Something that I don’t understand, but I know where to come to ask :
What does /did a specific record Label actually do for an artist? I often hear and read about Artists being signed to the ‘wrong’ label for their genre, or even for their entire future career, and I wonder, what does a specific label do for a specific artist that other labels wouldn’t? I know the big labels had their sub labels, and I’m guessing that it meant specifically genre-knowledgeable Producers, Engineers, Marketing and PR people.
But is there more to it than that?
The value of the ‘right’ Record Label
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Did, I guess, more than does, but there is still some niche is being associated with a certain style. Back in the day Island, pink especially, ahead of the island motif on white, carried a huge significance for me. Stiff a decade or so latter carried a certain cache. Now I am less sure what a label is, there being so many imprints and faux-independents. I guess I am drawn a little to labels like Lost Highway and Erased tapes as they tend to pint into americana and classictronica respectively.
The only one I actively “supported” was Cooking Vinyl, who had a sort of club that you subscribed to and got discounts. Did that for a year or two.
I wouldn’t say I follow any current specialist labels, but these are all ones that seem to have a decent strike rate.
ACT and ECM (not exclusively but generally) for European non-mainstream jazz, Topic for British folk, Leaf Label, Erased Tapes and Village Green for Classictronica, One Little Indian for all sorts of interesting stuff, Dusk Fire for British jazz reissues.
For European non-mainstream jazz, you can certainly add the Swiss HatHut label, founded 44 years ago by Werner X. Uehlinger. Its catalogue contains an absolute wealth of the most radical and far-out honking and skronking.
ECM Records has the motto ‘The most beautiful sound next to silence’. You won’t find Albert Ayler or Slipknot on their label.
I sometimes wonder this too. Island was the label you could always trust and almost everything they put out was at least worth investigating, and Charisma came close, albeit with a more proggy roster. Immediate was great. I think all of these had a strong identity driven by certain individuals who set them up. On a similar theme, I have often wondered how bands would have fared if they had been signed by another label…the obvious example is if the fabs had been signed by Decca and how the world we now live in would have looked and sounded….
Virgin was up there with Island (with a slightly more eclectic roster) in the trust department – or at least was until the early 80s when it started getting all ambitious.
Both were ostensibly Indies, but Virgin had the ready-made outlet with it’s shops
In the case of the early indies, they made the artist a nice wedge (if they sold records) as the deals were usually 50/50 (once costs were recovered).
Stiff Little Fingers debut (the first on Rough Trade) was on this deal.
The money was good, the distribution was good, but the muscle and mass marketing appeal of Virgin or Chrysalis (they chose Chrysalis) was too much to ignore
Certain labels have a name for looking after their folk artists. Doubtless budget realism comes into this; how to go a long way on a little, and how to network. Fellside, Topic and Free Reed all carry folk cred for that.
Looking down my CD racking, the distinctive spines of RealWorld stand out, scattered across so many artists. They must be doing something right there.
I think that hits the nub. A good record is a good record, but if it is on a good label, or the right label, it confers added value. And sometimes the wrong label can jar. For some reason John Prine’s Yep Roc label, literally his, annoy me. Now I like John Prine and like Nick Lowe, their biggest names, but so relentless are they in their spamming that I turn off interest when they e mail me with yet another new must buy.
In the last fifteen years or so, Ghost Box Records have promoted the UK “hauntology”, weird electronica aesthetic very well in both music and label design, although the artists (Belbury Poly, Focus Group, Advisory Circle etc.) remain rather anonymous, if not interchangeable.
@retropath2 I think you will find John Prine is one his own record label Oh Boy records who as far as I know have no relationship with Yeproc. I quite like Yeproc also too Loose, Domino and Nonsuch.
@thecheshirecat mentions Free Reed. I bought their Richard Thompson boxset but to be honest thought it was poor in comparison to the 3cd Watching the Dark set.
Crikey, has no one mentioned Flying Nun yet?
It all became really exciting in the indie era. Queen and the like were on EMI, but the acts us kids on the street liked were on Stiff, Rough Trade, Factory etc. And then it all became a but nebulous – some labels being effectively a brand bought by a “major” label.
I came across Daniel Miller’s Mute records when I picked up TVOD/Warm Leatherette based on how different the cover looked compared to other records. I may have read about it but I don’t remember exactly. As an established fan of Kraftwerk, OMD and Numan – the record was right up my Strasse.
If Depeche Mode had signed to one of the majors, I’m not sure I would have persevered. For about 20 years they operated on a handshake with Daniel Miller. He “got” them and has allowed them to experiment. They also became the small label’s major source of revenue. Under EMI they would have been dumped after a run of non-hit singles.
Back in the day, I paid attention to the label because I could usually trust them to be putting stuff out that I liked. I know I’ve forgotten quite a few, but off the top of my head:
Stiff
Chiswick
Island
Harvest
Vertigo
Charisma
Chrysalis
Greensleeves
Trojan
Ah yes, the Famous Charisma Label, owned and run by the legendary Tony Stratton-Smith (known as “Strat”). Sadly, he had problems with alcohol and died young. I like this tribute to the man:
“The after-party [of Strat’s funeral] was held at the Marquee. The next day, his old compadre, Marquee manager Jack Barrie, scattered Strat’s ashes over the final fence at Newbury Racecourse. One of his horses, Sergeant Smoke, came in at 20⁄1. “I’ll best remember him as a generous romantic,” said Barrie. “A romantic, because he made dreams come true; generous because they were always other people’s.”
Definitely about curation and, with that, trust. Also about subtext and fetishism (Frankie on ZTT, Morrissey on HMV/RCA/Decca/Attack). All or which points to the narrative aspect of music listening. We’re creating a story with characters (labelmasters with egos bigger than the artists; ‘renegades’ like Factory and Mute with no contracts; indie labels with majors as ‘the man’) so we have expectations of what’s ‘in character’. I try not to look to hard at the (admittedly discreet) Universal logos on some of the reissued Beatles vinyl. Also a fan of the Stones’ Rolling Stones records with serial prefixes like “CUN” and “COC”. Hehe.
Would bands like A Certain Ratio, Happy Mondays, Section 25 and, erm, Crispy Ambulance have enjoyed the success they have were it not for the enthusiastic support of money-no-object Factory Records? I doubt it.
See also Primal Scream, Ride, My Bloody Valentine and Oasis on Creation.
I loved 4th and Broadway. Being an Island label in the UK, the records usually sounded great.