When a band sets up a record label

[Vanhalen 0]

Maverick was one of the most high-profile labels launched by a pop star - releasing Alanis Morissette's multi-million selling debut Jagged Little Pill as well as music by heavy rock band The Deftones and US singer Michelle Branch.

 

But it was by no means the most successful.

 

From punk band Bad Religion (who run hugely successful imprint Epitaph) to Bristol trip-hop collective Massive Attack (with Melankolic) to former 80s pop star Boy George (who has dance label More Protein), stars have put their money where their mouths are.

 

In the 1950s, the Reprise label - an offshoot of Warner that has been home to Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix and The B-52s over the years - was set up as a vanity label for Frank Sinatra.

 

Sinatra made millions from albums released on the label, but was always horrified that counter-culture bands were making so much money - even if he was receiving some of the proceeds.

 

Madonna's Maverick launched Alanis Morissette to international stardom

At the peak of their powers in 1967, The Beatles formed Apple Corps - pun probably intended - to promote young artists, including musicians.

 

Its roster included acts like the easy-listening pop group Badfinger, but made headlines more for their chaotic finances than their commercial success.

 

Led Zeppelin had more joy thanks to their Swan Song label in the US in the early 1970s, which signed chart-topping rock band Bad Company.

 

Music journalist Steve Jelbert, who has written on the subject of artists' labels, says they are often a bad idea - precisely because they are set up by musicians.

 

"They don't have a good reputation because one major problem is musicians generally don't listen to much music," he says.

 

"If they're any good they tend to be making music themselves," he says. "Often it's quite surprising how bad musicians' taste is.

 

"The Maverick case is quite interesting - it's something you thought would have worked. Warners wanted to use Madonna's prestige - but there is no way she could run a business like that hands on."

 

James Roberts, the A&R editor at Music Week magazine, says there are three main reasons why artists set up labels.

 

"You have bands like Simply Red having to do it because no-one else will release their records.

 

"You have other artists who are offered 'vanity labels' by record companies trying to sign them and they want some leverage for the deal.

 

"And there are a handful of people who are spotting talent as their bands tour the world."

 

 

Massive Attack have also joined the label-owning set

Members from the two bands who defined Britpop - Oasis' Noel Gallagher and Blur's Graham Coxon - have both set up their own labels.

 

Coxon set up Transcopic to release his solo records while still a member of Blur. The label also released songs from up-and-coming group Mower.

 

Gallagher's Sour Mash has so far signed the retro-rock group Proud Mary - but Gallagher has hardly swapped fronting Oasis for becoming a rock svengali.

 

Mr Roberts says: "It appears easy. But they do it once and then find it's a lot harder than they think it is."

[B. Brian Brunzell 0]

I'd say that Roc-A-Fella has been pretty successful thus far.

[haVoc 0]

This reminds of me of an interview I read on VH1 with Good Charlotte. They started their own label and one of the brothers said something like "We signed a few bands that are so much better then most of the crap bands in the mainstream today."

 

Very ironic.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

NoFX's label is doing pretty decent as far as I know.

[nl5xsk1 0]

Dischord records is doing OK, and has been for 20+ years.

[1234-5678 0]

Led Zeppelin's label "Swan Song" had Bad Company on it. They were pretty successful and not overly offensive.

[Steviekick 0]

Dischord records is doing OK, and has been for 20+ years.

For what Dischord is, they've done very well. Ian should be proud of himself.

 

As for bands who set up a record label that tanked, look no further than the Beastie Boys' Grand Royale Records which cost them a lot of money. After it went bankrupt, They wound up auctioning off the name and "grand royale" logo (basically a poker hand) off online this spring.

[Jorge Gorgeous 0]

Aftermath is doing pretty good.

[converge241 0]

it makes you wonder why labels continuously keep giving these away to artists when they are hot

 

 

other failures

 

Korn's Elementree (Videodrone, Orgy, Deadsy, Marz)

Trent Reznor's nothing records (Marilyn Manson, Pop Will Eat Itself, Prick, Meat Beat Manifesto and many, many others) this one was interesting to watch because reznor basically signed all the bands he liked or was friendly with and outside of arguably one manson record there was no money coming in the door

[Nighthawk 0]

Aftermath is doing pretty good.

It is?

 

edit: nevermind, I was thinking of something else.

[Youth N Asia 0]

The Vandals run Kung Fu records...they released an early Blink 182 and Atari records.You can find a lot of their stuff at major retailers. So they're doing something right.

[Guest Blas]

Entombed's Threeman Recordings is doing pretty well.

[Steviekick 0]

The majority of all those band run vanity labels is just a pyramid scheme. Basically, their giving the major artist a share of the profits of whoever they can bring into the record label family.

[Perfxion 0]

The three best I can think of by an artist set up music label:

 

Bad Boy: Netting Combs around 450 Million dollars.

 

Roc-a-fella: Is making near 1 billion in total sells a year.

 

Aftermath: Over 50 million records sold.

 

No Limit and Cash Money might be crap rap, but they are rich business. Master P having over 400 million dollars and Baby around 250 million.

[Steviekick 0]

But none of those really count except for Aftermath. They were all set up by the artists ass they debuted to selll their records. Once they started making a slight impact, they then hooked up with the majors.

 

Aftermath was started by Dre as part of his incentive to sign with Interscope.

[CheesalaIsGood 0]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Epitaph. 94 was their year and they brought in shitloads of money with The Offspring, Bad Religion, and Pennywise among others.

[Black Lushus 0]

sorry to bring up the dreaded Limp Bizkit, but isn't Durst's label doing alright? they have Staind, Puddle Of Mudd and Cold, if i'm not mistaken...Staind is OK, Cold i like and Puddle sucks, but all 3 groups do sell a lot of records so Durst at least knows what sells...

[ant_7000 0]

The three best I can think of by an artist set up music label:

 

Bad Boy: Netting Combs around 450 Million dollars.

 

Roc-a-fella: Is making near 1 billion in total sells a year.

 

Aftermath: Over 50 million records sold.

 

No Limit and Cash Money might be crap rap, but they are rich business. Master P having over 400 million dollars and Baby around 250 million.

None of them are Major labels. They're indie labels that are signed to Major labels because majors supply them with distribution backing. Master P success is unique because he manage to convince Priority Records a to give him a huge split in profits because Priority thought P was going to fail really bad.

[converge241 0]

"sorry to bring up the dreaded Limp Bizkit, but isn't Durst's label doing alright? "

 

i think only puddle is on his label

not positive but pretty sure:

 

he helped cold and staind get the deals and gets points off their sales for brokering the deals (like korn does for every bizkit record sold)

[Black Lushus 0]

"sorry to bring up the dreaded Limp Bizkit, but isn't Durst's label doing alright? "

 

i think only puddle is on his label

not positive but pretty sure:

 

he helped cold and staind get the deals and gets points off their sales for brokering the deals (like korn does for every bizkit record sold)

isn't Flip his label? i'll have to go back and check...oh well, it's Durst so I won't dwell on it too much, you're probably right...