Welcome to NKVD!
For those who don't know anything about NKVD, let me take a
moment to introduce the label. NKVD was started almost by accident with the goal of
putting out music by great bands that I felt weren't being noticed. Noise For Heroes
always championed these kinds of bands, and it seemed like running a label would be one
more way to give something back for all the enjoyment I've gotten from underground music.
I'm finding out now how much I'm giving back...running a record label is financial
suicide. There's no mass organization here...NKVD is me and no one else.
NKVD’s goal
isn’t to make a bunch of money, although I do want to break even. Since distribution
is so difficult for small labels these days, with most distributors either taking forever
to pay or never paying at all, I’ve decided on an alternative approach to
distribution, which is to sell by mail. Since selling 1,000 copies of a given CD one at a
time is virtually impossible, I’ve taken up trading NKVD releases for good music on
other labels with a similar philosophy to produce a much broader catalog of bands to
represent. The only mark up I add to things I have traded for is a small amount to cover
the postage required for me to do the trade. Which means that you can get a lot of import
only CDs that would normally be either impossible to get or else outrageously expensive at
a very low price. And the kicker is that because I don’t take stuff that I don’t
think is really good, you’ll find that what you get for your money is also great
quality.
If you run a label that
puts out music that seems like a fit and you want to trade, get in touch!
In addition, there is a huge list of used 7" vinyl singles
here, which includes many punk rarities from
back into the 70s plus a ton of more recent releases. Unfortunately
it's currently an Excel spreadsheet because Adobe Acrobat for some reason
doesn't convert the file properly for me.
To get to the mail order catalog, click here.
The catalog is in Adobe Acrobat .pdf format, which requires that you have Adobe
Acrobat Reader to view it (this may be a part of your web browser). If you don't
already have Adobe Acrobat Reader, go to the NKVD Records home page (here)
and click on the icon to download a free copy.
For articles and
reviews on NKVD bands, click here.
Sorry, I
don't have normal credit card facilities and can't take overseas checks, but I do take checks in the US,
and you can use PayPal to pay with a credit card...make payments to steve@nkvdrecords.com. Send your
non-credit card orders to NKVD
Records, PO Box 60369, San Diego, CA 92166.
