Blog: Lessons of 2012 - What To Spend Money On

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Continuing the series of Lessons Of 2012, this year's shown me that some things are WORTH spending CA$H on, and some things very much are NOT.

The prime contender for NOT spending CA$H on this year, I regret to say, was The Mercury Prize. I'd entered Regardez, Ecoutez et Repetez a few years ago and had a RUBBISH experience then, but for some reason thought things might be different this time for Dinosaur Planet. We DID,. this time, get an acknowledgement that they'd received our CA$H this time, but that was pretty much the only difference. I've absolutely no idea if anyone even LISTENED to it - you pay just over two hundred QUID to enter and you don't even get an acknowledgement of listening, let alone any feedback. People always seem surprised by this, but like anything in the Krazy World Of CORPORATE ROCK, it's all about the MONEY!

And yet I STILL got my hopes up for it, my childhood faith in ROCK refusing to die! I should have known better from the PACKAGE I had to put together, which featured PRESS CUTTINGS. It's almost as if they couldn't be bothered to listen to the CDs, so instead looked at the REVIEWS to WINNOW out the small fry... reviews, which, of course, have to be PAID for via a PR company. We'll come on to the PR side of things in another of these lessons - which will basically be "Don't pay for one, do it yourself"!

While I've found that there's not much point spending huge wads of CA$H trying to compete with Corporate Rock Bands on the PUBLICITY side of things, you certainly CAN compete with them on The Product Itself, and this is WELL worth it. In 2011 we spent a LONG time recording Dinosaur Planet with our pals at The Snug, and we spent quite a bit on studio time(even with the HUGE swathes of EXTRA HOMEWORK they did for us for free) it was worth EVERY RED CENT of it to make sure we made that record as PERFECT as we could.

We also spent CA$H getting the package itself perfect. We'd commissioned the amazing Mr John Allison of Scarygoround to DESIGN the cover and insides, which he did a) beautifully b) inexpensively c) with effortless joy in communication - as he would go on to do with the Don't, Darren, Don't video, Christmas Cards and INDEED the forthcoming artwork for the new show. THAT bit was easy, but the first two attempts to actually MAKE it went horribly wrong. I tried to use a CHEAPO company to create the CDs, who COCKED it UP, clearly using a MEGA CHEAPO printing firm somewhere to make CRAPPY cases and leaflets that looked RUBBISH. I ended up having to pay a bit more to get it done PROPER by those nice people at Key Production, who were HELPFUL at every stage of the process.

During the whole GHASTLY business of trying to get the CDs sorted out with the first company I did think "Oh sod it, why don't I just TAKE the crappy ones? What does it matter?" but I'm IMMENSELY glad now, a year later, that I stuck with it. The CDs we EvENTUALLY got are GORGEOUS, in design and manufacture, and will REMAIN so forever, while the memories of the GRIND of getting them done will gradually fade.

So the lesson here, I guess, is that you should spend your CA$H (and indeed TIME) on the things that matter most, and IMPORTANTLY that you have some CONTROL over. I can't do anything much about the opinions and processes of Major Record Companies and their LACKEYS, but I can certainly make sure that the things WE produce are bloody gorgeous, and that'll mean a lot more in a lifetime than any number of non-existent rejection letters.

Somebody remind me I said that NEXT time we release an album!

posted 11/1/2013 by MJ Hibbett

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