What Artists Should Know About elasticStage

A couple of months ago, I effectively got out of the e-commerce business.

After releasing 13 albums on CD, only one title was still in print, plus a few Collector’s Edition copies of another.

The last thing I wanted to do was press another 1000 CDs, but my 14th album was nearing completion and many of my biggest fans really like having my albums on CD.

We’re talking about people who have been with me for decades, who joined my Patreon when I started it nearly 8 years ago and have been supporting me there ever since.

As much as I wanted to stay out of the merch game, ultimately I didn’t want to let them down.

So I asked what they wanted:

That survey went out to 140 paying patrons and only 40 voted, likely the most enthusiastic among them.

Based on those results, I could only count on 11 vinyl and 30 CD sales, but historically I know I’m good for 150 CD pre-orders.

Plus lots of people on social media asked about vinyl, so maybe I could sell 100 of those?

In any case, there wasn’t enough demand for 1000 units in either format. Enter elasticStage.

What is elasticStage?

elasticStage produces CDs and vinyl on demand and ships them directly to fans in 95 countries.

The quality of both formats is top-notch, and a massive step up from Kunaki, who I use twice a year for my patron CDs.

Technically speaking, the vinyl isn’t vinyl (polyvinyl chloride aka PVC), it’s polyethylene terephthalate (PET). PET sounds just as good, is at least as durable, uses less energy, and is 100% recyclable. Major labels are starting to adopt it.

There’s zero up-front cost and you can cancel at any time. If your products don’t sell, you’re only out the time that it took to create them.

They currently offer eight release types:

For vinyl, I went with the straight-up album option. No booklet, because there’s a printable inner sleeve with plenty of room for lyrics.

Note that they don’t offer 7″ singles or colored vinyl, just classic black.

I did opt for the booklet with the CD though. It’s 12 pages, one for the lyrics of each song.

Building my elasticStage releases

Once you select a release type, you’re prompted to choose between three price categories.

For the vinyl, I went with Full pricing. Though intuitively that sounds like the highest possible price, it’s actually the lowest I can offer my fans. The vinyl sells for $31.90 in the US and I earn $6.38.

I could’ve opted for Premium ($38.40) or Deluxe ($45.40) and earned up to $18.16 per unit, but nah.

I went with Full for the CD as well, which sells for $14.40 and nets me a whopping $2.88 per unit. I probably could’ve gotten away with Premium ($17.90), but I wanted to make it as affordable as possible for fans.

The royalty rate is tiered. When you hit 500 units sold, you get 5% more per sale, and another 5% at 1000 units.

On the audio side, I could’ve just uploaded the 24-bit, 48 kHz.wav files I mastered for distribution and Bandcamp. But audiophile that I am, I prepared freshly mastered 24-bit, 96 kHz files for vinyl and 16-bit, 44.1 kHz files for CD. The vinyl version has 4 dB of extra dynamic range.

The demands of vinyl dictated the track sequence to a significant degree. I managed to get both sides to an equal length, and short enough that audio quality wouldn’t be sacrificed.

Graphic design was straightforward once I got over an initial hurdle. They require files in the Coated FOGRA39 ICC color profile, which isn’t downloadable anywhere by that exact name. I tried exporting files with what I thought was the correct color profile, both with Pixelmator Pro and another open source app, but elasticStage wouldn’t accept any of them.

Ultimately I had to bite the bullet and pay for Adobe Illustrator for two months, because I didn’t receive my test copies before the monthly renewal hit. I did all the actual design in Canva and arranged it in Illustrator, and elasticStage accepted all the exported files without complaint.

You can avoid all this color profile nonsense by using their design wizard, though it doesn’t allow you to customize the spine. Theoretically you could have a product ready for sale in a couple of hours.

I fully expected my test copies to have mistakes, but they were both perfect, which was lucky because a fan discovered my album on the elasticStage site and bought it before I could check.

I should’ve just trusted the animated previews that elasticStage creates after you upload your artwork:

Once your audio and artwork are good to go, you create a release page to hawk your wares. Mine is here.

Note that while you can’t offer a discounted vinyl/CD bundle, the shipping cost is basically the same for up to three items, so there are savings to be had.

Orders ship in 2-3 weeks from London, and then take another 5-7 days to get to the US. I waited about a month for my test copies.

Alternately, you can buy products in bulk in boxes of 25 and sell them directly, which is handy for touring artists.

My elasticStage results

I limited the vinyl to 100 copies and the CD to 150 copies, because I didn’t think I’d sell more than that, and limiting the vinyl to less than 100 copies would’ve felt silly.

I’ve sold 40 vinyl and 72 CDs to date. I’ll admit, it’s a little disappointing.

On the bright side, fans are just starting to receive their orders, and I’ve started seeing photos and unboxing videos on social media. So far everyone has been impressed with the quality, with one exception.

A patron received a damaged vinyl. The cover had a fold in it, though somehow the box was fine. He emailed elasticStage and they immediately issued him a replacement, without even requiring him to provide proof. It’s really nice to know that they’ve got your back!

At this point I’m thinking it would be nice to get paid…

elasticStage processes sales at the end of each month for the previous month. I figured I’d withdraw what I’ve earned so far, until I hit a little snag:

Apparently the UK keeps 20%. I’m not a tax professional, but it looks like I can claim that 20% as a foreign tax credit on my US return.

Still, it’s messy and adds another layer of complication that I’d rather have avoided. I’m sure elasticStage would prefer to avoid it as well!

I’m going to hold off withdrawing anything for now and take a lump sum in January, so I won’t have to deal with the tax stuff until 2027.

The tldr is that I’m only getting 80% of what I thought I’d be getting from elasticStage, though I’ll likely recover the rest in the form of a tax credit.

elasticStage conclusions and recommendations

I think elasticStage gets basically everything right.

It would be nice if they shipped from the US and offered colored vinyl. Maybe they will someday. For now, they offer a great product at a reasonable price, considering it’s made on-demand.

If you want to offer vinyl and/or CD and can’t justify a standard pressing, it’s a fantastic option. If you live in the UK, it’s a no-brainer.

If you’d like to give them a shot, I kindly request that you use my referral link to register. I’ll make back a small percentage of any sales at no cost to you, which will support future experiments.

And if you’d like to pick up my album on vinyl or CD, if only to check out the quality for yourself, you can do so here.

What I’d do differently

Whether or not selling vinyl and CD on-demand from London was the best option for me personally is another question.

I’ve always wanted to offer vinyl and elasticStage was the only way to do it that made financial sense. I’m glad I did, even though it could be considered a failed experiment.

As for geography, I considered shipping from London ideal, since it costs at least $20 to ship anything but a letter outside of the US.

In fact, my friend Ben aka Minute Taker ships my patron CDs for me from Manchester. I order them in bulk from Kunaki, ship them to him, and order shipping labels for him to print from the Royal Mail site.

Fans outside the US were delighted with the shipping cost. US fans, not so much. The most common complaint I received is that shipping a CD to the US costs more than the CD itself.

Another complaint is that the CD is duplicated and not replicated. You wouldn’t know from looking as the quality has come a long way in the past decade, with similar durability. Regardless, many aren’t willing to pay full price for a “CD-R.”

I could’ve bought a couple of boxes of 25 from elasticStage and shipped them myself to US addresses, but it would’ve taken longer and wouldn’t have saved much.

My Bandcamp release page is more complicated than it needs to be, with a link to elasticStage in the album description. Some artists (like this one) add a vinyl merch item with a note: DO NOT BUY THIS VINYL ON BANDCAMP. Confusing, no?

Offering vinyl and CD on elasticStage seemed to dilute my Bandcamp sales, compared to my last album at least, which got a 300-unit CD pressing that I sold on Bandcamp.

Granted, there was only one track that hadn’t been released as a single already, so the album was mostly redundant to serious fans.

Still, patrons (the most serious fans) often bought vinyl, CD, and both digital editions on Bandcamp, despite already having all the tracks months ago on Patreon. Bless their hearts.

If I could do it all again with 20/20 hindsight, I’d offer a limited edition of 100 CDs with patrons getting first dibs. My rep at Disc Makers usually gives me a discount and/or free shipping, as I’ve been a Studio Partner for years.

Granted, they’d still be CD-Rs. Or I could get 300 replicated CDs for $1212 and likely break even, but then I’d be stuck with 150 units. And I’d have to ship them myself.

Next time, who knows? I’m likely done with vinyl but if there’s still a demand for CDs, I’d consider going with elasticStage again. If they add shipping from the US, I almost certainly would!

Have you tried elasticStage? Any questions about the process or the finer details? Let me know in the comments!