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So, today I asked myself- "How big can a truly independent label get? What large hipster labels that release lots of good music are completely detached from the big 5 chain of sublabels and sublabels and subimprints?" I realized I had no idea, and didn't really know how to find out. So, I sez to me, I sez - "I'll ask IDM-List! Someone there might know. And, if no one does know, at least they'll have opinions!" So. SubRosa? Quannum? Ninja Tune? Warp? I'm not trying to make a point about whether its better to be indie or not, so please don't come at me all "You should listen to the music and not worry about where it's coming from." I already have the music, it's all great. This is purely curiousity. Is it possible to have any modicum of success as a record label without tapping into the massive flow of money that ultimately leads back to the riaa and big 5 and napster and courtney love and all that unpleasantness? not talking right or wrong here. just looking for facts. oh my roommate just told me that all the record labels in the us were purchased by a french waste management company. how's that for irony.. ;) noah www.kracfive.com independently operated funded by bmg --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

hmm... i don't think warp would be one of them, since they've been licensing aphex to warner brothers for years. ninja tune, maybe. and i think thrill jockey has kept pretty clean. oh except, now they've released tortoise's latest through warp, who have released through WB... so cross schematic off your list, cause the same goes for them. yeah, so i'd guess ninja tune are probably the biggest. not sure if rephlex has ever done any licensing. sub rosa's not all that big, is it? maybe that helps, maybe not. alan! On Wed, 7 Mar 2001, noah wrote:

quoted 5 lines So, today I asked myself- "How big can a truly independent label get?

> So, today I asked myself- "How big can a truly independent label get? > What large hipster labels that release lots of good music are completely > detached from the big 5 chain of sublabels and sublabels and > subimprints?" >

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At 03:08 AM 3/7/2001 -0800, you wrote:

quoted 2 lines my roommate just told me that all the record labels in the us were

>my roommate just told me that all the record labels in the us were >purchased by a french waste management company. how's that for irony..

That's not quite right. Vivendi bought Universal, who release a full 25% of the world's music. But it's not *all* the record labels in the U.S.!! -Ryan --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org

atomly <atomly@atomly.com> wrote:

quoted 4 lines On Wed, Mar 07, 2001 at 03:08:48AM -0800, noah wrote:

>On Wed, Mar 07, 2001 at 03:08:48AM -0800, noah wrote: >>SubRosa? Quannum? Ninja Tune? Warp? > >Matador.

I don't know that Matador is such a good example here. (Unless you were kidding). I haven't been close to the rumor mill for a while, so I can't verify their current situation, but Matador got pretty much half-bought by Atlantic a while back. That deal then fell through at a certain point, and then after that there was some distribution / part-ownership deal with Capitol whereby every "major" release on Matador--e.g., Jon Spencer, Liz Phair--came out half through Capitol, half through Matador. I don't think I ever quite understood what was going on there. It may be (although I wouldn't bet on it) that Matador is operating entirely independently these days (although I know they distribute through Valley Media, which is corporate enough itself), but they're not exactly an example of "how big you can get without corporate involvement", at least not since 1996 or so. Not that it matters so much to me how "indie" a label is, as long as the artists don't get screwed. Unless I'm mistaken, Mr. Cosloy's relationship with the artists on the label has always been pretty cordial.... Not that this mess is too IDM-related other than that Matador used to release Warp records in the states (although as far as indie rock/post-rock labels go, I've been much more impressed with thrill jockey's distribution choices, which have been stellar). Blathering, M. ----- Made with affection by distrustful lovers. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org