DISTRIBUTION

There are many ways you can get your records distributed these days. Selling yourself, whilst initially the most profitable avenue, might not necessarily be the easiest option.

Selling your records to shops, friends Ebay etc means you get the most money because you are selling direct to the end user (not including shop sales), but this process usually takes the longest. Shops will rarely pay you up front, or COD and will probably insist on 30 days SOR (sale or return). This means they will pay you 30 days from delivery and any units they have left they will either return to you, or keep to sell for the next month.

Distributors will normally offer you the same terms (30 days SOR) with the main advantage being they will have a huge global database of shops that you will find it near impossible to supply on your own. The main drawback being selling to a distributor means you will lower your price as technically you are dealing wholesale now. Experience shows that the small cut in unit price is more than accounted for by the increased volume of sales, plus distributors have so many systems in place they are best suited not only to get your record to as many shops as possible, it is also in the quickest time possible.

Some points worth noting if you decide to go to distributors -
Almost all will prefer you to deal with them exclusive which, with the right distributor, can be a good thing as they are more likely to concentrate on your product rather than assume that the other companies you are selling to are taking care of certain stores or territories. It may take time to find the right distributor for your record - usually determined by the genre as most specialise in different styles. A good way to see who distributes your genre of music is to look at records currently on sale that are similar to yours and see if the label has the name of the distributor for that label on there. If so, they pretty much always have contact details. If you are not near a record store, then checking any of the online stores is easier as most have images on the sites for the records. Juno Records  (www.juno.co.uk), Hard To Find Records (www.hftr.com) are good starting points as they not only carry new releases, but both have a comprehensive range of back catalogue items still listed going back many years - often having tracks on there that probably influenced your foray into producing music in the first place.

If you decide to sell to more than one distributor, to save hassle, it is best to offer the same unit price to everyone. Even though the distributors are competitors, more often than not they know each other pretty well and if one is being sold cheaper than the other, they will know - mainly when the same shops are offered the same product at different prices by different companies.

If you wish to sell your records to, say, your local record store who you may know pretty well, make sure you tell the distributor you are using too, this will prevent any ill feeling, and also let your distributor understand that it is just one or two shops you wish to sell direct too and you are not ‘cherry picking’ them for yourself.

Working closely with your distributor and building up a good relationship with them will more often than not result in maximised sales. You can even set things up so that you can guarantee sales ready for when your record is ready through pre-sales.

When you have your track ready and artwork designed, before sending them to us for manufacture, send them to your distributor who will begin the pre-sale process. Usually the following information is needed -

• Catalogue number - whatever is on the run out groove of the record
  (usually SOMETHING001 etc)
  
• Artist -
  
• Title -
  
• Full track-listing (including mixes) - well known remixers usually increase sales
  
• Format - 7” 12” CD etc
  
• Release Date - estimated date when your record will be ready to deliver
  
• Unit price - (your price to the distributor)
  
• Include the JPegs for labels and sleeves

The more information your give about the release, the more the distributor can give when selling it, not only does this maximise sales, it can greatly cut down the time between you paying for your release, to receiving your money from the distributor. For example, if you have an industry standard 30 days end of month SOR deal with  a distributor (you get paid by them, 30 days after the end of the current month from the date your deliver) and you deliver your release to them on, say, 3rd of April, you will be paid by the distributor 30 days after the end of the current month, meaning your return on your record will be over 60 days from you paying for the pressing at the beginning of June.

Other advantages to pre selling, aside from your money being tied up for a shorter time is when you initially, for example) intend to press 500 copies, pre-sales might be higher than that so that right up until the time you press, you have the option to increase your order, which in itself can help prevent unnecessary further costs. If you press 500 records, and then decide to press another 200 copies (or any quantity under 300), the extra 200 copies will cost you more to press at a later date as runs under 300 copies incur set up costs. So if you press 500 + 200 at the same time, these costs and time can be avoided.

The other advantage to pre-sales is that your record might not sell as well initially as expected, which again can save unnecessary costs and stock wastage. If you initially plan to press, say, 1,000 copies and your pre sales are only 500, not only can you save money by pressing a smaller quantity, you will not have 500 copies of your record on the shelf gathering dust.
You may sell those 500 copies over time, but there really is no need to press so many on the first run. You can always accumulate new orders over time and repress later, plus, you can invest the money saved in a new project of 500 records.

If you are a new (or established) label and plan on-going releases on the same label (001, 002, 003 and so on), it might be a good idea to press extra copies to hold as back catalogue. For example - if your first pressing (001) is 500 copies and you sell them straight away, it is a fair assumption that over time you will sell another 250 - 500 copies. As you progress through your releases (002, 003 etc) you will find as the label series becomes more established and successful, when the end customer buys 003, they are likely to wish to buy 001 and 002. This will be reflected by re stock orders from your distributor.

It’s hard to know for sure how many units you will sell as there are many factors involved in the success of record. These range from peak times and slow periods for releases throughout the year - with the summer months being traditionally slower (although recently, for some genres this has been a boom time), strength of a track (just because your friends like it, or lots of DJ’s are playing it doesn’t always mean people will actually buy it on Vinyl)