Muzan Editions, the label I do design for and co-curate has been using Mobineko for the last couple of batches. We have to pay tax/customs fees when the boxes arrive here in Japan if it’s a big order, so that’s a drag. Plus on one order, we got a bunch of lemons, so labelmate Andreas had to run quality control checks for the lot. Must have been a newbie at the controls that day…the shell colours are limited, and the shell printing isn’t as nice nor do you get the variety of colours that other pressing plants can give you-- they use UV printing—-BUUUUT— beyond all that, they’re friendly and fast and quick to respond to any problems we’ve had and the sound quality is good. Looked into getting stuff duped in the States and Canada, but man alive, the shipping… (more on that in a moment)
I usually print and fold and number the J-cards myself, but we are doing a round of 4 re-presses so I turned the printing of 2 titles over to Mobinkeo as a litmus test. They just arrived in Osaka and I can’t wait to see what they look like, in terms of print quality, paper stock, etc…will have a look on the weekend!
Also - I want to echo a bunch of people’s gripes about USPS shipping rates. It’s a HUUUGE bummer for us international folk when the shipping price for one tape is sometimes double that of the tape itself. If I’m ordering a batch of three, it’s cost-efficient, but otherwise— sheesh. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve fallen in love with a great release on a small label I want to support but I simply can’t swing it if one $7 tape ends up costing me a grand total of $20-plus to get to me. I usually end up paying for the significantly cheaper download instead as a compromise if I can’t find it via any distros here in JP… It’s not the artist’s or label’s fault, of course! It’s just a shame, and that goes for things like vinyl, merch like shirts pins and such as well.
