Monday, February 1, 2010

'Spillharmonic Records - 2010 update



Hey 'Spillers - time for a wee update on the old 'Spillharmonic doings.

I've had to have a slight rethink on the idea of releasing vinyl - this is mainly due to how much more it would cost for a format that most of us can't even play.

So, I'm now thinking we do a CD first, and hopefully we'll raise enough from that to make a record.

Benefits of a CD:

0. Can fit more bands on it!
1. Cheaper.
2. More people can play it.
3. Easier/cheaper to post out.
4. Can be packaged in a fab way with a wee bitty effort
5. We have the cash!

What do you think?

There's excellent packagers, like this one , where if we buy the blank sleeves we can then customize them with stamps / painting / screen-printing etc to make something unique and lovely and desirable.

Also, with the amount of room on a CD, we can put out even more ace unheard bands (or not have to turn any away) and call it "unheard music" or "there's something happening here"

Any more ideas gratefully received, let's jam, and get this moving!!

15 comments:

Carole said...

Yes, CDs are cheaper and have more capacity.

Go for it!

Makinavaja said...

CD's are fine for starters but I would love us to be able to put out some vinyl at some stage - raising funds for a future release as you say in your post. Also the idea of kick-starting more potential artistic adventures is a plus!

Unknown said...

Let's do this!

Shoegazer said...

Why not just do a Pay To Download, with downloadable art. After any royalties are paid to the Artistes (if such we have). Any profits go 50% to designated charities & 50% towards the next one (or whatever proportions make sense). If we want a deluxe handcrafted physical version, just bump up the purchase price to cover extra costs, p&p etc.

If this approach saves cash, can we make an immediate donation to Mitch's charity as Debby suggested somewhere down below.

B=Mc2 said...

@shoey

I'm 100% up for a % of profits going to charity.

We'd have the songs available as pay to dl also (itunes, emusic etc).

The thing about having a physical product is an important one for the bands/artists I've spoken to, because they/we need something to sell at gigs. Also, to get something reviewed it helps to send a cd over a link to download.

The packaging I've been looking at is actually pretty cheap (£100 would get 500 cardboard sleeves), and with some attention and tlc will look a million bucks. I may even be able to get the cd duplication done for almost free!

B=Mc2 said...

Has anyone any experience of using laser-cut stencils for anything?

http://www.cut-tec.co.uk

can do one for £65

severin said...

I was rather hoping we'd do a cassette.

saneshane said...

If you buy the CD/ rather than download (it still comes in 12" packaging - to fit in next to your vinyl) you WILL get a mix tape - that includes our new found artists- compiled by one of the 'spill team. It'll be lucky dip though.. no requests of nilpferd tastefulness or extra long steen tapes - pure chance.

Shoey said...

Downloadable 12" cassette with hand-made art work it is then. This music mogul stuff is easy.

steenbeck said...

Well, if it's painfully long, carelessly selected lists you're looking for, I'm your woman!!

Blimpy - you probably have more contact with musicians (is that REALLY how you spell that word?) than most of us. Do you have anybody in mind?

Shoey said...

Seriously, not sure that bands will want to give away a compilation album that contains several other bands they may not care for. Surely, they could burn & sell their own stuff on cd (as most do)? A vinyl offering, that the band couldn't afford to do on their own, is a little different - even if it's a split single or EP with another band or bands on it. If we don't have the cash for this now, let's plan to do it later.

What we do have is: The Boy Wonder, some good tunes from Barbryn in search of a vocalist/production, a resident artistic genius and, perhaps, unreleased riches in the vaults of Toffee, Sourpus or even Aba. I have a mate with a Peter Gabriel "Real World" tech studio in his house who's struggling with an album or two.

Whatever the group decides is fine with me.

Seems to me though, that an immediate Mitch charity contribution would be the best possible start. If that's how you start an enterprise like this, how can you fail?

B-Mac said...

@shoey - how much are you wanting to donate initially?

@steen - currently I'm speaking to Sanjuro, Goodbye Lenin, Your Loyal Subjects, Elliot From The West, Mondo Mimmo, and intend approaching a few others -these artists only really cover folk/indie/alt rock - so I think it'd be really good to have some more variation in musical styles. I'm also attempting making music vids for 3 of them (that was part of the initial plan, i vaguely remember)

@shane - if we order the brown cardboard sleeve, we'll then need to design a laser-cut stencil to print onto it- so an arresting vector image would be needed for this. I can't stop thinking of gramophones, but that's just me.

Shoey said...

As you've been selling your own records to bump up the total, Blimpy, it wouldn't be fair to pick a number. Once we've decided on an approach & costed it out we can decide on a donation. My suggestion would be to start low-cost & build from there, but like I said, whatever the group decides is fine by me.

B=Mc2 said...

@shoey - i agree 100%! i should be able to get the mastering done for free, and hopefully the duplication also.

glasshalfempty said...

Blimpo, I'm in the KISS camp, here (as in simplicity, not Gene Simmons), so I'd go for your idea of a CD with a 'DIY chic' sleeve.

Agree with shoey's list of early contenders, but no doubt you will in due course devise some fiendish way of inviting other suggestions and boiling them down to pass the tests of quality and ability to fit on the CD! (Declaring an interest, I have a band I'd like to nominate, who I know are up for it).

Despite it being a compilation, musicians still waiting in the wings of the big time find referencing inclusion on a sampler good for their CV.

As for the Mitch charity donation idea, I think that's bang-on with the mutually supporting ethic of the 'Spill, but I'd suggest a % of sales or profits - like 5% - rather than fixing a sum up front.