Retrospect Records

If you want to see Sam rocking out with Carmine Appice , Terry Ilous and some other cats then go here:

www.internationalrockshow.com

Awesome for Sam. He deserves it. Sam has more integrity than Ryan and more fire than David. He is willing to take a big risk on the silver pressings for Manila Thrills but everything is about the bottom line. Sam offered a much more lucrative deal than MM or SC and let's face it , with over 80 releases in the 3 months Sam has taken over Retrospect , we are seeing a company that will be a force to reckon with. How do I know this stuff? I have explained before , I have bought from him , talked with him on the phone and better yet , watched his Journey tribute band in Vegas when I was there last year.

Are you missing the fact that Sam starts all auctions on eBay for 99 cents?  Therefore THE MARKET decides what a cd is worth and not a distributor / record company.

 

I think that's about as fair as it gets , don't you?

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What about if the market knew those are cdrs when bidding up to $50+ ? For me this is the most relevant factor which would KILL the sale if present

 

P.S. I see the topic got exausted already, so please consider this my last entry too, sorry.

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I don't see a bunch of negs piling up from unsuspecting buyers , so I guess that point is moot.

OUT..

I didn't mean to re-hash anything. So I agree that this ends and Que Sera Sera.

Dan , you said...

"The point you're missing is that if Sam is selling them on the web site for $15 and on Ebay for $15, no one would be able to resell them for $30-50. The market price would drop to the going average. And more units would be sold because the price would be more affordable for everyone."

Are you missing the fact that Sam starts all auctions on eBay for 99 cents? Therefore THE MARKET decides what a cd is worth and not a distributor / record company.

I think that's about as fair as it gets , don't you?

Nothing personal against Ryan but his history of accurately representing sales figures isn't exactly encouraging.

I understand what all you guys are saying and I'm trying to play devil's advocate here.

Dan , you are STILL talking about a $1300 investment on ONE release. For that amount of lay-out , Sam can press 100 units of 5 DIFFERENT bands.

I think at this point there will be some people who are fans of glam , 80s hard rock , AOR , melodic metal , whatever , that will miss out on a bunch of great albums because they are adamant about not purchasing a green disc.

As far as prices go , Sam sets them at market value. Do I have to remind you that Rock Boulevard , Vyper and Friction (among others) are still selling between $30 and $50 on eBay? Why sell them at $10-$15 on the website when people will just flip them on eBay and make a profit for themselves?

On a happy note , Sam just told me there will be a Xmas sale running soon on the website and he's obviously hoping it will bring more sales.

If you look at the buyers , they are mostly repeat buyers. I believe you are over-analyzing how many people care about silver discs. To each his own.

One more thing, I would be shocked if ANY of Ryan's releases over there at Metal Mayhem sold 1,000 units or more.

I don't believe for a second that Friction or Rock Boulevard will sell 1,000 units....in any format.

The test will be Manila Thrills and Mariah , both of which are apparently being pressed as silver discs.

Mariah has members of Tyketto , Britny Fox , Waysted and Lynn Allen....not to mention that Retrospect is releasing 3 of their albums , one being produced by Steve Brown of Trixter and another one having a song co-written with Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.

If that doesn't sell in droves then I guess Sam IS doing the right thing.

I don't see anyone complaining about the Bittersweet 2 disc set being cdr's. Why is that?

Hope you don't mind but I would just like to add one more point before we knock this on the head. This has been explained to me so I'm trying to relay this as accurate as possible.

Sam has a choice - print 1,000 silver discs for $1300 OR 100 green "diamondbacks" for $250

Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that's over a $1000 difference in investment for a band that you don't know will sell 10 or 10,000.

I have been told that he would rather release 100 bands at 100 units each than 10 bands at 1,000 units each.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Aaron?

Dan , there is no re-issue of a re-issue , I have a reliable source on that and Sam apparently has about 50 Rock Boulevards left. I think Sam is just pricing his cd's at market value. I mean they are still selling for $40+ on ebay so why sell them for $15 when people will just flip them on ebay for a profit? You don't cut off your nose to spite your face. (think that's how it goes - lol)

Anyways , the point being , cdr's or no cdr's Sam is making good money for the bands and they are thankful to finally receive checks for their hard work (let's face it many of them got screwed back in the day). So if there's a few of you who want to keep trading cd-r's instead of purchasing directly from the source then you're only hurting the guys who created the music , not to mention them being able to finance new music.

I'm not Sam's butt buddy or anything , I just know him from conversations on the phone and emails , and his passion for the music goes beyond anyone I've ever met.

With at least 50 bands currently selling their discs as cdr's on various sites (including Dan at one point) , I'm trying to figure out how it matters that Sam is doing the same thing. Are you going to find bands like Mistreated , Cobra Dane , Atomik Cocktail , Hyde or Buster Cherry anywhere else on cd? I didn't think so. Are you going to pay $1000 for Rock Boulevard or $500 for Friction? I didn't think so either.

What exactly is the problem?

I have no qualms about forking out $20 for a professionally produced release.

I think I'd rather pay $50 for a re-issue than over $1000 for an original. This is old news though.

I think since the disc will be printed in higher numbers (i am assuming 1,000 since that's the standard minimum for silver discs) that Retrospect will offer these discs at a decent price. I suggested $12.99 to Sam. He did make it clear to me that he is adamant about not wholesaling out to other companies because they just compete for lower prices. Understandable.

I guess Sun City and Metal Mayhem will be gutted about that as they were also in the running to release this disc. Good for Sam I say. I have dealt with him many times and can't say enough about his integrity to the music. Personally , I could care less what color the discs were , Retrospect is releasing so many kickass albums it's difficult not to stand up and notice. I think some of us collectors really should start giving props where they are due. Sam will always have his enemies I suppose.

I heard through the grapevine that Sam offered Manila Thrills the best royalty rates and promised silver discs so I guess they couldn't refuse that.

2 cents.

a lot of hypocrisy here Lon. I've seen quite a few people here selling cd-r's and boots and yet they are the first to point 'scammers' out. I've been on eBay for years and could point out the frauds that post here in a second. But I'm new here so the last thing I want is some bad blood.

jma17356