Distros

I don't know anything about the distros you mentioned as i've never used them, but aslong as they don't rip people off and offer a good service i don't see a problem. On the other hand if they make vast profits and let themselves become nothing more than business men then fuck 'em.

 

I've never used the larger distros except Angry Young and Poor about 5 yearsa ago, never again though. I use my local punk record store Extreme Noise Records in Minneapolis, great group of people there. Or I use CrustPunks.com or Havocrex, Felix Havoc's distro.

If they do it for pure business and not to help the punk community, then I'm not too much into them.

 

Hm.. ive used many, profane existence, crustpunks, microcosom publishing (which is pretty good) http://microcosmpublishing.com/ . Smear campaigns against getting free songs or people making patches and shit is hypocritical of anyone in D.I.Y. to me. I know bands and people who start distros and bands just to get information and stuff out there and only try to make money at shows really. But mainly i try to make most of my shit, and as for music, i do the downloading thing from soulseek.

 

Interpunk are a bunch of fucking wankers.
Complete corporate whores.
They do fuck-all for any scenes. They sell goddamn major-label emo music for christ's sake.
Moreover, their prices are stupidly higher than that of ACTUAL underground punk distro websites.

There's a lot of websites that try to make a living off punk.
I say, "What the fuck ever." Screw them.
When you think about it, they don't really matter at all.
They cater to the more superficial punx. The punx who need a $100 bullet belt that's been nickel plated.
I'm pretty sure that no-one (or at least a very small amount of people) on this forum would shop there if they wanted a record or some patches, or whatever.

On a more comical note...
The only time I used Interpunk's service was when I was a about 13.
I wasted nine fucking quid on a pair of Misfits socks.
LONG-LIVE DANZIG!

 

I run a distro/label in Ireland, ok its not the biggest in the world but it aint no business anyway.
Interpunk is more of an online shop in my opinion and sells all types of crap and I would not consider it DIY at all.
I have dealt with Dan PE and would not have a bad word to say about the guy he does a lot for the DIY punk scene and can understand where he comes from about the whole downloading thing which really does affect sales of records, which ends up meaning that bands suffer greatly and labels who do alot of work suffer greatly. Just to let you know I am not a label against downloading of music you can download some of our releases free we are having a pay if you want to option but we dont care if you dont pay either.
As for the whole NDT thing with CAH records it was a complete misunderstanding by both parties and it ended up with the fallout being awful just becasue somebody said it was ok for CAH records to put up NDT recordings without NDTs consent. Just a huge misunderstanding that got really messed up. It was nothing about the downloading MP3 website it was just a lack of communitcation between three different people. Check out both sides of the story they are both up on-line.

Basically the only reason I try to make money for the distro is not for myself it is for to help bands, Most months I just about break even with the distro. So when a release comes about I usually end up having to pay out of my own pocket which I have to do this month for two upcoming releases. But at the end of day its not about money but love of doing it and helping the music as much as you can.