Here we are, 10 years after we first installed Napster on our
Gateway 2000 laptops, two since In Rainbows debuted as an online
busking experiment, and eight months after venerable independent label
Touch and Go cut off its distribution arm, and, clearly, the music
industry (if that’s still a thing) has not reached a consensus about
how best to adapt to the century that began a decade ago. We need look
no farther than this week’s local music goings-on to see that the
current role and shape of the record label remains decidedly
indeterminate.
When Lookbook takes the stage at Mississippi Studios on
Friday, October 9, they will be celebrating not only the release of
their debut album The Look and Feel, but also the launch of
This-a-Way Recording Collective. This-a-Way founder Mistina
Keith—whose band the Prids comprises the all-Portland T-a-W
roster along with Lookbook, Soft Tags, and We Miss the
Earth—summarized the collective’s business model as “If you take
care of me, I’ll take care of you.”
She elaborates: “There are a few core co-op members from each band.
They volunteer their time to assist in the promotion of whatever
upcoming release we have planned, using whatever relationships they’ve
made along the way (with distribution, replication companies, etc.), or
unique skills others in the group may not possess. I, for instance,
have booked tours across the US for 10 years, David from the Prids is a
recording engineer, and Gordon from Soft Tags is a filmmaker and great
web designer. This makes being a DIY working musician easier through
peer support. It’s like being on a label and working at one, too…
There are no contracts, and no money fronted, therefore we’re nothing
like the traditional label model. Technically everyone is
self-releasing their own records.”
As Keith and company strike out
for label-free co-op territory with This-a-Way,
Lackthereof—the long-standing, protean solo project of
Menomena drummer Danny Seim—is going that-a-way on
Tuesday, October 13, when his new album A Lackthereof Retrospective
1998-2008, or I Was a Christian Emo Twentysomething comes out
courtesy of local label FILMguerrero and distro partner
Barsuk Records. As Seim explains, the label-backed album
compiles highlights from his self-released back catalog with the intent
of finding them a larger audience:
“The majority of these songs have
only been given out to my friends for free on cassettes and CD-Rs over
the past decade, and I’ve always wanted to change that somehow. I’ve
yet to find a label that would reissue 10 so-so albums by an artist
that refuses to tour, so a cherry-picked retrospective was the next
best option. Thanks Barsuk! As for the timing, I thought I’d
better release this thing quick if I ever want these songs to be
listened to on a shiny plastic circle thing that was already obsolete,
like, yesterday.”
Meanwhile, Portland-based Shins mastermind
James Mercer reminded us this week that major labels not only
continue to exist, but still hold some appeal for established artists,
with the announcement that he has formed a new band with Brian Burton
(AKA Danger Mouse), provisionally called Broken Bells,
that will be putting out an album in early 2010 on Sony-owned
Columbia Records. The duo’s decision to work with a major label
comes as a surprise given Danger Mouse’s much-publicized and seemingly
irresolvable conflicts with EMI over the release of his sample-heavy
work on The Grey Album and Dark Night of the Soul (which
included contributions from Mercer). Moreover, Mercer elected earlier
this year to end the Shins’ long and successful relationship with the
independent Sub Pop, a move many interpreted to mean that future Shins
recordings would be self-released.
The Shins are not even a band anymore, Mercer should just give it up and start calling it his solo project since thats exactly what it is ;(
sub pop is 49% owned by warner brothers making it NOT an indie label.
Mr. Baggins – Cary Clarke here. I actually had originally written the phrase as “relationship with the (mostly) independent Sub Pop” because the 49% Warner ownership stake you mention. Word count always being a factor in print, I decided to cut it because 49% is not a majority share, which to my mind still justified the term “independent” for the purposes of this piece, though that is certainly debatable. Getting into the finer points of whether or not Sub Pop is independent would require its own column, I think.
So, I suppose this note is just meant to say “Yes, it could be argued that you are correct” and to let you know that I was at least thinking of this issue. I hope that explanation makes sense.