physical releases

[magnesson]

i have always loved going to record stores thumbing through records. looking at the packaging, art work, titles, etc. i would save my lunch money and what ever i could scrounge out of my grandmother go to the record store in the early 90's spend hours digging through vinyl to buy an album every two weeks or so. there was something fascinating at flipping through vinyl, i can flip through CD'S like i can vinyl, not sure what it is... with this modern age there are so many digital outlets that physical packaging has nearly gone. thankfully there are still people releasing things on physical media its mostly all hand packaged by the artist which i think adds an extra element to the music. i don't know i may be holding on to what was my youth. anyways, is any one here doing physical releases? one of my goals was to press a full length with art work that i produced hung in one of those nifty vinyl frames above my guitar collection. the other day i was staring at all the blank CD's i have and the stack of blank tapes. i figured what do i have to lose!! so i started recording all my early solo stuff on to cassette i can put 20 songs of mine on two sides of a 90 minute tape. i can almost be certain that most will be given away but before i do that i am going to post them on bandcamp for a few bucks with a digital download like the one i have purchased myself. i am curious if anyone has any experience with putting these together, that wouldn't mind giving me a few words of advice with either having someone record the tapes for me on label free tapes or some one who can print out the j cards with a professional look? i may just go lo-fi on it and do everything myself.

my early stuff is a mix of instrumental ambient shoe gaze meets experimental soundscape a lot of this stuff isn't on my soundcloud i really surprised myself it was better then i recall so i have had fun with it so far, the tape really gave my stuff a extra warmth to it.

i hope some one can give me a little advice i sure would appreciate it!

thanks! magnesson

[magnesson]

here is one of the more ambient experimental guitar pieces that will be on the tape. all guitar with many effects

[GaryG]

Nice.

I appreciate what you're saying about flipping through records; spent my teenage years going round the local second hand shops, hoping to chance upon something out of the ordinary. Maybe it's too easy now, if I read about I want to check out, I can guarantee I'll find at least a few tracks online somewhere (probably find the full album on youtube even...) So, great for accessing music but the thrill of the chase has gone.

I released a few lo-fi cassettes in the early 90s but not my material. I think inspired by New Zealands Xpressway tape label, just copied the tapes at home, typed up the tracks on a typewriter (no home printer yet ) and literally cut and pasted the sleeves together before photocopying them. Then, added a few spots of colour with marker pen. I put an ad in the back of NME and Melody Maker etc and sold maybe a dozen copies... :D

So, no, can't really offer advice beyond I hear tapes are popular again: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22533522

[aoVI]

I love shoegaze. Nice piece.

I haven't ever sent off to have CD's made, but made my own cassettes through the 80's and 90's, moving to self-made CD's towards the middle to end of the 90's. I did all the design, printing, and assembling. The cassettes would get a single copy or two, the CD's rarely more than a dozen. It's time-intensive and honestly few around me really would listen unless I was there playing it anyways. ;) With the proliferation of online distribution, I stopped making physical copies completely. I was seriously considering making a few dozen at Discmakers for my more recent work though. Runs of 50-100 aren't crazy expensive and I figured there might even be an off chance I could almost cover the cost if I could sell 25 or 30 of them on Bandcamp.

If you are more likely to give them away I'd recommend doing it yourself. The cost of having them done professionally might make it prohibitive unless you were trying to make an impression on a label or selling them at shows. If you are going the cassette route, the more DIY the better, as it is part of the aethstetic of indy. There are printable cassette labels (stickers) and plenty of templates available around the web. I'll look and see if I still can locate my old JCard templates, although I have moved computers more than once since making them...

If you have a friend into graphic design, check and see if they have time to help you out making it nice. Or you may be into it and already know.

I'd be willing to help out if either of those aren't an option.

[aoVI]

.... and literally cut and pasted the sleeves together before photocopying them. Then, added a few spots of colour with marker pen.

lol similar experience here; an album I did in 1990 was entitled "Photocopies" to make the reproduction process seem part of a design rather than the only alternative.

[GaryG]

.... and literally cut and pasted the sleeves together before photocopying them. Then, added a few spots of colour with marker pen.

lol similar experience here; an album I did in 1990 was entitled "Photocopies" to make the reproduction process seem part of a design rather than the only alternative.

Strange how satisfying it was though, physically laying stuff out, craft scalpel and a pritt stick (or whatever they call them over there ) Really makes you appreciate old record covers, the precision of the layout artist, no room for mistakes etc.

Actually, thought the same a while back watching a documentary about artist Drew Struzan (if you don't know the name, I can guarantee you'll know his movie posters ;)) The sheer precision with little room for corrections, no ctrl-z in the real world.

[magnesson]

i think i will go with the complete DIY j cover art cassette labels, the tape hiss and the nature of my recordings i think it would be grittier the better!!

thanks guys i look forward to putting it together!

[GearGuy]

I prefer physical releases as well, for both my own work and that of others as well. But I also buy a lot on Bandcamp and other electronic only resources (iTunes, etc.)

I would say that it's probably about 50/50 lately (or perhaps 60% online to 40% physical.) When it comes to ambient music physical release sales, it's usually artists with Projekt and Spotted Peccary that I would go to buy physical copies.

But it's disappointing to see the recent trends of declining physical sales. Even well known ambient artist on Projekt such as Erik Wollo, Forrest Fang, etc are seeing only a "limited edition

[windspace]

i think i will go with the complete DIY j cover art cassette labels, the tape hiss and the nature of my recordings i think it would be grittier the better!!

thanks guys i look forward to putting it together!

Let us know about the release when it happens! I love physical releases with a handmade touch.

[magnesson]

now with the ambient online comp. i can get back to working on the physical release, i am certain that it will be a little grainy, but it think that will add more ambience to the piece. i believe it will be a conceptual movement versus songs in order. truly make it limited, remove the tracks that are and have been on soundcloud and offer a digital download with order. once i complete it will be only new material on both soundcloud and band camp. i am super excited about this been working with several images trying to figure what will be best for the "j" card.

[Zach Zinn]

Tapes are popular as a kind of "business card" for music basically, but I am not sure many people listen to them. The people I know who are huge collectors of music still love CD's, but these day it is not worth doing physical releases unless you already have enough of a following that you know someone will buy, IMO.

Some people release tapes with special art etc. and IMO that is a cool idea.

I have a tape released here on Whistling Cattle:

https://whistlingcattle.bandcamp.com/album/the-spiral-organ

I don't know that there have been many sales of it but I have sold a few myself at shows, I think people only bought them because they came with wooden packaging and art. I think for cassettes today quite honestly it is more of a thing of visual aesthetics, etc.

[regonsch]

I wrote a long post yesterday that apparently dissapeared :(
Anyway, to sum it up. I like physical music, I tend to respect it more and listen to it a deeper level. It's not really rational, i know, but I feel a stronger commitment and I won't be as likely to skip through tracks.
Hand assembled stuff can be great. If you're willing to spend the time then go with it. In talented hands beautiful stuff can be produced. Keep the editions really small, like 10-20 or you'll start hating the things
If you need it as a business card to give to venues/radio stations or whatever, I'd go with a bought solution. Small runs of 50-100 aren't going to set you back much.
Another thing, if you are ambitious with a release and you want to try and get it reviewed, there's a tendency towards respecting releases that are backed up physically more. You don't even have to send out physical promos. Pictures should be sufficient.

[Ambire Seiche]

I wrote a long post yesterday that apparently dissapeared :(
Anyway, to sum it up. I like physical music, I tend to respect it more and listen to it a deeper level. It's not really rational, i know, but I feel a stronger commitment and I won't be as likely to skip through tracks.

I don't know, I think it's pretty rational. People want to make connections, even if it's just memories to hold onto, and physical releases(not just albums but promotional materials as well) are naturally more engaging than an mp3 download/stream are ever likely to be by themselves. Even just a little effort at design and thoughtful/personal liner notes goes a long way I think, it adds to the experience for the listener and builds reputation for the artist/creator.

[GaryG]

I think you're raising some 'difficult' questions here.

I like physical music, I tend to respect it more and listen to it a deeper level. It's not really rational, i know, but I feel a stronger commitment and I won't be as likely to skip through tracks.

I feel this too. I wondered if it's because I'm of the pre-internet generation who pretty much had to buy stuff if you wanted to hear it so made a literal investment in the music (and maybe valued it more?) It's wonderful we can all easily self-release music now on services like Bandcamp but I do find myself taking greater note of releases that are backed up with a physical element. Almost like something saying "this artist takes their art more seriously" to me, due to that 'value' connection of old? It makes me feel that if I value one of my releases that much then I should do it too to raise it above 'just another BC release...'

Discuss...

Hand assembled stuff can be great. If you're willing to spend the time then go with it. In talented hands beautiful stuff can be produced. Keep the editions really small, like 10-20 or you'll start hating the things

My wife seems to like packaging thinks ornately so I think I could outsource that part... ;)

As an aside: I like this labels style: http://timereleasedsound.com/

EDIT: Of course there's also Merzbows fabled Merzcar release. :D

[Maharg]

I have been thinking about vinyl for a long time and keep threatening to release a limited addition vinyl one day. I really must do something as I am one of those people who wax on about the quality of vinyl and the poor quality of digital albums. Particularly with mp3. I have been reluctant to do it simply because I know I will be wasting money I don't have in producing the product simply to please myself. No one will buy it, so I will lose too much money and end up with a stock pile of vinyl albums no one wants. So it is purely on financial reasons I haven't committed to releasing physical products.