The RSD Effect

[chriswamsley]

Well, repressing "Goddamnit" on like 8 colors followed by another pressing on 4 more isn't exactly just doing it for the sake of keeping it in print (with colored vinyl as the bonus). It's taking advantage of a collector market just like the majors are doing. I'm not criticizing Asian Man for it, but just cause they're a smaller scale and he's operated mostly for a love of doing it doesn't mean he hasn't also taken advantage of opportunities where opportunities lie.

"the collector market" is so miniscule compared to the person who just wants to own the record. THEY WILL NOT CONTINUE TO PRESS RECORDS THAT DONT SELL. its that easy, if the 1st press sells out, they press more, so on so forth not this infinite revolving door. especially indie labels who cant afford to press 2,000 records to collect dust.

[chriswamsley]

True, but when you go to buy a copy of Goddamnit from Asian Man, you don't get to pick which color of the rainbow you want. You get the latest one. Because all the others sold out. So, essentially, he's just keeping it in print in small portions instead of filling his entire mother's garage with 8k copies of Goddamnit from 1998.

this but not to mention the overhead in cost of pressing 8,000 vs 1,000 records (yes cost per unit is lower but the total cost is much higher)

[+hecollec+or]

It's actually run by each distributor themselves. Like, we had to go through each label or distributor who has RSD releases and order from THEM. So it's not like it all comes from "Record Store Day The Company".

 

Hahaha, oops. Thought it was all ordered through RSD.

 

That'd be hysterical (and painful)..."about those 40 Deja records you ordered, well, we didn't have any left to send you. We did, however, have a lot of those Springsteen LPs left to distribute. So, we sent you those instead! Enjoy your 40, $30 copies of The River."

 

This would result in many sad Brand Newians & many happy parents.

[TheGhostOfRandySavage]

True, but when you go to buy a copy of Goddamnit from Asian Man, you don't get to pick which color of the rainbow you want. You get the latest one. Because all the others sold out. So, essentially, he's just keeping it in print in small portions instead of filling his entire mother's garage with 8k copies of Goddamnit from 1998.

Plus he sells them for what, like $12?

[Fowty Dollaz]

Plus he sells them for what, like $12?

Yeah. It's really inexpensive. I spent $118 ppd back when I first started collecting, and bought a boatload of stuff. It was literally like 11 records or something. Goddamnit included.

[somethingvinyl]

Most people making claims about things they don't understand:

[mike]

True, but when you go to buy a copy of Goddamnit from Asian Man, you don't get to pick which color of the rainbow you want. You get the latest one. Because all the others sold out. So, essentially, he's just keeping it in print in small portions instead of filling his entire mother's garage with 8k copies of Goddamnit from 1998.

 

when they did the first couple represses of that it most certainly was a menu of what colors you want. that was the whole thing... getting the nerds to buy multiple copies. it was facilitated through this very site, which was the vinyl collective MO at the time.

 

 

"the collector market" is so miniscule compared to the person who just wants to own the record. THEY WILL NOT CONTINUE TO PRESS RECORDS THAT DONT SELL. its that easy, if the 1st press sells out, they press more, so on so forth not this infinite revolving door. especially indie labels who cant afford to press 2,000 records to collect dust.

 

 

but what's different about that than majors? they're continuing to press records that sell. 

 

this but not to mention the overhead in cost of pressing 8,000 vs 1,000 records (yes cost per unit is lower but the total cost is much higher)

 

 

it costs so much money to do multiple colors of vinyl, especially wacky colors. here was the breakdown of that first repress of goddamnit...

 

1st press: 500 sky blue; 500 white; 500 clear with red splatter; 500 half red/half black; 500 red with black splatter; 500 black/purple/yellow splatter; 500 green/yellow/white splatter; 500 translucent red

 

that's probably a couple thousand dollars just in colored vinyl costs. he could have just done one color and saved a ton of money. but... having just done one color would have meant that those moved way slower. like i said above, at that time vinyl collective took full advantage of folks buying multiple copies of a record. asian man took part in that. again, i'm not faulting him for that, but it's silly to try to paint him as making every decision for his label as this altruistic, for the good of the listener thing.  record labels, big and small, will do things not everyone loves to sell records, and that's their right. 

[Shitty Rambo]

Now I'm not saying it doesn't have it's advantages (ie: getting people through the door of a store they might not care about otherwise), but it's an interesting angle on the subject.

This is a strange benefit to me, sure they might have come to the store but what are the odds that they're going to buy something that isn't an RSD exclusive or return to the store within the year at all? I think the whole 'door-buster' rat race crap feed into the 'event' mentality of RSD. Like the user above mentioned, he frequents a store on a regular basis and they declined to hold items for him on RSD. That's kind of bullshit on the store's behalf. This guy is obviously down to support your store and is good for it, hook a loyal customer up.

Stores get a pass on RSD and they don't really deserve the sympathy especially when most throw a couple bucks ontop of the already bogus RSD prices or flip their at-cost exclusives online. It's not that different than the actions ETR got hung out to dry for.

[Fowty Dollaz]

when they did the first couple represses of that it most certainly was a menu of what colors you want. that was the whole thing... getting the nerds to buy multiple copies. it was facilitated through this very site, which was the vinyl collective MO at the time.

you're right, but the record had been out of print for over 10 years and I believe it sold pretty well, no?

 

either way, targeting AMR is silly. It's literally a garage and a shed ran by a couple of people.

 

Target- Warner/ Elektra or someother big guy like that. Please.

[apirk]

I assume all those bitching about RSD have no intentions of going? I would also assume you don't own any RSD issues either. Otherwise, that would be hypocritical.

No it isnt,

Being critical about something doesn't automatically make you a hypocrite.

As someone who has gone to every RSD so far every year I get more turned off by it. I love that my local shops get tons of business and bands I kike out our new or interesting stuff but every year it seems to cater more to collectors and has become more about putting out some collectors item then putting out music, for a ton of these release there literally could be zero music in them and people would still buy them.

On a totally separate note I always find the releasing of some of the pressing numbers kind of funny. A lot of these bands wouldn't sell 2000 copies of these 7 inches in a year if it was released on any other day but they make it seem ultra limited because it is a rsd release, but hey it works I guess.

[Bladewillisisdead]

Two years ago my local (at the time) shop got one copy of some Dave Matthews box set. Because there was apparently a huge demand for it (Ew) they decided it would be most fair to raffle off the chance to buy it. They also donated the profit from it to some charity. Not much but a nice gesture.

Some dude LOST HIS FUCKING SHIT. He wasn't first in line but I guess he talked to everyone and determined he was the first in line who wanted it. He threw a fit in the store and then blew up their social media for the rest of the day.

Entitled manbabies are hilarious.

[Tardcore]

Dave Matthews fans are hilarious.

[Out of Breath Records]

To give you an idea of how much RSD fucks it up for smaller labels, the average turn around time was around 2 months or so from start to finish, from ordering tests to receiving records. I place in order in Decemeber, and that time is doubled. Hopefully I should receive my records sometime this month, but 4 months waiting period, where you have no product coming in to sell, and you obviously can't have preorders up that early because people feel extremely entitled with Amazon Prime and shit will email you the next day wondering where their record is. Basically you're in a stagnation zone if you're not getting records in every couple of months while waiting for the next releases. This costs a LOT of money. 

[Fowty Dollaz]

To give you an idea of how much RSD fucks it up for smaller labels, the average turn around time was around 2 months or so from start to finish, from ordering tests to receiving records. I place in order in Decemeber, and that time is doubled. Hopefully I should receive my records sometime this month, but 4 months waiting period, where you have no product coming in to sell, and you obviously can't have preorders up that early because people feel extremely entitled with Amazon Prime and shit will email you the next day wondering where their record is. Basically you're in a stagnation zone if you're not getting records in every couple of months while waiting for the next releases. This costs a LOT of money. 

That fucking sucks if you're not holding hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank.

[1876records]

Looking for investors to help me start a small scale pressing plant. Who's got $200,000?

[Tardcore]

If only there were some way to anticipate when RSD will strike next.

[Family Friendly Rap God]

If only there were some way to anticipate when RSD will strike next.

LOL. I can't lie I've thought this too. There are two RSD time frames. Plan accordingly. That's like me being understaffed for Black Friday and wondering why there are so many customers.

[Out of Breath Records]

If only there were some way to anticipate when RSD will strike next.

 

LOL. I can't lie I've thought this too. There are two RSD time frames. Plan accordingly. That's like me being understaffed for Black Friday and wondering why there are so many customers.

 

I'm glad you find it humorous, but it's a big problem for small labels. Are we supposed to only start hyping/releasing records in the 4 off months that pressing won't have a 1/3 of a year turnaround? We try to put out records as soon as they're finished. Do you suggest we force musicians to wait to release their music 4 months after it's done just to get that time period to coincide with the record release? I know it's cool to be an asshole on the internet. Props to you! Hope you get all the internet cool guy points. 

[Tardcore]

LOL. I can't lie I've thought this too. There are two RSD time frames. Plan accordingly. That's like me being understaffed for Black Friday and wondering why there are so many customers.

 

before the angry downvotes pour in--I'm sure it's more complicated than that but yeah...I'm sure it's a major inconvenience, but if the life/death of my business hinged on getting a release out the door in a timely manner...I would be inclined to plan around RSD.

 

that said.  on the bright side, the seasonality of RSD could very well drive an investment on the production side.  If you're a manufacturer and you see a strong demand in the 4th quarter of the year that exceeds your capacity, in the shortish term it may make business sense to simply pass on the work or backlog less time sensitive releases, but if the record companies driving the big production RSD titles have deep enough pockets, at some point you should see an expansion in production capacity.  At that point, the seasonal demand can be a benefit to the smaller guys planning around RSD because of the slack demand the rest of the year.

[Green Tea Papi]

I know this year I'm only going for the sake of the tradition more than anything. My record store is really sweet the give coffee and donuts to everyone in line, it's a really chill atmosphere and I've been first-ish for 2 years and I'd feel bad for not going.

 

The only thing I'm even considering are the 1975 pieces and Brand New School Lunch-entendu. RSD is so gimmicky, but I guess that's what makes it fun but even out it's less about rare releases people want and more about the money the label head wants.

 

Thought there is something kinda fun about trying to get One Direction picture disk at 6am, before the old guy who came here to vulture and sell on Ebay gets it

 

If you guys really want to support your local record store this RSD come in a week or two in advance and just ask them to order you want you'd like that isn't an RSD exclusive or out of press, you still support the store and you get exactly want you wanted, record store day is a great idea and all, it a shame it's been ruined by big business.

 

Also I'd like to say that it would be fair to let the first people in line get some sort of first dibs as they've been there since 3am, but you could also say the feeding frenzy is fair too 

[Shitty Rambo]

I'm glad you find it humorous, but it's a big problem for small labels. Are we supposed to only start hyping/releasing records in the 4 off months that pressing won't have a 1/3 of a year turnaround? We try to put out records as soon as they're finished. Do you suggest we force musicians to wait to release their music 4 months after it's done just to get that time period to coincide with the record release? I know it's cool to be an asshole on the internet. Props to you! Hope you get all the internet cool guy points.

"Hey I know of you guys wanted to do a summer tour off the new album, but October might not be so bad. A lot of kids are homeschooled these days."

[Family Friendly Rap God]

I'm glad you find it humorous, but it's a big problem for small labels. Are we supposed to only start hyping/releasing records in the 4 off months that pressing won't have a 1/3 of a year turnaround? We try to put out records as soon as they're finished. Do you suggest we force musicians to wait to release their music 4 months after it's done just to get that time period to coincide with the record release? I know it's cool to be an asshole on the internet. Props to you! Hope you get all the internet cool guy points.

First off I run a business just like you do. Different fields but a business none the same. I'm not diminishing your issue but overcoming obstancles is probably the biggest issue of an owner outside of selling your product.

RSD is jamming you up? Find creative ways to overcome that. Or simply put, delay the vinyl release. Is it an inconvenience? Absolutely but if you don't have the $$ to compete with major labels what are you going to do about it other than complain?

Lastly I don't give two shits about VC rep, you could take that stick out of your ass. It might help.

before the angry downvotes pour in--I'm sure it's more complicated than that but yeah...I'm sure it's a major inconvenience, but if the life/death of my business hinged on getting a release out the door in a timely manner...I would be inclined to plan around RSD.

that said. on the bright side, the seasonality of RSD could very well drive an investment on the production side. If you're a manufacturer and you see a strong demand in the 4th quarter of the year that exceeds your capacity, in the shortish term it may make business sense to simply pass on the work or backlog less time sensitive releases, but if the record companies driving the big production RSD titles have deep enough pockets, at some point you should see an expansion in production capacity. At that point, the seasonal demand can be a benefit to the smaller guys planning around RSD because of the slack demand the rest of the year.

Exactly this. I wasn't trying to simplify his issue but you are in it to make money, so do what you need to do to survive as a small business. When all else fails, blame the delay on big business. That never failed to rally an indie crowd.

[Out of Breath Records]

I've already discussed the limitations of increasing production capacity. And in regards to working around RSD, there is only so much you can do.

 

First off I run a business just like you do. Different fields but a business none the same. I'm not diminishing your issue but overcoming obstancles is probably the biggest issue of an owner outside of selling your product.

Lastly I don't give two shits about VC rep, you could take that stick out of your ass. It might help

 

It's a business that runs on a completely different schedule/format than most businesses. In regards to the stick firmly lodged in my anus, it's going to stay there because it's annoying to have people try and dictate how your situation is when they very well don't know anything at all about it.

[Out of Breath Records]

"Hey I know of you guys wanted to do a summer tour off the new album, but October might not be so bad. A lot of kids are homeschooled these days."

 

"I know you guys spent like hundreds of dollars on recording and mastering and what to get money back/get the music out, but please wait a few months. Next time you should just write the album and flex that creativity only on the off-RSD months"

[just a normal guy kevin]

I used to work the register at Abercrombie when I was 19.  When there weren't enough of one denomination of bills in the tray, you know what we did?  We just waited until our boss to come with the money bag and refill the tray with more money.  Instead of whining, you should wait for your boss to come with the record bag and refill your tray with your indie orders.  All businesses deal with this exact issue and we all find a way to make it work.  It's part of being a business.