QRATES is a platform for artists and labels to sell their music on vinyl and digital formats. Artists and labels can promote their music online to fund vinyl pressings, deliver exclusive content and items, make their music streamable and offer free downloads and bonus tracks to their fans. They also offer statistics and reports services.
With QRATES, artists and labels can fund their vinyl pressing through pre-orders to fans. Pressing starts when the designated amount of pre-orders are collected. Artists and labels can also fund records themselves to get some stock to sell at their shows, on their website or in other stores.
Qrates launched last year as a crowdfunding vinyl pressing platform which allows labels and artists to fund a record before sending it to the presses. The latest idea from the Tokyo-based company is Store Delivery, a distribution service that essentially makes it a one-stop shop for artists and labels looking to get their records into online and bricks-and-mortar stores.
Describing itself as an “open and fair business-to-business marketplace”, the Store Delivery service will offer access to a network of 200 stores in Europe and Japan, including Jetset, HMV Record Shop and Technique in Japan, and Juno Records, the major European online store.
Qrates hopes to partner with US stores later this year, expanding to 1,000 stores around the world by 2018.
In an interview with FACT mag, they described the opportunities available through the service :
“The purpose of Qrates is to provide your fans with exceptional items: first records, but also purpose these records with something special such as the ticket event to a release party, some limited edition merch, etc. We want to make Qrates a place for music lovers where you can find quality records in a multitude of styles from all over the world, and then give the opportunity to labels and artists to reach a new audience. We’re working on various tools that will make the label’s life and record pressing easier: we are building a vinyl mastering center inside Qrates, we will be able soon to ship the records directly to your customers on your behalf, and we are also working on a system to give the possibility of selling your records at a wholesale price to record stores who would like to stock the releases. More news about all of this soon.”
More info : https://qrates.com/
