Rennie Pilgrem’s TCR label pioneered the genre known as new school breaks while serving as a vehicle for productions by Pilgrem, B.L.I.M., Arthur Baker and Koma & Bones. As the label turns 15, Pilgrem recalls what it was like running an indie label in the previous century.
The sampler was king: It made home recording possible and introduced the manipulation of sound as an accepted form of music. Mine (an EMU) cost $5,000 in 1997. I sold it six months ago for $20.
The cult of the cutter: Still sought-after today, the cutting engineer mastered your track onto vinyl. Whoever got the loudest cuts with the fattest sound was most in-demand. A “cut” cost approximately $350. Now, digital mastering is around $80.
Sending promos around the world: We used to send out about 300 white labels to DJs/press/radio stations around the world to get a buzz going before doing finished copies.
Manufacturing vinyl. To get your music out there, you had to have it on 12” vinyl. It took about three weeks to produce and cost about $1 each. Plus, you needed a sleeve and a label, which, if you were clever, invoked a “house style” to give your label some brand uniformity and cut costs.
Distribution: Then, like today, distributors had much power. They got paid to get your records to the shops and got to keep their commission (25%) even if the records came back unsold.
Specialist shops: The meeting place for DJs and producers. They had very knowledgeable staff who knew which tracks would be your thing. The clerks were often poached by the big stores (see next entry), who then undercut the small shops and forced them to close.
The dreaded chain stores: So you decide to put out an artist album. You manufacture a couple of thousand CDs and then you join the real music industry. Try hearing this: “We want a big discount, we want every third copy free, we don’t pay unless we sell them. To rack the albums where the public can see them will cost you $2 per copy, upfront and non-returnable.” True! If you wonder why it’s no longer worth releasing albums on CD, that’s why. Greed and too much buying power.
21st century: You can now send your music around the world for free in seconds. You only pay for distribution on sales, you don’t have to pay huge manufacturing costs. But is it better? Piracy is easy (unlike vinyl), many bedroom producers are uploading sub-standard music, not professionally mastered which puts-off potential buyers. Also, last century you had to convince the owner of a label that your track was worth the money/time spent to release it. At the time of writing, it was more rewarding financially and creatively to run a more physical operation. But who knows what is lurking around the corner?
A one-hour DJ mix by Rennie Pilgrem, TCR Part One (The Early Years), is available for free download here.
as featured in Issue 25