> 1. Make CDR/tape copies of your best stuff. > 2. Send to likely distributors asking them if they'd be > interested in a P&D > deal (Production & Distribution): ie. they press, sell and distribute the > record for you, in return for a greater cut of the revenue, but not all > distributors will do this. > 3. Take it from there...
Most people I know outside of the US did it this way. It means you lose total financial control but it also means that a) i) You don't have to front up all the cash to pay for cutting, processing and pressing. ii) this also means that it's not necessary to wait months for the returns before doing the next release. They just pay for it and it comes off your account. b) you can leave a lot of the work, booking arrangements, dealing with pressing plants etc to them, leaving you a few more minutes a week to make music, when you're not at the 9 to 5. c) the distributors have a little extra incentive to sell the records. I don't know about others but my distro, Prime, don't pay less for a P+D produced record than any other. Of course, as Tom rightly says, not every distro will go for a P+D. Another problem you face is geography. I know people who run labels in the US, and they have to deal with more than one distributor. I knew a guy that dealt with over twenty in the US alone, and I only know a couple of people who only deal with one.
