MRR #277-record distribution
Felix MRR column 277

I got to have my say in the feature section of the last issue on the business of punk. Frequent readers of my column will note that it’s often like a “Wall St. Journal of Punk” as I cover business issues and behind the scenes angles of DIY hardcore often. But this month I will add even more musings on said topics.

I frequently look at bands/labels/deals going down in the scene today and think to myself “Tim Yo would call Bullshit on that” as I alluded to last issue, Tim Yo was one of the only people who really stood up for DIY ethics and was respected. I feel like Kent and Lisa at Ebullition, the Staff at MRR and Chris at Slug and Lettuce are some of the last bastions of 1980’s style DIY ethics still taken somewhat seriously. Even then, not too many people seem willing to call a spade a spade these days. The commercialization of punk has become so overwhelming few people seem to remember a time when it was different.

I probably sell thousands of records less than I could because I still refuse to do a lot of things that most labels do as a matter of course these days. I won’t hire a publicist or pay to get my bands covered in magazines. I won’t put UPC codes on my releases, I won’t give away records on consignment to distributors who might go out of business without paying me (I learned that one the hard way) I won’t do music videos, advertise on “punk porn” sites, don’t put my label logo on the back of t shirts, don’t sell my band’s test pressings on ebay, I don’t have an “exclusive” distribution deal or any financial backing, I don’t have a myspace page etc.

I’ve seen my objective of having a “big” 1980’s style hardcore label meet some with very mixed results. In the past few years costs have continued to rise, but sales of independent releases have plummeted. I work twice as hard and spent about 50% more money to sell the same number of records in 2005 as I did four years ago. I constantly watch what other labels are doing and try to keep a keen eye on changes in the “market” and adapt to them without completely selling my soul to corporate America. Ultimately I feel like I’ve stricken a balance between the traditional DIY values of late 80’s early 90’s hardcore (when things were at their least commercial) and the hyper commercialized post modern hardcore scene. Am I happy with the way things have developed? No. Will I hang in there and see if I can come out with some integrity after other labels have failed or sold out? I hope so.

One thing that has struck me, is how much “lower the ceiling” is in underground music today. In the 80’s a well known hardcore band (say DRI, MDC, Crucifix) could easily sell 10,000-20,000 copies of a solid LP. And those bands didn’t attract major label interest and stayed on independent labels. Even the best bands today sell a fraction of that, despite the fact that punk is more widespread and popular than ever (albeit more diverse). Now any hardcore band selling even 5-10,000 records is attracting serious major label interest and any band selling 3-5,000 is getting picked up by a major indie. From the band’s perspective an argument frequently made is that tour after tour, album after album their audience is the same 2,000 people and to break through the DIY glass ceiling they need to sign to a “major indie” label to get the distribution, promotion, publicity and booking doors to open for them. In the 80’s the rule of thumb was that a band needed to sell at least 100,000 records to be worth signing to a major label. Epitaph turned that model upside down by using a tech savvy motivated work force to make a respectable profit off records that sold 30-50,000 copies. But since those days of the early 90’s Pop Punk and chugga chugga metal core, that number seems to have dropped to a fraction of those figures to elicit major label interest.

A scene is emerging where a handful of hype driven labels can sell out a pressing of 200-500 records in a few days and then it’s left to the secondary (eBay) market to distribute them at three times their original price. Or on the other hand a band is forced to sign to a major indie or even major label to sell more than 3,000 records. In the middle ground are the survivors of the late 80’s early 90’s DIY hardcore label scene, Havoc, Prank, Six Weeks, and Sound Pollution. I’m not to intimate with Six Weeks or Sound Pollution these days, and still have mixed feelings about both labels doing an exclusive with Mordam. But I do talk frequently with Ken of Prank. I feel our labels are “stuck” in the middle ground between small pressing, cult labels driven by internet hype, and larger indie labels (Fat, Jade Tree, Touch and Go, Dischord, etc) which have significant financial resources and to one degree or another “play the game” with major label distributors, publicists, booking agencies etc. Indeed, I think Prank and Havoc are the only two labels of some size left with no ties to Major labels through our distribution. I still respect Six Weeks and Sound Pollution, but I’m still a little concerned about their continuing exclusive with Mordam and it’s ties to Warner Brothers. This is an issue I’d like to see an industry insider explore in these pages.

For Prank and Havoc it’s a fight to stay afloat. Both our labels are doing big budget full length releases, usually for fairly experienced bands. Sales continue to slide but we refuse to raise our prices or cross over to the dark side. Both of us have done a lot of things like limited collectors editions to help promote our releases and raise some extra cash. But I often wonder if there’s any space left for labels like ours. If most people don’t care if a band/label is on/distributed by a major. Why do we still fight for independence? If no band can sell more than 2,000 records without signing, maybe we’d be better off doing 7”s in editions of 500 and call it a day, instead of keeping releases in print for a decade. I know in times of frustration both Ken and I have told each other “this is the last year I’m doing this, I give up” but then we hear a new band that blows us away and get back in the game every time. Like the gangster gone straight in the movies who’s old life keeping sucking him back in, I’m addicted to fast 82 hardcore, and Swedish Raw Punk. I can’t let true ragers go unreleased or gamble on another label handling something I feel like I was born to release. I know the people at Six Weeks, Prank, and Sound Pollution are die hard music lovers doing what they do for love of music and not for money. None of us are getting rich off this, or even making a living without a day job off the label. But I wonder if times are passing us by.

I spent the last five years trying to build up the profile and distribution of my label. In 2001 I thought that there was no reason a band like Tear It Up, DS 13 or Nine Shocks Terror couldn’t sell 10 or 20,000 records like hardcore bands in the 80’s did. If they just had the right label pushing them. Now I feel like that was a typically idealistic day dream and I’m extremely lucky to sell 3-4,000 of even the most popular band. And most likely they will leave the label for a more prestigious one at that. I’ve realized that to take the label to the “next level” I’d have to become more like Fat or Epitaph and less like what I set out to do. The recognition that my hard work was mostly in vain is depressing, but I do feel like I’ve survived with some integrity and will continue to adapt and release records for years to come, on whatever scale the true believers out there will support.

Ultimately, DIY hardcore will survive this current wave of commercialism in some form or another. I feel like the music business is due for some serious shake ups and a lot of labels and distributors will go under with the next economic down turn. In the future a scene might emerge that’s more local, more diy and more grass roots than what we have now. Probably all of us will be better off for it. Perhaps in the future we’ll view the early 21st century as some kind of anomaly like the “crossover” or “Nirvana” era where major labels took some interest in punk then moved on to another trend.

Publication Date:
January 1, 1984

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