Running a Record Label

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Running a Record Label

I've run a couple of record labels. They only existed to put out my stuff.

I would have liked , at various times in my life, to have expanded that to include other artists , but I got sidetracked by various other things.

My label, Cloaca Records, only put out the first 7-inch E.P. ^[1.] of my band Baby Opaque. The disc was called "Pain, Fears and Insects." Later, my band Bomb's label, Boogadigga Records (named after the sound of our drummer 's trademark beat), only put out the first Bomb record, "To Elvis in Hell." With each of these, we only pressed a thousand copies and probably only broke even. I have no idea, and it would be impossible to really tell, because we did what you should do when you run your own label: We sold them, but we also traded them for places to stay, food, gas, swapped for other bands' records, and gave them away as thank-yous on the road. We also sold many at somewhere between cost and full retail if someone really wanted it but didn't have the whole amount.

^[1.] Extended play singlea primarily defunct format of putting about four songs at 33 1/3 RPM on a vinyl record that would normally hold two songs at 45 RPM. This was a popular format with punk and punk- ethic bands because it maximized the amount you could say on a limited budget.

Both of those records are way out of print. If you can find them in a used record store, they are either 50 cents or 50 dollars, depending on if the person has listened to them and knows about the bands. We still have rabid fans, and I still get fan e- mails from strangers. A decade later! That is why I play musicto touch people for life. Like a virus. I'm in art and life for the long run.

I make the music and art I wish existed. I make art I see a need for. If Bomb had already existed, I wouldn't have started another band: I would have been Bomb's roadie .

So basically, to start a label all you have to do is get a P.O. box and put out a CD or DVD. Then you send copies to every magazine that might review you and every station that might play you, and you place a few ads. Start a Web site. Keep records of customers and transactions, build a database of customers, don't spam, don't sell or trade the list, be spectacular enough to get word-of-mouth buzz, and try to make your money back.

NOTE

Dischord Records has a policy where if they have a $2,000 advertising budget, they take out 200 ten-dollar ads, one in almost every small fanzine in the country, rather than one $2,000 ad in a national magazine. This is smart for two reasons. Firstit probably reaches more people. And secondit supports the scene, which in turn supports them.

Take any money you make on the first record, put out a second record, repeat ad nauseum.

You might want to write up a single-page agreement with any bands you "sign" so they don't sue you if you don't make them famous. And mainly so things are solidly understood . Even ( especially ) with your friends .

NOTE

Don't blame people for stuff that's not their fault.

The most equitable contract I've signed was the one that Bomb had with Boner Records. Boner paid our recording bill ($800) ^[2.] and kept the money from the first thousand copies they sold to cover their expenses. After that, they split the profit with the band, 50/50. They only owned those masters, not the songs and not any rights to future recordings. We were free to go to another label any time. ^[3.]

^[2.] Recorded at Inner Ear Studios by Eli Janney, who later went on to form Girls Against Boys, remix David Bowie, and played on the amazing soundtrack for "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."

^[3.] Contrast this with tiny Sub Pop records who made millions when Nirvana hit it big. But only because Chris Novoselic was drunk one evening and realized, "We don't have a contract with Sub Pop! We need to protect ourselves " and woke up the guy who ran Sub Pop in the middle of the night and made him write up a contract at his kitchen table.

Every three months Boner automatically sent a check and an accurate, detailed statement. They never stiffed us. They're still in business after almost 20 years because of that sort of ethic. And they started as a band putting out one record of their own. The label owner, Tom Flynn, was in Fang and put out their "Land Shark" record as Boner 001.

Figure 15.1. Footie pedals.

It goes without saying, but if people send you checks, cash them promptly. (It goes without saying for me, because I'm often so broke that I'll ride my bicycle to the bank to deposit a single $15 check.) Not everyone balances their checkbook . And while it's technically their fault, not yours, if you wait six months and it bounces , they will hold it against you and your company. Good companies do good business, and this entails promptly cashing checks.

Most businesses that succeed go to the bank and deposit checks every night . And they ship orders within 24 hours.

Keep money moving. Let it flow through you. It is not only the art karma secret part of the $30 Way, but it also makes the local and global economies stronger.

NOTE

Fan Mail

Snail mail and e-mail. Answer it. Be prompt and kind. Think about how you'd feel writing your favorite star, especially when you were younger and more impressionable. Getting fan mail is an honor . Treat it like that.

As with all e-mail, read your outgoing fan mail replies out loud before sending. Maybe keep them in your drafts folder and sleep on them before sending. Keep in mind that what does not sound stern in your head when you write it lacks inflection when they get it and may sound meaner than you intended.

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