The best way to go about releasing vinyl

[alias]

Right say you have a really decent track you or an artist has made. Your a new lable just starting. You have found a company that will press 2000 vinyls for just under £900. You have the funds but how do you know you are ready to release it? What is the best way to do it?

Take it to record shops and DJ's and see what they think. Should you make 40 or so test pressings to see what people think, after all you dont want 2000 dead vinyl sitting around doing nothing.

Once people have agreed it's worth releasing after all it is a good tune. How much do you sell them to shops for? And how many do shops usually like to take on say 50? Thanks for reading. Alias.

[Rob H]

I wouldnt press 2000 just yet, 500 sounds more realistic

[alias]

Ok well it was an example. You have the potential to release 500.

[thomas]

From what i see in Hip Hop
you should get Djs sent it, even mp3 so they can play it on radio clubs n that

I dont think you will need a distro just yet, or maybe find a smaller one. Boombox are pretty well known for taking on smaller jobs but mainly uk hip hop.

Flog it to shops yourself, there aint many dubstep stores like, get the main ones. Sell it online, forums myspace. hustle.

this is just food for thought, you will need to do bit of research and decide yourself.

[djshiva]

get tunes in the hands of the well-known djs, see what the reaction is. nothing sells more than when people are salivating to get at your tune cuz someone rocked it out at a big event where people were paying attention.

also, if the first release is a relative unknown, pay a well-known artist to remix it. that's gonna get people to pick up your plate in the shop when they might not take a first listen to an artist they don't know.

pay for good mastering. nothing kills record sales than a record that doesn't stand up to other tunes on a system.

oh and p.s. plan on losing money. sorry to be a downer, but it happens, and if you expect it, it will be less of a disaster. and hey, if the universe aligns correctly and the first record sells like hotcakes, then it's a nice surprise.

[alias]

Cheers fpr the advice, have you got a link to the company who deals with smaller batches of vinyl. I have a few but im looking for some more to keep my options open. And how much does mastering a tune usually cost? I read that someone was doing it for free a litlle while ago, is it worth a shot?

[Rob H]

www.transition-studios.com is used by the majority of labels in this scene, as far as distribution if you are going to use a company I wouldnt suggest boombox as they are hiphop orientated and probably wouldnt do the best job, St-Holdings seem to do a good job at it

[thomas]

boombox as they are hiphop orientated and probably wouldnt do the best job, St-Holdings seem to do a good job at it

Naw, that was just an example of a smaller team who do it, im sure there are better ones for dubstep, then better ones for DnB etc. I just dont know about them

[thinking]

sounds like you're not sure quite what you're doing when it comes to starting a label & releasing records - talk to people first and find out everything you can otherwise you can easily make very expensive mistakes.

We had a "How to start a label" thread ages ago - find it here: http://www.dubstepforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=837

At the time, I said this:

First off, you need some tunes that you think are the hotness. Whether they're by you, or someone you know, they need to be killer beats. Next, gather up the contact details for as many of the 'names' in the scene as you can and send them a CDR of a handful of tunes, and ask them to let you know if they play it out or cut it - most DJs should be happy to do this. If you're lucky, and if the tunage is good, you should start to see some reactions both from the people playing the music, and the punters as well.

That's your basic A&R process sorted - you've established that there's a market out there for your music. The biggest hurdle you now face is getting it out there to the masses i.e. distribution. I know little about US Distro so I won't try to help you there, but in the UK for instance I know that ST Holdings have been taking on quite a few dubstep/breakstep labels in the last 12 months, and I believe they are even offering P&D (production & distribution) deals to some labels, which means they take care of the manufacturing costs and processes as well.

To solicit a distributor you need to convince them that your 12" (and future 12"s) will sell - good feedback from the scene counts for something, but they will obviously have to have some faith in the music as well. It can help if you have more than one release pencilled in and have the tunes ready to go.

Assuming everything has gone smoothly up to this point, you now need your vinyl. Get the tunes mixed down to the best possible standard you can without spending mad loot (know anyone with a studio?). Once they've been spit-polished, you need to get them cut. Heathmans in London is widely regarded as the best cutting house to use, but they aren't cheap. Have your tune mastered by the cutting house as well, because they can tweak it to make sure it will sound as good as possible on vinyl.

Okay, your lacquers are done, your TPs should be on their way to you. If at this point the cut is sounding shit, don't be afraid to go back and get it done again - you may waste a coupla hundred quid but it's better than having 500 vinyls in your living room that you can't shift cos they sound bollocks. Hopefully, everything sounds good and you can get the vinyl delivered to your distro.

That's it really. You should consider now sending a finished copy to all the 'name' DJs on your lists, and maybe look further afield to DJs in other scenes like breaks or techno - Si Begg, Tayo and Surgeon for example have all played dubstep records in their sets in the last 12 months. Always include a reaction sheet, as you can use this feedback to help promote the release, or if you're feeling flush you can use a promo mailing company like (for example) White Noise, who will take care of the mailouts and subsequent chasing of DJs for feedback.

Now you have to sit back and cross your fingers that a) shops will stock your record and b) people will buy it. Don't ever ever forget that even if your record sells out completely, it will still take approx 6 months for you to recoup your costs. With this in mind, you shouldn't consider actually pressing up vinyl unless you are absolutely sure that you can afford to lose all the money that it will cost - it is always possible that that's exactly what will happen.

Don't be afraid to approach people in the scene - most have an email address where you can reach them, and dubstep is small and young enough for those names who are established to remember what it's like to be in your situation. All of the above is only one way to skin the cat of course, and there are plenty of other ways to go about it. If you can just make sure that your tunes are 100% release-quality, and ensure you get good distro, the rest should (hopefully) fall into place.

Good luck.

[random trio]

thats well cheap, try listen 2 soming that they have pressed b4 to check the quality. And as mentioned, get a good master.also contact a distributer b4 2 see if they would be intrested in distributing it 4 ya ( fire a mp3 over to them).

[wil blaze]

I know for a fact that LOAD media are looking for hot dubsep labels at the moment as this is the area they want to go into more (they do DnB at the moment)

If you're seriously interested (and i do mean seriously) then PM me and i can get you in touch.

Peace

[narcossist]

Remember chatting to Bane in Eastern Bloc 3/4 yrs back about the number of DnB labels popping up releasing unkown tracks by producers that had the cash to start a label but weren't big enough to attract customers, regardless of the tunes quality.

He cited Marky as an example of someone who did it right, waiting till he was fucking huge then starting his own label. It may seem at times theres almost an artist/label heirarchy thats hard to break into but the longer it takes the better you'll be innit....if youngsta or n-type or slt or any big dj's are playing yr shit and yr unsigned then you'll be pure hype [in a good way ]

Sorry Alias thats not specifically directed at you and i don't want to extinguish yr dreams at all man but thats just my 2 cents. If you do decide to press on, best of luck with it.......

[alan]

2000 vinyls for just under £900.

where's this? that sounds very cheap, is it go vinyl or the paper thin stuff.

500 is gonna cost me about £500