Goldsoul

To close, 20 grand a week plus is lost in cd sales due to the Freebies at Soul nights, Car Boots, Web sites offering 20 tracks for a fiver, Gig sales etc etc. In my opinion, Kent would not survive in today's market as a stand alone business without Ace's umbrella, that goes for others too. Virtually every Northern track is available illegally on cd or download. A friend of mine regularly buys Anniverary discs from one North Yorkshire outfit and he's never been to their gig! He simply waits for the cd to be advertised on Ebay. Then to be a nice guy he asks if there's anything I need for Radio ie Joseph Webster, The Parliaments and other big hitters. Vinyl guys are not interested in lost cd sales, that is why the new trend is to drift into bedroom type selling. Less hassle, easy money and most of all no flak from vinyl collectors!

Benji. As I said before, once one vinyl title is even reissued legally there's an inquest by some. The fact is, most Northern Soul folk do not take CDs seriously enough, therefore little is said. You total illegal Anniversary freebies, Ebay sales, Markets, Gigs, Passing onto mates, choosing tracks from dodgy web sites all adds up to something very significant. Forum mouthpieces pass this over because their passion is vinyl. In fact I know several heavy collectors who casually champion the free illegal cd syndrome. I'm out of puff on this one, suffice to say the 3 company's we speak of are no longer around because there isn't even a small profit to be made. Kent have the comfort zone of being part of a bigger picture ala Ace Records Ltd. Demon are terrific at offering great packages for small bucks, so that's a positive. Sadly though, until the mindset adjusts, illegal cd's will slide by unnoticed. Music to the ears of the small bedroom type operator with his/her £2-500 a week 'supplementary income' The new players steer away from vinyl due to a potential forum backlash instead opting for a easier life with CDs/Dvds. Smart or what!?

'1000 cd's a week from venues?.Find that figure hard to believe.Most "promoters" can't be bothered to do it on a regular basis in my limited experience.' Kev, That's because you are unaware of the type of people doing it. Your bag is the Rarer Lifeline type . As a promoter, I see venues springing up everywhere. It's the Oldies types(and yes that's my customer) that are subjected to the Free CD, Anniversary, DVD Copies etc, simply because they do not have your experience or knowledge. Seriously, when you get a spare hour, trawl the net and just count up the Boot cd's from venues,Ebay and Web sites. You will be staggered at the epidemic. Pete S talked about the golden days of the late 90's early Noughties, trust me, the sales have shifted from the high street to 'other areas' As I said before, if a carver outfit is exposed, they attract a lot of venom from vinyl enthusiasts of which Soul Source has many. CD's are below the radar to most Soul fans and that my friend is music to the ears of the Ala Carte's of this world.

Steve......look a little closer....it's not our review but AMAZON's. We are merely agents and drive traffic to them. Amazon charge you- not us. Totally disagree on the Free cd theory. Soul nights giving away Free cd's, have made up the minds of ordinary punters that buying the real deal is a waste of money plus,I doubt they care anyway. Kev H is in a minority buying Kent cd's and I wish there are more like him,but the reality is, small Soul nights with their below the radar activities have killed Northern cd sales...along with a few others we mentioned earlier. FACT not FICTION.

'The problem is folks trying to make a business out of it.Money to be made'. Absolutely right.....the web sites that let you choose your own tracks, Ala Carte's,Right Track's, Venues handing over Anniversary and Charity cd's!! REALITY CHECK.....Boot cd's outweigh vinyl 50 to 1.....any comment on that little item? ' put onto a free cd for mates isn't going to put a record company out of business' It has.....say goodbye to Goldmine, Grapevine and Goldsoul.....all confined to cd history due to the above. The NEW players are rubbing their hands with glee as they are fairly unknown and happy to be so.

The 3 options left to the Rare Soul fan when deciding to make CD purchases. 1. Ace/ Kent £10-12 Lovingly compiled, but generally obscure with superb pckaging. 2. Supermarket/HMV box setty types 3 cd's for £5 3. Sit and wait for your local Soul night to offer the 'first 100 get a free cd' Most go for option 3 then 2 and finally 1. I doubt you will ever see a small indie release legitimate product again. I think we have exhausted this one!

Kev, No they are not slim. Record companies need every genre possible in profit. Downloading clobbered them big style. I suspect you are a heavy vinyl guy so CD's are secondary in your thought pattern. The facts are clear; 1. At least 1,000 Free/Charity cd's given away at smaller Northern nights every week.Some of the idiot promoters giving them away then ue the old 'ovo policy' s some form of 'credential booster' to deflect from their illegal activities. 2. Endless 'Anniversary cd's' sold at venues and Ebay. 3. Sites galore offering '20 tracks for a fiver-you choose' See www.northernsoulmusic.co.uk for starters. 4. Downloads, Car boots, etc etc My estimate......20 grand a week in lost sales to the majors. Imagine if 20 thousand quids worth of boot vinyl every week was given away at do's...this thread would probably reach record views. Vinyl collectors SHOUT LOUD, CD fans don't.

'complimentary cd from an event' eh....the sole reason the Northern cd business is knackered. It's even worse than Ala Carte!

Mark, I think this outfit are from Telford. We had to lean on them for distributing a box set called The Northern Soul Top 500! Flattering maybe, but we get calls for it even though we are not in the cd or vinyl business. Sadly, if you look around various web sites you'll find 'choose 20 tracks for £4' like one site in Lincolnshire and with the amount of 'anniversary and charity' discs knocking around, the Cd scene was murdered a good few years ago. If you thought carvers and vinyl reissues were bad, the cd burning is way out of control. Think 1,000 illegal cd's a week and you might be near the mark.

Chris is on the show as a mystery guest connection to his former No.1 chart single 'please don't go' by KWS. Enjoy!

Divas of Motown. 2 cd set from Universal. Chris Clark, Mable John etc etc The one I gave away was an advanced promo and due out next month.

 I am a feature writer at the Manchester Evening News. hoping to do an article about the Official Northern Soul World Dancing Championship at the weekend. | was hoping to contact someone in our circulation area (Greater Manchester and north Cheshire, really) who is a keen dancer, will be competing in Blackpool and can tell me all about  the dedication of the northern soul fraternity, how the scene works today etc. Someone who also has memories of Wigan Casino would be ideal.  My email is paul.taylor@men-news.co.uk Â

Meow!

This isn't only confined to Soul Nights, a major Weekender is now that reliant on bar sales to keep it afloat, there are as many free passes as you like provided you bring along a bunch of mates who can drink enough ale to sink a battleship to show "Bar sales"! This is all well and good but where are the "True Souls"? What a cheap shot from the very two banned from the very weekender they are talking about ! If anybody creates bad politics it's you two!

A truly wonderful voice who was certainly one sandwich short of a picnic. I interviewed him in 1988. At Mcdonalds he ordered £90 worth of Cheesburgersf for 5 of us! Now I know why I put on weight. Ludie Montgomery(Tammi's sister) is a great friend of ours and she confirmed the great man's bizarre behaviour. Yep, that aside.. Listen to You're My Everything as he shares the tortured vocals with Eddie K.

Anyone had the discomfort of receiving emails from 'auction winners' who apparently have not received their goods after 2 days citing 'if it doesn't come tomorrow, we are going on Soul Source to complain'? The record business...you can keep it!

Nige Brown the guest after 8 this Saturday discussing the Torch Reunion on Oct 24

No but I feel like it now. They obviously used some of the tracks I compiled for the Soul Time series for Sony/ BMG I knew meeting Bev Callard on holiday would have it's consequences! Didn't see Norris getting too enthusiastic though!

Fully expecting Ken Barlow to do a back flip any minute!

WC....the thread is about Charity. I alerted something that is clearly a hidden source of income for a fair few on here and it's rife! My prediction is, at least 1,000 illegal CDs a week are conveniently being distributed on doors up and down the country. I should know, I have purchased several 'anniversary and charidee' CDs on Ebay in recent weeks. Any comment on that little item? Do not make statements without any real facts. I took instructions from my MD at Goldmine for 11 years. I left the company in 2002. At no time did Goldmine ever encounter legal action. What happened after 02 ain't my concern apologies for highlighting the 'new black hole in the Northern scene economy' either the lack of support(apart from Ken!) is due to no one cares or the perpetrator are scurrying under tables. None of which makes any difference to us, we no longer distribute CDs due to the decline. Hopefully Ace/Kent are not naive enough to think that now Goldmine are gone that it paves the way for increased sales? The doors at many a Soul night are their new competition.. Sadly.

We are discussing things surrounding charity events. Free CDs given away are bang out of order in my humblest of opinions. No fault laid on the punter For the record,I vacated my position at Goldmine several years ago. I was an employee not the head honcho! Now back to Charidee.....

Joan. Not at all. I'm just sounding off, as this type of activity is overlooked and it actually the main reason I am no longer in CDs. I simply cannot sell them due to the easy access of 'charity discs'