Wanna Buy A Record Label?

Saw this @ another forum and thought it was interesting/bizarre... the Retrospect Records metal/AOR/hard rock label has put itself up for sale on eBay.



https://www.ebay.com/itm/RETROSPECT-RECORDS-LABEL-FOR-SALE-HUGE-80s-ROCK-AOR-LABEL-10-000-CDs-/323208841150

Anybody got some Powerball winnings they want to burn in the most metal way possible?

For the low, low price of $100,000 (yikes...but hey, free shipping!!) you get all rights to the Retrospect brand, including the web site, the various sub-labels, and all associated social media pages, plus a back stock of approx. 10,000 CDs.

So who wants to be a record label mogul?

I think I have a few CDs from that label but I sure can't remember which ones.

I like some of their releases. Another example of the failing music industry.

^^^^ Very true. It's sad, really.

Do I get to join the Illuminati?

I checked their entire catalog on their site and the only releases I have from their label are by Nantucket.

I'd buy them if I had the coin, but I always thought their reissues were kind of crappy.

Buying this label is like switching Captains on a sinking ship. How many bands on this label does anyone care about? I'm sure it's mostly a bunch of unknown garage bands that played just a handful of local bars and never toured. So the real question is... who wants to be stuck with the debt and 10,000 cds that no one wants?

I guess you can at least say you own a record label.  

tohostudios wrote:

I checked their entire catalog on their site and the only releases I have from their label are by Nantucket.

I only own one of their releases - "Look Out For the Night" by Axtion.

...and it's not even that good

He built his "empire" on bootleg cdr's. And a lot of them sounded like cheap vinyl ripoff shit. He did go legit after a few years, but, still. Not someone I would ever give my money to [again].

Fat Freddy wrote:

tohostudios wrote:

I checked their entire catalog on their site and the only releases I have from their label are by Nantucket.

I only own one of their releases - "Look Out For the Night" by Axtion.

...and it's not even that good

And the two Nantucket albums I have are the last studio album they did (which is pretty meh) and a live album which is about equally worthless.  So yeah, this label is not know for releasing quality material.

This is beginning to make the 'Own a part of Queensryche for $50,000' deal seem tempting!

I have nothing from this label but I do have the Pandemonium album on vinyl. It's okay but nothing I'd want to hang a hundred grand on!

Am I the only one that's never heard of them?

Stender wrote:

Am I the only one that's never heard of them?

Nope...

Wrecked Neck wrote:

Stender wrote:

Am I the only one that's never heard of them?

Nope...

Make that three...

This has less to do with "the industry" and more to do with poor quality and crap people have never heard of. Didn't this label release things on CD-R at times?

Stender wrote:

Am I the only one that's never heard of them?

Wrecked Neck wrote:

Nope...

Troublezone wrote:

Make that three...

Wow, look at all this name recognition, that $100K asking price is a bargain!

But yeah, I could see how this label flew under the radar for most people  They catered mainly to collectors of ultra-obscure AOR/hair metal/melodic rock ... and they did most of their biz online or via eBay, I don't think they ever had distribution in "real" stores.

There weren't any big-name "stars" on their roster either (unless you consider Ron Keel and Herman Rarebell "big" names...haha). Most of the stuff they put out was re-issues of long lost local-yokel rock albums from back in the day.

Releases by them I really enjoyed: Intrinsic, Graven Image, Inner Strength, Angellic Rage, and Paladin.

https://www.metal-archives.com/labels/Retrospect_Records/380

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

This has less to do with "the industry" and more to do with poor quality and crap people have never heard of. Didn't this label release things on CD-R at times?

Apparently, because UncleSaxon said the same thing a few posts back.  I didn't know that but if multiple people remember then it's probably true.  Now I need to check if my Nantucket albums from them are boots or not.

If I buy it...and this is a big "if" I am changing the name from Retrospect to Hindsight.

As I mentioned elsewhere there is absolutely nothing mentioned worth the asking price.

10,000 low quality cd (r)'s, a worthless website and "name branding' (???)... Whatever. If there was a dump truck full of masters and contracts with a bus full of bands then maybe.

As John already mentioned and this has been talked about around the web for years, Sam (the labels owner) is a sneaky bootlegger who has told the tallest of tales attempting to justifying his less then above board ways. His releases are of the cheapest quality, "silver" CDR's and glorified record transfers with single panel inserts that are mostly offset...

So again anything more than a hundred bux is a fools purchase.

For $100k ANYONE could start a label, nab a band or 500 and press some CD's and do FAR superior work with morals.

martinsane wrote:

As I mentioned elsewhere there is absolutely nothing mentioned worth the asking price.

10,000 low quality cd (r)'s, a worthless website and "name branding' (???)... Whatever. If there was a dump truck full of masters and contracts with a bus full of bands then maybe.

As John already mentioned and this has been talked about around the web for years, Sam (the labels owner) is a sneaky bootlegger who has told the tallest of tales attempting to justifying his less then above board ways. His releases are of the cheapest quality, "silver" CDR's and glorified record transfers with single panel inserts that are mostly offset...

So again anything more than a hundred bux is a fools purchase.

For $100k ANYONE could start a label, nab a band or 500 and press some CD's and do FAR superior work with morals.

Terry knows. And it is too bad. He got the rights to a bunch of cool unlicensed thrash releases [Gothic Slam, etc] and, somehow made them sound WORSE!

the sentinel wrote:

If I buy it...and this is a big "if" I am changing the name from Retrospect to Hindsight.

Thrasher73 wrote:

the sentinel wrote:

If I buy it...and this is a big "if" I am changing the name from Retrospect to Hindsight.

Thanks, I'll be here all week; tip your waitress and try the veal.

martinsane wrote:

For $100k ANYONE could start a label, nab a band or 500 and press some CD's and do FAR superior work with morals.

Great point. I collected sports cards (baseball and football) for a long time and I watched the same store be sold 3 times to 3 different people. Each successive person who bought the place paid less and the store stock was a lot more depleted each time. The final time it was "sold" was about 4 years ago for 15k. Each guy was deluded into thinking it was some "turn key" operation that was going to make him rich and there was this built in clientele and good will and a great collection of cards. I always wondered why these guys didn't just go rent a place and start their own business with the stuff they already owned or make a small investment in some collections to fill the cases? Guess I will never know.