classic labels signing flavors-of-the-month

simply my interpretation: i mad that deerhunter is on 4ad. now zomby is on 4ad. washed out is on sub pop. i just don't know anymore. it's kind of like how i guess i finally realize y'all felt when warp signed battles feels bad man

I have to agree.

I don't want to cite any specific examples but I find it very disheartening.

Classic labels have become irrelevant. You of all people should know!

but battles and deerhunter are awesome?

I actually like a lot of the recent 4AD stuff.. well mostly St Vincent

  On 6/4/2013 at 11:24 PM, goDel said:

Classic labels have become irrelevant. You of all people should know!

Naw I mean I think generally speaking classic labels still deliver the goods but now they all seem to deliver the bads too.

I agree this is weird. It’s almost as if the world is full of autonomous beings who each have different, not-necessarily-interrelated opinions about what kind of music is good or not

I think the idea of labels being scene or genre based or community-driven isn't dead, it's just almost completely reserved to truly indie and underground labels. The excitement of watching independent labels flourish and grow is essentially dead. They either exist and survive or they fold: that's exactly why Warp signed Grizzly Bear or Washed Out is on Sub Pop. They signed a deal for better distribution. It's nice seeing classic labels survive but the idea of them being a unified "niche" label is more or less dead.

I know Rixx flat-out said that's why Planet Mu has had many leave for Ninja Tune: FaltyDL and Machinedrum in particular. 4AD has the appeal. Just a few years ago it seemed Ninja Tune was in a slump, seemingly taking awhile to release music that wasn't outdated trip-hop and instrumental hip-hop. The good news that the smaller labels aren't doomed but instead, as I call them, an "incubater" label. Brainfeeder, Flying Lotus's label, seems the same way. Many artists there have gone to other labels or started their own, and Brainfeeder is more of a collective in a sense. The share the same distributor as Plug (I think) and Alpha Pup Records, so that's another reason those artists seem to bounce around a lot.

I was really shocked for instance, when the juggernaut metal label Hydra_Head_Records ceased operations last year. It makes me wonder if the same could happen for consistent electronic labels like Kompakt or Hyperdub. The fact that Rephlex isn't putting anything out under their own name anymore is a bit strange to me as well. I don't like that it's an open secret that they have Ultrademon on a Rephlex connected imprint.

I don't know, the internet really threw off the traditional major label versus indie divide and that's where all this gray area and lack of strong indie label individuality emerged. I don't mind so much because things like bandcamp exist. I listen to a lot of tape and niche electronic labels now and the wonderful thing about those is that artists usually just put out one run of cassettes or vinyl, then sale those digital files through that label, and then go to another label altogether for their next release. It seems very liberating for them as artists to experiment and a win-win for the labels and listeners alike.

I don't listen to dearhunter but from hearing people's reactions to their music, they seem a bit more than just a "flavor of the month"