Bands that abuse their fanbase w/ collector scumishness

Stereolab

Stereolab is at least nice enough to collect all the good stuff on the various Switched On-ish comps (although one hasn't come out in years).

there probably isn't enough out-of-print stuff to justify it yet, as they've only released two tour singles (Underground Is Coming, Free Witch and No Bra Queen) since the last one.

Arovane was doing this quite a bit a couple years ago, that was the reason I stopped following his work.

also, BOREDOMS, SONIC YOUTH

and for labels: LOAD (doesn't keep 7" stuff in print even for Lightning Bolt)

Also: WOLF EYES and their "we document everything with a homemade shitty cdr/tape" policy

Black Dice is going in this direction I think.

Just got my copy of Kawabata's 8 CDR Private Tapes collection the other day. Please don't ask me about the price.

Stereolab actually still have a huge slew of B-sides, EPs and random bonus tracks that aren't collected -- in fact I went ahead and made my own 2 CD comp from DB's hoard of such efforts a couple of years back and I don't think these are on any of the three Switched-On comps yet (but correct me if I'm wrong, anyone):

Low-Fi
(Varoom!)
Laisser-Faire
Elektro
Fruition
Moogie Wonderland
Pain et Spectacles
Transona Five (live)
Heavy Denim
Nihilist Assault Group (pts.3-5)
Marco Martenot
Les Yper-Yper Sound
Brigitte
Young Lungs
Simple Headphone Mind
Freestyling Dumping
Flourescences
Pinball
Soop Groove #1
Allures
Off-On
Spinal Column
Calimero
Cache Cache
Escape Pod
With Friends Like These
Les Aimies Des Memes
Galaxidion

...not to mention the cuts from the most recent album's associated singles as well, etc.

(j/k... ?)

um, how about the locust's new 4x7" of their debut album (7"?) that is 4 interlocking jigsaw puzzle pieces that retails for $30.

See: most current "hardcore" bands from the eastern US.

I guess I was only talking from the perspective of the pattern of previous Switched On comps - the amount of rare material released since the previous one is negligible.. but if they were to delve further back then yes there's a stack of uncomped stuff..

but I don't really think of it as "abuse" - I didn't make any money off "Songs for Peter Hughes" and it's not like I held back copies to ebay or anything: the box I got was sold almost entirely the day I got it at a show I played that night. (I think I sold copy #1 to some random person, whoever caught me first.) To me this stuff is lots of fun, and I actively encourage taping/trading etc. - I just like having these little invisible releases like "On Juhu Beach," there's something very appealing to me in putting a lot of work & love into something that then vanishes with hardly a ripple (but which DOES have a tangible existence i.e. the hundred copies that do exist).

Just releasing everything in unlimited editions with nothing for treasure-hunters to seek out = boring to me! But I wouldn't call it "abusing the fanbase," I mean I'm easy to find so big fans almost always get copies of the stuff they want

heh. if you want a rip of the "jam eater blues" single, i digitised and de-clicked it not long ago..

Nothing is more depressing than seeing an online catalog of releases with editions of 99 or less, IMO. It's like, "nyah, nyah, you can't have it." Meanwhile, if there were 500 (or more) of these releases in existence, no one would give a shit.

up to a point i think it's a bit of both, but some labels are worse than others. which brings us to:

(Sub Pop you have a lot to answer for.)

oh my, yes. all i can say is, i'm thankful that i subscribed to the singles club.

I have released several things in editions of 20-100 copies, simply because that's how many people I figured would want it. I've generally been right.

First Monster Magnet 7".
First Cop Shoot Cop 7".
First Royal Trux 7"
Sebadoh's "Asshole" 7"
A Merzbow 7" and some other stuff I'm forgetting.

And Sabbat in particular. Dozens of (limited to 100/200) 7"s on nearly every label in the world, shitloads of split 7"s, vinyl-only albums, (highly limited) rereleases, videos, live tapes, picture discs, handnumbered CDRs, exclusive tracks on compilations...

Sometimes I think "wow this is really neat that they care so much about design as to make their packaging so cool and interesting!" and sometimes I think "bloody hell, I've wasted so much money on this."

And Spiritualized incence stank. At least I didn't have to pay for that.

Any band that releases an album with multiple versions of the cover art.

Stereolab vs. My Bloody Valentine, anyone?

So quit yer whinging. I'd rather have the surfeit.

At least they didn't mar their fair name with SHIT releases.

Was not impressed to see the band themselves selling stuff on eBay recently. Maybe they haven't sat on this stuff for a few years & seeing the prices rise to ridiculous levels then decided to cash in, but I do wonder...

1. An endless stream of live albums, few of which are complete shows, only a handful of which are, you know, "good."

2. All of those mother&^%king Reciever comps that had, ay best, one mildly compelling song on them and another hour of crap (and even repackagining those

3. Endless, ceaseless, and often careless repackaging of their first decade, sometimes using old masters, sometimes mastering from wax, sometimes remastering, sometimes with extra tracks, sometimes with new liner notes, sometimes in a new compilation, sometimes in a revised compilation....

Isn't this sort of thing what the World Court was set up for?

Talk about a new face in hell,

And, re: scumminess...supposedly the Trux record was pressed in an edition of 500 (or so it said on the package), but there were (whispers) rumors of a second pressing along the line.

Hey, does anyone here remember Noiseville? Ah, Bench, Bootbeast, Sound of My Own Voice, Unholy Swill..."classic."

plus any band that has ever released an album with multiple covers (with the exception of sonic youth, who had the good taste to include all four "experimental jet set" covers in a single cd).

Yeah, as much as I looove Saint Etienne, they're out of control with those EPs/fan club/Japanese-only releases. I didn't even buy Interlude (odds 'n' sods collection), because every review I read had panned it. I mean, fer crying out loud, when Chickfactor pans a Saint Etienne album (or any British pop album, for that matter), it's gotta be pretty awful. And if you go on eBay and search for I Love to Paint or Built on Sand, well, sticker SHOCKAH...(hey is that Smash the System DVD ready yet?)

They're MUCH better, I have to say. Though Fall in a Hole is still mastered from vinyl, it is a full new remastering, the packaging and essays are great, etc.

in some cases the artist is the last person to accurately predict just what their project's appeal is going to be, 100 copies may be too many, 1500 copies may be too little. what bugs me is when 'limited edition' starts getting used as a fucking selling point. which is inevitable i guess, but just defeats the purpose entirely; a limited edition is supposed to appeal directly to the people who already know they want it, not bait people sitting on the fence into buying now now now.

it is weird how often artists end up releasing their best stuff initially in limited editions, you just never can be sure. all the best Residents releases through the 80's-90's were fan club only, and Nurse With Wound's 'Alice The Goon' was my favorite release from them in years...

why don't we turn this hate-thread into a love-thread by naming the limited edition releases worth seeking out?

You say Japan owns this thread, but NZ is far worse. lathe cuts 7"s in editions of seven (SEVEN!!!??!) and shit like that. I mean, a Gate 7" that is probably owned by Robbie Yeats, Bruce Russell, Lee Ranaldo, Michael Morley, and wives - that's the run right there. Jeez Louise.

poet - i'm pretty sure that The Serth is not actually a NNCK member but certainly a friend of the band. But as a band, they seem to have relaxed on the 'elusive' shit since the Fahey record. They're practically high profile these days.

new name for this thread - music that is good

you & I both know that we can get as much of this stuff as we could ever hear (owning is maybe more the priority for most squirrels). The small run stuff is right there if you want to collect it in a timely fashion & support small art stars.

maybe I'm just feeling smug 'cause I have mp3 CDs of all (?) the Acid Mothers stuff, & went to college at the right time to have all those Voitical 7"s?

that said, back in the day th' Jesus & Mary Chain & Spacemen 3 sure made it difficult to be totally obsessive.

np: CCR

Also, what about bands who don't release their album even when there's a clear demand for it? Like, when is the fucking Rapture album gonna come out?

To be fair, that wasn't a limited release for collector-inspiring purposes or fanbase abuse, but due to circumstances at the time. However, it is the only album I own that I am truly sentimental about - I mean, I have the re-released CD so I don't actually listen to it, or need it, but I still like to know I have it.

To be frank, bands that do this shit drive away as many people as they snatch into their web. I've known a number of folks, myself included of course, who avoided interest* in one band or another (The Fall and Stereolab being #s 1 & 2 easy) because they didn't want to bother with all the 'collector scum' shit. If you're not willing to become Mr. Number One Fan it feels almost pointless to even pick up a single album from some of these groups.

*personal case: heard a song on the radio, enjoyed it. College DJ comes on, says "That was Stereolab," & I decided to forget about it immediately, figuring my chances of tracking that particular track down = nil or something like it

buy refried ectoplasm, it has many great songs that were once very difficult to lay your hands on.

I forgot about another aspect to this: Non-U.S. record labels are wary of U.S. record labels' economy of scale and other abilities to undercut them on price. Therefore many of these labels, especially in Japan, arrange to release albums with bonus tracks, giving local buyers an incentive to buy the domestic version, rather than an imported U.S. pressing. And these pressings' value to the obsessive collectors' market sure doesn't hurt.

The majority of GBV fans really want everything Bob Pollard comes up with.