Welcome to Darla Records' musical paradise home to a community of peace loving music lovers.
1. Info for mail order customers.
2. Info for Artists submitting material for release consideration.
3. Info for labels submitting material for distribution consideration.
4. Info for retail and distriburor customers.
5. Info for press and radio
6. Advertising on darla.com
1. INFO FOR MAIL ORDER CUSTOMERS:
Mail order shipping happens within 24 to 48 hours of your order:
We do our best to get your order processed and out asap. We often make it to the post office with your order within 24 hours of receipt. Friday
and weekend orders go out Monday. Things can take longer when we've sold through stock of an item and must hold an order until we get stock back in. This wait is usually no longer than 1-2 weeks,
but it can take longer if a supplier doesn't ship right away, etc. Sometimes, if we are sold out of an item that may not be back in right away, we will credit you and send your order w/o said
item. In this case please check the web site for availability and re-order the item next time.
Exclusive label stock, no problemo:
We always have stock of labels distributed exclusively by Darla. These are Acuarela, Ad Noiseam, Ahornfelder, American Patchwork, Archenemy,
Attack Nine, Audio Dregs Recordings, Autres Directions In Music, Boutique, Catmobile, CD41, Darla, Dekorder, Elefant, Fuzzy Box, Green UFOs, Home Normal, Hymen, Kooky, Le Grand Magistery, LTM,
Lowpoint, Make Mine Music, Matinee, Metamatic, n5MD, Noble, No Fun Productions, Other Electricities, Rocket Girl, Room40, Sending Orbs, Siesta, Soundsister, Spekk, Static Discos, Words On Music
and more than 100 others. Darla works as the exclusive North American or as the
exclusive worldwide distributor of these and many other fine labels.
My order hasn't shown up. What should I do?:
Please check and make sure you have included all necessary info. Sometimes people forget to put their name, street address, complete credit card number, even the order itself in their
order!
Please call us at (760) 631-1731 or email mailorder@darla.com *only* after a reasonable period of time
has passed, you've checked with your local post office, and you think your order may have gone missing.
If your order has gone lost, don't worry. Our policy is to replace any lost or damaged order, n/c. Please do not make knee jerk assumptions that
your friends at Darla have flaked on your order and need your abuse to solve a problem. We have feelings too.
CREDIT CARDS:
We accept Visa, Mastercard, and American Express.
MINIMUM ORDER:
Minimum amount for orders paid by credit card is $4.95.
CALIFORNIANS:
You are obligated to add the appropriate 8.75% sales tax to your subtotal.
HOW TO PAY:
IF YOU DON'T WANT TO ORDER ON-LINE (CREDIT CARD CUSTOMERS):
When ordering via email or fax you must include ALL of the following information: 1) Name & address. 2) Credit card number and expiration date plus CVC code. 3) Email or phone number so we
can contact you if necessary. You'd be surprised how often people forget one of these key ingredients.
Call (760) 631-1731
Monday-Friday
9am-5:30pm Pacific Standard Time
or fax 760-454-1625
CHECK, CASH or MONEY ORDER:
Send your order and alternates with a check, concealed cash or Money Order, payable in U.S. Dollars only to:
Darla Records Mail Order
2107 Camino Cantera, Vista, CA 92084 USA
Questions about ordering?
email: mailorder@darla.com
2. INFO FOR ARTISTS SUBMITTING MATERIAL FOR RELEASE CONSIDERATION:
Demo submission policy: Yes, we do accept unsolicited demos for release consideration. Please send demos to: Darla, 2107 Camino Cantera,
Vista, CA
92084 USA. You may also
email mp3s or direct us to your myspace by contacting james@darla.com. We receive a lot of submissions. All are reviewed. If we can sell your stuff we will. However, please don't call us. We'll
call you if we're interested.
3. INFO FOR LABELS SUBMITTING MATERIAL FOR DISTRIBUTION CONSIDERATION:
If you are a small label with a small catalog and limited distribution Darla may elect to distribute your titles on a non-exclusive basis and on
60 day invoice terms. You provide an invoice with the shipment and Darla provides payment after 60 days from the date the order is received.
We offer a Most Favored Nations physical product distribtion agreement. This
means you know you have the very best distribution terms available. All of the Darla family of exclusively distributed labels work within our MFN terms agreement. Via this agreement we work on an exclusive basis within a select territory, ie: The World, North America + Asia, North America only, US only, and on the
following terms. a) Darla is your exclusive distributor in the territory. All retail inquiries within the territory are directed to Darla. b) Darla provides Label quarterly statements and
payments. Returns, if any, can be done on a twice annual basis. Darla pays shipping on all international orders. US labels must pay shipping on their orders as this is now a standard required by
all US distributors across the board. Darla pays for shipping of returns of all distributed labels.
Please let us know if Darla can also sell your stuff digital via the darla.com shop on standard 70/30 owner/shop terms. We have a
MFN agreement for this service too. Payment for this service is also provided quarterly.
Please let us know if you need digital distribution. Darla offers digital distribution to label partners via IODA for 15%. Payment for this service is also provided quarterly. On the digital side, Darla/IODA offers complete digital distribution to all reliable services globally. You may exclude territories or services with whom
you have pre-existing agreements. You also have access to the IODA dashboard where you may update release info and to IODApromonet where you can select release info and tracks to be made
available to press and blogs and track the use activity, free.
On the physical side, Darla sells direct to many indie retailers in the US, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, the occassional EU retailer, indie distributor CTD and all
four US one stop distributors: AEC, Baker & Taylor, Edge, Super D. All US retailers are able to source your titles via a distribution channel that suits them.
Please provide all your forthcoming release information as far in advance as you possibly
can. Eight weeks set-up time is ideal as it gives wholesale and retail customers enough time to get the info into their database, solicit their customers properly and collect as many pre-orders
as possible. We can of course accept new release info with less set-up time, however, anything short of four weeks is selling your self and the artist short. It is strongly recommended that you
allow as much pre-sale solicitation time as possible.
Please provide all of the following forthcoming release info. We will not enter any new release info into our database or begin offering it
without *all* info including cover art provided all together. No one likes to have to spend extra time going back and forth asking for missing pieces so please, please, please provide your forthcoming release information completely, as far in advance as possible, and all together in one email:
1. Artist name
2. Title
3. Format(s)
4. Label name
5. Catalog number
6. Lowest distributor wholesale price
7. Barcode number (if any) --Strongly recommended.
8. Ship date/street date
9. Brief description but not too brief
10. Cover art (jpeg, 300 dpi, actual CD size)
11. Track list in title case
12. :30 to :45 second mp3 track sample(s) or links.
By providing all of your forthcoming release info completely and well in advance you will have greater initial orders and wider distribution.
This is because the more time you allow for solicitation, the more distributors and retailers will do that solicitation and therefore more customers will find out about your release. Distributors
will sometimes simply not bother to order a new release, especially a smaller release on a smaller label, that is solicited as "available now" without any previous set-up time given. We all need
time to pre-sell and collect as many pre-orders as possible.
Please mail advance copies of your forthcoming releases to Darla/address. Once again, please do not call us. We'll call you if we're
interested.
Please don't be discouraged if we don't choose to order the first release you offer. We may very well be interested in you next release. Please
keep in touch.
We are not bound by genre. We're more interested in the merits of the individual Artist.
Advance notification:
Available now is not good for either of us as it allows your distributors no time to do pre-sale and collect orders. Four to six weeks is OK. Eight weeks advance time is ideal. We have to have
time to pre-sell and your release our customers. If the date changes, that's fine, just notify us.
What price do I sell my records to Darla at?
We only buy at lowest distributor wholesale price. That means the same price you sell to all other wholesale distributors. 3/4 of our business is selling direct to retailers in the
USA, Japan, Southeast Asia, Canada, Mexico and elsewhere.
You choose your own price. We can provide recommendations on price based on the market. We feel it's our job to get you the most dollars per
unit. At the same time we want the price to allow as much of your product to sell as fast as possible. We have a standard mark-up percentage on top of whatever you charge us, no matter what
list/suggested retail price you are claiming for an item. A good rule of thumb to consider is to use the following equation: Wholesale Price = 1/2 List Price. This means that whatever set price
you use to sell to distributors should be about 1/2 of what you would like to see it priced in the store. A $14.98 list price CD is usually sold to distributors for $7.50, for example.
Invoicing:
You must include an invoice with each shipment. Your invoice must have all of the following info:
1. Label name
2. Address
3. Phone number
4. email
5. Artist name
6. Title
7. Cat#
8. Price per unit
9. Name of person or entity to whom Darla should make payment to.
We CANNOT AND WILL NOT PAY YOU without an invoice.
How to ship your Darla orders:
Domestic: UPS GROUND, overseas: UPS EXPRESS is our preferred method. Once you ship an order please email a copy of the invoice and let us know how you shipped the order and when (what date) the
order was shipped. Please provide a tracking number.
It is essential that you ship your goods to us so that we will receive them on the same day as your other distributors. If you're on the West
Coast, it takes 1-5 days or more for your records to get here. If you're in the Midwest, 3-4 days, or East Coast 4-5 days. Please consider this when planning your ship dates to distributors. If we receive records late, we will be less able to
sell them and will be more likely to return records to you. It doesn't help us sell your records if we're offering them a week after other distributors have already offered them. Check UPS
shipping transit times.
If you choose to use another intermediary service, WE CAN ONLY PAY YOU FOR PUBLISHED UPS SHIPPING CHARGES, ie. what UPS would have charged you
had you shipped the package directly with them.
Please double box and/or pad your goods very well. Please use plenty of packing tape. Please take all precautions to avoid damage in
shipping.
Ship with invoice to:
Darla
2107 Camino Cantera
Vista, CA 92084
Ph. (760) 631-1731
Payment:
We generally pay invoices on standard 60 day consignment terms. That means we pay you for what has sold every 60 days. If we are your exclusive distributor and are managing a larger catalog we
will pay you quarterly. We can often provide statements and payments more frequently than quarterly if/as needed. Please ask Chandra: chandra@darla.com. She does the accounting.
4. INFO FOR RETAIL AND DISTRIBUTOR CUSTOMERS:
All new domestic retail customer orders must be paid either in advance with credit card or UPS c.o.d. All overseas retail customers must pay in
advance of shipping with credit card, PayPal, or IMO. Terms are offered at our discretion.
Our weekly new release newsletter goes out via email every Friday evening to retailers, distributors and mail order customers. Retailers and
distributors may also receive individual new release one sheets for priority releases. We have no printed catalog. Our web site, www.darla.com, is our catalog.
Retailers and distributors may access darla.com with wholesale pricing displayed. To get a link to register an account and see wholesale
pricing, recieve our weekly nw release newsletter and have access to download a list of all exclusive in excel please contact James: james@darla.com or Chandra: chandra@darla.com.
Returns:
All exclusive label CDs are 100% returnable.
We may accept returns of non-exclusively distributed product but only at our discretion.
We may take returns of almost anything we're able to return ourselves.
No vinyl is returnable.
We will not accept returns on goods not originally sold to you by Darla.
All returns must be authorized with a written RETURN AUTHORIZATION and RA NUMBER from Darla. An RA# will only be issued from a written Return
Authorization Request submitted by the customer. A copy of your Darla issued RA should be included in the box with your return when you ship it. RA#'s are good for only 30 days from issuance.
After 30 days they will be canceled. Any goods returned on a cancelled RA will be returned at customer expense. Shipping must be paid by the customer for both inbound and rejected
returns.
Credit will only be given on items returned in original salable condition. That means that you may only return items to us in exactly the same shape as you received them. We will not accept
stickered items, written on items, damaged items, cracked cases, bin worn items or anything of that sort. If it arrived at your door in shrink wrap, then it needs to come back in our original
shrink wrap. If you have a sticker goo problem purchase Goo Gone and remove the goo.
We charge a .50 cent per unit refurbishing fee for any returns received in less than 100% saleable condition.
Customers may only deduct credit upon the timely issuance of a CREDIT MEMO from Darla.
5. INFO FOR PRESS AND RADIO:
All Darla label release press and radio promotion is done in-house. To obtain CD play copies or downloads please contact James Agren:
james@darla.
We offer college radio wholesale pricing on all titles offered by Darla. To get login info so you can shop the www.darla.com with wholesale
pricing, please email your request and all station info to James: james@darla.com
6. Advertising on darla.com
If you would like a banner advertisement to help promote a record or another website, please contact james@darla.com for more information.