unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.

I've wanted to put together a cassette release for a while, and decided to do so for my latest chip music album. The process of doing has been a lot of fun, and in doing so, things grew and arms and legs. It made sense to put together my own 'label' to release my various different bits of music on.

I've set up a shop at http://cowtonguetaco.com, and am looking to find a few artists who would be interested in doing short cassette runs on the label to kick things off. Ideally this would be UK based folk for now because of the postage side of things.

Essentially the artist would pay for the initial material costs, and then I will take a small commission from any physical sales - handling all of the production/artwork/etc. I'm doing it all by hand, and not making any cash off of it; it's purely for the love of the thing.

More details on what would be involved are here:

http://cowtonguetaco.tictail.com/about

So if you're a UK/Euro musician, looking to release some limited edition tapes and see how things go, give me a shout. It would be awesome to get some other chip musicians involved from the outset.

Other links:

http://instagram.com/cowtonguetaco
http://twitter.com/cowtonguetaco
http://music.cowtonguetaco.com

Last edited by unexpectedbowtie (May 15, 2017 1:58 am)

SuperBustySamuraiMonkey
Offline
Madriz, Supain

Ive got a few homies here in Spain ready to record shit, are you interested in harsher/darker stuff?

unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.
SuperBustySamuraiMonkey wrote:

Ive got a few homies here in Spain ready to record shit, are you interested in harsher/darker stuff?

Sure. Fire me over a DM with some links to existing stuff and we can see how things would work. smile

frank angotti is dead
Offline
Tennessee

I may not be UK based but I would be interested in this & could possibly help with a few things also...message me and we can work out some details.

unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.
frank angotti is dead wrote:

I may not be UK based but I would be interested in this & could possibly help with a few things also...message me and we can work out some details.

will do!

JodyBigfoot
Offline

Interesting prospect, love your lo fi art smile

Definitely more common for a label to cover production costs, it would make for a stronger label and business if you only pick what you think suits it best and cover the costs yourself.

I am doing a tape release soon anyway, I can send you some at traders price to try and sell on if you like?

unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.
JodyBigfoot wrote:

Interesting prospect, love your lo fi art smile

Definitely more common for a label to cover production costs, it would make for a stronger label and business if you only pick what you think suits it best and cover the costs yourself.

I am doing a tape release soon anyway, I can send you some at traders price to try and sell on if you like?

Cheers for the feedback! I'm going to do a mix of things and see what works best. Who knows. Maybe absolutely nobody will buy any tapes anyway tongue

Drop me a PM re: your release and I can see if it makes sense. If you're in the US it might not because of postage etc, but give me a shout!

JodyBigfoot
Offline

cool will do.

I also thought of selling tape players along with the release but they are at that point where there are fewer of them left so they arent cheap to get hold of without scouring car boot sales etc

tempsoundsolutions
Offline
TSSBAY01

so lemme get this straight.

the artist supplies the music, as well as the scratch to make the release for your label. then you presumably sell it based on trust, and again pay the artist based on trust after the product that they paid to have made has been sold, after you take your commission. what happens if noone buys the tapes or if you cant sell them? have you ever worked with a label before, do you have any credentials of any type to sort of prove to people that you can be trusted? any transactions with members here or anything like that? i ask this because you're asking for people to contribute to you with no risk to yourself and a possible reward to others who work to potentially build your label's releases so i feel like this is a valid question to ask. you also say you dont intend to make any cash from it, but that you will take a commission. all in all, it doesnt sound like a very solid pitch to go about starting a label.

unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.
tempsoundsolutions wrote:

so lemme get this straight.

the artist supplies the music, as well as the scratch to make the release for your label. then you presumably sell it based on trust, and again pay the artist based on trust after the product that they paid to have made has been sold, after you take your commission. what happens if noone buys the tapes or if you cant sell them? have you ever worked with a label before, do you have any credentials of any type to sort of prove to people that you can be trusted? any transactions with members here or anything like that? i ask this because you're asking for people to contribute to you with no risk to yourself and a possible reward to others who work to potentially build your label's releases so i feel like this is a valid question to ask. you also say you dont intend to make any cash from it, but that you will take a commission. all in all, it doesnt sound like a very solid pitch to go about starting a label.

It's a bit tough to take in what you're saying when it doesn't seem like you've taken much time to write it out properly, but I will do my best.

I have been on the forum for years, was a mod at 8bc, and have plenty of interaction with members. Either way, it would be based on trust - much like a lot of things in the DIY community. TBH though, if you want extensive references of my musical experience before spending about  £10 to release 5 cassette tapes, then you're kind of missing the point, and it isn't the sort of release that I'd be interested in doing anyway.

This is something I am doing purely for the love of it. I know plenty of artists who record their own music and would love a physical release but don't have the time, equipment, or inclination to do it themselves. In that case, I can do it for the cost of materials, plus a small commission if they sell - which isn't unreasonable given the amount of time and work that goes into the production. The quantity of releases and runs involved would be so small that there is no prospect of making any cash. In other words, this isn't a money making exercise. It's a DIY, home label, not some commercial venture that I am pitching.

For me it's more of a collaboration with like minded folk. If it doesn't work for you, that's cool.

unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.
JodyBigfoot wrote:

cool will do.

I also thought of selling tape players along with the release but they are at that point where there are fewer of them left so they arent cheap to get hold of without scouring car boot sales etc

Yeah man, I love that idea! You're right that the cost would be prohibitive, though could be cool as a one off artistic release for someone who wasn't concerned with it being cost effective.

tempsoundsolutions
Offline
TSSBAY01

ok, well i'll take even less time for this response...is there any incentive in releasing music on your label where you're only planning on releasing 5 copies per release? it sounds like you are more concerned with building a label than you are about what to release. in my experience, this doesnt make a good start. you are asking on a forum for demos, but why not just ask your friends first and release their music and get a few releases lined up before looking for submissions? whats in it for the people who would be otherwise self-releasing their material? what im saying is that you dont seem to have much of a plan here. good faith is good faith, but you're asking people to entrust you with their work, and dubbing off 5 copies of a tape isnt much work to do. i havent seen any mention of digital copies so i can only assume you dont intend for that to be an option. what do you plan on doing in terms of promotion?

when you start a label, its a good idea to release some type of compilation or a release by a well known artist to bring a little bit of attention to your label. it looks like you're more concerned with getting a label up and running with no real plan for the future or incentive to the artist. if someone is releasing music on your label, surely there should be some benefit to them for doing so, right? running a label where theres releases that have as low of print runs as this doesnt seem like something that is going to be beneficial to the music or the artist, so again, what are you bringing to the table beyond dubbing the tapes? is there anything you can offer to a potential artist that their own bandcamp cant other than 'love'? i ask these questions because i have seen more than a few tape releases get screwed up recently.

unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.
tempsoundsolutions wrote:

ok, well i'll take even less time for this response...is there any incentive in releasing music on your label where you're only planning on releasing 5 copies per release? it sounds like you are more concerned with building a label than you are about what to release. in my experience, this doesnt make a good start. you are asking on a forum for demos, but why not just ask your friends first and release their music and get a few releases lined up before looking for submissions? whats in it for the people who would be otherwise self-releasing their material? what im saying is that you dont seem to have much of a plan here. good faith is good faith, but you're asking people to entrust you with their work, and dubbing off 5 copies of a tape isnt much work to do. i havent seen any mention of digital copies so i can only assume you dont intend for that to be an option. what do you plan on doing in terms of promotion?

when you start a label, its a good idea to release some type of compilation or a release by a well known artist to bring a little bit of attention to your label. it looks like you're more concerned with getting a label up and running with no real plan for the future or incentive to the artist. if someone is releasing music on your label, surely there should be some benefit to them for doing so, right? running a label where theres releases that have as low of print runs as this doesnt seem like something that is going to be beneficial to the music or the artist, so again, what are you bringing to the table beyond dubbing the tapes? is there anything you can offer to a potential artist that their own bandcamp cant other than 'love'? i ask these questions because i have seen more than a few tape releases get screwed up recently.

I feel like I've answered all of this already. If you aren't interested, fair enough; there are plenty of people who are and see the benefit. I'm not really interested in getting involved in a protracted debate over something you clearly have an issue with for whatever reason.

tempsoundsolutions
Offline
TSSBAY01

im only trying to get to what exactly you intend to do in actually running the label. look at it this way, if any artist with a following wanted to give you a try, do you not feel like they're entitled to know whether or not you intend to do any promotional work for these releases? an artist with a following would be giving your label something, not the other way around. it sounds more like you wish to run a vanity label and like, do artists not deserve to know what your long term intent is? it seems like you are getting cross with me over asking for more information on something that seems like a bad deal from the start. it also seems like you are saying different things in a lot of what you said and looking at it a bit closer, it carries over to your 'about' page. 'not making any cash off of it' and 'expecting a commission' are not analogous. making 5 copies of a release, then holding onto 5 copies of it for your own personal stock is also not analogous. i think you need a more clear mission statement to be honest if you wish for success.

unexpectedbowtie
Offline
Glasgow, Scotland.
tempsoundsolutions wrote:

im only trying to get to what exactly you intend to do in actually running the label. look at it this way, if any artist with a following wanted to give you a try, do you not feel like they're entitled to know whether or not you intend to do any promotional work for these releases? an artist with a following would be giving your label something, not the other way around. it sounds more like you wish to run a vanity label and like, do artists not deserve to know what your long term intent is? it seems like you are getting cross with me over asking for more information on something that seems like a bad deal from the start. it also seems like you are saying different things in a lot of what you said and looking at it a bit closer, it carries over to your 'about' page. 'not making any cash off of it' and 'expecting a commission' are not analogous. making 5 copies of a release, then holding onto 5 copies of it for your own personal stock is also not analogous. i think you need a more clear mission statement to be honest if you wish for success.

Thank you for your advice, but I disagree with the way you are going about giving it out, and resent the language you're using. I don't believe you are genuinely asking the questions in good faith, and are ignoring what I've already said in response. Since we won't be collaborating, there's no point in going around in circles.

tempsoundsolutions
Offline
TSSBAY01

its not advice, and to wit, i disagree with the way you are going about trying to start a label, ahahah