In response to
the recent discussion on the state of the scene, and it's place in the
industry, I've seen a lot of people hinting at a possible solution, but
so far no one has actually mentioned the solution. And that solution is
record labels. Now, I realize that there are a lot of "labels" out there
in the scene. But, with the exception of Lauan and Hydrophonics, all the
labels, I know of, support only one band, and may be side projects of members
of that band.
Many of you might have heard me
say that the punk scene has a lot to teach us. As I read this discussion,
I thought of that over and over again. It is obvious from the various posts
from people that either are, or have been, involved in the industry, that
they don't take us seriously at all. And Tyler has a point about the corruption
that a label can (note, the word can) bring. The best way, as I see it,
to counter attack this, is to forget about the industry and take the scene
DIY. DIY is a term that the punks took to an extreme in the 80's. It stands
for Do It Yourself. It means creating our own record labels to support
the acts, it means starting our own distribution companies (i.e. Homegrown
and Leeway), it means supporting acts as much as we can. And it ultimately
means cutting any dependence we have on the mainstream industry.
The creation
of labels that can and do handle multiple acts has several benefits. These
benefits can be put into three categories, business, support, and social.
The support benefit is possibly
the most obvious. By pooling multiple acts under a single label, that label
is able to pull from it's experience when pressing CDs, finding studios,
distributing albums, and exposing bands to new audiences. This last benefit
can be illustrated by the success of Homegrown. The Network has reached
a point where it is not uncommon for people to either buy albums, or, at
the very least, go see bands, simply because they are on the Network.
The business
side of the benefits is also some what obvious when you think about it.
You are taking the business side of the industry out of the hands of the
musicians, for the musicians who want that. This way people who are experienced
with the business side of things are able to handle the work, and let the
musicians handle the music. This has been illustrated in the discussion
on the success of DMB. No one disputed the fact that DMB benefited from
having a good group of people handling the business side of the equation,
so that DMB could focus on the music. With labels, many more bands can
benefit from this. This way bands are no longer solely responsible for
handling the distribution, and the marketing of their albums. I know from
talking to various people through out the scene, that it is not uncommon
for bands to run out of a certain CD. Either they don't have the money
to print more CD's, or they don't have the time to take care of that aspect,
because they are on the road so much. With a label, it's not up to the
band to make sure orders get filled and the records stay in stock. A label
also has the potential of being able to get the albums into more stores,
by using the stores that already carry some of the label's artists.
Finally, the
social benefits of labels, might be a little harder to see, but become
obvious when you look at the growth of the Homegrown Network, and how the
scene has evolved. As I stated in my previous article, this scene has no
geographical focal point. The closest thing we have to a focal point is
a handful of bands (i.e. Phish, WSP, Dead, etc.), but not all of those
bands appeal to everyone in the scene. But, as the Homegrown Network grew
it started to become something of a focal point. People started to associate
the scene with Homegrown, much like previous counter cultures have associated
their scene with a city. Independent labels can continue this trend. For
instance, the punk scene has moved beyond it's early focal points to a
global scene, but if someone claims to be a punk and does not know about
Dischord Records or SST Records, their claim is suspect.
For those who
are uncertain about the ability of independent labels to work and truly
help the scene, I point to the above mentioned labels, Dischord and SST.
Both of these labels are integral parts of the punk scene. Dischord is
home to Fugazi, the most successful independent punk band ever. And SST,
has released albums by, Dinosaur Jr., Soundgarden, Husker Du, Black Flag,
and many other legends of the punk scene. Both of these labels have made
their success on a solid DIY foundation. Neither label has ever worked
in conjunction with a major label on any level, and pride themselves on
it.
I'm not saying
that we should completely turn our backs on the mainstream industry. That
choice is for each band to choose. But, by setting up a scene that can
support itself without corporate money, we can allow bands to make that
decision for themselves. And allow those bands that do decide to try a
major label, to wait for a good contract to come along that gives them
the power and control that they deserve. This way bands will no longer
have to hunt for major label contracts, just so they can pay all their
bills on time. At this time, the scene has come very close to realizing
that idea. We have independent distribution, we have independent promoters,
and we have the bands that are doing this for love, not money. The only
major aspect we are missing, is independent record labels. This aspect
has started to emerge (Lauan, Hydrophonics). But, it needs to grow and
expand.