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Dubstep record sales?
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:17 pm
by randomhed
I wonder if anyone could shed some light on what number of records get sold for a single release. Obviously it depends on the tune but for a banger are we talking 100s or 1000s. Also what kind of figures are we talking about for mp3's, and how do they compare like for like with vinyl.
I remember reading a dillinja interview on knowledge magazine maybe two years ago and in it if i remeber rightly he said back in the day a big tune could sell 15,000 copies but nowadays theyd be lucky to shift 5,000.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:24 pm
by pure
All about the mp3s. I added this thing to my
myspace where people can buy high quality mp3s of smile etc.............. 128 people have bought mp3s from me. Thats been up for three days or something. All about digital downloads right now.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:43 pm
by 4linehaiku
Pretty sure typical press for a 12" is 1000 these days.
No idea what digital downloads are hitting.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:47 pm
by bob crunkhouse
4linehaiku wrote:Pretty sure typical press for a 12" is 1000 these days.
No idea what digital downloads are hitting.
ive heard its about 500 for a lot of stuff
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:50 pm
by thinking
the bigger labels, your Tempa/DMZ/Tectonic etc sell 1000-2000ish I believe, but most smaller labels probably start with 500 and repress if necessary.
mp3 sales are pretty damn good by all accounts, they sell a lot more than I expected which is great for the labels - much better return for minimal extra investment.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:55 pm
by chef
Start with 500 and then repress if/when needed.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 5:59 pm
by seckle
midnight request line was a few thousand. it's rare you get tunes doing that though. on the other hand, recently, we've seen tunes sell out 500 in 48hrs.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 6:16 pm
by bob crunkhouse
Chef wrote:Start with 500 and then repr ess if/when needed.
if youre pressing 500, is it just as cheap to get another 500 repressed as it is to get a 1000 in the first place?
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 6:33 pm
by relaks
seckle wrote:recently, we've seen tunes sell out 500 in 48hrs.
Noted. Pretty impressive. Shows what a supportive, small and somewhat esoteric scene it still is.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 6:37 pm
by rudeski damager
if ur hard up4 cash/first release press 300 then repress
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 6:41 pm
by thinking
Bob Crunkhouse wrote:Chef wrote:Start with 500 and then repr ess if/when needed.
if youre pressing 500, is it just as cheap to get another 500 repressed as it is to get a 1000 in the first place?
cheaper - you don't have the initial costs of getting the mastering done and the metalwork made, so you just have to pay the costs of the vinyl units themselves. The more you press and go on to sell, the better the returns, although they're never that good with vinyl nowadays tbh.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 7:04 pm
by d-nile
I think the cost on the second 500 would be the same cost per unit as the vinyl cost on 1000 - the processing costs and mastering are the only additional cost on the first 500. The price per unit only goes down significantly if you get loads pressed up - which I don't think really happens with many labels these days.
The fact that Defected are working with charles webster shows that even 'commercial' labels are having to work with the underground again - the days of hard house labels selling 30,000 are over - thank god!
The only benefit I can see for getting 1000 in one go would be a small saving on the delivery cost. Or if it really blows up you can lose some sales through waiting on a repress - that happened to me on my first release!
Play it safe - so you don't end up with a big box of your own records in the understairs cupboard!
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 7:16 pm
by markle
D-Nile wrote:Play it safe - so you don't end up with a big box of your own records in the understairs cupboard!
500 frisbee ain't fun.
It has to be a big track or by a well known artist to shift 1k.
The hardest part of running a small label is affording the second release. Coz even if your rekids fly out the shops, you are gonna have to wait a good 3- 6 months till you get your dosh back from the distributor.
Posted: Mon May 14, 2007 7:58 pm
by j_j
Pure wrote:All about the mp3s. I added this thing to my
myspace where people can buy high quality mp3s of smile etc.............. 128 people have bought mp3s from me. Thats been up for three days or something. All about digital downloads right now.
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 7:59 pm
by messsingh
I really don't how many units are solid in dubstep but I believe you can get into the UK top 10 is you sell 10,000 units in one week.
I am aware that most dubstep don't sell as fast but I seriously doubt the units are very high considering all the promotion and airplay commerial tunes get.
Plus the tunes can be bought on any high street which of course isn't true of dubstep.
Jazz
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:02 pm
by thinking
messsingh wrote:I really don't how many units are solid in dubstep but I believe you can get into the UK top 10 is you sell 10,000 units in one week.
you would need most or all of those sales to be bought in shops which are registered with the UK Chart Company - when the barcode reader then sends info of what's bought to the UK Charts.
Unfortunately almost all of the shops where underground vinyl are bought aren't registered, so unless we all bought our 12"s from HMV it ain't gonna happen. It's a shame, I reckon quite a few big underground tunes could have charted in the past...
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:24 pm
by messsingh
[quote="ThinKing"][quote="messsingh"]I really don't how many units are solid in dubstep but I believe you can get into the UK top 10 is you sell 10,000 units in one week.[/quote]
you would need most or all of those sales to be bought in shops which are registered with the UK Chart Company - when the barcode reader then sends info of what's bought to the UK Charts.
Unfortunately almost all of the shops where underground vinyl are bought aren't registered, so unless we all bought our 12"s from HMV it ain't gonna happen. It's a shame, I reckon quite a few big underground tunes could have charted in the past...[/quote]
True
But the point I was making is that tunes in any genre aren't selling huge numbers. Even pop music where there is a massive distribution infrastructure and a lot of marketing.
Jazz
Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 5:15 pm
by seckle
7" indie rock vinyl is outselling cd singles in the UK. i've heard that a band like artic monkeys can do 250,000 7"s in europe alone.
45's are back big time, but only for indie rock.
Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 5:25 pm
by pete_bubonic
ThinKing wrote:messsingh wrote:I really don't how many units are solid in dubstep but I believe you can get into the UK top 10 is you sell 10,000 units in one week.
you would need most or all of those sales to be bought in shops which are registered with the UK Chart Company - when the barcode reader then sends info of what's bought to the UK Charts.
Unfortunately almost all of the shops where underground vinyl are bought aren't registered, so unless we all bought our 12"s from HMV it ain't gonna happen. It's a shame, I reckon quite a few big underground tunes could have charted in the past...
MP3's count towards chart ratings now, so how does that work? Presumably the mp3 store also has to be registered, but does it make the 'barcode' thing a bit obsolete?
Posted: Sun Jun 24, 2007 5:26 pm
by pete_bubonic
seckle wrote:7" indie rock vinyl is outselling cd singles in the UK. i've heard that a band like artic monkeys can do 250,000 7"s in europe alone.
45's are back big time, but only for indie rock.
Again, same question as before really, what's the deal with mp3's, don't get me wrong I'm glad to hear vinyl is doing it's thing. But sure mp3 sales are probably higher than either of those two formats for a band of that size?