You don’t have to be up on every single current music trend to notice the soar and continued popularity of vinyl among fans and artists alike. Whether it’s a limited-run 7” or an attractive multi-colored 12” LP, independent artists have taken to pressing vinyl for new releases to sell to their fans – new and old – at shows and on their preferred digital channels. The global vinyl market is poised to hit $1 billion by the end of 2017.
While TuneCore is a digital distributor, we’ve made sure to offer resources for artists who are in need of a physical version of their releases via our third party CD Duplication Service. But today, we’re excited to announce an expansion of that offering: TuneCore has partnered with the vinyl replication service QRATES (pronounced “crates)!
As we’ve covered and as most indie artists will tell you, pressing up vinyl versions of a new release can be an expensive endeavor, and often times requires a minimum order of copies that don’t fit into artists’ business plans. QRATES lets artists commit to orders of 100 copies, where 300 or 500 might be the minimum elsewhere.
Using QRATES’ interactive design and vinyl-building platform, artists and labels can control the presentation of their records while keeping an eye on additional costs associated with specialization in real time.
While normally pressing vinyl copies of a new release can be time consuming and require a multitude of different steps and vendors getting involved, QRATES takes the hassle out of this process by handling all levels of production and offering an average 6-8 week turnaround.
On top of a smooth, trustworthy process,QRATES also offers artists the following services:
Distribution – Need a help with distributing? With QRATES you can try to sell your vinyl directly to record stores using our Store Delivery service. Store Delivery allows our international network of record store partners to purchase your records from ‘Press & Pre-Order, ‘Funding’, and ‘Sell Catalog’ projects at a wholesale price.
Mastering – Don’t know what to do with mastering for vinyl? For your greater sound experience, QRATES has secured a partnership with Color Sound Studio in Paris to offer an exclusive “STEREO COLOR” mastering service to our customers.
Crowdfunding – Using the “Funding Project”, your vinyl can be pressed with the exact amount of orders. To start the project, just build and customize your artist page, design your vinyl, and enter the necessary information to launch your project page. There is no sign up fee! Alongside our unique vinyl simulation tool, you can promote your vinyl with digital streaming, download and more to boost your orders.
Ready to learn more about getting your next project out on wax? TuneCore Artists can enjoy a 5% discount using QRATES (using promo code TUNECORE05) as a part of our partnership. Head over to QRATES’ site today to get started.
Tags: 7" DIY featured featuring indie press vinyl pressing vinyl qrates records tunecore vinyl vinyl replication