Minimal Wave Records

You can have virtual versions of the world’s greatest museums, but is it the same as to walk around in the real ones?

falck,i agree almost totally with everything you’ve said previously,
(not just in the previous post,but in the whole of this thread),
except from the above quote / comparison,
which i consider rather unsuccessful…

I obviously agree that it surely isn’t the same feeling,
having virtual versions of the world’s greatest museums,
when compared with walking around in the real ones.

But…it’s way different walking around in Louvre,
admiring,studying and enjoying eg. Mona Lisa or Venus de Milo…
and i totally different thing…trying to actually OWN them,
in order to store them in a private collection back in home.

I’m 100% sure that there are people out there,
who would be willing spend a fortune to buy Mona Lisa,
in order to add them and (supposedly) en-rich their “art collections”...
this doesn’t mean though that this is rational,
and even more,that it makes the world a better place…

Greetings my-rhythm-miniballs-box (sorry but I really had to type that 8) ),

well that comparison is of course wide open to interpretation so I will make an educated guess at what I possibly meant:

A record in a sleeve that you hold in your hands already is an experience. You look at the cover, you feel its texture, there is the smell of both the carton and vinyl.

Playing a record is a mechnical act that produces a special sound different to electronic formats as well as the occasional imperfection due to dust or damage.

An mp3 is thus a virtual version of a real life vinyl experience.

Does that make any sense? Not quite sure myself, to be honest….  :wink:

Are we still talking about Oscure Identities here , or what ? :?

[quote author=“MadMan2”]Are we still talking about Oscure Identities here , or what ? :?

Maybe you are in the wrong forum

Oh come on guys, we’ve got to do something until the latest sales figures come in…. :wink:

“Oh shut up Balders. You´d laugh at a Shakespeare comedy.” (Rowan Atkinson, Blackadder)

[quote author=“man-machine”]“Oh shut up Balders. You´d laugh at a Shakespeare comedy.” (Rowan Atkinson, Blackadder)

*Like*

@falck

You’re priceless.  :wink:

Oystein Said:

If 100 collectors had been the Grand Total, then the LP you put out in a hundred copies would never rise in value, because everyone who wanted it, already had it!

Oystein, There are around 100 minimal synth collectors.  There are 20 blue copies of the All the Madmen LP, and 60 black copies of the All the Madmen LP.  That means only 1 in 5 collectors will get blue copies, and 3 in 5 collectors will get black copies.  And no collectors will get white copies.  Therefore with a supply of 80 records for a 100 collectors there will be 4 out of 5 collectors wanting blue copies, and 2 out of 5 collectors wanting black copies when they have all been sold.  With that you can figure out why the price on the record will increase in the future.  It is pretty clear.

I’ve seen reissues that didn’t sell out in an edition of 500, but VOD have a lot more subscribers than that, Minimal Wave have several albums out in their second edition, Anna sold out the 500 Transparent Illusion vinyl in a few weeks.

I don’t think any minimal synth record in an edition of 500 sells out in the true sense that you are meaning. As I have said before a label can sell out a record, and that does not mean it is sold out.  The Transparent Illusion reissue is not sold out.  It is distributed out. How many copies are sitting in stores right now, and how many collectors bought multiple copies to sell in the future.  Do you actually think there are 500 Transparent Illusion fans out there dying to have the record finally released so they can afford it?  Most serious collectors already have that record.  You already have that record Oystein, and there are no unknown tracks on it so there is no reason to get it if a collector already has it which many already do.

Also, The All the Madmen LP is not a Reissue.  It is an Original Release. 

The potential for an LP of All The Madmen, known from their astonishing, instantly recognisable contribution to Cry Havoc (also bootlegged on Flexipop), is of course much higher - that is why you think the LP will rise in value; You predict that those who don’t buy it now will miss out.

I know those who don’t buy it now will miss out, and I have already stated the ratio above of the people that will be wanting it to start.  It is a collectable minimal synth record made for minimal synth collectors.  A 500 press minimal synth record in the minimal synth world is not collectable.  It is mainstream or trying to go that way.

I think if you had cleaned up the sound a little, printed a cover, gotten the LP out to the shops and mail orders, of course you’d sell more than a hundred copies.

I would never try to alter the sound of these recordings in anyway for the same reason I wouldn’t walk into a museum and take out a marker and write Stephen across a Van Gogh painting.  The reason being I don’t want to ruin the art.  I can not stand how all remastered reissues sound, and that is one of the reasons I don’t buy reissues.  9 out of 11 of the All the Madmen tracks were recorded in a garage straight onto a cassette.  If I love diy minimal synth why would I ever want to take a diy recording of minimal synth and try to change it to some cleaned up version which takes every bit of greatness out of the original.  I wouldn’t.  I want to hear the original, because it is just that, The original recording. The diy sound quality is true to the bands music, the time period it was recorded in, and the fans of this type of music.  I completely don’t understand why any minimal synth collector would want to buy or listen to any remastered minimal synth song that sounds like techno in regards to being overtly polished and super clean.  If you are into diy minimal synth you wouldn’t.

And as I suppose the start expenses were most of the pressing costs here, I think the LP would have been much cheaper to produce, and could have sold at a price comparable to other records out in 2010.

It would not be that much more to press 500 so it wouldn’t have been that much cheaper to produce, but it would of made the final product cheaper, and completely less collectable. 

I started obscure identities 1980 to release great collectable diy minimal synth records. 

So to put out a cheap 500 press record does not and will not accomplish any of my goals.

I have no objection to you releasing whatever record however you like. I think you’re a collector and tried to make a collector’s item, didn’t you?

Oystein, I didn’t try, but thank you for the condescending attitude. 

I did make a collectors item. 

You shouldn’t have any objection, because you are one of the
main collectors that will love this record.  Get it, and you will see. 

Stephen
obscure identities

Collectors…collectors… too much talking about being a collector… I like to buy vinyl records, but I don´t buy everything of a group or think that a serious collector is the one that spends loads of money in one single record. That is why I am quite happy of being able to buy minimal synth records at an affordable price and not being nervous the next time I want to play a record and actually just enjoy the music…

Hello Obscure,

If it is really the case (as you once claimed) that all of the profit of your business model goes to the bands you release I do not have much objections any more.
I agree on ripping money from collectors for a good cause.
Perhaps it is a good idea once the release is sold out to make the music available to the rest of the world (permission of the artist of course)

About your remarks on the number of collectors:
100 minimal synth collectors cannot be true. Otherwise labels would not repress releases. I also do not see records stores keep buying things they never sell. It’s just your wishful thinking.

You are clearly a technical nono.
Remastering a release is much more then altering the sound.
Your example of the museum is wrong. Remastering can be seen as restauring an old painting. Taking away the aging effects.
Furthermore mostly the artist himself agrees on the final sound of the product so….

Stephen said

collector collector bla bla bla collector collector collector

[quote author=“Nogah”]Hello Obscure,

If it is really the case (as you once claimed) that all of the profit of your business model goes to the bands you release I do not have much objections any more.
I agree on ripping money from collectors for a good cause.

Baldrick: You should become a robber to make some money. My favourite highwayman is Shadow - it has been said that he is on half-way to becoming the new Robin Hood.

Blackadder: Only half-way?

Baldrick: Yes, he is already taking from the rich but hasn’t mastered the fine art of giving it to the poor yet….

I think he’s made it pretty clear that this is entirely about creating a collector item. It’s not primarily about the band or the music itself, at all.

And hey, that’s fine I guess. It just strikes me as a bizarre. I hate to imagine what someone like Stephen would do if his collection were ever lost to a fire or thievery, or some other such mishap. Would there be much reason to go on living? Would living indeed be a nightmare?  :cry:

As a side note, for anyone simply interested in the music itself, I’m sure the band would be more than happy to share it with you if you contacted them privately. Just a hunch :idea:

[quote author=“fastfashion”]As a side note, for anyone simply interested in the music itself, I’m sure the band would be more than happy to share it with you if you contacted them privately. Just a hunch :idea:

I bet nobody is interested in the music itself. It is still understandable though collectors are interested. They are not interested in rarety without quality or quality without rarety. I am interested if a band member can inform us here how many people contacted them merely interested in their music. My bet would be between 0 and 2