rnicklaus wrote on Tue, 11 December 2007 15:04 |
In a way, a record company sells records on consignment to a record store.
The store gets up to 90 days to pay the label, label credit for unsold CDs that get returned and money from the record company to advertise the record.
In today's world, stock moves very fast from label to retail, back to the label and then back to retail.
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Yep, you're right. Thankfully, we've sold at all the stores here that we've had stock at, but the way I see it, the stores have a bit of a loan--because if they stock your cds and most of them sell within that timeframe of 60 days or 90 days (depending on the store's contract), then they have that money in the meantime for operations, and then they just advise you to restock at the end of the contract time. Consignment is a bitch, because they don't always get back to you when you're out of stock. That happened at one store, and I happened to call them that week to check back on the inventory because I stay up to date on that, and a few days had elapsed with no stock, but also no phone call to replenish it. But then again, they've got alot of releases to deal with, too.
In that case, you never know if someone walked into the store to buy your release, and then bought something else because there was none or they couldn't find it. It's kinda cool to do a bit of distro, because it gives a good insight into what goes on. And getting a rapport with people there is sometimes hard, because one place, I dealt with, I think, four different people to sign consignment contracts with, over a period of maybe 8 or 9 months. Having a good rapport with likeminded people at those stores gives you a bit of an edge, too, because then they can recommend the release to customers who like the same thing, so when they leave, you're back to square one again. In this day and age, your product has to be less of a number, and any way that you can gain an edge with some sort of personalization is a great thing.
Unfortunately, I never dealt with anyone named "Guy Hands" before. Girl Hands, yes, but Guy Hands, no.