Racer Records Captain's Log - May 3, 1996

Lots of people have asked about the day-to-day workings of an indie label, so I thought I'd start giving a little running commentary of just exactly what it is I do around here.

Captain's Logs are written sporadically and tend to get skipped if I'm insanely busy or am doing a lot of computer consulting (and hence very little Racer work).

I'll try to post this as consistently as possible until I forget to do it, I run out of time, or I find out people think it's incredibly pretentious and boring.

Comments and questions are heartily encouraged.

Summary

Aside from the radio calls, I focussed on retail calls this week, along with work for upcoming shows by both Big Umbrella and the Potato Eaters...

Cast of Characters

Russ: Russ Osiecki of Big Umbrella, their lead singer and guitar player, and my main contact in the band
Guy: Guy Carson of the Potato Eaters, their singer and bass player, and my main contact in the band
Dick: Dick Tallman of Washington, a promoter and big Big Umbrella fan, and a friend of mine
Dave: Dave Brow of Wonderboy, their bass player
Bayside and Caroline: these are the two distributors Racer works with

Captain's Log, Saturday, April 27, 1996

The major thing I did today, besides general office stuff, was to put together info for Russ about calls to retail stores, so he could give me a hand with those. I wrote out a little script he could use when calling buyers at record stores.

Captain's Log, Sunday, April 28, 1996

Other Phone Calls:

* Got a message from a music director who wants to get the weekly radio fax info via e-mail instead of via fax.

* Got a message from Guy of the Potato Eaters about press for their upcoming show.

* Spoke with Russ, who told me the Big Umbrella CD wasn't showing up in the customer computer at a local record store, reminding me that the people who run that computer system (Muze) needed to get a copy.

* Got a message from Dick in Washington telling me that the Tacoma Tower has no copies of Big Umbrella's CD.

Other Things I Accomplished:

* preparing retail calls

* worked on the artist newsletter

Captain's Log, Monday, April 29, 1996

Radio Phone Calls:

Made 67 radio calls

Other Phone Calls:

* Got a call from a guy who does a specialty show at a rock station in Wisconsin; he wanted a copy of Big Umbrella's CD.

* Spoke with a guy who'd like to send me a demo.

* Spoke with Dave of Wonderboy; they're recording with Steve Refling (of Big Umbrella) and he needed Steve's phone number.

Captain's Log, Tuesday, April 30, 1996

Radio Phone Calls:

Made 98 radio calls

Other Phone Calls:

* Talked with one of the Caroline sales reps.

* Got a message from my CD duplicators - the Big Umbrella repressing is done!

* Left a message for my buyer at Caroline about payment for Wonderboy CDs and about getting the Big Umbrella CD in the computer.

* Spoke with Russ about his work booking shows and stuff.

* Spoke with a writer for the Tacoma News Tribune about setting up an interview with Big Umbrella

* Got and filled an order.

* Spoke with Russ again about resending a disc to a club that never got the first disc I sent, and about booking a hotel for their shows in San Francisco.

Other Things I Accomplished:

* worked on royalty statements

Captain's Log, Wednesday, May 1, 1996

The repressing of Big Umbrella's Ever Ever Land arrived today, so I spent a little time picking up the boxes from the mailbox and bringing them to the office.

Radio Phone Calls:

Made 35 radio calls

Other Phone Calls:

* Spoke with a guy in a band who's interested in working with Racer.

* Spoke with Russ about upcoming bookings, and about an interview with the Tacoma News Tribune for their upcoming shows.

* Spoke with a friend about some possible consulting work.

Captain's Log, Thursday, May 2, 1996

Radio Phone Calls:

Made 75 radio calls

Other Phone Calls:

* Spoke with a consulting client.

* Made reservations for Big Umbrella's stay in San Francisco when they play here next month.

Other Things I Accomplished:

* got royalty statements in the mail

* put together a contract for the Garden's new CD

Captain's Log, Friday, May 3, 1996

Radio Phone Calls:

Made 102 radio calls

Other Phone Calls:

* A guy called - he wanted to send me a demo, but he's visiting California and doesn't have my address with him. He didn't have the phone number of his hotel, and I didn't have time to track it down, so I didn't call him back.

* My CD duplicator called to ask about my California resale number.

* A guy who had sent me a demo called, and I asked him for lyrics to the CD he sent.

* I spoke with the booker at a San Francisco club and got Big Umbrella pencilled in for a show here. (Ordinarily, Russ takes care of this stuff, but he's up in Washington this weekend to play some shows.)

* A guy called about a tape he had sent; I couldn't find it anywhere.

Other Things I Accomplished:

* shipping promos & orders

* weekly radio fax

The Captain's Log is an inside look at the day-to-day operations of an indie label. Contents may have settled during shipping. Questions, comments, ideas, and thoughts are encouraged (whether or not they're related to the log).

Grinning,

Kristi

Racer Records

This page was last updated on March 3, 2004 by Kristi Wachter.