Roadburn Records on hiatus, Burning World Records slowing down

Burning World Mailorder expanding!

And we’re back.

As you might have noticed social media activity for the mailorder and labels has been really slow the last few months. The reasons for this I will outline below.

First and foremost, we moved! Burning World Mailorder, Burning World Records, Roadburn Records and WeShipVinyl (and our office mates Southern Lord Europe) have moved from Amsterdam to Haarlem. Just 15 km west from our old location. Coincidentally to another old and monumental chocolate factory, only the brand is different: we used to be in an old Nestle building now we are in on old Union Chocolate factory. 

Main reason was: more space! Especially for WeShipVinyl as we had stock over 4 or 5 different rooms and storage spaces, that’s all under one roof now. But Burning World also profited. All stock is now in one place and easily accessible and findable. In the past stock was all over the place and I had to cancel orders because I could not find an item, just to find it a week later on another shelve. Hopefully those practices are in the past now.

Because that is another change: some months ago I bought up a few collections of vinyl and cd’s and especially the cd’s (5000+) was reason for me to rethink my approach to Burning World Mailorder. And after that, also the labels. But let’s start with the mailorder first.

Mailorder expanding

Through the years I have amassed quite some items that were not really suitable for the mailorder, which was focused on doom, death, psych, sludge etc. Essentially Roadburn related music. As many of you know my connection with the festival was ended in 2015 - apart from selling record at the fest each year. And the release of an occasional live record from the festival.

All though that got less and less the last few years. Main reason is that the genres that the festival books in became much broader and the central scene as it existed when I was still involved got more and more fragmented. Which is not a critique  on the festival, they do what they need to do to survive (and prosper).

For me as a label and mailorder that fragmentation of the core meant that there are lots of small bands playing who’s live recordings are not commercially interesting to release (which does not say they are not great sets!). Or on the other side of the spectrum: big bands that have contracts with labels etc who do not want me to release live gigs. No frustrations there, it’s just how it is. 

Roadburn Records on hiatus

But it is the reason that I have decided to put Roadburn Record (active since 2007!) on hiatus for now. I still own the archive of live recordings of the first 15 years so who knows what will come of that in the future but for now I am choosing to put my energy in other stuff. I’ve also founded Soulcrusher and Sonic Whip records the last few years so I won’t sit still on the live releases front but Roadburn Records will be quiet for a while.

That brings us to Burning World Records. My outlet for studio recordings. As a small label it gets harder and harder to get bands out there. And I’ve tried in the past (anyone say Somnus Throne, The Answer Lies In The Black Void, Heavy Trip?). I just don’t have the budget to market these bands properly so I am also scaling back on releases on Burning World. There will be some releases in the future of records that I consider classics (like The Gathering’s Always… box set) and some re-issues but way les than before.

What will I focus on then you ask? As stated in the beginning, a large percentage of the stock that I had for the mailorder was not online. This summer I started listing some of those items and - lo and behold - they sold. Could be jazz, could be classical music, could even be cd’s it turns out. The latter is no wonder looking at the vinyl prices that are still rising, but still, I always considered myself a vinyl vendor more than anything. But now I had to accept I have become a “general” record shop. I sell music, no matter the genre or the format. All though stoner, doom and psych will also be a big part of the collection as that is what I “know” and love. But a general record store it is, be it an online one.

Looking at the coming months I will be focusing on putting all records and cds I have in the warehouse online. I will release one record on Soulcrusher Records in November and probably one repress of an older Burning World Records title or one associated with it. Plus I will be selling at Haarlem Vinyl Days later this month, on Desert Fest Belgium, Samhain and Soulcrusher in Nijmegen as always. Then at the end of the year there will be a big sale to clear some space and start the new year lean and mean!

Two questions to end this missive with:

• If you want to buy records or cd’s I have for sale please choose the Burningworldrecords.com record store. On Discogs are exactly the same items but I have to pay an extra percentage there. So if you want to help me out and it makes no difference for you on what platform you buy them please buy directly in the store. As you will see on the Discogs feedback (99,6% positive of almost 8500 reviews) you can trust us.   

• If you are thinking of selling (part of) your collection let me know. Mail me directly at jurgen@burningworldrecords.com and I’ll get back to you. Obviously collections nearby (NL, BE, Germany) are preferred but for special ones we’ll make it work.

That’s about it. Thanks for reading!

Jurgen