£40 to do your paperwork.
it's free to get an ISRC code and catalogue number.
"Ditto own lots of labels – the names of which are not known by ANYONE. The names of artists releasing on our labels are strictly private."
eh?!
- Features: * Mixtape #13: Cut Copy
- Features: * The shock of the new: Future Of The Left talk second album
- Features: * Homefires at Field Day 2008
- Features: * DiScover: Keyboard Choir
- Features: * Green Man 2008: DiS's festival highs (and lows)
- Reviews: * The Verve - Forth
- Features: * Reading/Leeds: what our writers thought
- Features: * Reading/Leeds: what the photographers snapped
- Features: * Foals: on the past, the present, and the surf-rock future
- Features: * Reading/Leeds: what the bands thought
- Reviews: * Son Ambulance - Someone Else's Deja Vu
- Reviews: * Bloc Party - Intimacy
- Reviews: * Bowerbirds - Hymns For A Dark Horse
- Features: * DiScover: Bowerbirds
- Features: * Reading/Leeds: Day Two report
- * DiScover Club @ RoTa @ London Notting Hill Arts Club, 30/08
- * Future Of The Left, Working For A Nuclear Free City, Dinosaur Pile-Up @ Sheffield The Harley, 30/08
- * Santogold @ London Koko, 3/09
- * Hercules & Love Affair @ London Koko, 4/09
- * American Music Club @ Bristol Thekla Social, 9/09
- * Bon Iver @ London Shepherds Bush Empire, 11/09
- * American Music Club @ London Bush Hall, 11/09
- * Plans and Apologies, Jeffrey Lewis, The Atoms @ Derby The Royal, 12/09
- * Guided Missile @ London Buffalo Bar, 13/09
- * Videocrash @ London Koko, 13/09
- * American Music Club @ Cambridge Barfly at The Graduate, 15/09
- * Club AC30 @ London King's Cross Scala, 16/09
- * Adrian Orange, Sparky Deathcap @ London Cafe Otto, 16/09
- * American Music Club @ Winchester Railway Inn, 16/09
- * Andrew W.K. @ London Madame Jo Jos, 19/09
that sounds awesome
i hope it's true.
The site looks dump...
thats fucking terrible!
what a rip off. give us all your money and we'll make some CDs with REAL barcodes on them! I shit yee not!
I like where it says "Cat afford to start your own label up?"
What do Cats have to do with it?
what about this for a sentence;
"MCPS license
This license your tracks meaning that they are copyrighted and you will recieve all royalty's from any airplay or sales."
That's bollocks
...MCPS have nothing to do with airplay - that's PPL and PRS. And you don't need to register with MCPS to establish copyright in recordings.
best point ever
if say the kaiser chiefs hand used them, then at least the site would look better. and they wouldnt make stupid spelling mistakes like "Cats"
i'm trying to figure out
...what the hell kind of point they're trying to get across in that part about their label names. it makes no sense whatsoever.
have bands actually gone for this? if they have are they very very stupid bands with names like "Fuck Chimp Teabag" etc?
?!
for £25
i'd be tempted to investigate.
though they do look shoddy as hell.
fuck that
any organisation that asks bands for money up front are scum and rip off merchants. pay to play venues are another example.
"scum. sub-human scum"
sounds like a big fat con to me
forrrrrrrrrrrrreal
i'd go and see a band
called fuck chimp teabag.
I've seen them live ...
....not bad : )
i can imagine
this kind of thing turning up on watchdog in the near future
anyone simple enough to use a site like that
should be ripped off.
Who in their right mind would use them?
i already answered that
Namely, "Fuck Chimp Teabag". They're great. And they released several great records on a label, the name of which was 'private', but they had bar codes on them!
well as long as they had bar codes
its all good
what the hell!
I dont quite get what you lot are on about...
To get an isrc or catalogue number you have to have a record label. To have a
label you need a company, an ccountant and a million other things. To get a
barcode you need to pay GS1 several hundred quid and you cant sell a cd in a shop without one.
As far as i can see this is for unsigned bands to release stuff to try and get in the charts n whatever. Good luck to 'em - most labels wont anything at all these days!
Rip off? Dunno. There seems to be a paypal checkout and they only
take payment after the contrax are signed.
Do any of you people actually run a label? I do - and to be honest i wish i'd thought of this idea first!!
Alex.
whatthehelldoyouknow records
Quite a few people on here run labels
and, honestly, you're talking a load of pish. you don't need a barcode to sell CDs/vinyl in a shop - small labels don't generally operate off them anyway and most chains have barcode printers instore anyway. you don't need a "company, an accountant and about a million other things" to have a label.
that really does look like a crock of shit. it's playing on people who don't really know anything about the industry or how it works. getting a barcode and having chart registered singles counts for absolutely nothing if you have no idea how to promote yourselves and your music, yet funnily enough they don't mention that anywhere, do they?
what he said ^^^
and he should know.
"A lot of artists from The Kaiser Chiefs to The Darkness and more went down the route of pressing up and releasing their own records in order to gain attention"
Didn't DiS release the first KC single/material?
i dont get it
Iv used these people and im not sure what anyones problem is. I had a track that was blowing up on the net and i wanted to release it. I have no money to start a label up and for a very small amount of money i was able to release it properly through a label. How exactly would i have done this otherwise??
I think you all seem to be confused about what they actually provide.
'blowing up on the net'
inflating or exploding?
either way, sounds scary...
what
see, nothing clever to say about anything. I sold about 3000 copies of my track , if id waited for a label id have sold about 3
you lot just seem a bit bitter to me
I can be perfectly intelligent as and when it suits. Bitterness, though, you're right about: I'm an absolute cynic, and the only people singing this thing's praises are those that have logged on specifically.
Considering the nature of this community and the many, many musicians that come here each and every day, I'm certain they must've heard of it. And many of the above are musicians/label folk, so they know shit from shit.
But congratulations on selling 3,000 copies (downloads?) of your record/song. That's a nice treat, I'm sure. 'Blowing up', indeed.
but there was a third way, surely?
just doing it yourself?
Exactly ^^^
Looking at the website a little closer, there's next to nothing they 'offer' that you couldn't do yourself.
You think their involvement puts you on a level playing field with every chart act out there? Obviously, this isn't the case.
Seriously, take 65dos as an example: they're on the radio, in Kerrang, rock sound, DiS etc etc, and it all stemmed from them releasing a demo themselves (no fucking barcode) as an EP and touring the fuck out of it. Legwork gets you places, one-off payments don't.
also
"If you send a "single" out to radio/press and there is no barcode on it then they will rarely look at it."
What bullshit. Most of what the press and radio gets sent has no barcode cos it's a flippin promo.
We don't scan the thing for it to come up "review this, it's good" or "another baggy revival outfit - bin it!"
Twits.
again..what?
I feel a lot better having a record out on a record label, than havin a demo to pass to people. It looks better, it got me several magazine reviews and people view me as an artist rather than an unsiged artist.
All you people seem to b worried about is a "one off payement" or whatever. its a service, you pay for it, what is the problem in that. They didnt take any of the money i made from sales. And how exactly would i have got my single on to places like viring digital and amazon without it being on a proper label.
I got a lot of help form these people and i dont like seeing them get slagged off by people who clearly still dont understand what they actually provide.
well 3000 copies was pretty good actually considering i didnt hardly promote it and it was only played on pirate radio.
So how many records have you sold "mike"
and again....what!!!
"they offer you nothing you couldnt do yourself"
I didnt have a record label!!!!!
my god!!!
Tell me how i can get a release eligible for the charts without actually having a record label to release it an ill listen to you!
where did you get in the charts?
perhaps more importantly
who are you and what was the single called ?
sorry
the whole point of me using ditto was so that i would class as a signed artist.
As far as other artists know i have a record deal and had a single out, which sounds a lot better than when i was telling people i was unsigned.
So youll forgive me if i dont want to give my details away and completely lose the profile i have now built up
what so youre lying to people?
surely you could just as easily lie that you had your own label?
the question still stands: what position did you get to in the charts?
cos if it wasnt, say, top 75, what the hell difference does it make whether you were in the charts or not?
i think its more likely that you are not a musician and that youre an employee of the company. or more likely you are the company. in which case, please correct your spelling mistakes, and realise that the label connected to these message boards was in fact the one that released the first kaiser chiefs single. they didnt do i themselves. and didnt must destroy do the darkness? not so sure about that one.
the question remains: what does the £40 get you that you couldnt get yourself.
also: you think that itd really matter if you let people know on this message board what your single was called?
.....
a record label to release my single. i didnt have one. please please please listen to what i have said
me: had no record label
they: gave me record label to release on
you: need to keep up
*cough*
idiot...
very funny comedian
thats genius
i must have that clever remark for my new sitcom
how , how did you come up with it
you coughed, and then said it!!! So its like you were saying it, but not outloud!!!
thats the freshest thing ive heard since "you are the weakest link, goodbye"
I think
that your sitcom will be really rubbish. For instance, you seemingly don't grasp simple concepts.
Also, there probably won't be any ninjas in your sitcom. Oh, by the way, is this magical record label paying for your sitcom too? Will that have a barcode and sell 3000 copies?
Wait one minute. Who are you again? Are you Anne Robinson? If that is the case, you're not very pretty.
^ Not something to be
proud of
First post - beware.
It's probably mr ditto music
Hmmm
Now I know zilch about running a record label or releasing records but I'm suspicious that the 2 people (alex_lanson and stilldre2001) in favour of this have posted once and three times respectively on DiS.
once again
Well i dont know who the other geezer is and i joined this site obviously to add to the discussion as im about the only person here to have any knowledge of it.
My record was in the charts, obviously it wasnt top 40 but it still helped me.
U dont need a barcode to get a review, but you do need it be on a label. the point pretty much all of you people have missed. Something i would not have been able to do otherwise
Why is everyone on here obsessed with barcodes!
Me: pay money to them
Them: Release my single through a registered record label.
me: happy
really?
3000 didn't get you in the top 40? I was to believe that 6000 on a quiet week could get you top ten. blimey.
this is a nice idea, but I agree that considering the amount of businesses out there whose main cannon fodder is small bands then it's healthy to be wary and up to the legit businesses to market themselves as such.. through such tesiments of people like mr dre. and "private artists".
3000
yea, i wish all my sales would have counted in the first week as it would hopefully have been top 40. As it was though it sold 2984 over the period of 4 weeks, ont eh 3rd week it did nearly 1000 which was the highest.
6000 in one week
this is 3000 overall.
what label was it?
.
sorry again
ok, you gonna have to keep up with me here.
I dont want people to know i dont have a big record label behind me. I got a list of label names to pick from and i chose one. the info is confidential though as most artists wouldnt want people to know they are doing it through ditto
you ask why people are obsessed with barcodes
but thats essentially all that ditto seem to provide. you still have to press up your own records, no? and get them distributed yourself? so theyre not "releasing" anything?
if you want to be successful and well known
then Im amazed you wouldnt want to divulge your identity.
= liar liar pants on fire
DUH
the users of DiS finding out that he's unsigned will DESTROY his image!
and surely ditto says the idea is you release through them, sell a few thousand, and then get picked up by a real label w=cos youve shown your track record?
OH YEAH!
God man, I hate it when I find out that a band I like is unsigned. I just cant take them seriously.
again and adain
my identity is of a successful artist, something that iv built up myself.
"they dont distribute it"
No, obviously they dont, your not going to get full distribution and a CD knocked up for that price!
What i got was someone to put my record out which was a lot cheaper and quicker than trying to start my own label up.
Please, just someone tell me you understand what exactly i recieved before we go round in another circle!
you received barcodes?
right?
"What i got was someone to put my record out which was a lot cheaper and quicker than trying to start my own label up. "
what else does this ACTUALLY, PHYSICALLY, LITERALLY entail? everything they list on their site is free. apart from barcodes, but shops can/normally do put their own barcodes on anyway.
no
alex, please put forward some kind of factual arguement.
You need a specific barcode number for a single. The shops can print this but they cant give you one! this has to go through the chart company
this is what im saying, your all quick to judge but you dont have any idea what your talkin about. Id love to enter into a factual discussion but i just cant see it happening
for the last time
and once again
IT IS NOT FREE TO SET UP A RECORD LABEL!
someone please tell me you understand what im saying and what i did with my single
"IT IS NOT FREE TO SET UP A RECORD LABEL"
what costs do you think are needed to 'set up a record label'?
yep
had a feeling that would go unanswered.
still waiting
for a goddamn answer.
so how did you distribute the CD?
who actually got it into the shops - you, or them?
ok
once i had my release date sorted along with a specific barcoe and catalogue number i went to 2 of my local indie shops who are chart eligible and got them to stock it.
Your not seriously sayin that for 25 quid you want them to register your track to a label, give it a barcode an catalogue number and then distribute it for you?
yup
love it or hate it, you dont take unsigned bands as seriously as signed bands.
WHAT?
you're embarrassing, mate. total disaster.
reply
as hilariously sarcastic as that was, thats was my point
but, if this isnt too personal/confidential
who has now signed you, now that youve taken the Ditto path to success?
i think that a great many
DiS-ers would disagree
yup
well ive already got distribution for my next single and a meeting with the radio1 playlist people, and a fairly decent fanbase.
Are you saying there is something wrong with releasing through your own label, because that is all i did, i jus set it up through them
surely if youve got distribution for your next record
you dont need to pretend that you're signed? youve got the important thing. so come on, tell us who you are.
why the conspiracy of silence then
if its all cool, why not let us know who you are ?
its not like your fanbase will utterly desert you upon finding out you used a 'service' like ditto
nah
i like my fanbase to think i am signed. say what you want but i get a lot more respect , when i meet labels i tell them its my own label. for people who buy my music though it helps for them to think i am successful
By the way....
Very sorry if I've wrongly accused you two! And welcome to Drowned In Sound. Pour yourselves a drink, pull up a chair and join in the fun.
LOLOLLOZ
blantantly ditto music have seen this thread:
the spelling error we/grumpy-i-zimbra pointed out has been corrected.
which makes the appearance of the funny little people more amusing
uhuh
"funny little people"
you people are whats ruining music. the patronising, self assured manner in which you speak is pretty much a parody of any A&R know it all out there.
I did things my own way, i sold records, i just thank god that artists dont need people like you any longer to validate them
youre funny little people
because the evidence suggests that youre a representative of ditto (ie, there is a little bit of evidence for this statement, and absolutely no evidence against it).
a large amount of the music championed on these boards and made by its users is self released.
my god
jeeeez.
see this is why i stay away from message boards. Your a small group of people who thikn your opinions count for everything becase you sit here patting one another on the back all day long.
I come on d-i-s a lot, i know a lot of artists on here. If i want to post something about something i have had experience with then say what you will.
you can sit here slagging me as much as you want as well as the ditto company, you still havent listened to anything ive said.
next time ill just leave you to discuss something with no facts behind it so you can noddingly disapprove in union
please answer this question:
who arranged for your CD to go out into shops?
ok
i did!!! thats not in dispute is it?
They gave me a record label to put it out on which is what i wanted. From that i could get my cd into a shop and have it count towards the chart
so
you handled:
* recording
* pressing
* distribution
* promotion
and they gave you.. a barcode. oh, and a "label name".
this was the point being made here in the first place - they literally do nothing you couldn't have done yourself in the first place. distribution and promotion are the two most important things in getting a record out and getting it sold, and you've done those yourself, which is pretty impressive really.
but you didn't need to pay them anything, fo' shure.
but you're not really answering any of our questions about the ditto service
if you would just be more open and tell us exactly what they physically did for you
and gave some solid hint that your story was true and that you werent just a ditto worker then maybe you'd be taken more seriously