When I started Unspun Heroes I thought the most difficult part would be finding artists and bands willing to let me take their music and press it into bio-plastic discs. Turns out, that’s quite easy to get sorted. It’s definitely a binary thing: yes you can, no you can’t.
I thought handling all the manufacturing and design myself, across multiple suppliers, might also be difficult. However, that’s just about getting a process organised and managing it as things move forward.
Fulfilment always seemed like a nightmare. And it is. Above a certain limit it’s not easy to do yourself. I found this out when I agreed to ship albums and CDs on behalf of another indie label. Getting 1000+ products out to people around the world was quite the task. I made three mistakes, although the customer feedback each time was as if I’d demolished their house, stolen their life savings and killed their cat. Ultimately, on each occasion all I’d done is send them a tracking code earlier than expected. Michael is a popular name in the vinyl-buying demographic.
Turns out the hardest bit of selling product. Not only do I need to convince people they need this album which will likely be a little more expensive than, say, a band who sell hundreds of thousands of records, I also have to factor in postage. Let me tell you, postal costs are enormous!
I met someone at a record industry event and they asked me what I thought was the thing I didn’t think about enough that turned out to be the most important. I replied: go-to-market strategy. Not having a clear strategy in place to begin with stymied my ability to sell albums. It still does, despite me getting better at it and with a clearer proposition.
However, when I think about what I’ve learned between album one and soon-to-be organised album six, I can see how far I’ve come. Whether I’ll get to reach a critical mass that means sales come to me more often rather than me going to the market all the time remains to be seen.