are record labels relevant anymore?

[taylordeupree]

i'd love to believe that labels are an important curatorial tool.. but the public seems to be speaking otherwise. or are they? is there a point to have a label anymore?

[rené]

Call me oldschool but labels are still very very important to me. Selection and the curatorial aspect are the main reasons why I think so. That being said I also feel that there are loads of bullshit labels out there spamming "the market" with boring drones or whatever this year's flavor is (check the discussion about synth drones and hypnagogic pop on the type records forum!). Maybe I miss lot of stuff that is "put out" via "bandcamp" but I do not have time or will to check this all out.

[s_hamann]

As a music fan, I still think labels have a value. Using 12k as an example, I first started listening to the label because of Giuseppe Ielasi, and discovered a lot of good music in the process that I may not have listened to otherwise.

As a musician, though, and one who's only dabbled with netlabels rather than commercial concerns, my feelings are mixed. My experience with labels has ultimately been perfectly neutral. No harm came from it, but I've not seen many rewards from it either, other than the personal reward of working with good people.

If labels were to disappear outright, I'd still find music to listen to, and I'd still release music, so I don't think their death would impact me greatly. But I would miss them, as I've always liked them as an organizing principle. Maybe they need to change, become more like media entities like Vice, where they are producing and generating revenue from multiple types of projects and various endorsement/partnerships.

[desirepathrecs]

As a newbie label owner and curator, I'm hoping labels are not dead. My experience so far, though, has made me skeptical about just how vital "our" role is anymore. Could be the fact the label is quite new or the first release is challenging(?), but things have been slow going. I use a well-known worldwide distributor and they couldn't manage to garner enough interest from stores and distributors to justify taking on copies of the LP. Many of the well-known stores and online distributors are so inundated with an over-whelming amount of labels soliciting their new releases that I don't blame them for not getting back in touch, even  if I will continue to be persistent in getting them to respond to me. Should I feel like a nuisance?
Part of the reason might be artists using their own resources to release their own music, thus eliminating the middle man. Either way, music deserves to be heard and paid for.

[taylordeupree]

the hardest challenge for new labels is finding distribution.. that was always the case.. but even worse now that distributors are closing left and right due to downloads and file sharing... so, it's really hard for a new label to get out there.

on the other hand, a new label, or even an individual without a label, has all of this social media to market and present themselves.. but then you're left one in a sea of millions of musicians trying to make a voice.

plus, with new social medias you're primarily marketing yourself to those people who want music for free anyway...

i feel for you, it's not easy to have a label these days... all we can do is stick with it with a passion and try our best to release great music and foster a supportive family of artists.

[Orphax]

I am the same situation as desirepathrecs.
I find it very hard to get the LP by Ubeboet out there.

[taylordeupree]

distributors simply don't want to work with new labels... and, as what's always been the case with distributors, they don't want to work with you unless you have a steady stream of releases coming out. it doesn't make sense for them to work with a label that has an occasional release out.. also, they tend not to pay you unless you have a constant stream of interesting stuff for them... it's sort of a back and forth.

that being said, it's so hard right now, especially with big distributors closing their doors.

fortunately, there are smaller upstarts like Experimedia who are willing to take risks and don't have the baggage of massive distribution companies like EFA (who went under) or Forced Exposure or something..

[sublamp]

Simple answer: yes! 
I follow labels more than I follow individual artists!

[taylordeupree]

that's what i like to hear...

Simple answer: yes! 
I follow labels more than I follow individual artists!

[NQ]

[steinbruchel]

I follow labels more than I follow individual artists!

[tokafi]

I completely agree with those saying that labels are certainly as important as ever. Their role, meanwhile, has again changed. If, in the 80s, they were mainly money machines who could brutally push an artist's career, the focus has been more on their curatorial function in the 90s and early 00's. Today, I see them rather as assuring quality and acting as partners of the artists on their roster:  They provide quality standards in terms of the sound quality of recordings and the artwork. By aggregating various artists, they can secure distribution as well as better deals at pressing and printing plants. And they can provide for a social context for the music. Denovali records recently organised a festival over here in Germany, bringing together the different acts from their catalogue and blending audiences from Post Rock, Electronica, Metal and Experimental Music to great success.

In short: Labels assure the highest level of professionalism and act as small-scale communities. I see a lot of that over here at 12k, for example: The mere fact alone that we're discussing these questions here at the 12k forum means that the label fulfills a function webzines or traditional forums can not.

[taylordeupree]

I agree with Ralph for sure... some of the labels I follow like Spekk have introduced me to new artists. It is my desire of course that labels remain an impotent curatorial voice.. thigh, I suppose, technically, they aren't necessary as an individual artist has a lot of options to get their music out without a label.

take the Prince or Elton John (I think he was one if them) ... or OMD. artists successful enoigh where they can do very well, better in fact, without a label..

tho, none of us are on Prince's level (except Ralph, of course, at least fashion-wise).. but you can apply the same ideas down to smaller artists...

[desirepathrecs]

in regards to the comments orphax made and taylor's response...getting distribution has proven to be very difficult, but, the problem has run a little deeper. this big worldwide distributor that i was referring to took on the first release from my label, shopped to, i believe, any and all of the smaller online distributors and stores, and the reception was very cold. so cold in fact, that this big worldwide distributor couldn't take any copies of the first release and told to me to get back in touch for the next release. this seems to me to be the beginnings of a vicious circle. what i've learned here is that it isn't the reluctance of the big-time distributors, but the smaller ones that must in turn take on the risk of buying copies of LPs they aren't sure will sell. maybe the big time distributors recognize this and are being a bit more selective with what they would like to offer.

[theowlbox]

'Yes' to most of the posts above.
I was just trying to remember which was the first 12k release I bought, and how that led me onto loads of other artists on 12k LINE and beyond. For example the 'Listening Garden" release on LINE - I'm sure I wouldn't have come across that otherwise, and now I'm going to be writing about it as part of my PhD
Add to what I've learnt from the community here, the world would be a much more stressful place without the space (niche?) carved out by this label. The same can apply to festivals (say, Palimpsest in Cambridge) and yes, record shops (Sound 323).

(Also, given my own attempts to start a label, its nice to see how to do it properly...)
J