how much do record stores pay

for copies of releases, compared to the sales price?

if you give me $5, i'll tell you. can't be giving away trade secrets for free, y'know.

is this info for one record shop or all? I will paypal $250 if you tell me for all the shops

cut a deal get your hustle on

edit: really, unless you're talking about best buy, i imagine you have to go at it like mr. sam adams did when he was selling his beer -- go bar to bar, saying buy my beer, i'll buy them back if they don't sell within XX months. some will take and some will pass, from there it's whether your shit sells.

you know, something like that. there will be no fixed fees, just the best deal you can make.

but what do i know, i'm just some jerk on the internet

  On 9/9/2009 at 12:44 AM, spraaaa said:

for copies of releases, compared to the sales price?

It varies HUGELY, everyone has deals with different companies etc. and they all differ. Also HMV may buy 5000 copies of a big album, maybe a LOT more. The price gets a lot lower per unit when you are buying that many!

When I was learning about this stuff about 9 years a go it seemed to be about £3-4, very roughly, I'm sure its a bit more now. Artists normally get paid their royalties off of THIS amount, not the sales price.

But you will need a distribution deal, or a record company with a distribution deal, to get your music into the shops this way.

Much more likely is a sale-or-return deal, as hathathat said. This works for smaller shops and, if they are feeling nice, maybe the local branch of a big HMV or similar (not nationwide though). You work out a contract like, the shop takes 15% at the end of a fixed period'. They sell what they sell, when the period (say 3 months) is up they give you back the money (minus their cut) and the unsold cd's unless you re-negotiate a deal. This sort of thing is still a lot easier with a little label or even a manager to approach the shop.

thanks for that. I am not even sure if I'm gonna try to self release something right now, or if shops will be important as opposed to digital/in person, but I knew literally nothing about how this side of it works.

if your record is any good, any store will buy 10000 copies for $250 a piece

wow that's strange.. pretty much all of the record stores (indie ones at least) i know of work on consignment!