Hypnotic Dirge Records IMPORTANT UPDATE 09/14/09
Posted by Nick Skog on Thursday, September 17, 2009
Hello!
*This is a open letter to everybody - Feel free to post this anywhere!
I would like to discuss with you all some inevitable changes concerning 'Hypnotic Dirge Records' and myself and what this will mean to everyone involved with the lable including its artists/projects. musicians, customers, reviewers, promoters, and fellow lables.
As of last week, I have began taking classes at the college in Swift Current, SK, Canada in order to upgrade my high school marks to reach a 75% average so that I can be accepted into the University of Saskatchewan Arts program in order to begin a 4-year bachelor of music course.
Currently this only means I have to go to the college part-time because I only have to upgrade 3 classes. Unfortunetely, one class is at 9:00AM, and the other two runs between 1:00PM and 3:30PM. Furthermore, even with cutting down some hours at my regular day-job, I still have to work between 60-70 hours in a 2 week period in order to live the way I wish. This typically means that after getting back from school at around 3:45PM, I would have until about 9:00PM to sleep, and then would need to get ready, and walk to work to arrive at 10:00PM and work until either 6:00AM or 8:00Am depending on the day. Of course this is not an everyday thing, as work is only 4 days a week, and school is only 5 days a week, so luckily I will still have time to rest.
However, this 'will' mean for one that despite still working 60-70 hours a week, that is only enough to live comfortably as opposed to 80 hours a week which was enough to feed the lable around $300-$400 a month over top of the profits which were made monthly from sales. Previously I was feeding my own day-job money back into the record lable, because sales were not high enough to continue on with the production of CD's and Shirts. What this means, is that for the next 4-5 months, the lable will have to be self-sufficient meaning that the only money I will be able to spend on the lable is the money which is in my paypal account from sales. I can't afford to lose anymore personal money on Hypnotic Dirge Records for the time-being, especially not when I need to save up money for a new computer because it is getting harder and harder daily to run this lable from this old computer in the first place, and while I am also searching for a new apartment where things can be more structured and organized, which will also help my activities with HDR.
I will be done with school in January of 2010, so this will not be a long-term thing, but it is something which is very important to me, and I feel it must be done, in order to start taking the steps to improving my life, and hopefully be able to find a better day-job and something involving music in the long-term even if it has to in the short-term slow down the activities with something else that is very important to me, Hypnotic Dirge Records.
To the HDR Artists:
I ask you for your understanding and patience throughout these next few months, If I take a while replying to messages and important questions, I apologize. I will try to get back to you all as soon as I can, and I will also give out of cell phone number to any of you if you request it. (Just send me an email or message) For the artists who have an album release upcoming on HDR, as I mentioned already, the lable will have to run self-sufficient for the time-being which means that I will only be able to release a new album once sales have given me enough money to put towards the production of a new album. As it stands right now, I think the best option would be to not release the next HDR album until December of 2009, because when I release an album, I would like to be able to do it properly with the promotion it deserves in all forms including promotional videos, forum and bulletin posts, reviews being sent out, etc.etc. I had originally planned to release 5 albums still before the end of 2009, but that is simply not possible at the moment, but hopefully if sales are sufficient, none of those 5 albums will be delayed past March of 2010. As for the albums already released on Hypnotic Dirge, I will try my best to promote those quite often, and keep trying to get the word out on these releases, but I ask that you also take a bigger role in promotion if you wish for a while. If any of you have any questions or comments about this, please send me a message or e-mail me!
To Customers/Buyers:
None of what you have read so far will have any effect on orders that you place, or how long it will take to process and reach its destination! The most important part when you are running a record lable is to make sure that your customers stay happy, the CD's and shirts they have ordered reach them safely, and that they are satisfied with the product and price. Besides all this, now that the lable has to stay self-sufficient, the amount of sales I can generate has an even higher impact on the lable's activities than ever! I won't be able to release a new HDR album until I receive enough money in my paypal account to pay for the production and manafacturing costs. You can be assured that nothing will be run differently on orders of any kind, including wholesale orders from other lables.
To Reviewers/Promoters/Lables looking to trade/Other Correspondence
I also ask you all for your patience when dealing with me, and to understand that I will be getting back to you all in due time, depending on its level of importance, and the amount of time I have. Obviously, the amount of which I promote and send out review copies will probably slow down a fair amount, and I will be less likely to be interested in a trade, simply because of time issues. It will be difficult to even find time to sleep with my current schedule, as well as play the keyboard and guitar enough to not forget how to play altogether (it's important to remember that this is the reason my schedule is even like this, to go to university next year for a music course) not to mention the other aspects of my life which I have not mentioned on here. I will still be answering all questions you may have, but my activities 'will' slow down in all of these aspects.
To People wanting to send in a demo:
Don't Bother. I don't have the time or money to take on any other projects or manafacture any more CD's at this time. All messages regarding this will probably go unanswered. Sorry.
In closing, I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has supported Hypnotic Dirge Records in the past 11 months! The one year aniversity is on its way, and despite my lack of time, I still do have a surprise for you all. I wanted to give a massive update like this, to fully explain my reasonings for everything which will occur in the next while. Please understand that Hypnotic Dirge is NOT closing, and is NOT on hiatus. I will simply be slowing down my activities for the foreseeable future. However, my stock still includes around 900 CD's (and about 50-60 different titles) and 60 Shirts so orders are still being accepted and the processing or shipping time will not be affected by these changes.
Regards,
Skog
HDR
www.hypnoticdirgerecords.com
*This is a open letter to everybody - Feel free to post this anywhere!
I would like to discuss with you all some inevitable changes concerning 'Hypnotic Dirge Records' and myself and what this will mean to everyone involved with the lable including its artists/projects. musicians, customers, reviewers, promoters, and fellow lables.
As of last week, I have began taking classes at the college in Swift Current, SK, Canada in order to upgrade my high school marks to reach a 75% average so that I can be accepted into the University of Saskatchewan Arts program in order to begin a 4-year bachelor of music course.
Currently this only means I have to go to the college part-time because I only have to upgrade 3 classes. Unfortunetely, one class is at 9:00AM, and the other two runs between 1:00PM and 3:30PM. Furthermore, even with cutting down some hours at my regular day-job, I still have to work between 60-70 hours in a 2 week period in order to live the way I wish. This typically means that after getting back from school at around 3:45PM, I would have until about 9:00PM to sleep, and then would need to get ready, and walk to work to arrive at 10:00PM and work until either 6:00AM or 8:00Am depending on the day. Of course this is not an everyday thing, as work is only 4 days a week, and school is only 5 days a week, so luckily I will still have time to rest.
However, this 'will' mean for one that despite still working 60-70 hours a week, that is only enough to live comfortably as opposed to 80 hours a week which was enough to feed the lable around $300-$400 a month over top of the profits which were made monthly from sales. Previously I was feeding my own day-job money back into the record lable, because sales were not high enough to continue on with the production of CD's and Shirts. What this means, is that for the next 4-5 months, the lable will have to be self-sufficient meaning that the only money I will be able to spend on the lable is the money which is in my paypal account from sales. I can't afford to lose anymore personal money on Hypnotic Dirge Records for the time-being, especially not when I need to save up money for a new computer because it is getting harder and harder daily to run this lable from this old computer in the first place, and while I am also searching for a new apartment where things can be more structured and organized, which will also help my activities with HDR.
I will be done with school in January of 2010, so this will not be a long-term thing, but it is something which is very important to me, and I feel it must be done, in order to start taking the steps to improving my life, and hopefully be able to find a better day-job and something involving music in the long-term even if it has to in the short-term slow down the activities with something else that is very important to me, Hypnotic Dirge Records.
To the HDR Artists:
I ask you for your understanding and patience throughout these next few months, If I take a while replying to messages and important questions, I apologize. I will try to get back to you all as soon as I can, and I will also give out of cell phone number to any of you if you request it. (Just send me an email or message) For the artists who have an album release upcoming on HDR, as I mentioned already, the lable will have to run self-sufficient for the time-being which means that I will only be able to release a new album once sales have given me enough money to put towards the production of a new album. As it stands right now, I think the best option would be to not release the next HDR album until December of 2009, because when I release an album, I would like to be able to do it properly with the promotion it deserves in all forms including promotional videos, forum and bulletin posts, reviews being sent out, etc.etc. I had originally planned to release 5 albums still before the end of 2009, but that is simply not possible at the moment, but hopefully if sales are sufficient, none of those 5 albums will be delayed past March of 2010. As for the albums already released on Hypnotic Dirge, I will try my best to promote those quite often, and keep trying to get the word out on these releases, but I ask that you also take a bigger role in promotion if you wish for a while. If any of you have any questions or comments about this, please send me a message or e-mail me!
To Customers/Buyers:
None of what you have read so far will have any effect on orders that you place, or how long it will take to process and reach its destination! The most important part when you are running a record lable is to make sure that your customers stay happy, the CD's and shirts they have ordered reach them safely, and that they are satisfied with the product and price. Besides all this, now that the lable has to stay self-sufficient, the amount of sales I can generate has an even higher impact on the lable's activities than ever! I won't be able to release a new HDR album until I receive enough money in my paypal account to pay for the production and manafacturing costs. You can be assured that nothing will be run differently on orders of any kind, including wholesale orders from other lables.
To Reviewers/Promoters/Lables looking to trade/Other Correspondence
I also ask you all for your patience when dealing with me, and to understand that I will be getting back to you all in due time, depending on its level of importance, and the amount of time I have. Obviously, the amount of which I promote and send out review copies will probably slow down a fair amount, and I will be less likely to be interested in a trade, simply because of time issues. It will be difficult to even find time to sleep with my current schedule, as well as play the keyboard and guitar enough to not forget how to play altogether (it's important to remember that this is the reason my schedule is even like this, to go to university next year for a music course) not to mention the other aspects of my life which I have not mentioned on here. I will still be answering all questions you may have, but my activities 'will' slow down in all of these aspects.
To People wanting to send in a demo:
Don't Bother. I don't have the time or money to take on any other projects or manafacture any more CD's at this time. All messages regarding this will probably go unanswered. Sorry.
In closing, I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has supported Hypnotic Dirge Records in the past 11 months! The one year aniversity is on its way, and despite my lack of time, I still do have a surprise for you all. I wanted to give a massive update like this, to fully explain my reasonings for everything which will occur in the next while. Please understand that Hypnotic Dirge is NOT closing, and is NOT on hiatus. I will simply be slowing down my activities for the foreseeable future. However, my stock still includes around 900 CD's (and about 50-60 different titles) and 60 Shirts so orders are still being accepted and the processing or shipping time will not be affected by these changes.
Regards,
Skog
HDR
www.hypnoticdirgerecords.com
.
