the Die Hard vinyl mania

[Shadow Kingdom]

I'll be talking of CD die-hard releases here but it is the same idea in general anyway. When I do a die-hard portion of a particular release I look at it as a way of recuperating CASH towards the release. Coz once the release is out all distros only want to trade for it. There are maybe 1 or 2 distros that come to me to buy a handfull on wholesale (Hail Ryosuke and Helmut!). All the rest are trades, and a week after you start trading it, you can go to eBay and find your release there for dirt cheap...

So I make 150 or so "die-hards" which I make available for pre-orders at my regular CD price at $11.99 and I also always offer them on wholesale too (for $8, while my wholesale price on "regular" editions is $7).

This is the only way I can ensure I'll have a portion of the pressing which will not pop out on eBay a week after the release date at some crazy under-wholesale prices.

That's a good point about ebayers an other distros that undercut the very same people you support? It's bullshit and that's the kind of stuff that kills the underground and all those distos/labels we love..... When people sell stuff for so cheap and you support those ebayers and distros that do that... you better not be the same people bitching and complaing about bootleggers and downloaders....

and you wonder why some of these labels need to make diehard products to make money for the next release.....

[Crows In Black]

--I've never really 'gotten' the whole Black sounds better than Colored vinyl thing; maybe my ears aren't as discerning as some people's, but I've honestly never noticed a difference.

Its a stupid arguement because ALL vinyl starts off as clear, color pigment is then added to the clear, the ONLY difference is that the black pigment used to make black vinyl also has graphite in it, which makes the vinyl itself stronger, but doesn't actually have anything to do with the sound quality. The argument here is that since black is "stronger" then it will last longer and colored vinyl would wear out faster, which is stupid because ANY vinyl will wear out if you dont care care of it, use a good needle, etc. In reality, a 180 gram colored vinyl would actually be better than a standard black vinyl.

Picture discs are different because they aren't actually made of 100% vinyl, but they have a vinyl core, which then has a picture decal over it, and then it has some type of sealing over that. Most pic LPs actually do have a lot of surface noise and sound worse IF they aren't made very well, there are some pic LP's that are actually made very well and are just as good as a regular vinyl.