Music Jul 24, 2013 at 4:00 am

For Portland's Small Labels, Pimpin' Ain't Easy

LEFT TO RIGHT: John Shepski & Chad Lanning of Fluff & Gravy; Ben Hubbird & Casey Jarman of Party Damage Records; Jared Mees of Tender Loving Empire.

Comments

1
"Andrew Sloan and Mees of Tender Loving Empire similarly describe their selection process. "Andrew fills up a Super Soaker with paint," says Mees, "then I stand there with bands drawn on my hands and my feet and my chest. He proceeds to shoot me with the Super Soaker and the band that ends up with no paint on them wins."

brilliant. - Babá.
2
I so proud of our friends at fluff & gravy! It is such a challenge to find new talent and develop it successfully. They are doing a great job and spotlighting some very talented acts.
3
The trend toward listening to music via streaming services like Spotify is sucking out what little money there was left for emerging artists. In the not too distant future bands will only be relegated to part-time hobbyists who will never be able to quit their day job. This is a pretty good article quoting Thom Yorke as to why he pulled his new side project Atoms For Peace from Spotify:

http://www.stereogum.com/1406001/atoms-for…
4
We actually had great luck using streaming services to our advantage with the Wild Ones release. On Rdio, new releases are sorted by popularity, so if you can get people to listen to your new album early, it can snowball and stay towards the top, as more people check it out. Wild Ones ended up being the #8 new release in the US for the week of July 9-16!
7
I know it's probably asking too much for any REAL reporting from the so-called street press, but this piece is particularly pathetic. How on earth can you run a piece about record labels in 2013 in this town without mentioning the dozen-odd outfits that not only are actually documenting the underground, but thriving? The dude that wrote this couldn't be bothered to talk to more than a couple of his friends, none of whom are doing anything that even deserves a slap in the face. I suppose it's typical of this town's current cultural conservatism to restrict its analysis to people who are doing nothing much other than saying they do things. None of the labels mentioned in this piece are worth a damn, the writer's not worth a damn, and both are complicit in how rotten the music scene is at present. Stop covering people who don't do anything worthwhile. And "signing" a new musician is not like getting a fucking power up in a videogame, you fucking idiot. Fuck the Portland Mercury and all who work for it; nothing but a advertising depot for prostitutes of all stripes.
8
I know it's probably asking too much for any REAL reporting from the so-called street press, but this piece is particularly pathetic. How on earth can you run a piece about record labels in 2013 in this town without mentioning the dozen-odd outfits that not only are actually documenting the underground, but thriving? The dude that wrote this couldn't be bothered to talk to more than a couple of his friends, none of whom are doing anything that even deserves a slap in the face. I suppose it's typical of this town's current cultural conservatism to restrict its analysis to people who are doing nothing much other than saying they do things. None of the labels mentioned in this piece are worth a damn, the writer's not worth a damn, and both are complicit in how rotten the music scene is at present. Stop covering people who don't do anything worthwhile. And "signing" a new musician is not like getting a fucking power up in a videogame, you fucking idiot. Fuck the Portland Mercury and all who work for it; nothing but a advertising depot for prostitutes of all stripes.

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