mail it out to them and that service is free. You can even give them a digital/vinyl bundle and bonus tracks and all that, you just need to promote/advertise the release yourself.

Something I have looked at. I think because I am interested in doing 300/350 presses I could do it cheap if I didn’t need to pay distro. Does bandcamp do all music? I don’t get what they actually do from looking at their site! Are they digital only?