CDs – gone, but not forgotten

Let me start at the beginning.

I have been running my record label Tantrum Records for over 12 years now. Starting with my first ever release in 2004 (a solo record) which saw coverage on on the BBC, mainstream press such as Closer Magazine and The Sun and national radio play (Radio 2). Back then not many people were going the DIY route, and certainly not many women. The album sold quite well, I pressed up 2000 copies and sold around 1300, which was pretty good for someone that essentially didn’t have a clue what they were doing and had only just put a live band together and learnt to play a guitar. So 700 copies sat patiently waiting in my stock room (flat) for more sales, which didn’t come. I moved on, new artists started to self-release and times were starting to change. Myspace arrived.

Having developed my sound from my solo days, I joined forces with my then guitarist and began my band 6 Day Riot, and released 3 albums on Tantrum Records with varying degrees of success – 6 Day Riot Have a Plan (the sophomore album which was released in 2009) was probably the most successful. With syncs on Skins and Scream 4 along with radio play on 6Music, Radio 2 and Radio 1 and yet more national press. Again, this was all on my own little label. I sold over 2000 copies (physical) and pressed another 2000. We were heading, on tour with Seth Lakeman and had just had the Scream sync so I thought we might shift lots more copies. We did sell copies on that tour and thank goodness for that - as I would have been heavily in debt. Having been forced into a situation where I had to ‘buy on’ to the tour (when a support act pays for the pleasure of supporting the headliner and hopefully gaining more fans along the way) I also covered all travel, food and accommodation for the band. But yet again my flat became the home to the remaining stock of around 1000 CDs. People had started to buy more digital copies - but still not enough to make me reconsider whether or not to press up more CDs for our third and final album.

On This Island, released in 2010, was also reasonably successful, but not quite as successful as the previous album and with 2000 copies pressed I managed to sell around 1400 physical copies over the years. So now, moving into a larger flat with a loft this time - I found that I had around 2300 CDs to house. As you can imagine, my husband was delighted. But I still believed that if I got another sync (I had publishers and sync agents still working on the releases) that I might well shift more copies, so there was no question of throwing away the stock.

Let’s move forward now. I released another solo album in 2012 (which also had some syncs). Having learnt my lesson (a little) I pressed 1000 copies, various albums went to press, I did a mini tour - but I was pregnant at the time and I couldn’t promote the release as well as I had hoped, so there were not many physical sales. Now I saw a change. There were far more digital sales than previous releases. There were far more streams and I was left with yet more CDs.

Then finally here we are. I have just released my 6th album, my debut as MALKA - Marching to Another Beat. I have received more radio play than ever before, thanks in large to 6Music and in particular to my champion Lauren Laverne. I have had coverage on some of the ‘buzziest’ blogs but sales have been slower than ever. This time I was a bit more canny. I released the album through a PledgeMusic campaign. I pressed only 500 copies, and I am close to selling out. I am still selling digitally, but mainly people are streaming the music, watching the videos on YouTube or just generally sideways glancing at a song whilst surfing online.

The entire music business has changed so dramatically over the years. I now lecture in Music Business and I teach students how to get out there and how to release their own music. Eagerly trying to find a way forward to generate more income from my own music so as to be able to guide them in ways to generate income for their own. I have not toured this album as much as I thought I would as I am now pregnant again, and so physical sales have been less than they might have been. Which brings me to the decision to throw away most of my remaining stock. I needed to find some old baby clothes in the loft and on closer inspection I realised that the entire space was being taken up by Tantrum Records CDs. It is not that I think CDs are passé (I do) but I just moved more in line the way the industry has gone. When I drag out my CDs to sell at gigs now I feel a bit like a dinosaur, wishing that I had gone for vinyl with this latest album instead. People will download my old albums (or stream them) if I get another sync or if they hear it somewhere and like it. Some of my students buy CDs (I regularly ask them how they discover music and what format they purchase music in so that I can do my own research on youth culture) - but more of them stream music, or buy vinyl.

So, I said a fond farewell to my stock (I kept a few boxes just incase) and as I begin writing my seventh album (and my second as MALKA) I am looking into my options for what format to release my music. I already have a sync confirmed from my current album - lets just hope I can sell these final MALKA albums and clear some more loft space.

Marching To Another Beat is out now on MALKA'S own label, Tantrum Records.