Type

http://vimeo.com/43511884

Sounds beautiful, Mike. Any chance of a CD or tape release of the new album?

Or a VHS release of the video?

nope. complain to John about that.

Is Type still doing CD editions at all?

very, very rarely.  John put out Porter Ricks recently.  CDs don't sell in this day and age.  Just about every label I know started losing LOTS of money on CDs 2008-2010 and most of them have decided to move to vinyl and download only releases.

I've talked to John about doing very small runs of CDs (200 copies max) since I know some places where I can do small, affordable runs so..  maybe there will be some VERY limited CD releases (at least of my work) in the future, but IN GENERAL all you CD holdout dudes should probably just get a turntable if you want to continue to have physical media..

True. CDs are so far off my radar by now, I can hardly imagine anybody buying them anymore. I used to get a kick out of a nicely done Digipack-Edition...now I can't even remember how it felt. I wonder, if there are still label's doing a profit with CDs. I could imagine it with labels like Raster-Noton, Die Schachtel, 12k or L-ne, which have build up a distinct aestehtics over the years. CD-Editions feel just right here, and there are still moments where I'm in the mood for a CD from them.

On the other hand, I wonder how big the profit with, say, a 1000-unit vinyl run is.

you can make a few thousand off a run of 1000..  I mean..  the general markup is like..  wholesale is double cost..  so..  if a label is spending $4 per LP to manufacture, they sell at $8 per LP, they make $4000..  That's just an example..  prices vary a lot and labels that release a lot of different packing, make different choices on the production of their records from release to release and want to maintain a regular retail or wholesale price will have releases that make more or less profit depending on the production costs..  Basically tho..  If you sell out of 1000 records there's usually a few thousand dollars to go towards the label and a few thousand dollars to go towards the artist.. 

USUALLY these days the money is really in digital sales..  for real.  people buy MP3s..  And of course, music licensing and stuff like that are the BIG $$$$$$

I think there are some labels still out there selling CDs..  but..  there's fewer and fewer of them..  A lot of people I know gave up printing CDs because they'd print 1000 copies of a CD of an artist that has sold well historically and they'll sell less than 100 CDs..  it's really just not economically viable at this point for the VAST majority of artists/labels...

I suppose it also depends on the music you're listening to.  I don't have a turntable and I've never really been a fan of vinyl as a medium, but I haven't actually had any issues as of yet, I still buy everything I want on CD/CDr/cassette.  Majors and larger indies do fine with CD and the tinier labels seem to still be doing them - places like Gruenrekorder still seem to do ok with CDs.

I don't mind doing cd's either on my label, but for some releases vinyl wouldn't even work so that's why (I can't sell 200 double LP's of some unknown artist for 20 euro excl. shipping, while I do manage to sell 150 (of 300) cd's of some unknown artist with 55 minutes of music for 10 euro excl. shipping). 

The latest release on Low Point is a cd which has close to broken even on pre-orders alone.

I get a mixed response about formats.  Some people say they prefer to buy our vinyl releases, some cd.  Digital sales seem to be least popular option (for my label anyway).

I guess there's no pleasing people?!?

I dream of breaking even!

I'm going to be releasing a CD before the end of the year by a very well known artist, a kind of best of/compilation of limited tape releases. I think CD's are great for some releases, they hold a ton of audio and are (compaired to vinyl) not too expensive to make.

i've thought about doing CDs since i like the idea of long form works that extend the length of the CD, but i don't really use them. i don't own a CD player anymore, except in my car. i'm drawn to the idea that vinyl must be listened to in your home so the music should be designed for that type of environment. maybe one day.

re: gareth- i think kyle's music works better on CD because you could do a 2CD release, or a full length CD, and the music just lasts an eternity, as kyle's music should.

Don't worry Chris, i've released a few stinkers in my time which have left me out of pocket.  I think the label's biggest loss on a release (not naming names of course!) has been something like £800.  

That's the risk of running a record label i guess, though fortunately I've (so far) been able to ride out the storm...

Oof, 800 quid?

I'm struggling to sell anything at the minute mate regardless if good reviews etc. I've never sold out of a vinyl release since I've been doing them. Not quite sure what I'm doing wrong, pretty sure I'm putting out some good releases! I seem to get very little interest for releases in the UK now, most stuff goes to the US or Europe.

I dunno, think I'll open up a sarnie stall instead ; )

Same here Chris, none of my releases has sold-out so far. Though the Ubeboet album is getting close (as are a few early CD-R releases). 

Having just posted my recent listening (all of which, other than the Rossetto, were bought over the last few months), it occurs to me what might be one of the problems with shifting units these days - the sheer volume of releases coming out each month. UTS, Low Point, Moving Furniture (and Type of course) are all good labels and I have many of their releases, but simply would never have the time or money to have/listen to them all, what with everything else that's up for offer out there. With the explosion of labels over the past 5 years or so, competition for customers attention & wallets must never have been higher? Its not even a matter of format for me as I buy a pretty even mix of vinyl and cds - and even a download recently which I never usually do! It's so often a case of quantity control for me, rather than quality, as there's plenty of that out there. I don't mean this to be negative in the slightest (and it obviously doesn't help with sales!), just thought I'd give a punters perspective.

(apologies to the original Zelionople thread, could probably have done with a new one to contiune with this topic....)

I think there isn't this sudden burst of microlabels, at least nothing more than lets say 10 years ago. Only thing is you get in touch with them much more easy. The problem for those microlabels at this moment is that less people buy music. I hear from a lot of distros that they are decreasing their labels and such. 

ps. the new Zelienople album sounds amazing!!!!

I know I can't afford to buy even a fraction of the music I'd like to and I know that there are a lot of other people who are feeling the pinch also. Times are tough financially for people and records & CD's count as a luxury that comes after folk pay bills and put food on the table.