Researching a book on the MPC60 - Thoughts?

Clint,

Do you have final production numbers of each of the MPC 60 models? That sort of info is intriguing to me. Maybe even a break down of units shipped per continent...

Roecker

Well since Akai Japan is long gone it would be near impossible to get that info. But I would ask around and see what can be found out.

Some people reckon there are more MPC3000's out there than MPC60's, but I'm not so sure about that looking at the used market over the years. The 60 was in production much longer, and despite the coming of the MPC2000/XL with the added features, there was still demand for more MPC3000's hence the limited LE reissue in 2000.

Any knowledge or thoughts?

If I had to guesstimate I'd say there were 1.5 MPC60's to each MPC3000. So something like 7500 MPC60's including the 60II to 5000 MPC3000's including the LE. Or thereabouts, so around 3500 +\- per production run give or take. The MPC2000/XL sold a lot more probably around 8000-10000 each I reckon.

The ASR10 (1992) and Akai S series racks were a strong 16bit stereo alternative to the MPC3000 (1994) also DAWs were starting to take over from hardware at that point. We know a lot of ASR10s and Akai S series were sold.

Phra*DOC wrote:The mpc60 was an instrument which yea, brought changes, but not anywhere as mush as sp12/1200.
Therefore if there's already a book about sp1200, one about mpc60 would feel verbatim as well.

I think anyone who's into gear, especially any hip-hop producer into golden age stuff, would definitely get both if they're both good.

Some info I recently read on that SP book: they apparently had problems with their French publisher, so now they're looking for a US publisher at the moment to get it put out properly in the US.

Clint wrote:Kickstarter gives you 60 days (maximum) to raise the funds, and its an all or nothing type deal.

Though, this isn't the old days where you need to raise money to do an initial print-run and then sell all the copies out of your house... there are a lot of good print-on-demand publishers where it will go up on Amazon and it prints out perfectly and there is no up-front cost.
With ones like Createspace (which is owned by Amazon), you can choose to have it done full-color, lots of different sizes, etc. and it still doesn't have to be an expensive book even if it's full color.

Though if the book is written/researched properly then why not find a "real" publisher and get it into stores? I know it's niche, but go in any bookstore and you'll find books that are WAY more niche than this subject.

Phra*DOC wrote:there would need to be some interviews with oldskool producers about how it changed their worflow back in the early 90's, which I guess also goes in the "hard to do" pile.

Though you can quote several paragraphs of other books/articles/interviews in a book (it's "fair use", as long as you footnote where you got it from), so you could just search through interviews done with the big names and pull out the few parts where they talk about the MPC. I think that would give the book a lot wider appeal, IMO and would be fairly easy to do.

1. Print-on-demand is not ideal when you have lots of images, it is great for text books. This project will use traditional printing methods (lithoprinting) for better quality.

2. No Amazon involvement whatsoever, for so many reasons. When you do your homework you'll realise just how this company uses its power to generate income. On a project of this size, their sales and marketing infrastructure is not needed.

3. No "real" publishing deal, the project will be 'self-published'. I assume people know the difference. Thats what went wrong with the SP1200 book. Self-publishing allows the author to retain much more control over every aspect of a book.

4. Primary and secondary research methods will be used to source material for the book. This is pretty standard practice. One of the aims of the book is to pull useful information from various sources together in one place. It can't all be new information, almost everything that can be said about the MPC60, has been said. What goes in needs to be presented in a way that provides interest, engages the reader and represents good value for money.

5. Stores do not represent the right sales channel for this type of book. The likely purchasers are scattered all around the globe. The exact marketing and sales channels are not confirmed at this stage, but they will be accessible online.

Thanks for your comments.

Fair points...

To me, the cost of doing it with traditional printing methods would be the turn-off with that, because it generally means you have to print up quite a few (1,000 or so) to get the cost-per-book down (normally that's part of what a publisher would take on, that initial cost, as well as the risk that they don't all get sold and a loss is made).

Going off the SP-1200 book, they said they sold 750 copies total... and they had some relatively well known hip-hop producers involved to help get readers' attentions and they held events for the book in NY among other marketing efforts.

I guess it really depends how many you think you can shift and how the numbers work out... it just seems a lot riskier the traditional printing way... if you printed up 2,000 to get a good cost-per-book, but could only sell 500, then you'd be left with a loss and a house full of books!

They made mistakes which I don't intend to repeat. They could have sold a lot more copies if their game was tight. But it wasn't, so they didn't. Parties, giveaways, known producers, lots of hype... But very few books when all was said and done.

I'm trying to do what normally requires a team of people, so there is no rush. I am under no commercial pressures. I learned a lot from the SP1200 book, they did an ok job but I was expecting so much more as it was labelled 'Official'. It wasn't official at all in my opinion, that was simply clever marketing.

Clint wrote:They made mistakes which I don't intend to repeat. They could have sold a lot more copies if their game was tight. But it wasn't, so they didn't. Parties, giveaways, known producers, lots of hype... But very few books when all was said and done.

I'm trying to do what normally requires a team of people, so there is no rush. I am under no commercial pressures. I learned a lot from the SP1200 book, they did an ok job but I was expecting so much more as it was labelled 'Official'. It wasn't official at all in my opinion, that was simply clever marketing.

True... I think part of their mistake was going with an unknown French publisher, who I don't think were even a real publisher!

A traditionally-printed, self-published book that you might want to check out as well is the book "Rakim Told Me"... it was self-published in 2005 by Brian Coleman (he later brought out a sequel with publisher Random House called "Check the Technique").

"Rakim Told Me" sold about 3,000 copies and had a lot of press (Coleman is also a publicist and had written for XXL, etc. so he had a lot of contacts)... he had interviews with a lot of classic hip-hop people in the book, De La Soul, Public Enemy, KRS-One, Run DMC, Ice-T, etc.
http://www.good-road.net/RakimToldMe.html

I don't know who he got to actually print it up exactly, but it came out under the name of his own "press", Wax Facts. In this interview he says he used "Traffic Entertainment" for distribution: http://rapnews.co.uk/?p=344
He also gives some advice about self-publishing in the middle of this interview: http://roychristopher.com/brian-coleman ... gia-is-def

He might have some more good insights on self-publishing if you email him... he's into production and golden age hip-hop, so a book on the MPC is something he'd probably dig!
http://www.good-road.net/contact.html

http://roychristopher.com/brian-coleman ... gia-is-def

"RC: Based on your experiences, would you recommend self-publishing to aspiring book writers out there?

BC: I’d say yes. But it depends on what kind of person you are. If you’re unorganized and unmotivated then it’s probably not for you. But then again, if you’re unorganized and unmotivated then you’re probably not going to put a whole book together on your own. As long as you think it through before you start and don’t set your sights too high at first, then it’s not a bad idea. I always had it in my mind that this would be a slow build, and it has been."

BC:If it doesn’t sell, be prepared for the financial and emotional consequences (which would, in certain instances, be much more harsh and embarrassing if you were on a “real” publisher). But if you can be a little bit objective and step back and say, “I dig this book and I think people like me will dig it,” then you should do fine."

Couldn't agree more.

Thanks for the links JS.

When I was 25 I self published a book of poetry/prose with ISBN. Back then I was a slam poet and people would ask me if I had a book after performances. A woman I know (Trapeta Mason) did it and sold all of her books fairly quickly. So I thought I would follow in her footsteps.

After deciding on the cover art and the amount of colors and getting a designer for how the words would look on a page the rest was just about selling. I had a friend that was a graphic designer and she did the layout and stuff for free (saved a lot of money) I recall that I went with a printer in NYC who had the work done in Canada. I printed in batches of 1000 and the cost per book was $2.50. I sold the books for $10.00. Every reading I went to I made sure I had a box of 100 books on me. I sold more at official book signing events in whichever country I was in.

At the time my main audience was in Philadelphia and at that book signing at the October Gallery(which used to be in Center City) I sold +300 books. At readings I considered it a good day if I sold 20. Most buyers were young single women. I did not go to book fairs. I only did performances and art exhibits (I paint as well). The book sales paid for trips. I performed in London, Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, Barbados, and cities throughout the USA along the East coast and West to New Orleans . I then moved to New Orleans.
I did all of this in one year and then I went back to law school. I had taken a year break from law school to go on this artistic adventure.

I can testify that self publishing works. You will be surprised at the amount of help you will receive. The press likes when people have a product. If you can get an agent then you are set. I had an art agent not a book agent. I never found a book publishing agent that I liked and I was not as agreeable then as I am now, because I did not want to do a lot of events that I thought were stuffy.

Those books are all sold and it was a profitable venture that helped me at the time to travel and be self sufficient all with help from friends and an initial investment in myself.

It just takes discipline and planning. I have since left that world and I know people that are still doing it and who have taken off from there and gotten big, namely Jill Scott.

Cheers,
Ian

PS I would imagine that it would be even more profitable now having a book and having the work online as well.

The "Behind the Beat" book is getting a reprint in June, don't know if you have that already, but can pre-order here:
http://ughh.com/behind-the-beat-behind- ... GINK197BK/

I thought that was a cool book, but I thought he missed the chance to interview them as well, as it is mostly only photos with a little bit of info on each producer...
While he was at their studio he could have interviewed them for 15-20 mins and made the book a lot more useful, in my opinion... still, it's a nice book to have.

New email address for me, and anything to do with this project.

[email protected]

back on the pad layout: i think i heard roger say in an in store event for the tempest that the 4x4 was just how the cheapest supplier had decided to offer their product..

Roger that. Lol

JimminySnicket wrote:The "Behind the Beat" book is getting a reprint in June, don't know if you have that already.

Got mine this week. It's a really cool book to have. I actually like the way the photos do all the talking. It's about the studios those producers had on the day, not about them. We don't need to be told what the gear is or what it does, theres just that voyeuristic thing muso's have about looking at other peoples studios. Good quality hardcover, paper and photos.

A great example for me to see at this stage, although I'm no photographer...

I just signed up at Gearslutz so I could get some wider views about this project. Which forum do you guys think would be more appropriate for this 'Rap and Hip-hop' or 'Electronic Music Instruments/ Production'?

Consider that this is not a Hip-hop project, and some of the old muso's over there who bought the MPC60 brand new might have useful info locked away in their vaults. And also there may be more non Hip-hop producers there who could contribute in some way.