Chart Hit [Level 6]
Looking through Marky's 1975 Top 100, there are a good few that apperaed on the Super Rare Disco compilations done by the Robbins organisation ?.
Now THEY were class CD comiplations - (and QuinnyNO re-edits ?)
But, What happened ?
why did they stop at Comp.# 2 ?
was there a # 3 Comp.?
Does anyone know the guy who created these comps.
WE NEED MORE !!!!
Test Pressing [Level 2]
We stopped doing them after the first two because unfortunately the sales weren't good.
Cory Robbins, the label owner, did that as a real labor of love. It took more than a year to track down the rightful owners of a lot of the recordings and then once you did you had to pray that they knew where the master tapes were.
Both Volumes were released on the same day and Volume Two has sold more than Volume One. Just a bit of trivia.
John Parker
Robbins Entertainment
& The Dance Music Hall of Fame
DiscoMusic.com Owner / Administrator
John,
Tell Cory to get working on Vol 3. :-) When I saw him once in NYC I forgot to tell him what a great job you guys did on those two comps. Lots of people are dying to get more.
No Longer Charting
Jeeziz, I bought volumes 1 and 2 and would buy volume 3 if there were a volume 3.
Chart Hit [Level 6]
John, Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Also Thank Cory from me (and the other fans on this site) for letting us hear these tracks in such good quality.
Are you and Cory still doing CD comps. ?
Would there EVER be a third CD - did you have tracks that didn't quite make it onto Comps. 1 & 2 ????
Unfortunately it is a niche market, but I bet you could shift a few hundred/thousand of CD 3 via this site and via the forum's patrons ???
Let us know
Thanks once again.
No Longer Charting
John: Just how many sales is 'disappointing'?
*** Forum Leader / Moderator ***
........or a few hundred thousand if you put them online and charged a $1 to download a track.Originally Written by starsky
Test Pressing [Level 2]
We received more passionate fan mail about these cd's than any other that we have done in this companies 9 year history.
But I know that we will not be doing another in the Super Rare series. We have kicked around doing a more "commercial" version over the years so that's still a possibility.
Robbins still does compilations. It's what keeps the company going between hits. :) Our latest being D.H.T.'s "Listen to Your Heart". Actually Cory and I, are the "Happy Boys" and have sold over a Million mixed cd's under that name. We do the "Dance Party (like it's...)" series as well as the "Trance Party", "Mix Show" & "Techno Party" cd's.
Some one asked about how many we sold of the Super Rare cd's. While I'm not at liberty to say the exact number, I will say that it's a very low, 4 digit number and leave it at that.
jp
Test Pressing [Level 2]
In order to put the albums online, you have to own all of the tracks. Needless to say, we do not.
jp
*** Forum Leader / Moderator ***
DHT (Danger Hardcore Team): how did you team up with these crazy Belgians? And I know Flor from Da Boy Tommy and Da Rick :D
Too bad you can't continue with the Rare Disco Compils coz some tracks are desperately needed
BTW, if you happen to know Lasgo, leadsinger Evi had a baby son today: Diesel.
Test Pressing [Level 2]
Strange story about D.H.T. and what will be one of Robbins Entertainments biggest hits. We have weekly A&R meetings and anyone from the company can bring in music. D.H.T. was brought into our meeting by our Mailroom guy, Matt. Long story short, we sign them, I find an "Unplugged" version on the masters, put it on our CD Maxi as I know our Radio guy loves that stuff and that version takes off and now the singles sitting at #55 with a bullet on the Hot 100 this week. You never know where the next hit is going to come from.
As for Lasgo, I signed them for the US. Didn't hear that Evi had the baby yet so thanks for the info.
jp
Underground Hit [Level 5]
John,
I think by "online" the term downloading was not NECESSARILY what was meant. The landscape for indies has changed DRAMATICALLY since SRD 1 and 2 were done. Online SELLERS are much more prevalent now than THEN. Existing sellers (Amazon, Dusty Groove, Soulmusicstore, CDBaby etc) are hitting benchmarks never before established. The perception of indies and oldies (and what constitutes an oldie) are changing by necessity at distribution and retail.
I would love to discuss with you (offline) what the distributuion particulars were at the time of release as well as advertising. Hindsight being 20/20 I would dare say that there are a couple of things you would do now that you did NOT do THEN that might make a reissue (Part 3) more viable NOW.
Your 4 figure benchmarks might play into this as the truth is....a lot of early dance 45s are STILL indie owned. You can license a LOT of them for next to nothing.....and with the "soft" 4 figure numbers to back you up....a financial shakedown is no longer an option for any of the rights holders. More now of a "lets try to make money and raise some profiles and spilt what earnings DO come in". A lot of early disco singles are in danger of NEVER being reissued. THAT IS FACT. Even the big boys like WARNER know it and as a reaction to the soft marketplace have recently done deals that have do not have the phrase "10,000 unit guarantee" in them. An example of that is the Ambassador Soul Classics run by David Nathan. ALL Warner licenses and NO 10,000 unit guarantees.
I am staring at a stack of 45's right now- EARLY DISCO SINGLES WITH labels like: SRI, Babylon, S.O.N.Y......some of them may NOW have major rights affiliations....I would bet that most of them DO NOT. The rights holders just have to be tracked down. Plus if memory serves, Cory should own some pretty viable things himself STILL...does he control any of the publishing? I would try for a 5 year license......the standard 3 is just NOT ENOUGH for reissues. Reissues always are slow in penetrating the market sensibility (with no advertising) and you need to be in those bins and shelves for a WHILE before market AWARENESS kicks in. Only when awareness is there will sales follow.
Anyway I wish you fortune in your endeavors and am looking forward to contributing to the DMHOF. I would also LOVE the opportunity to assist in assembling a SUPER RARE DISCO VOLUME 3. :D
Test Pressing [Level 2]
Hi Donald,
Unfortunately, I'm not at liberty to discuss the way we promote, trade secrets you know. :) But rest assured that we have the best distribution, Sony/BMG and have had it from the beginning. We also have been online with our music for many years. You can actually buy online from the labels site as well as all of the online retailers.
It seems to me that if an album cannot sell 10,000 units, you're not going to find many labels willing to put it out. The time that it takes to find the proper master owners as well as the legal fees make it an issue that most labels won't deal with.
Maybe someone should start a small re-issue label that would be able to live within that economic world. I just don't think that it's feasible for most from a business perspective.
Just my thoughts...
jp
No Longer Charting
. 
. 
John: Thanks for being so candid. Too many around here have no idea of the economics involved and record companies have had a very bad press from some folks (not me).
For such a well known series of CDs (within Disco circles), the sales figures really put into perspective the relative popularity of Disco music. Quite a shock, as sooooo many people were avid club goers in their youth and Disco was such a phenomenon.
Maybe the Chic, KC, Kool re-issue merchants got their sums right?
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