What do you think about Exclusives to Record Shops?

[Jenai]

Hi all,

Been having this convo with a few people for a long time. Now myself and certain other big name DJs do not agree with tying down Mixtapes and Albums to one store. Reason being is the scene is just way too small to be available from just one out let! It should be as available as possible in my eyes.

Now i agree that maybe a week/two week exclusive is just good business. But to be able to only get it from one source, which frankly can not fulfill that process is just bad practice and in my eyes is making most of the artist's look bad.

I understand the artist's are out to get paid and think that if getting upfront money for a mixtape is the only way to get paid then fair enough. But i think in offering Mc/Artist's money upfront means they will just send out any old mixtape just to get paid off the back of their name. I mean look at the drop in quality of the tunnel vision mixtapes as they got churned out?

Any thoughts?

[jabzy]

i agree with you. cant have mixtapes being sold from one source. if anything they should be sold from a bigger variety of sources

[Mowgli]

Agree 110%

[ALM]

Agree 110%

It's lazy on the artists behalf some just make a mixtape and sell it for the grand up front and then low it for another couple years.

[Jenai]

Yeah i agree, and its become evident thats whats gone on! I mean hardly anyone puts out singles or vinyl instrumentals anymore? So whats there to play on a radio set? Other peoples mixtape tracks or 3 year old classic beats? Its dead! Its like the Artist's are cutting corners for a quick ?s! And if music goes down the road of making it for money, all your going to get is crap in my eyes.

Grime was about passion and representing what UK was about and what was going on. It was also made to rave to. Thats what i miss...

[ALM]

Yeah i agree, and its become evident thats whats gone on! I mean hardly anyone puts out singles or vinyl instrumentals anymore? So whats there to play on a radio set? Other peoples mixtape tracks or 3 year old classic beats? Its dead! Its like the Artist's are cutting corners for a quick ?s! And if music goes down the road of making it for money, all your going to get is crap in my eyes.

Grime was about passion and representing what UK was about and what was going on. It was also made to rave to. Thats what i miss...

it's coming back the levels are going back up.

Hopefully the rave scene rises again.

[Lemon]

Selling it from one place doesn't work. Specially where the exlusives go at the moment.

There isn't much excuse for artists any more.

Slimting was on Westwood saying how cheaply he can press 1000 cds and how quick the turn around is.

[Hij]

If the artists want the scene to continue to grow and be self sustainable they need to be putting their stuff in all sorts of record stores.

I think it effects the artists reputation if a cd isn't delivered on time if certain record shops have the exclusive then long it out.

Have to say, this has to be the first ever indirect to a recordshop. Levels!

[bailey_187]

Yeah i agree, and its become evident thats whats gone on! I mean hardly anyone puts out singles or vinyl instrumentals anymore? So whats there to play on a radio set? Other peoples mixtape tracks or 3 year old classic beats? Its dead! Its like the Artist's are cutting corners for a quick ?s! And if music goes down the road of making it for money, all your going to get is crap in my eyes.

Grime was about passion and representing what UK was about and what was going on. It was also made to rave to. Thats what i miss...

you should start doing vinyl uptown exclusives as it will encourgae more people to release vinyl but everyone wants to do a mixtape now so no need for mixtape exclusives other then for a quick grand for the artist

[Jenai]

The only strong market for Vinyl right now is UKG and Bassline. We can only exclusive what people want to put out, and only people really putting anything out are the usual suspects. We need more producers to get there grind on!

[whats_the_score?]

Nah dont like that exclusive to one place talk, think its bad for the artist and the target market.

[Quality Control]

it's annoying

[Sam]

Exclusives to places like UKRecordShop are holding the scene back..
1. UKRS gives a shit service
2. You MUST have the internet to purchase alot of mixtapes because of this.

Not good! We need more independents

[Jenai]

I agree of course, prob is most stores are gone now :(

[frankD]

The customer is never wrong.

The Artists need to work hard and look outside the box.

[Carter]

Its a backwards step because Grime was so limited as to where you could buy it, a few years....but we finally got mixtapes, albums & dvds dropping but then they cut the availability down to one shop, what is just a online store with bad service...stupid!

[Tangelo]

Theres a guy who uses this forum thats looking to release a lot of vinyls, mp3s etc. You should have a word with him, see if you can help distribution, maybe get exclusives to uptown (dont know his username sorry).
UKRS are shit and i shall never purchase from them, meaning certain mixtapes are virtually unavailable to me.

[Jenai]

Yeah well if its good enough we have Cameo who owns pirate sessions label who can do all sorts of distribution.

[GRiME]

i think it just limit the scene, if they do that.
it should be available everywhere to buy from, from all the grime record stores.
maby they can do a exclusive cover art or somthing for a certain store or some bonus songs for a certain store maby, that dont sounds to bad but at least everybody can get everywhere where they sell grime music.

[Danny Trejo]

Thing I don't get is that for the quick exclusive money, they're actually limiting their potential sales. Most people don't even know what UKRS is, and I know I for one won't even use it anymore. So yeah, bad look for the scene, the artist and the consumer.

[gk*]

So many people have had problems going through UKRS and have said they won't go back again, for that reason alone artists are alienating a big chunk of their audience. It would be good to see them just trying to make their music more available.

On the rave front - have Uptown ever thought of organising one? Even an annual event or something?

[Pred]

Every opinion I was going to voice, Jenai already has said. I agree 100%.

[Jenai]

On the rave front - have Uptown ever thought of organising one? Even an annual event or something?

We have a partnership with Urban Nerd i will post up a thread about it in a min :)

[Hij]

Big

[gk*]

We have a partnership with Urban Nerd i will post up a thread about it in a min :)

Thanks.

[Breathe Beats]

gotta look at it from the artists point of view though

if you made a mix cd and somewhere was offering you a grand for a 3 month exclusive...

your not gonna say no are you

but exclusively forever is not worth it

[Jenai]

yeah but three months then no one buys your mixtape because of the source, so it gets ripped and then artists moan about bootleggin. Plus like i said i feel giving the artist outright money does no good for the scene! look at the amount of shit mixtapes that came out as a result of it last year!!

[Hij]

gotta look at it from the artists point of view though

if you made a mix cd and somewhere was offering you a grand for a 3 month exclusive...

your not gonna say no are you

but exclusively forever is not worth it

Its a very short sighted view. Those that want to have a career in music need to be expanding their fanbase, not limiting the ways people can buy their music.

[Alias?]

The only people winning from exclusives are the (UK) record shop cos it raises their profile and means any mixtapes sold they make p.
Artists dont sell as many and customers find it harder / annoying to buy them. Certain shops normally naturally get copies earlier than others because they have better links with labels or artists and that builds hype for everyone and encourages other shops to get copies in so they dont appear late (I thinking especially about white labels and pre release promos).
As for the whole vinyl thing, despite what people seem to think vinyl is really important to push the scene forward still. Like Jenai said, we need (new) singles to fuck up a dance and not mixtape tunes with bare chattin on intros etc. Just releasing a single on 12 also shows commitment from all sides to push things forward...The artist should go all out to make a hype tune for clubs, it should also be better mastered for pressing, the label has to invest money so is much more confident in the product and most importantly the customer invests in it too. Mp3 and Cds are too disposable, bare cds I get, listen to couple times and then leave em on my shelf, mp3 are worse. I listen to my vinyl alot more.

And yes, the scene also needs dances that show grime in a positive light where the artists actually reach and arent just full of badman beefin or gettin locked off but thats a seperate thread i guess.

[Jenai]

Replies are a good look, its nice to know most are thinking along the same lines as uptown and many other people i know. Hopefully we will see trends change this year and the business steps up a gear

[Anonymous]

Pisses Me Off.
Especially When They Being Tied To A Online Shop Of All That Is Untrustworthy.
Id Rather Be Able To Walk In There And Pick Mixtapes Up Myself.
Waiting Times Are A Pisstake.
No Bread Towards Uptown.

[hyperfrank]

It's disapointing especially when I do end up popping rhythm division or Uptown and all you have is pure old releases. Then I remember that most of the new stuff is exclusive to UKRS. I went rhythm and asked what new grime releases they had in vinyl and it was like Wiley - my mistakes. LONNNNG..

[Jenai]

Of course none taken! people seem to think we are the ones not wanting the mixtapes! Grime doesnt make allot of money for us and isnt our main priority as a company, becasue unlike certain shops we have a store in soho and it cost money lol

But we do love the scene and where the first to do most things for Grime. The scene is now paying the price by using places like UKRS and further making the scene even harder to support and grow. The Mcs have a big role to play as well by selling out for a quick buck and not putting in the hard graft!

[Anonymous]

It's disapointing especially when I do end up popping rhythm division or Uptown and all you have is pure old releases. Then I remember that most of the new stuff is exclusive to UKRS. I went rhythm and asked what new grime releases they had in vinyl and it was like Wiley - my mistakes. LONNNNG..

Argh I Know.
Uptown Are Quite Good For Vinyl IMO But The Mixtapes Do My Nut.

[Anonymous]

Of course none taken! people seem to think we are the ones not wanting the mixtapes! Grime doesnt make allot of money for us and isnt our main priority as a company, becasue unlike certain shops we have a store in soho and it cost money lol

But we do love the scene and where the first to do most things for Grime. The scene is now paying the price by using places like UKRS and further making the scene even harder to support and grow. The Mcs have a big role to play as well by selling out for a quick buck and not putting in the hard graft!

Boy, You Hit The Nail On The Head.

[Jenai]

Again this is why if the scene is to grow again and change the people need to voice to the artist not to sell out and do whats good for the scene! we dont even care if we get it exclusive we just want them. But we are not going to negotiate with a second rate 'record store' or be forced to pay silly money for mixtapes that will not sell in excess of a 1000! Like i said its not our main source of income but that doesnt mean we dont want to push it. For us its because we like the music not because we want to live off it. If MCs/Producers had half of that old attitude back i think the scene would be better off all around for it!

[GRiME]

uptown, why dont u guys tallk to the mc's about it?
see what they think about it.

Of course none taken! people seem to think we are the ones not wanting the mixtapes! Grime doesnt make allot of money for us and isnt our main priority as a company, becasue unlike certain shops we have a store in soho and it cost money lol

But we do love the scene and where the first to do most things for Grime. The scene is now paying the price by using places like UKRS and further making the scene even harder to support and grow. The Mcs have a big role to play as well by selling out for a quick buck and not putting in the hard graft!

[Jenai]

We do, and now most are seeing what UKRS has done for the reputation and respect of the scene. But most are like well they offered us X amount for a 1000 do the same of we go there! lol like we are going to be bullied into it? we just tell them bless see you later, the scene is too small for that sort of big head nonsense and we wont tolerate it. Uptown remains professional at all times so until MCs/Artists learn that, theres not much we can do and not going to go out of our way to do so.

I guess even joining forums like this (not rewind!) is a good look because then we can give you an insight into what goes on behind the scenes.

[GRiME]

yea thx for explaining it.

[Anonymous]

Mc's Need Think Of The Reason Why They Make Mixtapes.

Is It For The Money?
Or Is It For The Love Of The Music?

Surely Not The Latter As They Are Quickly Selling Off There Mixtapes In Exclusive Deals Restricting Fans From Hearing There Music.

[Jay]

Too many of the MC's are around just to make a quick buck, take the redrum mixtape for example. The guys been missing for ages in the grime scene, tries some stupid publicity stunt about being dead rather than going on radio and doing some proper promotional work. Then sells his mixtape to UKRS and stops people like myself from buying it. Grime artists are after too much of a quick fix, Uptown shouldn't have to go out and pay a grand to an MC to have there mixtape as an exclusive. The MC themselves should realise thats going to do nothing but bad for their sales.

At the end of the day UKRS are a company, they don't care about the grime scene, AJ's just any guy, he doesn't care what this is doing to the grime scene but only about the money he gets in his back pocket.

Doesn't help that the biggest DJ in the scene is on AJ's dick despite all the bad press about UKRS. People will say that UKRS can't hold back the scene, but they really are.

[Jenai]

Exactly, and to be honest we aint talking major money! few grand if that for a top Mc!! Its hardly worth doing the damage its done for the scene i dont think...! Other scenes like Dubstep and Bassline are so healthy and have x amount of raves all the time because its DJ based and vinyl/single run and club based! Grime needs that back because just like evry other major music genre it all starts in the clubs and underground radio! Grime has forgotten its roots in my eyes!

[The Elijah]

Exactly, and to be honest we aint talking major money! few grand if that for a top Mc!! Its hardly worth doing the damage its done for the scene i dont think...! Other scenes like Dubstep and Bassline are so healthy and have x amount of raves all the time because its DJ based and vinyl/single run and club based! Grime needs that back because just like evry other major music genre it all starts in the clubs and underground radio! Grime has forgotten its roots in my eyes!

nail on the head

[GRiME]

just when grime started to grow more last year they came with that exclusive shit.

[Jenai]

Yeah i know, like im not sure if they thought it would impress anyone lol??

[S.Man]

i think nowadays everyone wants to be an MC. where as few yrs bk more ppl was gettin into the DJ flex. so lack of vinyl is being sold now.

Hopefully this yr the scene starts to come back, a lot more events in 08 hopefully, bringing some of the good vibes back.

I totally agree that artits should be tryna get there CDs, EPs etc in as many stores as poss. Its harder work but end of the day they are bound to earn more P's coz theres a wider availability.

[Lemon]

Yeah, some real talk in here.
Artists need to fix up, sell there stuff for a normal price to multiple shops.

[Odotkae]

Maybe A 1 Or 2 Week Exclusive But Defs Try Get In As Many Outlets As Possible. Not Just The 1's In The LDN.

[GrimmyGrimGrim]

UKRS exclusive is probably halving your sales right there.

[adidasgrandad]

worst thing is...the one place you can get everything from, is the one place you wont/dont get it from if you get me

[Jenai]

worst thing is...the one place you can get everything from, is the one place you wont/dont get it from if you get me

Yeah and thats the point, not to sound big headed but most people wont but it from UKRS and if they do they regret it. Most people will also only but it if it comes to Uptown and if it doesn't most people will just download it because there is no real other sources. A few other shops granted but there online presence is terrible and most still have crap customer services!

[4737]

I don't buy from UKRS out of principle, because moretime people I know order from them and have things lost, damaged or wait long times for explanations as to why their stuff didnt arrive. I also completely disagree with exclusives in a scene that is so small. Distribution is the key to spreading grime, and giving one small independent outlet exclusivity essentially only benefits that store, not the artists and not the music itself. It also means that UKRS can get sloppy on customer service and there's no alternative, meaning that the customer will either a) not buy an artist's work or b) have to compromise and order from a company they dont like or trust.

t.

[Jenai]

Seems like everyone has the same frame of mind :) Its like a breath of fresh air because this is a thread that would not of been taken seriously on Rewind by the grime fans!

[Agrow]

The only strong market for Vinyl right now is UKG and Bassline. We can only exclusive what people want to put out, and only people really putting anything out are the usual suspects. We need more producers to get there grind on!

Are you going to pay for them to have there work pressed because thats the main reason not alot gets released on vinyl anymore because the talented are low on funds except for the well recognised grime producers

[Jenai]

See thats the attitude that i don't understand and advise those who think along those lines to grow up and grow up fast!

You tell me why the Artists if they are that broke and want to do music dont go and get a job to fund what they want to do? I mean are the all disabled? Or too big or bad to have a job? Its what most people do to pursue there dreams in life! i mean with fruity and all the hacked software its not like they pay for studio half the time?

People need to invest in there own product! I mean we just paid serious money and time to have a new forum/blog and store made. Thats our investment to make it easier to buy and gain information from uptown! if we didnt we would end up like most of the stores now, closed down!

The scene needs to understand, invest in your own product first! Because if they dont, who on hell is going to? It defiantly isnt going to be us to front the bill!

[4737]

Got to speculate to accumulate.

t.

[Jenai]

Got to speculate to accumulate.

t.

Its how buisness is run! I just wish people would realise that! It cost less than ?500 for 500 Vinyl! people act like its mad money to get to invest! its a few months part time work at best!

[4737]

That's why working a job to fund your music>>>>>>>__________

It's the only real course of action unless you have a) a label willing to invest or b) someone with p willing to back you. It shouldn't be the responsibility of retail outlets to fund production. That's just lazy and leads to situations like this "UKRS exclusive" shit, essentially holding things back.

t.

[Jenai]

That's why working a job to fund your music>>>>>>>__________

It's the only real course of action unless you have a) a label willing to invest or b) someone with p willing to back you. It shouldn't be the responsibility of retail outlets to fund production. That's just lazy and leads to situations like this "UKRS exclusive" shit, essentially holding things back.

t.

Thank you i completely agree! People like i said are deluded by the industry and need to grow up fast and stop trying to pass the buck! You need to work hard, invest your time AND money to make it big in music! If your lucky enough to be spotted and have a major do it all for you, i bid you all the luck in the world! But in the real day and age of today! People need to get there graft on and attitudes like 'are the shops going to pay for the vinyl' needs to change and change fast!

We dont ask the Artists to pay our staff or pay our rent! Why would it be the same other way around? Our investment is a reliable shop with award winning customer service and a real interest in pushing new fresh and good music!

[Alias?]

Jenai I totally agree with most of what your saying but if you can get 500 12s professionally done for ?500 i beg you tell me how (including mastering, some form of artwork - even just labels and some form of publicity)
Other than that everyting you have said is totally on point. How artists are suggesting you guys are making enough P to invest in them when they wont invest in themselves is over OVER OVER DUMB. Oh and truesay its a breath of fresh ait bein able to have a sensible chat about this.

[petergunn]

The only strong market for Vinyl right now is UKG and Bassline. We can only exclusive what people want to put out, and only people really putting anything out are the usual suspects. We need more producers to get there grind on!

and dubstep...

i think one of the other problems is grime is now more DJ based than producer based... and MC's want to sell a vocal mix CD, it's a better showcase for a vocalist... vinyl is more for producers...

but, i think producers have found that less instrumental grime records are selling these days... people are lucky to sell out a pressing of 500...

partially due to serato and partially due to less kids who are into grime wanting to dj (as opposed to mc) and a lack of places to play grime out... the reason dubstep and garage records are thriving are b/c there are ALOT of places to play those records... who wants to spend 100 pounds a month on records and have no place to play them out in front of people...

[TheBayveMan]

Im sick of the ukrecordshop monopoly

[Hij]

With any luck by the end of the money we'll be working together with Uptown to push grime sales there.

[TRU_G]

I think Exclusives is an alright idea, say if an artist wants to promote/help out their local record shop or something

BUt, what I don't agree with is:

-Exclusives in crap shops (UKRS)
-Two week exclusives that last forever
-Extortionate prices just because a certain shop has it first

[Jenai]

Again i agree and Uptown has many Exclusives but we make sure they dont last more than Three Weeks MAX! Its good to get your hands on Exclusives, its just good business!

[Jenai]

Does anyone think after Risky was on air yest that this will change Artists view even more to having there product in one store only? As im my view, and im only going on what was exposed on RWD. That he was obviously getting most of his early bootlegs from UKRS? I mean in my eyes im not starting a war im being frank, upfront and honest! Most of the mixtapes he bootlegged where early and exclusive to UKRS so it was either from the Artist or UKRS. Its not hard to fig out which one it is.

But yet in my eyes is it because UKRS has still sold a fair few units that Artists still go with him? Or do they just refuse to believe UKRS had anything to do with it? On my side i do have a fair few artists who are completely boycotting UKRS now!

Any opinions??

[Mister Lacey]

Again i agree and Uptown has many Exclusives but we make sure they dont last more than Three Weeks MAX! Its good to get your hands on Exclusives, its just good business!

Exclusives are cool as long as it is a limited time exclusivity.
It's a good way for the shops and artists to bond lol? If that makes sense.
But yeah I don't know too much about that whole UKRS thing Lemons was telling me the gist earlier. Allow insiders bootlegging though it's a rip.

[Hij]

The key point was when Vectra said 'If my CD is at UKRS and I see people on msn listening to it and I know it takes 5 days to go from UKRS out to the people I will know Risky's at it again'.

That just would prove UKRS are part of the bootlegging.

[Hij]

On my side i do have a fair few artists who are completely boycotting UKRS now!

Any opinions??

Great.

[Mister Lacey]

Great.

LOL LOL LOL

[Agrow]

See thats the attitude that i don't understand and advise those who think along those lines to grow up and grow up fast!

You tell me why the Artists if they are that broke and want to do music dont go and get a job to fund what they want to do? I mean are the all disabled? Or too big or bad to have a job? Its what most people do to pursue there dreams in life! i mean with fruity and all the hacked software its not like they pay for studio half the time?

People need to invest in there own product! I mean we just paid serious money and time to have a new forum/blog and store made. Thats our investment to make it easier to buy and gain information from uptown! if we didnt we would end up like most of the stores now, closed down!

The scene needs to understand, invest in your own product first! Because if they dont, who on hell is going to? It defiantly isnt going to be us to front the bill!

you say get a job like its an easy thing

when i left school i left with nothing because i missed most of the last 3 years as my dad was ill and in hospital and no1 was around to help me i basicly lived on my own and now i have nothing to offer any employer so in that case its harder for me to get a job to fund my music ive tried many of times but it doesnt work the only thing thats left to do is shot and at the moment my family need me around so i am not goin to start to do that

theres also young people in grime how do you suggest they get a job to fund their music??

your making a good point tho i understand where you are coming from and i wasnt saying you should pay for people to release stuff i was just emplying if the artist cant afford to release their material then who is goin to do it for them? nobody.

[Jay]

you say get a job like its an easy thing

when i left school i left with nothing because i missed most of the last 3 years as my dad was ill and in hospital and no1 was around to help me i basicly lived on my own and now i have nothing to offer any employer so in that case its harder for me to get a job to fund my music ive tried many of times but it doesnt work the only thing thats left to do is shot and at the moment my family need me around so i am not goin to start to do that

theres also young people in grime how do you suggest they get a job to fund their music??

your making a good point tho i understand where you are coming from and i wasnt saying you should pay for people to release stuff i was just emplying if the artist cant afford to release their material then who is goin to do it for them? nobody.

then it boils down to how desperate are you to succeed, there are jobs out there that you can get without any kind of qualification wot so eva

if people havnt got the time to do a job to get money for music, then ide say they wouldnt have the time to do the music properly in the first place, thats why you stick at it as a hobby, do what you can when you can

[S.K.I.T.Z Beatz]

I think more man just need to get off there arse and put vinyl out, its only 5bills to press up and if u wanna get rid of em u will,

ive had 5 vinyls and they all done 500+ easy
it dont even take much sales 2 break even!!

as long as the beats r BANGIN real djs will buy,

[Jenai]

Big up Skitz, wats good famos lol been a while still!

And i do understand its not easy to get a job, i never said it was easy i just said people need to support there own music by getting a job if you cant afford to put out vinyl!

THIS INDUSTRY HAD DIED BECAUSE THERES NO VINYL! << Full stop!

Without the instrumentals, club bangers, big singles, DJs playing them all over the country, there is no scene. Look at the biggest music Genre in the world, Hip Hop. Now i hate all the comparisons between Hip Hop and Grime. But the fundamentals of music business are exactly the same.

Even people like 50, Kanye, Eminem, Jay Z reh reh reh! When they have a new album out the first thing they do is make a club banger! They know the hype starts from the underground up. They make sure every big DJ has there track, they make sure they are out there doing freestyles, letting instrumentals off to get the beat allot of circulation. Do radio shows and everything.

Thats how grime started, the club bangers were ridiculous! you needed a club banger before anyone even wanted to hear your mixtape or give a shit who you where as an MC or producer! Now its like everyone thinks we all want to hear deep tracks and heavy lyrical content and not giving the clubs or DJs anything to work with.

Now i consider JAy Z and Eminem some of the biggest spitters of all time. But they know putting out a club track on vinyl with sing along lyrics is the way to do things! That doesnt mean they cant spit!? Its just there introduction and if you liked the club banger then like most people they want to hear more then grab the album and here what that rapper has to say. Thats how the grime industry needs to be looked at. Its like they are scared to do a nice simple club tune in case people think they cant spit?

Either the artists and producers invest in themselves first and foremost or the scene really will die very quickly as it has done over the last year.

[Danny Trejo]

Agree with all of the above really. You got any word about any new vinyls coming Jenai?

[Jenai]

Grime scene? Not really. But what we are doing and planning to do with this forum maybe, is push all MCs, Producers etc to have a real weekly list of whats coming next and realistic deadlines. Get people into the pre order system and building hype. We have a new blog at Uptown starting soon and its going to be crazy. We want to keep everyone upto date on whats popping off. The UK needs its and Uptown has spotted the gap in the market and we feel we are the only ones to pull it all off. I mean our downloads section has been open not even a week and had nearly 1000 downloads already! its crazy!

[adidasgrandad]

i swear jenai talks too much sense. should do lectures in school assemblies or something lol

[bailey_187]

I think more man just need to get off there arse and put vinyl out, its only 5bills to press up and if u wanna get rid of em u will,

ive had 5 vinyls and they all done 500+ easy
it dont even take much sales 2 break even!!

as long as the beats r BANGIN real djs will buy,

i beg u release dickhead ting on vinyl then

[Jenai]

i swear jenai talks too much sense. should do lectures in school assemblies or something lol

lol bless bro. To me its just people are too scared to actually say whats needed to be said! I only say any of what i do because i love the scene and dont want it to die. I think if more people where honest to them selfs, dropped the Channel U hype and ghetto fame! And put some hard work in, we would be dominating Europe with a brand new music Genre!

[bailey_187]

i swear jenai talks too much sense. should do lectures in school assemblies or something lol

lol or lectures to producers. maybe would convice them to release vinyl

[Jenai]

lol well i am witting for the Uptown Form and blog (which launches soon!) a complete guide to releasing a CD/Vinyl. Including links where to buy from, who to get for artwork, how much to pay and what is reasonable etc and how to keep it professional and not get bumped in the process. Then no one has any excuse lol

Will also be doing a digital version on how to do PRS and get your stuff on Itunes legally without having to go through a record label! Its cheaper than most people think and well worth the investment!

[Steez]

^ iTunes is a big look ... it's not THAT hard to get stuff on there either and it opens potentially massive doors.

As for the exclusivity thing ... I don't really like it, but if I want a CD bad enough I'll buy it from wherever.

On the flipside, it's good business sense to build relationships and negotiate better deals for your product and at the end of the day, business needs to come into the equation somewhere but so does keeping fans happy.

The balance between the two things is key.

Like Jenai said, time limited exclusive - they're a good look ... for a week one shop will get something excloos, the artist may get a better deal but the fan isn't totally alienated for a long period of time.