Tape Exchange

[Winslow Yerxa <76450.3230@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TO: internet:harp-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I'm happy to see interest and even volunteers for the tape
project. However, the idea of mass-duplicating either tapes or
CDs misses the point.

This is grassroots stuff, and most titles will not sell enough to
justify sinking a lot of capital into 500/1000/5000 copies.
That's the whole point of using cassettes and not CDs - they can
be duplicated at will one at a time if need be, with commonly
available inexpensive equipment. The only startup investment is
the artist's - in sending out a few cassettes to the regional
operators. And the operators invest only time (not money) in
getting catalog info posted, and spend money *only* when they
receive an actual order for product. Very clean, very cheap.

There's nothing wrong with having a hit that *does* justify a
print run of whatever size. But too much concentration on that
whole avenue of thinking leads away from grassroots information
exchange and towards a commercial label.

Again, a hybrid is fine. But my original point was to make even
the most marginal productions *accessible*. Small-quantity local (or
regional) duplication and shipping, together with worldwide
catalog availability, seem to me the way to make it possible in a
way that no record label can, even a tiny one-man artist-operated
one.

Even the idea of using the internet for information distribution
is flawed - not everyone has a computer, let alone net access.
But printing and distributing a paper catalog is expensive and
difficult, and would not reach nearly as many people. Of course
people can print and distribute dowloaded catalog files as they
see fit.

To sum up: I'm talking about finding the optimal use of minimal
resources to reach a maximum audience for minor producers of a
specialized product, while spending almost no money.