The Vinyl Record Mirage - Part 6
Solutions
This is part 6 of 6 from this series. This is designed to be an educational resource and if one doesn’t want to learn anything they shouldn’t be reading. I’d request any feedback be kept until the final installment is posted as additional questions might be answered.
Bear in mind requests for any stories here to be removed will be ignored.
The other parts can be read here: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5
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Part 6: Summary & Solutions/Tools for Life.
In summary, I think that at 26,398 words the true complexity of vinyl records for black metal has finally been explained and hopefully the people reading this will learn a lot to eliminate a large amount of heartache for all the companies involved in this. As of 2026, I still have every intention to continue pressing records, however, the volume will likely decrease should the current trend of CDs stick around for a few more years. As we’ve basically gone on a several week journey through the ins and outs of this subject I want to thank everyone who has read the entire thing. I am open to hearing any feedback and should more things come up to justify writing a follow up (part 7) I will compose one accordingly. While the names of certain things have been removed, if you’re mentioned in this publicly for some reason it’s because you did something to deserve it. Requests to remove mentions or any material will almost certainly be ignored and if somebody writes to me about removing something specifically to protect their reputation I will retaliate.
WS/CWoT (March of 2026)
www.wintersolaceproductions.com – The 88th Chamber of Shaolin on Telegram
contact@wintersolaceproductioins.com
Solutions/Tools for life
This will cover solutions to the many of the problems mentioned in the article. As this article was originally written without the intention of splitting it up into six parts or with this appendix section, it must be advised that some of this information may be simply repeated from earlier.
A bad deal was done but can still be fixed – professionally exit the situation, only do this forcefully when one party can’t understand something is not working even after direct communication. It usually helps for a band to suggest getting a larger company involved or say that based on what they have observed that they would rather take it to a larger company. When people have done this to me, if no money has been spent on pre-production, I’m usually understanding, however I don’t let the band return.
A bad deal was done and can’t be fixed – learn to live with it and move on.
You live somewhere that can’t receive vinyl records but has a pressing plant – Your records must be pressed locally and so you must have a product that will sell to the local music scene or labels. Some countries also have local brokerage services designed to work specifically with GZ media to get music into the country.
You live somewhere that can’t receive vinyl records and does not have a pressing plant – You either have to get the records sent safely to somebody in another country who you can pay to split up into smaller boxes to mail to you directly (the label should not be required to do this), find a business who can receive the products for you as merchandise and reimburse them for the taxes, have the records sent to a record mule who can physically bring the records to you smuggled in luggage, simply accept less copies from the label (however a formal record of this needs to be kept so you can’t say the label ripped you off years down the road) and/or request a monetary disbursement or other products in place of the traditional 15%. Another common option in certain Third World countries is that you need to immigrate to a country that has better customs practices.
You live somewhere that can’t receive a palletized shipment – This usually occurs in apartments in cities and not rural areas unless the carrier can’t go there or a situation where no one is at the address during normal business hours. If this isn’t going to be a frequent occurrence you can see about working something out with the carrier or you need to contact a local mail receiving/private PO Box & shipping company and make sure they can receive the pallet for you. Do not assume a consolidation warehouse will accept your freight for you unless someone who specifically works there in a management capacity agrees to the acceptance. Unless you own the company, sending them to your job is a bad idea.
Pre-order hell – Label must take out a loan from a bank to pay off everyone involved (or use a credit card type of solution) to separate all the wronged parties from the act of paying back the money lender. Then paying off the loan/credit card is a problem exclusive only to you. If a band is promoting this on behalf of a label, then they should refrain from making statements until the issues are resolved and privately direct any customer complaints to the label of manufacturing. Moving the production to a different company shouldn’t happen unless the release is formally cancelled with all the money being returned.
Record pressing plant downs the job after you’ve paid them – Your only function in this is to get the money back, nothing more. This may require taking the plant to court depending on the country/situation.
Manufacturing failure – If tests are perfect then you need to work with the pressing plant to resolve this. If the problem is some stupid thing that is basically somebody’s OCD, the best advice is to learn to live with it. Should you pursue re-manufacturing after the pressing plants policy has been exhausted, then very likely you’d have to look at taking the pressing plant to court to get your money back or pay to start over at a loss.
Shipping records to Brazil, Argentina or places with similar tax issues – Unless this is a retail/wholesale order with matching paperwork/receipts. Recipients must make a contact in another country who can receive the stuff (or get a mail forwarding service) then either smuggle it in on a visit or be paid to mail it to them in smaller tiny shipments to not flag customs. Shipping to multiple people (so each of the band members) also helps avoid raising flags.
Bad Economy or Politically Related Suppression – Suspend operations if possible/recede until conditions improve. Labels with fixed expenses usually can’t fully close down but can scale back. Riskier projects should not be attempted during these periods.
“Up” & “Down” behavior patterns – Seek sobriety, unplug from the internet & find a solution to boredom. For serious problems, seeking rehab and/or psychiatric care.
Advice for “Up” people – Be mindful of your anxieties and recuse yourself from any situation where you become overstimulated or where other people are extremely energized. If you are in an environment where people can’t give you the space you need to correctly process stuff, bully you or are fixated on your behavior then you need to leave. Sobriety (including abstaining from caffeine) and breaks from technology help. You should seek therapy/medication if your life is impacted.
Advice for “Down” people – Seek sobriety. If you become so triggered by something that you can’t get off it, you need to leave and if your life is constantly impacted by whatever this other person did to you, you need to seek therapy. Simply having a private reasoned conversation with the person usually will get you either on the same page or to a place where you can agree to disagree.
Advice for dealing with “Up” people – Private coaching from a calm reasoned position that produces desired results before the behavior becomes an issue moves mountains as long as the effort is sincere and you are not the one having or have had a direct problem/drama with them. Never become aggressive and only sever ties if these people have been given chances to improve, where they understand the expectations expected of them. You also must factor in that other people being fixated on them, isn’t their fault and they shouldn’t be punished for it or be expected to walk on eggshells around other people.
Advice for dealing with “Down” people – Understand that these people are the problem and the only thing that woks are firm but fair authority. Never trust these people when they tell you they’ve corrected their behavior judging only by their actions and if these people can’t get off from some fixation, then they are the ones who need to be forcefully removed. These people can’t be given any leverage, be put in positions of authority nor can you be dependent on them for anything.
Ties are involuntarily terminated – Neither party should work with each other in the future even if substantial change has occurred.
Logo spoofing – Pursue any possible legal action, issue public statement of deniability that is written professionally to prevent disinformation. It is extremely unlikely that this process will continue long term if enough information about it is made public.
Somebody pressed another version of your music pointlessly – For labels liquidate or purge stock, band (or whomever authorized this) should be terminated. If you are the legitimate rights holder, treat the release as a bootleg press.
Band/labels brand is compromised – Abandon the brand if you can rebuild otherwise, you’re basically stuck with the consequences of this.
Label specific problems
Deal goes bad before ordering the manufacturing or the deal if completed will be a bad deal – you are perfectly in your right to cancel and demand reimbursement for expended money if the reason for cancellation is the other parti’s fault.
Unhappiness with the result – Find some win/win solution down the road that doesn’t involve another company simply repressing everything as that makes you look bad.
Bit off more than you can chew – get help or cancel the project if possible. If the project is meant to be at your label it will materialize in another way.
Band realizes the grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence – I usually don’t allow these people back because I’d have to repress everything in order to correct the record which usually isn’t a profitable venture.
Band costs you an extremely large amount of money and you are unwilling to cancel the project – You are perfectly in your rights to demand ownership of the recording in question as payment for damages. If the band is not cooperative and you can’t cancel the work, then you should simply cut losses. If such a loss causes your operation to close permanently then you shouldn’t have been pressing records.
Mastering/Graphics guys can’t get the work done or take to slow – As you are paying these people it is your responsibility to deal with this or find replacements. I know from experience having to fire the designer/engineer (happened twice with 2 different guys) in the middle of the project is not good and usually a bad omen for the whole deal so you may want to consider cancelling the release. If the band is unprofessional with the designers/engineers, those people are free to bill them as they see fit (when the band refuses to pay you just cover it and deduct from/withhold royalties until you get reimbursed) or decline to finish the work. If the band is extremely specific, wants something extremely complicated or the language barrier is an issue, then the band should probably provide you with contact information for someone they can use or have this done in advance.
Excessive deadstock – If a surplus can’t be avoided or something becomes deadstock you have three options to explore. 1. Find somebody to buy the deadstock and distribute it through their mail order. 2. Liquidate the stock below cost in bulk on eBay or some other similar site. 3. Figure out if it would be cheaper to just dispose of the product at a loss by recycling it or paying to have a landfill take it away rather than continue to store it.
Band not being capable of getting through the record pre-production process or producing a viable product (without money being lost) – labels decision to keep producing the band on other formats.
Band not being capable of getting through the record pre-production process or producing a viable product (when money is lost) – bill the band if applicable or otherwise business ties will likely need to be involuntarily severed, it isn’t your problem if somebody doesn’t care about their reputation enough to address losses they likely caused. Abort any pending projects, even if that means cutting losses.
Band somehow undercuts you after the release is completed – Handle as excessive deadstock and refrain from working with the band again in the future.
Distributors do not correctly distribute the product – If your expectations were clearly defined beforehand without being honored, then simply terminate distribution.
You (as a label) have had to shelve a project – If this is for issues related to monetary concerns with stuff being either too expensive, must be redone or you are otherwise some loss, the expenses must be moved to other projects either by that band or others. For specific losses, the project must be shelved until a different calendar year unless it can somehow be written off for taxes. If a non-monetary element is obstructing the process those elements need to be removed with the band either re-recoding disputed music contributions or whatever must be done to go around the process. If these can’t be worked out (or you never intended to release the project anyway) then you must simply cut losses. The band (not you) is the one who should bring in other companies with your permission; however, this usually doesn’t yield a positive outcome. Only terminate ties involuntarily if that is the only option or the band does something to violate your label’s business principles.
Band hops from label to label with large numbers of releases – These stars burn out and many of them are not financially secure enough to stand on their own (not shockingly, somebody who makes 100 CD-r “albums” a year is not financially literate enough to save money to build themselves a proper platform for life) after this happens. The only thing you can really do is sequester everything and repress what is important after their self-destruction, this same principal applies to recordings that are obviously illegal in their country of origin.
Band specific problems
Deal goes bad before ordering the manufacturing or the deal if completed will be a bad deal – you should’ve realized this before it got to this point. The problem with this is that you didn’t have the right people in the right places so to speak and at the bare minimum, project should be paused until a personnel change can take place.
Unhappy with the result – Discuss the concerns with the label who released it and see what if anything can be done to fix it. If nothing can be done, then you’re stuck with the finished product the way that it is until the stock dwindles down to a point where it can be written off. Do not simply authorize another version without making sure that it is the best solution beforehand and that some other less expensive/dramatic option exists. Learn from this so results are not repeated.
Somebody around you gets burned by the labels who released your stuff – this usually happens when it comes to distribution and is again the result of not having the right people in the right place which is a direct cause of not having your goals defined.
Labels mastering guy/artwork guy can’t get the job done or takes forever – If you as the band have valid resources for this, then they should be used (plus if you pay for the artwork, you own it) if need be. Should your graphics/audio techs want to be paid, the label should pay them (however the label has the right not to) or you could also cover it if you want to or are extremely specific about something. Bear in mind that these people should have done the work before, be willing to work on the terms of whoever is paying them and be able to demonstrate that they can perform the required tasks.
Band has a very large discography that isn’t suitable for LP releases – assume brand is to be compromised and address this by changing the projects name. Once you are reestablished you can simply re-record any musical elements you feel are worth putting out a second time at a proper pace. Do not repeat behaviors not suited for proper band branding.
Label not being equipped to press records/not in line with your band’s priorities – Label deal must be re-negotiated or you as the band need to figure out and fulfill any remaining obligations before mutually parting ways. The only time business ties should be involuntarily severed is if the label refuses to facilitate an exit or can’t comprehend what is going on even after proper communication.
Somebody authorizes a pressing they shouldn’t have – This is resolved by making sure a band’s leader is properly defined beforehand however if somebody authorized something they didn’t have the rights to and the label they did the deal with refuses to or can’t cancel you are basically stuck with it.
Your label has put your record project on indefinite hold – Figure out why and if you can do anything to address the situation. Only give the label an ultimatum of a release date if you have another company lined up, who will go on record to say they are interested, however if the label requests that you stick to your original deal, you’re stuck with it unless the delay is extremely egregious. Other options include having the new label reimburse the first party, have the new label cut a distribution deal with the old label or seeing if the new label can somehow help or intervene in the subject. Only cancel if there is not a coherent response or the original label obviously is unwilling or able to properly provide clarity to the situation. Do not leave if the label can prove the project is partially manufactured unless somebody is willing to cover any fees associated with terminating the project.
Drama between labels keeps getting put in your lap – This really isn’t your problem and the only time you should do anything is when simply referring somebody back to the original label that released simply isn’t working. The person (usually some pissed off label trying to go around dealing with the other label) needs to be firmly told to respect your decisions with the band and that they need to resolve any grievances with the label. If they persist further, simply block the person.
Label closes after your records are made without distributing your release – If the label vanishes to such extremes like this without finishing the deal, then you are basically stuck waiting for the release or until you can figure out what exactly is going on. If you end up being ghosted, then you can escalate to getting a local private investigator involved at your expense. Do not proceed with any new presses until you know what is going on.