# Digits...

- Site: Analog Industries
- Author: Chris Randall
- Date: 2012-05-14
- URL: https://analogindustries.com/2012/05/digits/

The vinyl of [unsuspected sounds](http://analogindustries.bandcamp.com/) has arrived here at the compound, and assembly and shipping will commence in the morning. As promised, and since this is a good cusp, here are all the numbers so far, with annotations where appropriate. I had meant for this to be a learning experience as much as anything else, and I think everyone that hasn't had vinyl pressed before will benefit from this information. (I no longer count myself among those sad individuals. Now I'm a different sort of sad individual.)

Since this is a compilation for charity (more on that at the end) with tracks submitted royalty free by all the artists involved, there is no cost in acquiring the music. The costs are 100% related to the production of the final product. So don't use this number and say "SEE THIS IS WHAT A RECORD COSTS TO MAKE!!!" If you're pressing someone eles's music, at least here in America (and most Western nations) you have to pay the statutory mechanical royalty at the bare minimum, so figure that in to your accounting. With that out of the way...

**Mastering:** $675. This included 5 hours of mastering at $125/hr, the digital master, the vinyl master, and one reference acetate.

**500 Jackets:** $1280. These were done by Stumptown Printers as true old-school offset, one color on recycled heavyweight dyed stock. This was a more expensive option; normal jackets would be about half this price.

**500 Vinyl Records:** $1261.48. The pressing was done at RTI in California, and the price included 5 test pressings, a small over-run (35 copies), plus shipping to Phoenix.

**300 Vinyl Record Shipping Boxes:** $242.83. I got these from U-Line. Betcha forgot about shipping 'em, didn't you? I didn't. This is a cost. Notice I only ordered 300.

Total Actual Cost Of Production For 500 Units: **$3459.31**

Now, with that out of the way, as you know I put them on sale as soon as I got the jackets, about 3 weeks ago. So pre-orders have been running for nearly a month. And here's the result. Note that figure does not include the Paypal fee or Bandcamp's fee. With my other sales, and Bandcamp's largess, they dropped their fee from 15% to 10% when we had taken in about $2200, so it's difficult to figure exactly, but best I can tell, I have received $2635.48. Also, the artists collectively ponied up $100 (or more in a couple cases) each to pre-buy copies for themselves, and that was another $700 in the kitty. So basically we're not even close to breaking even, technically, but in real dollars, figuring a slight overage on the S&H, we're in the black at this point, albeit barely.

Some notes on the sales: you'll notice that the average price paid for the vinyl is over $18. This number is skewed by three people who paid much more than the asking price. On the whole, the vast majority (I'd say around 90) paid the asking price for the vinyl. The average price paid for the digital only was just a touch south of $6.75.

You'll also see the two big peaks in the sales graph. The first one is my initial promotional push. The second peak is when Peter mentioned the album on Create Digital Music. I have done no promotion whatsoever beyond that. (I wanted to actually have the vinyl before I got carried away.)

So, long story short: it has, more or less, paid for itself, and at the end of the day I'll still have over a hundred units to get rid of, which are, at this point, the pure charitable donation. 100% of every sale from this point forward will go straight to charity. But it was a close thing.

Anyhow, I'll be packing and shipping for the next few days. This should be great fun. I hope this info will be useful to some future person considering this course of action.

## Comments (23)

**chaircrusher** (2012-05-14):

Archer Record Pressing in Detroit does good work and would have been a bit cheaper on the vinyl. You can have the guy of your choice cut lacquers and they'll do the plating and stampers.

I'm sure you went with who you went with for good reasons, just wanted to put a word in for my guys.

**Chris Randall** (2012-05-15):

I got a quote from them; the shipping put it about $200 more than RTI.

-CR

**RobC** (2012-05-15):

Chris-

This may be a little mawkish (?) but the one item missing from all this is the huge time and effort you have put into everything- many thanks from many people, especially the 123. I'd encourage people to donate to the nominated charity separately as it is still a fabulous target for our money...

Cheers.

**Chris Randall** (2012-05-15):

The worst of that is yet to come. I know from experience that the shittiest part of making records is packing and shipping them, and I have that to look forward to for the next couple days. ;-)

-CR

**darklordjames** (2012-05-15):

Good to see that money wasn't lost on this venture!

So where did the other 200 records go? 123 sold plus 100 to get rid of leaves a pretty big gap between reported numbers and number produced. :)

**Chris Randall** (2012-05-15):

There's 150 spoken for to the artists, as well, and I'm allowing for 10% breakage. That actually leaves about 200 to get rid of; you're right.

Math is most assuredly not my strong suit.

-CR

**darklordjames** (2012-05-15):

Ah, that makes sense. I didn't realize that the artists each got a lump of them. I was thinking maybe one person went way overboard and ordered 200 on the side.

**afreshcupofjoe** (2012-05-15):

Excellent post.

**huggie** (2012-05-15):

The vinyl has landed! I don't envy the job you are about to undertake. Thanks for putting in the time to make this all happen!

- Hugo

**analogcre8or** (2012-05-15):

Looking forward, and thanks for the detailed info.

**kineticmonkey** (2012-05-15):

I'd further what RobC said, in that the missing part of this equation isn't just the time you've invested (and will be investing) but also the time and effort put into building and maintaining a "following" on the interwebs. If it wasn't for the popularity of the free Audio Damage plugins and the amount of people that read this blog, etc etc. the relatively successful sales figures would be decimated, and it would probably have never had a mention on Create Digital Music.

If any one of us were to a similar project, this shows us the potential costs of pressing a vinyl album, but the sales figures would be totally different without the support of an already established platform like this blog.

Personally, I'd love to put out a split 7" or something similar, but I know that if I ordered 300 7"s split with another artist, I'd be able to sell around 50 of mine, and be left with an attic full of unrealised potential.

Anyhow, enough of my bellyaching; GREAT RELEASE!! enjoy the mailing!

**MrBiggs** (2012-05-15):

Looking forward to spinning Goldbaby's track over and over again. The digital on the ipod is nice, but dropping the needle will make it more better.

**darklordjames** (2012-05-15):

Now we're pointing out the obvious, apparently. Yes, if your interwebs presence is smaller that Crandall's, you are likely to see far smaller buy in to a potential vinyl release. Thankfully, CR never said "You can sell a record, just like me!". He seems to have said, "This is what it cost me to physically produce vinyl, take that for what you will".

**Chris Randall** (2012-05-15):

That's an interesting point; I've never actually put up real numbers before, but let me state that from my point of view these sales figures are extremely disappointing. I sell way more of any given Micronaut EP, and if I had put a new Sister Machine Gun song on there, the vinyl would have been sold out within an hour or two.

So it's all relative: you're looking at the numbers and going "well, it broke even, and that's not bad." And I'm looking at them and going "JESUS FUCK IT ONLY BROKE EVEN!!??!! WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!????"

One thing that interests me: up until about four days ago, the vinyl was out-selling the digital-only release. And even now, they're at parity, more or less. This surprised me.

-CR

**neB** (2012-05-15):

Lesson learned: when ready to release vinyl, get Sister Machine Gun track.

**Chris Randall** (2012-05-15):

You could just name your band "Sister Machine Gun " or something. I'm not using the name. You're welcome to it.

-CR

**metaphysician** (2012-05-15):

i'll echo the 'mawkish' comment and express my gratitude and thanks for all the hard work Chris did to make this happen - and my sympathy for the mailings... i had a job doing that back in the 90's for a publicity company in Jersey City - no fun, indeed.

**rapfreak** (2012-05-16):

How about sending you the money direct through paypal so at least bandcamp doesn't take a cut? A few more pennies towards charity at least

**darklordjames** (2012-05-18):

Now that you have put out vinyl, are we any closer to seeing RT60? Or is there a concern that it will it just sound old now since it's been so long since recording?

Related: I didn't know what rt60 was a reference to until I stumbled across it in an article three minutes ago. Clever. :)

**wquoyle** (2012-05-18):

So, 110 people downloaded without purchasing?

Was that even possible? Maybe paying $0 doesn't count as a purchase?

If that's the case then shame on them.

**darklordjames** (2012-05-18):

Buying vinyl includes a download. It may also count multi-downloads off of a single purchase as separate downloads. For example, I can see people grabbing both the MP3-320 version for daily playback, and the lossless FLAC version for archiving for the cleanest possible conversion to whatever digital format finally replaces MP3. Two downloads, one purchase. I've down it.

**Ghost Gum** (2012-05-25):

Just got the vinyl in Australia! The sleeve is a work of art!

**Vaihe** (2012-05-25):

Just got the vinyl right in time for my sons 7month present. Hes still very much into boobs so he loves the concept. Not bad for a first vinyl. I think mine was Slippery When Wet by Bon Jovi in -86 :D