Punk Record Labels and the Struggle for Autonomy - Alan O'Connor

150 Pages·2008·0.58 MB·English

08_047 (01) FM.qxd 2/4/08 3:31 PM Page i
Punk Record Labels and the
Struggle for Autonomy
08_047 (01) FM.qxd 2/4/08 3:31 PM Page ii
Critical Media Studies
Series Editor
Andrew Calabrese, University of Colorado
This series covers a broad range of critical research and theory about media
in the modern world. It includes work about the changing structures of the
media, focusing particularly on work about the political and economic forces
and social relations which shape and are shaped by media institutions, struc-
tural changes in policy formation and enforcement, technological transfor-
mations in the means of communication, and the relationships of all these to
public and private cultures worldwide. Historical research about the media
and intellectual histories pertaining to media research and theory are partic-
ularly welcome. Emphasizing the role of social and political theory for in-
forming and shaping research about communications media, Critical Media
Studies addresses the politics of media institutions at national, subnational,
and transnational levels. The series is also interested in short, synthetic texts
on key thinkers and concepts in critical media studies.
Titles in the series
Governing European Communications: From Unification to Coordination by
Maria Michalis
Knowledge Workers in the Information Society edited by Catherine McKercher and
Vincent Mosco
Punk Record Labels and the Struggle for Autonomy: The Emergence of DIY by
Alan O’Connor
08_047 (01) FM.qxd 2/4/08 3:31 PM Page iii
Punk Record Labels and the
Struggle for Autonomy
The Emergence of DIY
Alan O’Connor
LEXINGTON BOOKS
A division of
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham • Boulder • New York • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
08_047 (01) FM.qxd 2/4/08 3:31 PM Page iv
LEXINGTON BOOKS
A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200
Lanham, MD 20706
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright © 2008 by Lexington Books
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Insert CIP data
Printed in the United States of America
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
08_047 (01) FM.qxd 2/4/08 3:31 PM Page v
“I’m feeling rejected; I’m feeling left out.” —Gray Matter
“I’m miles behind on the road to success.” —Floodgate
08_047 (01) FM.qxd 2/4/08 3:31 PM Page vi
08_047 (01) FM.qxd 2/4/08 3:31 PM Page vii
l
Contents
Introduction ix
Chapter 1 The Struggle for Autonomy 1
Chapter 2 Commercial and DIY Labels 15
Chapter 3 The Problem of Distribution 35
Chapter 4 Punk Labels and Social Class 47
Chapter 5 The Dynamics of Record Labels 67
Conclusion: What About the Music? 85
Appendix A: Interview with Lengua Armada 93
Appendix B: Record Labels Interviewed and
Statistical Data 119
Bibliography 131
Index 137
About the Author 000
vii
08_047 (01) FM.qxd 2/4/08 3:31 PM Page viii
08_047 (01) FM.qxd 2/4/08 3:31 PM Page ix
l
Introduction
This book is about punk record labels and the struggle to be autonomous.
These record labels are mostly unknown outside the punk-rock scene. Some,
like Dischord and Alternative Tentacles, have operated for more than
twenty-five years. Others are just starting out. A few labels such as Profane
Existence and Havoc Records are anarchist but most simply describe them-
selves as independent. The variety of music runs from harsh grindcore to
melodic pop punk. Different labels tend to specialize in a certain sound and
the range of music inevitably reflects the tastes of the person doing the label.
Many of these record labels are run by one or two people, but some have be-
tween five and twenty employees. The people who do them come from dif-
ferent backgrounds but most are middle-class kids. Many of these are
dropouts from the middle class. All of this affects struggles for autonomy.
To be autonomous means that you take your own decisions. The classic so-
ciologist Max Weber says that in autonomous organizations “the order gov-
erning the organization has been established by its own members on their
own authority.”1 The opposite of this is when order has been imposed from
outside the organization. It is quite difficult for a record label to be com-
pletely autonomous. Many people have to register with the state that they
are “doing business as” the name of their label. At some point the record la-
bel will have to face the decision whether to incorporate and pay business
taxes. When the label has employees there are regulations about payroll taxes
and insurance. If a record label signs contracts with bands these are legal doc-
uments which may result in lawsuits. As well as this, in the 1980s there were
ix
08_047 (01) FM.qxd 2/4/08 3:31 PM Page x
l
x Introduction
some famous cases where punk record labels and distributors were prosecuted
for obscenity.2
But when we speak of the autonomy of punk record labels we usually
mean in relation to major labels. In 1977 the major record labels controlled
about 90 percent of the music industry in the United States. Today the four
major labels account for 87.4 percent of physical and digital album sales.3It
is true that the punk explosions of the 1970s and the 1990s supported many
independent record labels and expanded indie record distribution. But the
majors were sometimes interested in signing punk bands too. They hoped
that bands like Hüsker Dü and Green Day would be successful. In the
United States a record goes gold when it sells 500,000 copies.4 But as the
music industry diversified over the past twenty years, the major labels were
sometimes interested in a band like Sonic Youth that might not have an in-
stant hit but steady sales within a specialized market. As well as this, in the
1990s each major label bought or established their own indie distribution
business. It is almost impossible today to get into large chain stores and big-
box retailers without going through a distribution subsidiary of the major la-
bels. This system also allows the majors to keep an eye on fast-breaking
bands that they miAmong the bigger punk labels, Epitaph gets into the sys-
tem through ADA. Fat Wreck and Victory Records go through RED.
Dischord gets in because their distributor Southern Records has a deal with
Fontana (and before that with Caroline). The Black Flag record label SST
has had a difficult time over the years with its distributors. In November
2001 their distributor DNA went bankrupt and they are now with Koch, a
large corporation that distributes video games, DVDs and CDs. Koch also
signs bands that have been dropped by major labels and markets them to
college radio. The other members of the Dead Kennedys won a lawsuit
against Jello Biafra and Alternative Tentacles for not properly exploiting
the band’s back catalog. Those records are now issued by Manifesto, which
is distributed by Navarre, another large corporation like Koch and also not
owned by a major label.5
Table 0.1. Major Record Labels in the United
States
Major Label Indie Distributor
EMI Caroline
Sony BMG RED
Universal Music Group Fontana
Warner Music Group ADA