IF YOU’RE SEEKING OUT VALUE FOR MONEY….(2)

After the recent posting about Creeping Bent and the great value for money Patreon model it has recently introduced, I want to now draw your attention to another fantastic venture that’s been underway round these parts for a few years.

The thing is, I reckon a fair number of you will already be aware of the great work being done by Last Night From Glasgow, as a few of the local bloggers, such as Charity Chic, have been on board from the outset and have written about it on a number of occasions.

Let me quote from the website:-

Last Night From Glasgow (LNFG) operates as a non-profit patronage. This means that we use all memberships and donations to fund manufacture, distribution and promotion so our artists do not have to.

A conventional independent model will see a label fronting all costs and then once those costs are recovered, splitting the profits 50/50. In LNFG we do not recover the costs, but we split the proceeds 75/25. The 25% we retain is then reinvested in other bands.

When costs are recoverable it makes it very easy for labels to inflate those costs, incur additional expenses and out source services for fees. Why worry about the expenses when they don’t affect your bottom line?

At LNFG any additional services we provide (external plugging and press, studio facilities or photography) are also paid for by the label.

Let’s break this down for you to give you an idea of the impact.

The standard costs to release, market, plug, promote and distribute with new photo sessions and provide new videos for an LP and CD release would, at the very bottom end, set you back around £4500.00. That means that before you make a penny of income, as an artist, you need to sell £4501 of records. Now if the label assumes that 50% of all income is theirs, that means you need to generate £9000 of sales to break even. That’s close to all of the units you’ve manufactured having to sell, just to break even. So the label have made £4500 and you’ve broken even. Hardly seems fair does it?*

With LNFG – on that cost basis – an artist makes a profit the moment they sell one record as 75% of proceeds are theirs.

How do we do this? By being accomplished business people who value the arts, by building a structure and support that means we can administer the finances in a way that benefits all artists and patrons. By securing the vast bulk of our funding at the start of the year, we can plan, budget and acquire the facilities we will need.”

LNFG has been on the go since 2016, founded by Ian Smith.  I was told about it in advance of the launch – one of the barbers in the city centre shop I go to has been part of the backroom team since the pre-planning stage, and given my love for music he thought it would be right up my street.  My hesitation and reluctance to sign up was down to the fact that this blog gets all sorts of requests, almost on a daily basis, for support and patronage and I have a blanket policy of gently declining on the basis that 90%+ of stuff on here is retro….

I’ve since watched on in admiration at how LNFG has become a mainstay of the local music scene in so many different ways, and of course last year, being like no other, they turned out to be something of a godsend for many singers and bands.

It made my mind up to arrive late at the party and take out a membership for 2021, and in doing so, pick up a few albums, of those still available, that had been released in previous years.  As with Creeping Bent, not everything that comes out on the label or its subsidiaries, is right up my street, but there’s more than enough great music to make it incredibly worthy of support.  I can’t see me ever giving up my membership in future years….

Please click here to be taken to the website where you can browse and navigate at your leisure.  There’s loads to enjoy.

One of the items I picked up from the back catalogue was an album released in July 2020.  Again, from the LNFG website:-

Released on July 3rd 2020, Made For Each Other, the long awaited debut album from Paisley’s Muldoons is a glorious jangly guitar lovers dream. The album originally pressed on both Black and Red Vinyl sold out within weeks.

Now re-released on a random selection of coloured vinyl for your delight.

The music will excite lovers of Lou Reed, Lloyd Cole, Lawrence and of course, the sound of Johnny Marr’s guitar. The Muldoons are inspired by bands like the Brilliant Corners, The Bodines, June Brides and all the great indie outfits who might have graced John Peels evening shows.

I really didn’t think the album would be capable of living up to such hype. But then again, I hadn’t banked on the fact that The Muldoons originally formed as students in the 90s, having grown up with, and been hugely influenced by, the indie-pop sounds of the late 80s. The five members of the band are Gerry Mullen (guitar, vocals), Bobby Corrigan (lead guitar), Andy McPake (drums, backing vocals), Greg Bolland (trumpet, melodica, backing vocals) and Davy Brook (bass).

It really is everything and more, with all ten of its tracks guaranteed to take you back in time, smiling, to an era when everyone was younger, fitter, thinner and had lots more hair. Here’s but one example:-

mp3: The Muldoons – Lovely Things

Now if that doesn’t make the TVV regulars sit up and take notice, I really am getting out of touch…

As my great friend Dirk would say, ENJOY!!!!!!!!!

JC

PS :

The long-running Scottish Songs on Saturday series recently featured The Poems.   I was bemoaning that their sole album, Young America, released in 2006 in the USA and 2008 in the UK, was a hard one to track down.  Unbeknown to me, LNFG was at an advanced stage of discussions to have the album re-released on vinyl, and announced its intentions just a few days after my posting (the timings were purely a coincidence).

I’ve placed my pre-order for the album, and it should be getting delivered in late October 2021.  And having recently been lucky enough to have been given a CD copy of the album by Drew, it’s one that I’m looking forward to having the chance to put on the turntable.