places to press records

[riddle350]

what's the average cost to license a record?

[sgoodcore]

what's the average cost to license a record?

i don't think there's a rule. deep elm worked with me for a cost of $500 as a refundable deposit for the masters, plates, etc along with 200 records, 100 for them, 100 for the band.

[supchillinyou]

I'm considering contacting some bands about vinyl I want to see.

Can someone give me an estimate on about how much it would cost to put out a record?

Anywhere from 100-500 (12"s)

Your best bet is to get 500+ the cost difference typically between say 200 or 500 records is a matter of a couple hundred bucks.

For 500 records including standard full color jackets, 1/1 inserts, plating metal parts etc, would be around 2300 bucks give or take a bit.

On the other hand if it is a record that you think would sell really well, getting 1000 pressed would be around 700 bucks more.

Getting 100 pressed would end up costing you around 8-10 bucks a record, getting 500 would cost around 3.50-4.25 a record.

If you wanted different colors, usually there is a 200 minimum except for black, and the color change is usually a 1-200 dollar charge, plus extra for any custom colors.

If you wanted a high quality record, and money isn't a huge issue, I would deffinitely suggest Pirates Press, as they will do colors as small as 50-100 for only a 100 dollar change over charge, and also do very high quality jackets for fairly cheap.

The only thing that kills you is the shipping. 500+ bucks. Coming from Czech republic.

Bill Smith and Rainbo are also very awesome places to go, but you would have to buy jackets elsewhere (iloveimprint.com is good for jackets)

But the minimum for Bill Smith and Rainbo is 500, and will typically only do 500 of any given color.

United puts out paper thin crappy vinyl, and will probably fuck up your order a couple times, but will fix it, but it will take a LONG time to get your records.

United is pretty much just luck of the draw, sometimes they do a great job, but a lot of times they do a horrible completely shitty job. They seem to screw up orders mostly if your a first time customer.

Sorry for the long reply, but from my perspective, (I've used Rainbo, Bill Smith, URP, and Pirates)

I would go with Pirates, and negotiate with em on jacket stock, and price.

United vinyl is also 120-135 gram, while Pirates standard weight is 160-180 gram, for colored, 150-160 for black.

A tad more expensive for Pirates, but those guys are ace.

Pirates won't do a color pressing of anything less than 100 units, but they are great for variety and are relatively cheap to change from color pressing to color pressing

Bill Smith will do a pressing of less than 500. Currently I'm doing a pressing of 300 +/- (150 color 1, 100 color 2, 50 color 3) -- so they are good for variety too. Plus with Bill Smith's you get the cool transfer colors (if you're into that)

[jailhouse]

Your best bet is to get 500+ the cost difference typically between say 200 or 500 records is a matter of a couple hundred bucks.

For 500 records including standard full color jackets, 1/1 inserts, plating metal parts etc, would be around 2300 bucks give or take a bit.

On the other hand if it is a record that you think would sell really well, getting 1000 pressed would be around 700 bucks more.

Getting 100 pressed would end up costing you around 8-10 bucks a record, getting 500 would cost around 3.50-4.25 a record.

If you wanted different colors, usually there is a 200 minimum except for black, and the color change is usually a 1-200 dollar charge, plus extra for any custom colors.

If you wanted a high quality record, and money isn't a huge issue, I would deffinitely suggest Pirates Press, as they will do colors as small as 50-100 for only a 100 dollar change over charge, and also do very high quality jackets for fairly cheap.

The only thing that kills you is the shipping. 500+ bucks. Coming from Czech republic.

Bill Smith and Rainbo are also very awesome places to go, but you would have to buy jackets elsewhere (iloveimprint.com is good for jackets)

But the minimum for Bill Smith and Rainbo is 500, and will typically only do 500 of any given color.

United puts out paper thin crappy vinyl, and will probably fuck up your order a couple times, but will fix it, but it will take a LONG time to get your records.

United is pretty much just luck of the draw, sometimes they do a great job, but a lot of times they do a horrible completely shitty job. They seem to screw up orders mostly if your a first time customer.

Sorry for the long reply, but from my perspective, (I've used Rainbo, Bill Smith, URP, and Pirates)

I would go with Pirates, and negotiate with em on jacket stock, and price.

United vinyl is also 120-135 gram, while Pirates standard weight is 160-180 gram, for colored, 150-160 for black.

A tad more expensive for Pirates, but those guys are ace.

Pirates won't do a color pressing of anything less than 100 units, but they are great for variety and are relatively cheap to change from color pressing to color pressing

Bill Smith will do a pressing of less than 500. Currently I'm doing a pressing of 300 +/- (150 color 1, 100 color 2, 50 color 3) -- so they are good for variety too. Plus with Bill Smith's you get the cool transfer colors (if you're into that)

Awesome, something I wasn't aware of. I haven't used them in a very long time. Only used em for 7".

high quality

[supchillinyou]

Pirates won't do a color pressing of anything less than 100 units, but they are great for variety and are relatively cheap to change from color pressing to color pressing

Bill Smith will do a pressing of less than 500. Currently I'm doing a pressing of 300 +/- (150 color 1, 100 color 2, 50 color 3) -- so they are good for variety too. Plus with Bill Smith's you get the cool transfer colors (if you're into that)

Awesome, something I wasn't aware of. I haven't used them in a very long time. Only used em for 7".

high quality

for sure man.

Plus, Pirates Press just increased their prices (as did recordpressing.com) because GZ Media increased their prices -- partly because the dollar is so weak. Pretty big bummer...

[jailhouse]

Awesome, something I wasn't aware of. I haven't used them in a very long time. Only used em for 7".

high quality

for sure man.

Plus, Pirates Press just increased their prices (as did recordpressing.com) because GZ Media increased their prices -- partly because the dollar is so week. Pretty big bummer...

Yeah that really sucks. We are going to continue using em, we have used em for a while, and the extra $ seems to be worth the quality.

It does majorly suck ass though.

The Crux s/t and Pop Culture, and the Lincolns record are all Pirates press.

Probably start using Bill Smith for 7" and short runs.

[xjustinxschwierx]

also...think of it as a eco-friendly and US economy-friendly decision to get your records made in the US...that way you will pay less for shipping and thus a lesser "carbon footprint" will be made. Besides, there are like 10-15 US plants, so theoretically there is no reason to outsource that work to another country.

(if you use recordpressing or pirates press you're going to get RAPED on shipping charges, I speak from experience on this.)

[supchillinyou]

also...think of it as a eco-friendly and US economy-friendly decision to get your records made in the US...that way you will pay less for shipping and thus a lesser "carbon footprint" will be made. Besides, there are like 10-15 US plants, so theoretically there is no reason to outsource that work to another country.

(if you use recordpressing or pirates press you're going to get RAPED on shipping charges, I speak from experience on this.)

just sucks that GZ does such better quality (and more creative) vinyl pressing. hands down. not to mention, one of the only places that can do an entire package: vinyl, jacket, innersleeve, shrink, sticker, etc. -- I would gladly always use a U.S.-based company to press our records if that were the case.

Its not like we are outsourcing to cut costs -- we are actually paying more for better quality. Not to mention both Pirates and Recordpressing are U.S.-based brokers

but as prices rise, I'm gonna use U.S. plants more and more

[kyle]

A friend fo mine who has put out a few records hates Musicol and swears by United but just recently had an issue with their mastering. Basically, it seems like vinyl is hit and miss and all the plants are capable of doing good work. My main criteria for a plant is whether or not they will take care of their mistakes in a timely manner. I still haven't pressed my first record, but I'm doing so soon. I'm not 100% sure where I'll be going.