So you want to put out your own vinyl...

To make a vinyl or not to make a vinyl?

It’s no secret that vinyls have made a triumphant return to the music industry. For so many years they were just locked away in your parents basement or in your grandmother's attic. Most people didn’t even know how to operate a record player until the last few years. But now… now vinyls are the new hottest to you and your friends. You have vinyl parties and everyone listen to old and some new records, and it got you thinking that you want to put out your own vinyl for your music. But is it worth it?

The answer… Hell Yeah it’s worth it!

Vinyls will last a lifetime and your fans will cherish that record for years to come, telling friends and family all about the time they saw your band play and they just had to have your record. But putting out just a vinyl is just half of it. By putting out your own vinyl you have told the world and your fans “We are here to blow your minds!” You are showing them you are to be taken seriously and you’re not just some band playing songs about an ex while drinking beer in your drummer's garage, but you are the next big thing that everyone should be talking about and coming to see play on Saturday night.

Once you have decided that having your own vinyl would be awesome how to go about making one. Well there are so many places online that will put your music on vinyl and hook you up with a great looking record with a great sleeve to hold it. But what about the quality? You don’t want to just put any old music on vinyl, vinyls have a different sound putting your demo you made at a friends house on 4 track or with some cheap online recorder is just a waste of money. You want to make sure the songs you are putting on your vinyl are good quality, use an actual recording studio or have some master those recordings you made with the online recorder and let them know you want to put it on vinyl so they will work harder to make it sound legendary.

But is the vinyl enough to satisfy your fans?

Maybe some, but not all. Honestly buying just a vinyl with no download code is risky, some musicians out there can pull it off but not all. Really when you think about it sucks to buy the vinyl of band you love for $25 then have to turn around and pay $10 bucks to buy the same album online just so you can listen to it everywhere else you don’t have your record player. Unless you have record player rigged up in your car, which would be pretty awesome if you did, but highly unlikely and it would probably skip a lot.

So if you decide to pay the money to put your music on vinyl for your fans and lets be honest for yourself make sure to put a free album download with it or something else with it.
Don’t be the artist who just sells a vinyl alone with no extras, unless it’s just a 7 inch, you could get away with just a 7 inch.

Once you have made your vinyl how are you going to sell it?

Well first you make sure to get the word out that you are making a record and start by doing pre-orders. Pre-orders will give you a good idea of how many vinyls you need to have pressed, but it’s also a great way to tie in other merch. You do pre-order bundle packs with the vinyl, a shirt, and your stickers for X amount of money or for X amount fans get the vinyl and shirt, offering 2 or 3 bundle packs will give yours fans more options for their money. Once your pre-orders are in where are you going to sell your leftover vinyls? Well for starters you sell them at your shows, but that’s not enough, you also need to sell them online through a webstore, but then you have to do shipping and fulfillment for it. printon-demand.com does artist fulfillment for all your merch as well as printing all your, so you can call us and we can take care of it for you and set you up with a great webstore.