Why Don't You Answer My Question?

Question: Hello Earache, why don't you answer my question, I sent my question in 4 times to your page, but can not see an answer yet.will you reply? thanks. From: bob.stewartweb@gmail.com

Answer: I try to answer most reader questions on here, especially if they seem interesting to me, and hopefully also to the readers of this blog.
Obviously stuff about how the Earache label operates is easiest for me to write about, as thats what I do for a living, and I wanted the blog to give readers a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes at a real, live, working metal label in the music biz.

Stuff I won't answer on here:

1) Will You listen to/sign my band?

This must be half of the questions I get- this is not a A&R blog so stop asking please! But now and again if a band is particularly persistant or annoying, I'll give the new band feedback via this blog, like KILL TO GAIN- its not always pretty.

2) Will you write me a chapter on Earache/Death/Grind/Varg/Doom for a book I'm writing?

Judging by the explosive increase in such requests, I guess there must be a dozen books in the works about extreme metal, and a fair few planned about Burzum, now he's released from prison.The Choosing Death and Swedish Death Metal books spawned a whole new publishing genre it seems.New book-printing websites like Lulu offer custom printed books, so everyone can be a published author now. Good luck to all you budding writers but sorry- even though I'm all for passing on information, I won't write the damn thing for ya.

3) How much is the **** 7inch worth, what quantity and colours pressed?

This blog is not a pricing service for Ebayers.I used to assume that genuine collectors were seeking this info,out of curiosity, until I saw an answer copy/pasted as the listing for an ebay sale.Interested fans can look up variations and limited editions on our catalog page- click the album name to see pics of the versions.

4) Why didn't you answer my question?

It's a fair bet its already been answered, please use the search query field in the top left of this page- theres 5 years worth of questions contained within this blog and many subjects have had comprehensive answers already.Search and you will find!

5) How many copies did ***** sell, how much money did the band make on the release?

Kids on Music Industry Management college courses ask this a lot.Trying to run an open and frank blog about the biz, I nearly answered one of these in great detail, until I realised specific money matters are better left unsaid, its not fair on the band in question,and removed the posting.Its hard the explain how bands can be "unrecouped" without mentioning the actual monetary facts though.Being "unrecouped" remains the root cause of most of the ire between labels and bands.
CD Sales numbers of any band in the USA are avaiable through a system called soundscan.Many sites on the web publish the soundscan numbers so simply Googling soundscan together with the band name can get results.

Mostly the questions on the blog are superb, and oftentimes the insights and depth of knowledge in the questions I receive is quite astounding to me. I thought I was a nerd about extreme metal, but some of you lot know so much detail, its humbling infact.