October 14, 2025

In The Pocket: Post-Release Update

A couple of weeks ago I wrote here about my feelings in the final week before releasing In The Pocket: The Sound Of Welt Discos. I mentioned the conflicting feelings I had about putting this project — so dear to my heart — out into the wild. Would it reach people? How would they react to it? Would it lead to new things? Would it make any money?

Well, obviously it’s still too early to do a full balance, but I have some early indicators and, as always, FEELINGS. I’m going to try to keep this particular update focussed on business, but I’m sure some feelings will creep in along the way regardless.

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CD distribution

Of the 100 copies of the mix CD I had made, 40 were accounted for right off the bat with copies for the artists involved, other people who contributed to the project in some form along the way, and copies I’m keeping for myself. That left 60 for sale, half of which have already gone. They’ve been bought by people from Europe, the UK, the US and Mexico, many of whom are friends and/or fellow music people, but also a few I don’t know, or don’t think I know. It took me a while to get the system off the ground for sending them out but now they’re finally flying the nest. I’ll be taking copies to the launch parties in Berlin and London (details below).

The aim has always been to shift all 60 CDs and thus cover the cost of producing them in the first place. Well, I’ve had to recognise that my business savvy — and specifically my accounting — leaves something to be desired. For starters, when I planned out the costs of the CD, I failed to take into consideration the cost of buying shipping materials. I guess I figured I could improvise packaging using my store of used record mailers and bubble wrap. It would be the environmentally-friendly option. But once the CDs arrived and I saw how beautiful they were, I realised I couldn’t bring myself to send them out in shitty packaging. What if they got damaged? So I bought foldable CD mailers (online, since I couldn’t find a physical store in Lisbon that would sell me any). On taking the first batch of these to the post office, I discovered I’d also set the shipping prices too low — who’d have thought registered international shipping for a small box weighing 100g could be so expensive? — so that first lot all went through with bargain shipping. At this rate I wasn’t going to break even.

This all led me to briefly consider raising the price of the CD, which I had set at 15 EUR. 20 EUR would, in my opinion, still be a reasonable price for a collectible item made with so much love, but it’s my nature to want things to be affordable (I have the same feeling about the door charge for my parties), so 15 EUR feels just right.

So I’m going to make a loss, right? That’s what I imagined. But something has come to my rescue: friends! Several of you have been generous enough to make what Bandcamp calls ‘Additional fan contributions’ when buying the CD, which have thus far helped to cover the overspend from my bad planning. As things stand, it’s going to break even. I love you all very dearly.

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Digital distribution

So far 25 people have bought the full digital compilation and there have been around 150 individual track purchases. I don’t really have a benchmark for this. Without thinking about it too much, it feels nice. But then when I do think about it, and what it translates into for the musicians who contributed, it basically means an average of about 10 EUR for each artist, varying depending on how popular their individual track has been so far. Big bucks this isn’t! I’ve also not put the music on streaming services, mainly because I don’t use them myself. Some of the tracks will invariably make it onto streaming if/when the artists put them up (Eli Verveine’s stunning ‘What Frank Said’, for example, is already available).

I’m hoping that as I continue sharing the individual tracks here and on Instagram, people will continue checking them out and buying them. But I also am under no illusion regarding the longevity of new music releases in the relentless cycle of promotion. On that note…

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Promo

Well, I’ve been trying to stick to my guns and not get too hung up on it, but it’s kind of impossible. Social media is an insatiable beast. Often it feels like a bottomless waste disposal unit that will take whatever delicious things you have cooked up, swallow them whole and leave only a faintly acrid smell as evidence. I thought with the CD release done I’d be able to put Instagram down for a while, but then of course there’s the launch parties to promote, and the post-release promo that has to happen to give the project even a small chance of sticking in people’s minds longer than a couple of weeks.

Once again, I’m proud with how I’ve been publicising this release. But I also feel keenly the shortcomings resulting from being an amateur doing this on my own, especially when I compare my efforts to the slick PR campaigns running concurrently for other musicians and projects. The differences in impact and reach are glaring. But I try to remind myself that it’s exactly those differences, and the often envious comparisons they give rise to, that the waste disposal unit so gleefully thrives on. I catch myself scrolling or refreshing. I log out of my personal account and restrict myself to the business account I use for one of my jobs. I leave my phone in the other room.

One moment that made me feel like the promo effort was all worth it:

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Press

Writing down all of these anxieties here somewhat belies something I actually said out loud the other day:

Whatever else comes from this project, I’m happy enough to have read one review by someone who really gets where I’m coming from.

I was talking about this review in DJ Mag. One of the pre-eminent publications for electronic music in the UK in the 1990s and 2000s (they used to publish fortnightly!), the magazine has, for me and I suspect many others, long been reduced to an association with its annual ‘Top 100 DJs’ poll. (A good afterparty game is to look up the current year’s results and see who is the highest ranking artist you’ve never heard of: the person with the highest-ranked DJ they don’t know wins. A few years ago I won with Martin Garrix, who was in the top 5. This year I do less well with ‘Anyma’, at #10.)

Nevertheless, on the occasions when I do read DJ Mag — for example, deep dives on Leftfield’s Leftism and Björk’s Post, or the many profiles they run of queer musicians — I am reminded that they do more than just lists. Merely the name, “DJ Mag”, still resonates strongly for me. So whatever my doubts about the way I’ve promoted this release and its coverage (or lack thereof) in other quarters, having a review in DJ Mag counts for a hell of a lot, ego-wise. Even better that it says all sorts of lovely and perceptive things about the release and my work in general. I’ll spare you a dissection — you can just read it!

(The CD also got a mention in this nice article about the format and what it’s like to actually sit down and listen to an album or mix all the way through, something I basically never, ever do these days.)

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Parties

The launch event at Outra Cena two weeks ago was great. It wasn’t the busiest night. I put some of this down to it being the last weekend before payday, and the rest to there not being a really strong draw for the regular OC crowd. I am certainly not that draw, and neither Xiaolin nor Viewtiful Joe have much of a profile here. But for the middle three hours of the night, which spanned the second half of Olivia’s opening set and Jonas’s live show, there were enough people on This Side to make a really, really cool dancefloor vibe.

I had a sensation I often get at my own parties, of feeling like I’ve created something unusual and unique for the people in attendance, not because the music is particularly challenging or the crowd particularly alternative, but because it’s not often you hear playful, characterful music at peaktime in the club. Olivia’s set will be published on the OC soundcloud page this week and I hope Jonas will put his recording out at some point soon too. It was such a sick live set.

I’ve already announced two more launch parties in Berlin and London - here are the details again along with the absolutely fabulous posters:

Berlin!

Welt Discos @ Arkaoda, Berlin
Friday 7 November, 23h-late
with:
Dana Kuehr (DJ)
Gwenan (Phase Space Live + DJ)
Stephen Howe (DJ)
+ me (DJ)

London!

Pumping Velvet x Welt Discos @ Club Cheek
Friday 21 November, 22h-late
with:
Joe Milli (DJ)
Mo Probs (DJ)
+ me (DJ)

Cheap tickets on RA.

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GIGS

I don’t have much on the horizon except a US tour in the works for late January/early February. If you’re a promoter in the US and are interested in having me play around that time, please shoot me an email!

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That’s it for now. I’m not sure how interesting this kind of update is? A lot of it feels pretty procedural and hardly surprising to anyone who’s worked on a label or put out their own music. But I feel like beneath this rather superficial summary of what’s been going on there’s a deeper analysis of the FEELINGS associated with making something, putting it out and dealing with the aftermath. Like I said before, the nuts and bolts of the release and sales and parties is one thing; the actual experience of birthing a project and then watching it dissipate into the ether is another.

Maybe I’ll get to a point where I can articulate that more fully and share it here. Until then, expect a return to more routine missives — I’ve been listening to plenty of mixes again!