you've got to be kidding me

if there's one little thing i've learned since lindsay and i started dirty beats, it's that record distributors in canada suck.

let's take a look at the general fuck-ups occuring with a certain supplier in montreal over the past week or two. (btw, i'm through complaining about these guys. it's hit the comic-relief stage now.)

first off, we receive emails from this supplier at the rate of usually 2 or 3 a day. on mondays, tuesdays and wednesdays, they send us the "midweeks". i send these emails on to a couple of our more regular buyers so they can pre-order tracks they really want (generally, only the dnb kids are this intense about their music). the email i'd send them would look like this:

hey all, here's the midweeks, hit me back w/ any pre-orders ...

*/Liftin' Spirits/* *Concept 2* *Discology / Twisted Funk* *ADMM35* /12"

*/Cartel/* *DJ Craze & Juju* *The Money* *CARTEL002* /12"

*/31/* *DJ Friction / DJ Kontrol* *Aurora / Echoes of Light* /12"

*/True Playaz/* *DJ Zinc* *Ska RMX / Fruitella* *TPR12051* /12"

*/Poison/* *Dragon* *Clear Poison / Alien Beings* *POISON10* /12"

*/Formation/* *John B* *Pressure / Sight Beyond RMX* *FORM12107* /12"

*/Fokuz/* *Laroque* *Duality* *FOKUS011* /12"

*/31/* *Nasty Habits* *Shadow Boxing (Jonny L RMX)* *31R021PT1* /12"

*/Freeform/* *Perfect Combination* *Even Roll / Let It Go* *FRF10* /12"

*/Planet Mu/* *Remarc* *Unreleased Dubs '94-'96* *ZIQ085* /4LP

*/Razor's Edge/* *Rufige Cru* *Angel III RMX / Sinister RMX* /12"

*/Penny Black/* *Serum* *Vile / Bleak* *PBLR030* /12"

*/Space /* *Sonic* *Bombay* *SPACER006* /12"

*/Signs/* *Undisclosed* *Aquarius* *SIGN002* /12"

(funky formatting is due to the original email being in HTML format and thunderbird throws in some weird shit when changing it to text)

i then get orders back like:

here's my list ...

*/True Playaz/* *DJ Zinc* *Ska RMX / Fruitella*
*/Razor's Edge/* *Rufige Cru* *Angel III RMX / Sinister RMX*
*/Space /* *Sonic* *Bombay*
*/Signs/* *Undisclosed* *Aquarius*

i total these up and send a pre-order to the supplier:

hoping we could also get these records reserved ...

1x Concept 2 - Discology / Twisted Funk
3x DJ Zinc - Ska RMX / Fruitella
2x John B - Pressure / Sight Beyond RMX
1x Nasty Habits - Shadow Boxing (Jonny L RMX)
1x Remarc - Unreleased Dubs '94-'96
1x Rufige Cru - Angel III RMX / Sinister RMX
2x Sonic - Bombay
1x Undisclosed - Aquarius

-mike.

all good? good.

on sunday night, i send in any other orders i have and we now have a complete order ready. i feel there's enough records in that order (i usually talk to lindsay about it on monday morning), i send an email on monday that goes something like the following:

just hoping you could ship out our order tomorrow. thanks man.

-mike.

now, can you guess what message was waiting at my store on tuesday night when i went by to do some work? that's right, my friend at our supplier was phoning to find out whether or not we wanted our records shipped and could i please phone him back right away? fuck. so i phone. due to a slight 3 hour time difference, there's no one there. so i send another email (don't have it here) basically saying "i already sent you an email, why didn't you ship our records?"

this email arrives today:

sorry,i never recieved that message but i will ship your orders every tuesday from now on unless you say otherwise,is that ok.

no, not really ok. since i've told you in the past i'll tell you when to ship our orders. whatever though.

then this one appears roughly ten minutes later:

me again,you ordered the remarc new lp on cd just making sure it's the cd not the lp you want. get back to me asap.

actually, i ordered it on 4xLP since that was the only thing they listed on the release sheets. hell, i didn't even know it came on CD. where does he find this shit? so i quickly email him back saying "NO CD'S!!!!" and *apparently* our order gets shipped now.

i bet we get records we didn't even order in this one.

if i had the money, i'd definitely start a west coast distribution company. how hard can it be to do things the RIGHT way?

posted by mike at March 03, 11:30 AM