But 7"singles? C'mon! How niche is your market going to be? Pressing costs would hurt a lot man.....

2012 WINTERSTORM'S ASSAULT ON THE CHARTS SHOWS NO SIGN OF ABATING..

*VORGON SCUTTLES AWAY AND SKULKS....

One major disadvantage to owning a shop is that people expect it to be open so you either have to miss out on holidays etc or get enough trusted staff (who usually require payment, however little your business is making). Just about any other business (as long as you plan properly) can avoid this problem. I'd go for the record label every time.

so are you planning on paying advances to these artists that you "sign up"

Or are you going to say, i will cover all recording, mastering, pressing, distribution, marketing and we will do a 50/50 split on any money made

Or maybe you will get some bands that arent bothered and will just love the chance to have something released, you pay for the pressing, and put it in local shops and split any money 50/50?

I suppose if you have loads of contacts in maybe tv and radio and can get some airplay then it could work out

But if its just a hobby, then it could turn out very expensive

Thats not to say it couldnt be fun!

.....exists for an oldies record label like the Old Gold label of thirty or so years ago but, crucially, the price has to be competitive for such product (£2-£2.50) and not Premiership inspired ridiculousness (£9.99).

A label putting out original 45 edits of 60s material (3 or 4 a month, advertising in the Record Collector etc.) could really thrive, especially if obscurer/hipper groups were accessed (e.g. The Doors, The Velvet Underground, Nick Drake, The Creation, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Syd-era Floyd etc. etc.) rather than Gerry & The Pacemakers.

It sounds fanciful and unlikely but I'm sure that Old Gold was essentially an little label from Ilford that ended up with pretty much everyone on the catalogue other than Elvis, The Stones and The Beatles.

I love Love, for example, but I've never even seen a copy of any of their 60s UK singles.....but I'd buy a re-issue for £2.50 of 'You Mind And We Belong Together'/'Laughing Stock'.

and a couple even occasionally get close to breaking even (Odd Box, Thee Sheffield Phonographic Corporation). On some releases at least. I'll see if they'll pop over.

Best go in with the expectation of it being a bit of an expensive hobby both in terms of time and money.

Oh and have plenty of storage space for unsold stock...

:)

..but then look and they're all digital - so hardly any money involved.
What gap there is though is helping bands to release decent product. Time after time I go to a launch night in Liverpool and the bands have invested a "lot" of money in a release. They hire the best studio they can, pay out for the best venue they can afford then with what's left they pay for some cheap looking CD's in a slip case or a jewel case that's so cheap it breaks as soon as you get it home. They then forget to put barcodes on which means shops won't stock it cas they can't add it to the system witha bit of effort.
If you can breach that quality gap by establishing some contacts then you could build up a little profit share enterprise.
If on top of that you could work out a reasonable website to house an online shop on their behalf and also a good relationship with local area shops which you are able to keep stocked on a sale or return business then you could start building it up. Then at some future date you could then have enough to actually help with recording costs in the first place.

What about doing it as a record 'club', similar to the Rough Trade singles club idea,....subscription based and people investing in the idea of new discoveries/recommendations?

I have no contacts or real knowledge of what is the done thing. I know it would be more of an expensive hobby than anything else. I would say Sheffield phonographic corp, is the ideal example of where I would like to go, another example and a label I greatly admire is cold spring. I'm not sure about dealing with the artist would imagine the 50/50 type deal would be ideal, to be fair have not ever gone into any depth about starting a label, and just put it out to see if anyone had ever hadany experience of such a thing , thanks again

More a watch this space.

Though I did wonder whether he might need to spend a few weeks growing a beard before qualifying to post...

... as opposed to the record shop. You can do it from home, and your "exposure" is pretty limited from release to release, so you can space out your expenditure according to your cashflow (unless it's your only form of income, of course.) It's also scalable, so if you luck into a "flyer", you can just make more of it and take advantage.

The trouble is, this also applies to the artists themselves, so you need to bring something else (knowledge, expertise, contacts, sales force etc.) to the party to make it worthwhile for them to sign up to you and give you half (or whatever) of their income.

I'd suggest deciding how much you want to invest over what timescale (say £5,000 in year 1), assuming you'll be happy to lose it all if the worst happens. Then just do it, and see how things go - maybe you'll double your money and expand, break even but stress yourself out, or lose the money but have a ball in the process. Either way, you'll know what you're letting yourself in for without putting everything on the line...

and had a stall at the major folk festivals. They would take your money and post you the CD. No money tied up in stock as everything was made to order. These were proper copies, not burnt on a home laptop. I think they had a deal with a pressing plant.