bsmrocks

I had high hopes for that record but it came out even better than I was expecting. Can't wait to hear the next one.

It's scary because I look up at the bigger indies and see them racking up sales figures which, in some cases, aren't very much bigger than ours, even though they're spending 10 times more money and getting a lot more press, radio play and big tour supports/headline shows. It just seems that the gap between big and small indies is closing.

My current thinking is that it's getting harder and harder to increase sales (due to shops closing, more competition, etc) so if I can't push sales up, I'm going to have to bring costs down. In many ways its been quite exciting, experimenting and looking at different ways of doing this and I think the days of thinking "ok, new release, I'll have 1000 CDs please" are definitely behind me, as shown by the above. Who knows what they'll be in another years time though!

Thanks to everyone who has read the column, by the way. Hope you enjoyed it. Or at least didn't hate it!

I spoke to Alex about that idea at SXSW actually. We went to a digital music panel together and he came out convinced it was a good route to take for the band. I like the idea, personally. We're doing something similar (in a more scaled down way) with our sampler CDs at the moment

Just noticed a mistake. 7th paragrah should say: "People are fickle and the wonders of the internet means that you’re NOW competing with every single band in the whole world" - not "not competing with." I must learn to proof-read!

That sounds like a lot of love. Talking of which, I was listening to 'Variations On Swing' earlier on. Damn I miss that band

If only my old English teachers from school were reading DiS! They wouldn't believe it

Thanks, by the way

'You Are My Coal Mine' - http://www.clashmusic.com/feature/copy-haho-exclusive-live-session

but I love it, and it works perfectly for me in terms of promoting the label, letting people know what we're upto and also communicating with friends and fans, new and old. It's hard to really explain what it is that works so well, I guess it's just a bit of a Marmite website really!

If anyone's on there and wants to follow - www.twitter.com/bsmrocks

that you can't expect everyone who illegally downloaded a song last year would've bought the CD/vinyl had the download option not been available, but a few people beat me to it. I used to look at things that way and it was frustrating, but I think the key thing is to realise that simply isn't the case and find a way around it.

I do think we're going to see a serious increase in products and services similar to Nokia Comes With Music. Broadband providers, mobile phone companies, the Government (perhaps in a similar scheme to TV licences), large online stores and others will no doubt be looking at doing this, and whilst it does bring money back into the system, how does it feed down to us indie labels? The majors will sign deals and take a percentage, so they're sorted, and some of the bigger indie distro's will do the same, but when you consider the thousands of 'bedroom labels' who, between us, make up millions and millions of illegal downloads, but induvidually don't add up to much, we're bound to be overlooked. Unless there's something I just haven't considered here...?

Come and see them at The Wheatsheaf on Wednesday!

from www.bsmrocks.com now

Tour starts tomorrow, details are on the Myspace page

His email is sittightshows@hotmail.co.uk

what made you assume that?

R.I.P.M.M.I.S.L.E.T.C.

Barn Stage. Saturday. 1.30pm

It'll be like a 3 hour set with Walter's related songs first and then Get Cape ones later. Whether or not they'll play somewhere else at the festival as well, I don't know

He'll be playing Rival Schools stuff and no doubt Quicksand, Walking Concert and solo songs too

It came out back in September. It's not being re-released or anything, just thought the song deserved a nice video and it won't be on the new album, which is due out later on this year

Not only did you get the link in but you described yourself as being hilarious! :-)

But as I've been beaten to it I might just give the stalking thing a miss

Wish I'd gone to that show. Friends there said it was brilliant

It's not enough!

That said, I'm only going to three. Brighton and the two London. Tempted by Bristol as well. I'm so southern!

I heard them when I was putting together the Svenskt CD and really liked em

Will be on at 7.30. Surrounded are main support

Lewis has even more space to prat about with his bass this way

are doing a bunch of these dates. Sheffield, York, Nottingham, Tunbridge Wells and one or two more I think

I had a dream last night that I received a mailout from Rolo Tomassi saying they were recording their new album and it sounded "dirty"

Just a little insight into the exciting thoughts my mind conjours up for me when asleep. Never a dull moment!

playing for weeks now. It's highly addictive, once you get into it properly

but don't really have any regular haunts.

Looking at it as a label rather than a consumer, however, I think they're brilliant! I've sent a few new tracks out to a bunch of blogs in the past and had some really nice responses. The writers are generally really passionate and enthusiastic, which is always a pleasant discovery

It's not strictly an MP3 blog but I do post them from time to time on http://blogscarymonsters.blogspot.com

to see how many copies this sells. Having already been made available digitally (for any price you care to pay) I wonder how many people will buy the CD as well?
I've read so many articles about 'the death of the music industry' over the past couple of weeks I just can't stop thinking about it!

It's not finished yet either, they're still tweaking bits here and there, but it'll be bloody brilliant when finished

are brilliant

To support Ed Harcourt at The Rescue Rooms up in Nottingham on 15th Oct. Awesome.

"If you like energetic post-hardcore, meet your new favourite band. KKKK" was the jist of it I believe

You've gone off the rails, Diver!

90% of the orders went out a while back but a few were delayed for a number of reasons. I'm literally sticking stamps on now though

And less of the illegal downloading please! :-p

The best I've seen em, or at least one of the best. And you know they're only gonna get better still, scarily!

.

Look at Toby's lovely beard in that picture! He's gonna look like a member of Grandaddy pretty soon

Must mean albums, mustn't it? Surely they've done more than that

Mutiny On The Bounty are playing this as well now

one crazy house!

for the Star. Great news for me. Reading's much closer to my house!

Looking forward to visitng this place

I honestly can't think I've ever been into a shop and received any sort of recommendations based upon the music I'm buying. But perhaps that's more about my taste than their customer service! Still, I'd love to visit a shop similar to that of the one in High Fidelity (even if it does mean being sneered at!), although I'm ashamed to admit that even if I found an amazing looking CD, there's a very good chance I'd go home and look for it cheaper online rather than buying it there and then. To me, price will always be an issue

I must be losing touch!

Not long after the Jeniferever split came out actually.

A couple of them then started a really cool band called Hooray! Say The Roses (www.myspace.com/hooraysaytheroses)... But they split up too

Welwyn? And is the Garden City part really necessary? I've never heard of the place and keep forgetting to ask! It has a nice name anyway

You're all fucked. My small yet highly skilled squad are gonna run circles round you all

See you on the pitch!

Think they're still going under a different name. Possibly working with Gravity? I don't know

Just one compilation (from what I can remember) which had a few ska bands on there. However, said compilation also offered the first ever UK release of 'Letters To You' by Finch, which more than makes up for it, surely!

Thanks for all the nice words by the way, guys

And the album is packed with them! As a record it's more technical than their older stuff yet more accessible at the same time. Go figure

Another new track - my personal favourite from the album - is on the new BSM sampler CD 'Record Label Shmecord Label' which is available to buy from www.bsmrocks.com right now. Please excuse the plug, I couldn't miss a chance like this to advertise!