I've wondered this over the last few years and it's got nothing to do with getting hold of limited edition 7's on the hope of making a profit.

In the 60's/70's some records were pressed in their thousands, if not more for the bigger hit's. These days demand is smaller so labels dont want to over-spend in pressing records they're not going to sell or press too little, thus losing out revenue with third parties making the money as demand increases.

So, what sort of numbers of new vinyl releases are pressed these days?

Edited February 4, 201114 yr by John Reed

I would say no more than a 1000 per release maybe 500 in some instances, pretty sure Ady Croasdell will be able to confirm this with his Kent/Select releases, certain titles will sell well and sell out and some will be slow, often people seem to want to collect the label runs when they become deleted, 70's Grapevine being a prime example, but you are right I bet they were done in 5000 plus runs back in the 70's and the likes of Pye Disco Demand much more, basically there were more people out they to buy them than there is now, I personally make a point of getting certainly the new Kent/Selects, full run of Grapevine 2000 and so on.

Regards - Mark Bicknell.

The new Hayley release - FINAL DECISIONS 'I don't feel no pain', a previously unreleased Fast Track recording from Detroit, will be out in the next couple of weeks to celebrate the label's 10 year Anniversary. There will be 250 issues and 30 - 40 promos. This is the first Hayley 7" release to ever have a picture sleeve. It is up on You Tube too.

Hope this is helpful John.

Edited February 4, 201114 yr by Rob Moss

500 for Kents usually

Ady

I press records for my own Selecta and Shotgun labels and for other clients, 500 or so is the most typical quantity for initial batches these days.

I can't reveal figures for my clients but very few ever press second batches, EMI being an obvious exception with last year's Eli Reed single (which is still selling).

Sales are obviously down in general (certainly compared to ten years ago) but it has to be said that some records have long shelf lives so sales should be considered over the longer term. It isn't a short-term thing anymore.

There's no point pressing 1000+ units just to get a slightly lower unit cost if most copies may remain unsold and take up valuable space. It's easy to get a second batch pressed up pretty fast so it's more efficient to press batches or 500 or 600 as and when you need them.

The most obvious problem is that the retail sector has almost disappeared. There was a time when some wholesalers and exporters would order 500 or 1000 copies at a time but those days are gone. When I ran the Ardent and Zing labels we always pressed 1000 units minimum, more often 1500 or 2000, and we often had to press second batches very fast.

There was a time when 500 wasn't really an economical batch quantity but these days the typical dealer prices of 7" singles are higher than they were, they've become a "premium rate" product and are often more expensive than a CD album. And I think that's justified because of the smaller market and the fact that it costs more to process and manufacture vinyl compared to CDs.

So, although the quantities have decreased, the value of sales has increased.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMgyWbe2VRA

Two thursday's ago I ordered 400 45's from a distributor in the states these were very recent release's (the last month or two) and were new soul , Latin ,Modern soul,deep and funk I ended up with 17 not 17 titles but 17 singles the guy told me that short small run's are over and such as truth and soul ect may have to consider 1000 count runs to meet an increasing demand .I'm personly having no problem selling 45's and such as the Latin and modern stuff alway's sells out as does the reggae.one of the people in Jamaica have told me that although downloads in Ja are the main source of new musical sales the pressing plants are flat out with re issue and certain lovers rock/dub and root's type vinyl .There's a lable in L.A that's going to do a lot of download only new soul/funk/latin on to ltd run's of 1000 45 vinyl as they believe that a lot of new music exposure is gained by dj's playing vinyl so I think it's far from over as for the release of unissued 45's this has to have a more ltd sales base and would probably only justify a short 500 run as this is creaping into a smaller specilist field all the best Sy.

If they are limited editions, that means at least ten thousand copys

how many 100 club anniversary 45s are pressed ?

The new Hayley release - FINAL DECISIONS 'I don't feel no pain', a previously unreleased Fast Track recording from Detroit, will be out in the next couple of weeks to celebrate the label's 10 year Anniversary. There will be 250 issues and 30 - 40 promos. This is the first Hayley 7" release to ever have a picture sleeve. It is up on You Tube too.

Hope this is helpful John.

........

Absolute top tune it is too Rob, been playing it on my radio show and now i have the release date I will give it another spin tomorrow!

Cheers, Chris