MDCRepros
Welcome to MDCRepros
My name is Mac and I have been in the music business since the year dot, or maybe it just feels that way !
Anyway this is a service set up by musicians to help musicians and hopefully you will earn a little extra from it.
What we do
OK, what we do mainly is CD reproduction for the not so rich and famous in order that you can earn a few extra quid over and above (and, of course, so do I).
I have listed the top 3 reasons why the UK club scene artists don't sell many albums at their gigs and here they are in reverse order.
3 They are too expensive for the customers
2 They look rubbish
1 THEY DON'T EVEN HAVE ANY TO SELL
I have been to see numerous acts that have gone down very well in their performance and could have sold dozens of albums on the night ....if only they had some, so lets look at those reasons.
3 You can now buy many top names in many top stores for as little as £7.99 including Madonna, Kylie, Robbie and the list goes on, these albums have had untold thousands of pounds spent on production and yet there they are at just £7.99 for anyone to buy.
Answer: you need to keep yor prices relevant to who you are.
2 You mostly find that the club artists (if they have them for sale) turn out their product on home computers using home printers and they look it too ! The public can immediately see where that album was done and automatically assume that it is going to be crap. Most will never get to hear how good it really is because they won't spend hard earned cash on battered and brown fruit will they? and neither will they buy a CD album that looks absolutely pants !
Answer: you need a product that looks like it belongs in the big stores but at a price that your average Saturday night listener can afford.
1 Its not expensive anymore to produce an album for sale at your gigs.
My last 2 albums were recorded live on stage on one night by one guy using a very smart recording device. He recorded 3 sets and from that I produced TWO albums. He charged me £125 and sent me the masters 2 days later. I designed the two albums and they were on sale 3 days later on a Friday night in Essex where I sold a total of 22 CD's, that more than paid for production costs and since then I have sold hundreds of them and in the past two years.
I can count on my fingers the total amount of gigs where I didn't sell any.The main reasons for this are firstly,of course, they have to have enjoyed your show, secondly the product has to be on show and look presentable and thirdly...... YOU HAVE TO HAVE SOME TO SELL !
Sounds like a fairy story but it is true.
My previous 2 albums were recorded by me from the audio out on my desk and into a mini-disc player with the same resulting sales ! Its just not dificult anymore.
I now have 4 albums on sale each night with most of the songs from the show, they look very impressive in a nice silver alloy case on the side of the stage and it works very well indeed for me.
Click the pic to see examples..then click on the pics to enlarge each one
This is my theory
This is the way that I conduct my business, its actually the same way that its done by Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury, Argos and thousands of other well known companies, not just in England but all over the world, not sure if I copied them or they... never mind.
We all have a choice in what we do, so, you got 100 cd's all with a prospective £8.00 pure profit sitting in each and every one, what a great position to be in £800.oo just sitting there in the cupboard waiting to jump into your pocket as soon as enough people with £10.oo to spare decide to give it to you... which may take a while given this current climate.
Well there are a lot more people with £4.99 or £5.99 to spare and if thats what you aimed for.... then surely your in a much better position with a pocket full of £4.oo profits and in a much shorter time then up and on to the next 100 CD's, most of my customers are selling well in excess of 150 albums per month, how ? because thay have a product that looks the business and doesn't cost the earth
So here is my bit of advise to you.
BETTER TO HAVE A POCKET FULL OF FOUR QUIDS THAN A CUPBOARD FULL OF EIGHT QUIDS ! Try taking both to your bank ...they don't accept the latter.
Treat these things like a business card that doesn't get crumpled and lost or thrown in the carpark. When they buy your album they take home your sound/show, your phone number, your name to spread around, also if they are good enough the local radio stations love to play them on air !!!!
does that make sense ? yes of course it does
So now you know what to do what does it cost ?
Let me start by warning you that there are some people out there that will be offering a lesser product at less money so I'll try to convince you that mine is a far better prospect..... but you'll have to stick with me a while, give me just another minute of your time and this may be a great help to you.
I now have several customers that had work done at other places (2 of them at the same place) and this was how it worked.
'They' offered CD's at £1.50 finished and, of course, it sounds very attractive so when asked for some samples they were great and so placed the minimum order for 500 CD's. £750.oo + £25.oo for artwork + £25.oo for postage
Total £800.oo.which 'they' said had to be paid in full up front before production could start.
Now on the face of it, it sounds good for all that prospective profit (over £4000...however when the product arrived 8 weeks, and numerous phone calls later, it wasn't anything like the quality (or spelling) of the samples (the samples I have since seen and wouldn't pee on if they were alight) but upon complaining bitterly for many a long day they all got .....nowhere.
They neither sold many of them nor placed a repeat order....but 'the' had their money already and so just sat back to wait for the next one ! Why worry...be happy
I also have a few customers that have tried a desk printer that does CD's and set about producing a product in the evenings. Let me tell you it takes forever to do them things and costs almost as much as having them made for you...oh but you do get to sit in all night... cutting and folding cutting and folding..... burning and printing and burning and printing......oh dear now I'm beginning to sound smug.
Anyway thats a trap that you could (not always but could) fall into. So thats my little rant and even if you don't order from me at least you now know what could happen. I said I would try to helpyou... and there....I have.
Anyway I've run my mouth long enough about the others so what makes me different ?
Well, this is how it works with me. I receive a master from you with basic instructions on what is required and any pics that you want to include, then, I call you for a chat and after that I make up two or three samples for you to choose from including the disc and send it to you. Alternatively you can come here (to Lincoln) sit with me and we'll do it together.
When you finally make your choice, and any amendments have been carried out, you the pay me a 50% deposit for the price of the order + art work which is a one-off price of £25.oo. Your Minimum order is just 50 CD's yep just 50 and then you can either pay before I send them or you can come collect and pay when they are done (usually 3-5 days) Our CD,s are produced using only quality materials, quality equipment and can be compared very favourably with anything else that you may get at much higher prices. We do several styles that start at just £2.oo to a maximum of £2.90.If your first order is 100+ the artwork is FREE.
Look at this logically, (and remember the story above), almost all those examples were best part of a grand out of pocket but with me the worst that can happen is about £100 ish I know which I'd prefer and ALL my customers come back to order more.