How do you feel about the reselling market in general? Is it just something you have to accept now, that whenever you release a limited pressing on vinyl a certain number of people who buy it will immediately put it up for sale on Discogs in the hope of making a profit?
Red D: Like I said, just do whatever you think you need to do.
San Soda: I feel everyone should just be aware that the offer price is not the same as the selling price. This is so basic. No one is going to buy ‘It’s You’ for £1,000. The highest it’s been sold for is 73 euro. There’s a sales history for every record on Discogs – I wish people would start using that information instead of looking at those idiots trying to rip off the buyers.
Also, record shop owners, take note please. It’s not because the record is up for sale for 50 euros a couple of weeks after release date, that I’m going to pay you 20 euros for a record you paid 4 euros cost price for. That’s just ripping off the artist and the customer and it’s not how we are going to help the vinyl industry survive.
There was a small backlash on Twitter when Jackmaster asked if anyone could send him a rip of ‘It’s You’. It seems like a lot of big DJs use social media to request WAVs of tracks these days. Is that in any way acceptable or is it essentially just piracy?
Red D: Of course it’s piracy. I myself simply buy all the music I play, whether it’s old, new, second-hand or Discogs. And there’s so much good music out there to be found that I don’t mind waiting till that record I want comes along, and just playing other stuff in the meantime. People just need to be more patient, and not always play what’s hot at the moment. Hence I’m not bothered with charts or anything hyped. If I bump into something I like I just buy it and play it.
San Soda: I could probably use this reply for half the interview questions I get: the digital age has made people lazy and devalues relationships, all types of content and of course music.
As part of the digital release you’ve also got some remixes. Can you tell us any more about those?
Red D: Not all of them are 100% decided, so I can’t really get too excited and drop names. Let’s just say that if all goes well two of my all time favourite house producers will be involved, plus one more contemporary name.
San Soda: I’m really looking forward to hearing what they come up with.
The digital age has made people lazy and devalues relationships, all types of content and of course music.
What do you have to say to people who accuse you of selling out by re-releasing? Is that kind of response inevitable for a label like We Play House, which has quite a purist attitude?
San Soda: I wouldn’t say making the track available for the largest possible market is selling out. It’s just nice to share it with everyone rather than having to apologise that it’s not available any longer.
Red D: To be honest, WPH has never been about a purist attitude, it’s mostly our fans and friends that have the more purist approach. With WPH the aim always was and still is to just release music I like from people I like. On vinyl first and foremost, and on digital second. We have a vinyl-only series just because it’s fun to do and because I love vinyl and will always use it to play my music. But strictly speaking I haven’t got any problems with music being available digitally. I’m 100% convinced that vinyl is the best and most rewarding way to play music, and wherever I can I’ll only play vinyl, and I will demand that the vinyl setup is right.
The most important thing is that people buy their music. As for myself, I don’t buy or play digital. That’s the part where I can be quite hardcore, but I’ll still play the odd CD if I want to try something out, or if it’s a Deetron or Kink remix that was only available digitally. Being an anal purist is something for the terminally unadventurous.
Finally, not even taking into account your solo releases, you’ve developed quite a reputation as a duo. What else do FCL have coming up for us and how many copies are you going to press?!
Red D: That’ll depend on when we play it first, what the reaction is and how drunk I am! We’ve got a follow-up for ‘It’s You’ which has also been recorded a while ago, again with Lady Linn on vocals, but nothing has been decided as to the how and when. Chances are it’s going to be another 150 copies thing, even if only to get on some people’s nerves! Other than that there might be another FCL release on another label, but nothing decided either. We never plan too far ahead. It’s worked for us like that since day one.
San Soda: The fact that Bart and me live far apart also makes it hard to predict when we’ll have some fresh studio time, but like Bart said, it’s comfortable not to plan too much and see what happens.
Being an anal purist is something for the terminally unadventurous.
‘It’s You’ is released digitally by Defected Records on February 4th.
04.09 PM
I still don’t see how a proper DJ can’t ask for a track to play to a limited audience, but its alright to buy a record off discogs, where exactly none of the money goes to the original artist, only into the pockets of the very sellers they are complaining about. And WPH have been one of the strongest voicer’s of their opinion on vinyl vs digital. There seems to be a bit of contradiction going on. This seems like a load of drama over nothing, and the need to try and make another DJ who has supported house music look bad comes off as petty. Does it mean if DJ’s start asking for other limited vinyl rips then they will see a digital release as well? I own the vinyl and am only interested in playing it, for the record.