About RUIN NATION and Frequendly Asked Questions...

(DIS)ORDER GUIDELINES

Here's a few facts and news that you should know before you order from us. It's more or less all essential information that ensures wrong expectations or mistakes. Experience proved it is kinda important to know that:

Ruin Nation is a DIY Record Label and Mail-order Distribution on a Shoestring since 1993.
Ruin Nation is run by one (1) Person with help from Friends here and there, therefor mentioned as "We"
Sometimes it might take a while to serve your order/request.
Sometimes we are ill, on vacation or just can't be bothered.
We do not make a living from what we do but try to keep a proper Independant, selforganised network going with decent prices that are affordable for (almost) everyone.
We do this for over 20 years and we love what we do and are pretty commited to it.
We never ripped anyone off and won't rip of you! If it takes longer, consider the above... or just email and ask.
We value a Anarchist / Strong DIY ethic before being "Cool" and "Hip"
Please make sure you actually really want to order your items as it is no fun assembling and packing your order for nothing, also we sometimes have to reorder items just for you. If you run into trouble while waiting and need to cancel your order; JUST SAY SO. No Problem, but don't let us wait and wait and wait... :) Thanks!
Please ALWAYS include your STREET ADDRESS and REAL NAME.
We now have a PAYPAL EXPRESS module to be more fast and quicker with your order than ever before! This Service charges a Paypal Fee automaticly to your order! Damn you Paypal!!!
We now also offer C.O.D. (Deutschland: Nachnahme) for Germany and other EU Countries. This Service is really expensive and the DHL/German Post cash in alot! Don't do it unless you must!
We don't do Credit Cards aside of the Paypal Gateway.
Here you find the full order conditions in GERMAN and ENGLISH.

DO IT YOURSELF (Her)story in a nutshell...

Ruin Nation Records and Distribution is based in Bremen / Germany and exist since 1993 in various forms but has always been a non-profit* organisation, owned and operated by a single person with help of a group of dedicated activists. Our work is mainly based within the Anarcho Punk scene, with links to the Dissent networks and social critical movements world wide. Our aim is to inform and inspire people, may it be through music, literature, or other mediums, to survive and seek for alternatives to the ongoing oppressive, abusive, capitalist, racist, sexist and exploitative mechanisms and structures of the so called "society" we all are a part of. We try to achieve this by independent production and distribution of records, CD's and books that carry a political message, as well as being present at public events, such as concerts, festivals, demonstrations, congresses, etc. Prices on the offered items are as low as possible in order to make them affordable and giving everyone the chance and right to have access to the information and musical pleasure. We call this a non profit culture* We work with a consensus based decision making model, which means there is no boss - all 'agents' are involved in the decision making process.

Ruin Nation is a DIY non-profit distribution • Don´t expect any semi professional business like terms along our service as we (me and all Ruin Nation shit-workers) do this because of dedication and believe in an alternative culture and hope to inspire you enough to get something out of it. We also try to live a life aside of books and records, so please be patient, we reply all emails and orders within a week! We DO write official invoices to keep track of stuff. That's it! * although we do not operate to generate profit, we still need to generate revenue in order to finance our activities (e.g. office rent, phone bills, new projects, products, postage etc) this should be achieved by adding a slight profit up to the wholesale price - usually not more than 20% (except if German books have fixed prices) sometimes even less.

Other things to know...

DISTRIBUTION OF YOUR RELEASES:

If you would like to have your stuff distributed by us... get in touch and (if possible) send a sample and do keep in mind what RUIN NATION as a distro is about (see BOLD TEXT above). Ruin Nation can pay cash whenever cash is available or work on invoice/consignment deals... Thanx.

SUBMISSION OF DEMOS / RECORD RELEASE DEAL:

...This is a small independent DIY organisation with limited possibilities that probably only release 2 - 3 records each year. Sometimes more if I can afford to do so. Usually the release plan is much further ahead of what I'm actually able to release. See catalogue number #14 / #8... Very important is that I 100% like the music, the message and the people within and behind the band and that there is a good feel with it to provide more than just a service! I love to hear new stuff and get to know new people so if you think "Ruin Nation" may be the right choice, please submit your demo tape or CDR to the PO BOX address on the contact page. Please be very patient with a reply as I´m really busy these days and try to cope with a large amount of (e)mail every day.

Please DO NOT send any MP3 files or "Record Deal" emails via My Space nor our regular email address - NO EXCEPTIONS!! - Neither will I listen to your band on My Space, Fakebook, Last FM or MOG to get an impression. If you want me listen to your stuff you have to send a tape or CDR, vinyl etc... and I will listen to it and respond. Send demos to: Ruin Nation Records Po Box 10 58 24 28058 Bremen Germany Please don´t forget to include your contact address. Thanks.

REVIEW AND PROMO MATERIAL:

In the golden age of the information highway, web zines, blogs and all that high tech assault, ... it is NOT POSSIBLE for a non profit shoestring operating label & distro (or whatever you want to call it) to provide such professional PROMOTION and FREE REVIEW COPY services that allows to send out loads of (new) releases to all the folx who request it. Why? - Because we can´t affort it. - Ruin Nation works with a very low profit margin and we keep prices as low as possible. This prohibits an easy "review copy mailing" due to postage, production costs... etc etc... It´s simply too expensive and we have to choose really carefully who will get review copies and who will not. If you want to enquire for the "review copy rooster" please send me a copy of your zine if it is on paper - Trade is the name of the game! Get in contact c/o the PO BOX. If you do a webzine/blog, give me your web address. Chances are however really low to get copies since there are too many webzines / blogs out there... Sorry.