Here is an interview I conducted with Peter a little over two years ago for my Music Business I term paper. It's mostly about label stuff but thought some of you might find it interesting, it has not been published except in my term paper.



On Nov 28, 2005, at 3:26 AM, Kristian Day wrote:

> Peter here my questions, If you can have them to me by this coming friday that would be great. The order they is spontaneous so depending on how they are answered I will rearrange them.
>
> What provoked you change from a 3rd party distributor to self distributing your own records?

If you are talking about being on a 'major' label, we changed because, like many third party distributors they did not pay us. (At least not reliably and on time.)

>
> What have been the benefits for you from changing over to independent distribution?

Firstly financial, 100% of a small amount is always more than 10 or 14 % of a larger amount which you don't actually receive...

I'm sorry to be facetious but Im afraid I do not have any faith in a system which relies on the honesty of a company to VOLUNTEER the information of you how much they owe you, AND then to pay you every three or six months.

The music business model is fundamentally flawed.

Its true that publishing companies were invented to maintain a check on the record companies, but they have lunch together for chrissake.

ALL the record companies I have ever been associated with, from the smallest to the largest (EMI) frequently do not appear to even KNOW how much they owe anyone at any given time, and often claim to have paid too much, and want some back. Maybe the appearance of ineptitude is just a show for business purposes, but in my long experience I think its more likely that they do NOT, in fact, have any clue.

Of course working with independent distribution companies has all the same risks and problems associated with the majors, UNLESS they are small enough that one person actually has a fair idea what's going on financially, AND you can reach them on the phone, AND you can tell if they're telling you the truth.

> What type of problems have had to deal with now that did not have to when under a labels supervision?

Well all independent distribution companies are different.

In the case of Coil for example, World Serpent simply pressed up, and sold our records internationally to various shops and other distributors, then collected the money and split the profit with us. [In theory at least - Eventually they were unable to continue, as a consequence of rising bad debts, closing mom-and-pop record stores and/or mismanagement. They went out of business owing us over $50K].

Even when it was running properly, World Serpent did not do any advertising, promotion or press of any kind, so if we wanted any, we had to it ourselves.

Just making interesting records is pretty hard at the best of times, so sometimes we could have done with some help in the area of promotion, even if we'd had to pay for it in the long run.

> Are there any benefits you miss from being part of another label?
If its a good label, bands certainly benefit from the association with other more famous or popular label-mates. Its a sad fact of human nature that people tend to buy more from the same rack / label / website as other records/bands they have liked, rather than bother to walk, or click, a few steps away to try something new. At one point Coil were going to be on Trent Reznor's vanity label and if that had happened, we would certainly have sold a lot more CDs, though whether that would have been a good thing, I cant say.

In the end, it was not to be.

There is no doubt that, under the old method of distribution in the last century, where you went into Tower and saw what just came out, there on the rack... At that time, the clout or power of the major to say to the chain store "If you want these madonna records you have to display these PTV (or whoever) ones too" DID get weirder records into a lot more stores (esp. in the US) than would otherwise have carried them.

I'm afraid I have always been a slight snob, and would rather sell fewer records to a market of discerning customers who appreciate going out of their way to find my stuff, and take care of it over the years, rather than have my record sit unplayed on the shelf (or worse, in the box of old cds in a thrift store or Car Boot sale) of someone who just bought it because they liked Nine Inch Nails.


> Has there been issues where you have questioned if you are still able to reach the same amount of people as you were before under another label?

Yes!!! (see above) I USED to think that the QUANTITY of people that know your work was important - For example, in the 70s when I worked at Hipgnosis and did album covers for Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel,Yes etc. I got a buzz from seeing my work in people's bedrooms all round the world. Likewise it DID feel cool in the 90s when I made videos for bands like Rage Against the Machine or NIN, to turn on MTV and see my name and my work. However I discovered that the music business (and indeed the film business) is completely and 100% run of the basis of abusing people, who put up with it simply BECAUSE of their desire for fame. I think this may have gotten worse over the past few years.

I dropped out of the mainstream business because I was more interested in NOT being abused, than in the fame.

So what Im saying is, I now believe the amount of people you reach is not as important as their quality.

Also somehow the quality and appreciation of your audience is in inverse proportion to how easy they found your record was to obtain. ["Got it at Payless??? a free copy from someone at school??? - bah! Who cares about it??? - It's shit!"]

> What advice can give to other artists who are in limbo about independent distribution?

If you're young and cute want to be a pop star, then you still have to deal with the machine - get an experienced manager or agent who can get big advances from labels to pay for your hair products, clothes and, oh yes, the recordings etc.

ON THE OTHER HAND:

...if you make records that are "interesting" in your garage, everything is changing right now. If you are reasonably technically savvy, and have a little bit of money to get going, its easier than ever to distribute music oneself - you can sell your cds or downloads online from your own website...

What maybe IS harder, is to get noticed.

In my opinion, the amount of notice a 'big' label will get you is not worth what they will charge you. Better to be your own publicist or find an inventive and extrovert friend to do it for you. The world is full of people who would be only too happy to get paid for talking about something "interesting"

It's true a label may give you an advance, but it will be WAY more expensive than a loan from the bank, or even better, a loan from your folks.

If you can save up the stake you need to get started, without borrowing, so much the better, and since it's your money you will take care to spend it wisely. ("I know that's a cool synth / guitar / suit but do you really need it now??? - There will be a better one out soon anyway!") - Many is the record company advance that was spent in a day, and took years to recoup (if ever).

It's true a label may stump up for you full page ads in the music press, your 8x10 glossies, your videos (though more likely you'll have to pay for them out of your 14% share - what's that about???!!!!). They may even give you some tour support etc, but they paid for all those things for a lot of other artists too, and it didn't help sell THEIR cds, fill up their shows, or make THEM rich. I suppose if you ONLY want a scrapbook full of memories of your 15 seconds, that could work, but it doesnt for me.

THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS is if people think your "interesting" IS interesting.

If they do, they will tell their friends, and probably come and see you play if its not too far...

Sell them your cds at the show at $20 a pop, that cost you a dollar, thats a 1900% profit. Sell 5000 that way and you can think about giving up the day job. Sell 10,000 and you get coverage in your favorite national magazine / website / radio show. If you want you can sell cds in bulk to distributors as well for the old fashioned people who still like going to record stores (but dont give distributors too much credit, as in the end you can be sure they wont pay their last invoice). If you've got friends who want to travel ahead of your tour to sell cds into any remaining indy stores you can do that too. Selling in bulk means making less profit but 100 or 200 cd sales in one deal, is one less gig you have to do.

AS you can see this is basically the way the music "industry" worked before really it was an industry - just folks selling discs out of the back of cars, or by mail order, one at a time, person to person. It works (assuming people ARE interested in the noise you make of course) and great thing is you know that none of your money is going to pay for the mercedes of some prick in Hollywood who knows nothing about you, and cares even less...

If I sound bitter its because I've been ripped off so many times by assholes who somehow thought they were doing ME a favor, and that I somehow owed THEM a living.

Kristian, Write me if you need more.

best
peter christopherson
coil

thanks for sharing, quite interesting.

Quite an enlightened, sympathetic, and (indeed) fair analysis of the subject...