Guest Admin Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Ok, I need your feedback on how I should handle this. My pressing plant suggested I do 20 test pressings and I am thinking about doing so. I would give all of the members of the band a set, david from suicide squeeze a set, and then I would have a handful leftover. The pressing plant suggested putting them up for sale, but I wasn't sure if that seemed shady. What do you think? 1. Is it lame to see labels sell test pressings? 2. What is a fair price to sell a set of double LP test pressings for Minus the Bear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest conoley Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 You can hold some kind of lottery to determine who can buy them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest conoley Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Or even better - let us board members get first crack!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ihprstl Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 What if you sold them in an auction style and gave a portion of the profits to a charity if you are feeling some guilt about selling a test pressing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supermandre Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Or even better - let us board members get first crack!!! agreed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stefan Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 I might be in the minority but I think that it's lame to see labels sell test pressings *especially* so close to the release. Cash in your one extra tp in a few years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robotnerd Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 yeah, you could auction them off... OR... do a contest for them. that way you don't feel guilty about selling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brennan Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 all label owners test presses should be sold to board members... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ps Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 I don't think its lame at all, If I was a huge fan of a band I would consider buying a test press. But there are only a maybe 2 or 3 bands that I would buy a test press for. Speaking of you got any for the Tim Barry record you want to get rid of ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chiefwahoo Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 First and foremost, keep in mind that they may end up on eBay anyways. So if you feel like you should be making money off of them if anybody should, then just sell them and put it towards future releases. If you don't care, I say include them with the pre-orders but completely at random. Lifeline Records did a neat thing where they allowed anyone who pre-ordered a certain LP to buy a raffle ticket for $1 for a shot at winning a limited edition pressing of a 7". That way only the people that care to win are entered, they can buy as many tickets as they want, and you can potentially make a nice chunk of change yourself. I'm guessing you'd hit three figures easily. Although pre-orders already started so I suppose people could feel slighted if they find out about it until later. I really like what Lifeline did, I think it's fair for everyone. And I'm EXTREMELY jealous of whoever it was on this board that won a copy of that 7". Congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flood Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 being both a label owner / test pressing collector... i think its totally straight that you sell them man, or trade them with other labels for their tests. Theres such a low profit margin on vinyl as it is (especially if you're doing multiple, multi-color configs) every extra dollar can make the difference between releasing more vinyl, and going into debt. I'd rather see you selling test presses, and making a little extra scratch for yourself, than the chance of you losing money in a market thats already dwindling for music sales. Plus you're not ripping anyone off. The casual vinyl buyer cares not about a test press, and isn't going to spend out the ass to get one when they can buy the actual record.. its just us super nerds that care about them. altho.... test pressings are technically the very best sounding pieces of vinyl you will ever get from the technical standpoint, since the stampers are totally fresh, and they get worn down with every record pressed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakland Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Well, the "Collector of the month" should get one for sure... But seriously, I think what Brent at Magic Bullet did was cool. Print up some hand-screened special covers for these and sell them on a first-come, first-served basis in the store starting at midnight on the day of the release. Hand number them and all that. Or, have another contest and give them away. That first contest was so much fun. Or better yet, do an auction to help pay for something for vinyl collective (bandwidth or whatever). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flood Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 yeah we had a coupke contests for test pressings, one at punknews.org, one at absolutepunk.net, and then sent out two test pressings randomly out of all the people who preordered a set of all the LP variations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 I agree with selling some off to go toward helping the site and store. I also like the idea of maybe holding a contest and the winner gets a copy as a prize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
faith Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Dude, if you wanna sell them, so be it. The real nerds will be totally happy no matter the price, the others will just be jealous they can't afford it.. you shoudln't feel bad to sell them at all, and you shouldn't have to make contests or stuff only to make yourself feel better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aarondanger Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 i think its awesome when labels have test pressings for sale Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brennan Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 yah i agree sell them. that way the ppl that want them the most get them and the profit goes to you, not some person who stayed up tell 12am to buy one just to sell or something like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lokithelion Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 I really like what Lifeline did, I think it's fair for everyone. And I'm EXTREMELY jealous of whoever it was on this board that won a copy of that 7". Congrats! Hey. This is my first post as a logged in user but I was the dude who won the 7". I loved the raffle. Lifeline presses records at a loss and I had no problem paying for a raffle for the limited to 50 MLIW 7". It brought some extra scratch to the label and in the end I won a rad and super rad record. That being said I think board members should get first crack. Or how about newest board members getting first crack.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dim Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 I have no problem with a label selling test presses, if it's not sooner it'll be later. However, I do agree with a raffle/contest idea, especially for the the board members, spice this baby up a little. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brennan Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 yes. basically i think whoever is not a member of this board should have no chance of ever getting anything good related to records. agreed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robotnerd Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 i think since i am have the most posts except for conoley (doesn't count), i should automatically get 5 of them for free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest conoley Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 Hahaha, that's science! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robotnerd Posted June 26, 2007 Share Posted June 26, 2007 i'm glad you agree. if you can convince virgil to go along with it, i'll give you one of my 5 for being a good sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacobe Posted June 27, 2007 Share Posted June 27, 2007 I see nothing wrong with labels selling tests, Bridge 9 and Deathwish have done it in the past and no one complains, so I don't see why you should even give a second thought to selling them yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xfedaykinx Posted June 27, 2007 Share Posted June 27, 2007 i also believe you should have no qualms about selling the test presses. i would love to have the chance to pick one up. a raffle, or contest of some kind does sound the most fair. but not if i dont win!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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