Dubstep record sales?

randomhed · Post by **randomhed** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:17 pm

I wonder if anyone could shed some light on what number of records get sold for a single release. Obviously it depends on the tune but for a banger are we talking 100s or 1000s. Also what kind of figures are we talking about for mp3's, and how do they compare like for like with vinyl.

I remember reading a dillinja interview on knowledge magazine maybe two years ago and in it if i remeber rightly he said back in the day a big tune could sell 15,000 copies but nowadays theyd be lucky to shift 5,000.

pure · Post by **pure** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:24 pm

All about the mp3s. I added this thing to my myspace where people can buy high quality mp3s of smile etc.............. 128 people have bought mp3s from me. Thats been up for three days or something. All about digital downloads right now.

4linehaiku · Post by **4linehaiku** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:43 pm

Pretty sure typical press for a 12" is 1000 these days.
No idea what digital downloads are hitting.

bob crunkhouse · Post by **bob crunkhouse** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:47 pm

4linehaiku wrote:Pretty sure typical press for a 12" is 1000 these days.
No idea what digital downloads are hitting.

ive heard its about 500 for a lot of stuff

thinking · Post by **thinking** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:50 pm

the bigger labels, your Tempa/DMZ/Tectonic etc sell 1000-2000ish I believe, but most smaller labels probably start with 500 and repress if necessary.

mp3 sales are pretty damn good by all accounts, they sell a lot more than I expected which is great for the labels - much better return for minimal extra investment.

chef · Post by **chef** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:55 pm

Start with 500 and then repress if/when needed.

seckle · Post by **seckle** » Mon May 14, 2007 5:59 pm

midnight request line was a few thousand. it's rare you get tunes doing that though. on the other hand, recently, we've seen tunes sell out 500 in 48hrs.

bob crunkhouse · Post by **bob crunkhouse** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:16 pm

Chef wrote:Start with 500 and then repr ess if/when needed.

if youre pressing 500, is it just as cheap to get another 500 repressed as it is to get a 1000 in the first place?

relaks · Post by **relaks** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:33 pm

seckle wrote:recently, we've seen tunes sell out 500 in 48hrs.

Noted. Pretty impressive. Shows what a supportive, small and somewhat esoteric scene it still is.

rudeski damager · Post by **rudeski damager** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:37 pm

if ur hard up4 cash/first release press 300 then repress

thinking · Post by **thinking** » Mon May 14, 2007 6:41 pm

Bob Crunkhouse wrote:
Chef wrote:Start with 500 and then repr ess if/when needed.
if youre pressing 500, is it just as cheap to get another 500 repressed as it is to get a 1000 in the first place?

cheaper - you don't have the initial costs of getting the mastering done and the metalwork made, so you just have to pay the costs of the vinyl units themselves. The more you press and go on to sell, the better the returns, although they're never that good with vinyl nowadays tbh.

d-nile · Post by **d-nile** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:04 pm

I think the cost on the second 500 would be the same cost per unit as the vinyl cost on 1000 - the processing costs and mastering are the only additional cost on the first 500. The price per unit only goes down significantly if you get loads pressed up - which I don't think really happens with many labels these days.

The fact that Defected are working with charles webster shows that even 'commercial' labels are having to work with the underground again - the days of hard house labels selling 30,000 are over - thank god!

The only benefit I can see for getting 1000 in one go would be a small saving on the delivery cost. Or if it really blows up you can lose some sales through waiting on a repress - that happened to me on my first release!

Play it safe - so you don't end up with a big box of your own records in the understairs cupboard!

markle · Post by **markle** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:16 pm

D-Nile wrote:Play it safe - so you don't end up with a big box of your own records in the understairs cupboard!

500 frisbee ain't fun.

It has to be a big track or by a well known artist to shift 1k.

The hardest part of running a small label is affording the second release. Coz even if your rekids fly out the shops, you are gonna have to wait a good 3- 6 months till you get your dosh back from the distributor.

j_j · Post by **j_j** » Mon May 14, 2007 7:58 pm

Pure wrote:All about the mp3s. I added this thing to my myspace where people can buy high quality mp3s of smile etc.............. 128 people have bought mp3s from me. Thats been up for three days or something. All about digital downloads right now.

messsingh · Post by **messsingh** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 7:59 pm

I really don't how many units are solid in dubstep but I believe you can get into the UK top 10 is you sell 10,000 units in one week.

I am aware that most dubstep don't sell as fast but I seriously doubt the units are very high considering all the promotion and airplay commerial tunes get.

Plus the tunes can be bought on any high street which of course isn't true of dubstep.

Jazz

thinking · Post by **thinking** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:02 pm

messsingh wrote:I really don't how many units are solid in dubstep but I believe you can get into the UK top 10 is you sell 10,000 units in one week.

you would need most or all of those sales to be bought in shops which are registered with the UK Chart Company - when the barcode reader then sends info of what's bought to the UK Charts.

Unfortunately almost all of the shops where underground vinyl are bought aren't registered, so unless we all bought our 12"s from HMV it ain't gonna happen. It's a shame, I reckon quite a few big underground tunes could have charted in the past...

messsingh · Post by **messsingh** » Fri Jun 22, 2007 8:24 pm

[quote="ThinKing"][quote="messsingh"]I really don't how many units are solid in dubstep but I believe you can get into the UK top 10 is you sell 10,000 units in one week.[/quote]

you would need most or all of those sales to be bought in shops which are registered with the UK Chart Company - when the barcode reader then sends info of what's bought to the UK Charts.

Unfortunately almost all of the shops where underground vinyl are bought aren't registered, so unless we all bought our 12"s from HMV it ain't gonna happen. It's a shame, I reckon quite a few big underground tunes could have charted in the past...[/quote]

True

But the point I was making is that tunes in any genre aren't selling huge numbers. Even pop music where there is a massive distribution infrastructure and a lot of marketing.

Jazz

seckle · Post by **seckle** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 5:15 pm

7" indie rock vinyl is outselling cd singles in the UK. i've heard that a band like artic monkeys can do 250,000 7"s in europe alone.

45's are back big time, but only for indie rock.

pete_bubonic · Post by **pete_bubonic** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 5:25 pm

ThinKing wrote:
messsingh wrote:I really don't how many units are solid in dubstep but I believe you can get into the UK top 10 is you sell 10,000 units in one week.
you would need most or all of those sales to be bought in shops which are registered with the UK Chart Company - when the barcode reader then sends info of what's bought to the UK Charts.

Unfortunately almost all of the shops where underground vinyl are bought aren't registered, so unless we all bought our 12"s from HMV it ain't gonna happen. It's a shame, I reckon quite a few big underground tunes could have charted in the past...

MP3's count towards chart ratings now, so how does that work? Presumably the mp3 store also has to be registered, but does it make the 'barcode' thing a bit obsolete?

pete_bubonic · Post by **pete_bubonic** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 5:26 pm

seckle wrote:7" indie rock vinyl is outselling cd singles in the UK. i've heard that a band like artic monkeys can do 250,000 7"s in europe alone.

45's are back big time, but only for indie rock.

Again, same question as before really, what's the deal with mp3's, don't get me wrong I'm glad to hear vinyl is doing it's thing. But sure mp3 sales are probably higher than either of those two formats for a band of that size?

Dubstep record sales?

Dubstep record sales?

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