4/4/2026

So, these may get more frequent as I get in the habit of making them, but I'll try to post these more frequently with information that is relevant to me and that you may find interesting.  Today is Saturday.  xDestroy Babylonx pre-order launched yesterday and it was OK.  It's not a payday weekend for most people so I'll be pushing that a bit over the next week to bring in some more pre-sales.  What you may not know is that labels do pre-orders for different reasons.  There is label "A" that does a pre-order with the sole purpose of paying for a release upfront from the pre-orders and then they press that many records, CDs or tapes.  So, they do 30 pre-orders and they press 30 records or 30 CDs or whatever and then they move on to the next release.  I don't have a problem with these labels but I feel that if I am a label, what benefit is there to the band if I am not carrying their releases for a period of time and trying to push their music (and thus their band) into the hands of as many potential fans as possible.  Then there is label "B" who has already decided on the appropriate number of records/CDs/cassettes to press/manufacture and they use the pre-order to drum up extra buzz about the upcoming release AND to get an idea of how much merch to print up.  Shirts, hoodies, you get the point.  Printing merch is the most expensive "per-unit" expense a label has so as a label you don't want to print 100 shirts and then only sell 30 of them release week and then sell 1 shirt a week for the next 70 weeks.  Or you don't want to print up only 5 medium shirts when you could have sold 10 as an example as a pre-order.  In case you haven't figured it out yet, we're label "B" in this scenario.  When we put a release out on pre-order, all of the media has already gone to the plan to be manufactured.  In the case of xForever Warx as an example, I ordered 500 12"s from the pressing plant (at an expense of about 4K) and 500 CDs (another K) and then we launched the pre-order and I offered shirt options.  Whenever possible, I like to offer a pre-order only shirt but that doesn't always work out.  I bring up xForever Warx because shirts and CDs should be here probably this next week and records come when records come.  Hopefully by the end of the month.  I've already got the test presses of them and they sound great.  Now just have to get all of that beautiful vinyl pressed and then shipped and in all of your hands that pre-ordered.  I just wanted to give you all a sneak peek inside what it's like to run a label, so you know how much your support means to us.  Without your continued support, there is no LSR.  

In other news:

• The xForever Warx hats all came in this week, and I've already shipped a bunch of orders with hats.  If you ordered just hats or hats with other items that are in stock, your hats will be dropped off at the post office in a couple of hours.  
• CONTACT cassettes arrived yesterday and they look and sound like perfection.  Same thing as above.  If you ordered just a CONTACT cassette, its going out today.  The remainder of them are generally available now so grab one please.  They turned out so good.  Matt from CONTACT did the layout for the CD and cassette and its beautiful.  CDs will probably be done and in my hands in 2 weeks.  
• We're going to be carrying cassettes and CDs for the Finnish band Ecotage.  There will be an official announcement for it soon, but you fucking heard it here first folks (if anyone is actually reading this lol).  Bitter Melody in the US is going to be doing vinyl for it.  It's really good.  Do yourself a favor and check it out.  
• Along with Ecotage, we're going to be doing some similar things for other "smaller" bands or non-US bands.  These will be LSR releases with smaller press runs so that we can get more stuff out there and into your hands without a lot of overhead on our side.  We've got a few bands in mind but nothing that we're ready to announce yet.  The main thing is to keep growing the label and keep supporting cool bands.  
• We're announcing a new band on LSR this Tuesday, April 7th.  I'll give you a hint.  They are from Ohio and a straightedge band but that's all I'll disclose right now. 

Ok, until next time.