In defense of record labels

There have been some seismic shifts in the music industry in the last ten years; the rise of file-sharing networks, e-commerce and digital music services have seen a big move away from physical media for music distribution, the closing down of brick-and-mortar music retailers and a question being asked: is there still a place today for the record label? Or is it a relic of a forgotten age? I would like to write in defense of record labels. I think they serve an important function in music, irregardless of what media it comes on, and I hope they are around for as long as music is around.

For me, the record label represents two things: a commitment and an accreditation. First, the commitment part. Assuming a record label is going to pay for the physical production of a music release (whether on CD, vinyl, DVD, or some other more obscure form), then this represents a financial commitment on the part of the record label. They are essentially gambling part of their funds in the hope that this release does well. No label (assuming it is run as a business, rather than a bedroom label) would do this without a strong belief in the quality of the product, and even bedroom label managers are usually looking to at least recoup their costs. Thus, the fact that a label is prepared to take the financial risk of putting out a release is an indication that it is something they believe in, and therefore it has probably got something going for it. This to me, while certainly not a guarantee of quality (there are a lot of releases out there I don’t like), is still a more reliable sign of quality than the rising phenomenon of “here is sum music I made it on my komputer and put it on the suondclouod LOL!”.

Second, it is an accreditation, and by that I mean something that a person, or group of people, are proud to stand by and be associated with. The guys who run Malignant Records would probably make some very decent coin if they somehow landed the right to release Lady Gaga’s next few albums, but I’m sure they wouldn’t release it, because they wouldn’t want to be associated with something like that (not saying Lada Gaga is crap, just saying it’s not their kinda thing). So for me, if Malignant Records puts out a CD, that’s like having a sticker on it saying “approved by Jason Mantis of Malignant Records!”. Which means a lot to me, and probably to a bunch of other people too. And once you have found record labels that you like and trust, this accreditation can become very useful. Of course there is good music being made out there and not released, or self-released. But if something is put out on Ant-Zen, or Hands, or Hymen, or Tympanik, then there is already a really, really good chance I’ll like it, before I've even heard it. I’ll still probably do some research before I decide to get something new of course, but this accreditation factor counts for a lot, and is often a really good way of finding out what’s going on in your favourite music genre. Go to the wonderful discogs site, look at the release history for the record labels you like, and see what’s new.

My favourite labels are the labels that perform not only those functions, but also put a stamp on the final product: all of the Ant-Zen releases have amazing photography taken by the manager S.alt, with his own distinctive style, and it is some of the best music artwork you’ll find. All of the Hands releases come in a unique and baffling cardboard box contraption, almost resembling a puzzle more than a CD case, causing some to despair at the “Hands Scratchpack”; care must be taken by the novice to extract the CD without marking it. Every Malignant Records release comes with some kind of epic, brooding artwork, and with Phil Easter’s distinctive (and amazing) touch at mastering, giving it a recognisable style.

So for me, a record label performs more than a simple (and important) financial service, i.e. paying for the production of the release; they help shape and give birth to the final form of the artistic product, and represent a commitment by a person or people to whom one can potentially identify with. And that is a very valuable thing indeed.