Shr Daily for UM
Genre-Specific Labels in the Triangle
Music of the World
Chapel Hill
Traditional World Music
Artists:
Baluchi Ensemble of Karachi
Tico da Costa
Seleshe Damessae
Freakadelic
Chapel Hill \
Elect ronica
Artists:
Dub Assassin "~.sSk>
Dusk
Sugar Hill Records
Durham
Roots music
Artists:
The Seldom Scene
Doc Watson
The Red Clay Ramblers
Dolly Parton
Awakening Records
Chapel Hill
Chirstian Indie Folk
Artists: /
Caedmon's Call
Vigilontes of Love
Spinoza
Mr. Lady Records N \
Durham
Women’s Rock
Artists:
The Butchies
Le Tigre
Tami Hart
Kaia
LABELS
From Page 3
label in 1978.
At the time, said promoter Steve
Gardner, “There were a lot of people ... cre
ating this more progressive style of blue
grass. Sugar Hill started as a label to put out
that type of music.'’
The label has since grown into a respect
ed supplier of American roots music of all
varieties, boasting eight Grammys and
artists like Doc Watson and Dolly Parton.
The Triangle, said Gardner, is the perfect
place for an Americana-based record label.
“1 think it’s great because it has a great mix
of this rural nature, which our music takes,
but it’s progressive musically.”
“We could have a record company out in
the middle of the sticks and get the rural
nature, but we wouldn’t be hooked into
what’s going on in the world.” Plus, there’s
local talent - Sugar Hill recently signed
Carrboro’s Tift Merritt and the Carbines.
Royster’s Freakadelic label is also based
in local talent - both of its artists hail from
the area. Formed in 1998, the label features
artists who create electronic music from
scratch, not from samples.
“We perform live, which is very unusual
in electronic music,” he said. The live shows
incorporate performance art and videos.
Royster runs the label with the help of co
founder Tim Harper. Harper, who has
worked as a producer for bands such as The
Connells and Whiskeytown, also records
music as Dub Assassin. Royster and Harper
COURTESY OF FREAKADELIC RECORDS
Dub Assassin, Freakadelic Records
Small Labels Carve
Own Market Slice
By Joanna Pearson
Staff Writer
Amid the sea of major labels with big names
and big bucks, the Triangle’s independent,
genre-specific record labels still find ways to get
their music to their audience.
These companies have found that the way to
achieve success involves increasing personal
attention to projects -a technique that serves to
offer consumers an individualized alternative.
“Everybody thinks that when you get a
major label deal, it’s, ‘Oh, I’ve made it,’ but you
take your career and put it in the hands of
idiots,” said Ron Royster, co-founder of the
Chapel Hill electronic label Freakadelic.
Dan Alger, an employee at Chapel Hill’s
indie-folk label Awakening Records, also said
the ability to devote attention to its artists was
the breeding ground for the label’s success.
“Major labels are not as interested in the wel
fare of the artist,” he said. “The welfare and suc
cess of the artist are our No. 1 priority.”
Durham’s gay and women’s rock label Mr.
Lady Records provides a community service in
a business world that isn’t supportive of certain
groups, said co-founder Kaia Wilson.
“It’s hard for queer artists and women to get
on a major label,” Wilson said. “What we have
to offer is a genuine love of music. Yeah, hope
fully, you can make some money, but we also
care about putting out really great music that
can change people’s lives.”
To be on a major label, “you do have to sell
your soul a little bit,” Wilson said. “They want
marketability and radio-friendly shit, so you can
get dropped really quickly.”
Attracting an audience is another challenge
faced by smaller labels. Though Awakening is a
locally based label, it still serves a broad audi
ence. “We really have a national market,” Alger
said. “We do have a loyal following of fans here
in Chapel Hill, but locally, people are less recep
tive to Awakening’s music than in the Midwest.”
Freakadelic also aims to move beyond the
area. “Our audience is getting bigger, slowly,"
Royster said. The label, he said, relies on foot
work and phone calls to get the word out.
Rather than depend on the traditional medi
um of radio airplay, Awakening relies on its
annual compilation releases to reach the mass
DTH/KATHERINE EAKER
Zoubek & Bryant play during a concert sponsored by Awakening Records in
Gerrard Hall. The band is traveling cross-county with other Awakening artists.
teamed up with Marcell Marias and Simone
Shannon, visual and graphic performance
artists who also perform music as Dusk.
The label has put out nationwide releas
es from both acts and has received airplay
on college radio in several major cities.
But Chapel Hill hasn’t proven the most
receptive environment for Freakadelic,
Royster said. “We get radio airplay all over
the country and can’t even get recognized in
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COURTESY OF MUSIC OF THE WORLD
The Baluchi Ensemble, Music of the World
Focus on: Genre Labels
es. “Each features a bunch of independent
artists,” Alger said. “Fans of Awakening keep
coming back for compilations, and we carry all
the artists featured on the compilations."
Wilson said Mr. Lady relied heavily on tour
ing to increase visibility of its artists. “Really see
ing the person creates word-of-mouth,” she said.
Companies like the Durham-based
American roots music label Sugar Hill Records
actually have an advantage over their major
label competitors when it comes to promotions,
said promoter Steve Gardner.
“Let’s say a label like RCA decides to put out
a bluegrass album. They wouldn’t really know
how to do it because they only deal with MTV
and The New York Times,” Gardner said.
“To put out an album in that niche market,
you have to know the niche media. You need to
get to those little stations out there in Spindale,
N.C., and we know about them.”
This kind of niche marketing “certainly is our
strong point,” said Bob Haddad, founder of the
Chapel Hill label Music of the World.
Since its inception in the early ’Bos, Music of
the World has seen a lot of changes in the way
the music business works. “To stay active as a
record label you need to diversify with the
changing times," Haddad said. “It’s sometimes
hard to do that when you’re a record company
with a niche market.”
But the label is doing a good job of keeping
pace. It recently merged with the Internet com
pany emusic.com, and Haddad said they’ll be
“combining forces to get the music out there in
different ways,” including downloadable music.
While some local labels seem to have found
the answer to turning a profit, others have not
been as successful, facing the inherent risks of
existing as a small-time independent company.
Awakening co-founder Scott Sanders sup
ports himself via the label, Alger said. But when
asked how Mr. Lady managed, Wilson said,
“We don’t. We’re using credit cards, we have
massive debt, we don’t get paid, and we’ve been
doing this for three years, working hard.”
Freakadelic, Royster said, is getting by. “The
good news is we haven’t lost money. We haven’t
made money, but we haven’t lost money.”
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be
reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
our own hometown,” he said. “Electronic
music in this area is just not cool.”
And Chapel Hill’s reputation for musical
fertility doesn’t help, he said. “We’re just
another record label from Chapel Hill.
“Maybe we should tell everybody we’re
from Saxapahaw.”
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be
reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
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COURTESY OF MR. LADY RECORDS
The Butchies, Mr. Lady Records
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Kaia Wilson and Tammy Rae Carland, founders of Durham's Mr. Lady Records, hang out in
SchoolKids Records with their puppy. The music store carries records from the all-female rock label.
Musicians Find Partnership
With Genre-Specific Labels
By Josh Love
Staff Writer
In this era of music-industry conglomerates spawned
from corporate mergers, countless major-label record
ing artists have fallen by the wayside - either ignored,
mishandled or outright released from contracts.
And broadly based labels often fail to provide artists
in specialized genres with the attention necessary to
effectively promote their music.
To stave off this small fish, big pond syndrome, artists
willing to sacrifice mass-market exposure can take
refuge in the niche-specific confines of independent
labels, several of which can be found in the Triangle.
“Independent labels really allow you to bypass the
one-hit wonder symptoms of corporate music,” said
Justin Rosolino, who released his debut album, Music,
on the local indie-folk label Awakening Records.
“A label like Awakening functions more to empower
and liberate than restrain an artist,” Rosolino said.
Likewise, Durham’s women’s rock label Mr. Lady
Records has provided 19-year-old solo artist Tami Hart
with both a musical foundation and ideological support.
“I felt like I was working with people with similar
beliefs and that I could identify with them,” she said.
Hart’s first full-length album will be released May 2,
and she attributed much of her success in the punk rock
scene to the relationship she has forged with Mr. Lady.
“I didn’t want to be with a label where I didn’t feel
respected and admired,” Hart said. “With (Mr. Lady)
it feels just like a family.”
A similar sense of kinship first endeared Jack
Herrick, multi-instrumentalist for local folk and blue
grass mainstays The Red Clay Ramblers, to sign with
Durham-based Sugar Hill Records, a revered pillar of
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COURTESY OF SUGAR HIU. RECORDS
Doc Watson, Sugar Hill Records
Wednesday, April 5, 2000
Americana and bluegrass music.
“Sugar Hill is very strong in folk and bluegrass and
dedicated to the Triangle music scene,” Herrick said.
“We wanted to stay within that niche, and after our orig
inal label (Flying Fish) dissolved, they seemed like the
natural choice.” The label also offered the Red Clav
Ramblers the freedom to explore the musical possibil
ities of both film and theatre, leading to a soundtrack
collaboration with playwright Sam Shepherd.
Tim Harper, who records as Dub Assassin, also
w'anted to expand his creative opportunities. The desire
inspired him to co-found die electronic label
Freakadelic and then release his music on the label.
“I was looking to create more of an experience for
the listener through multimedia presentations, and
recording for an independent label helped bring that
into focus,” Harper said.
Despite the liberation and solidarity that indepen
dent labels provide, certain limitations remain inherent
in the operations of small-scale record companies. “You
don’t receive as much publicity with an independent
label, and you do have to work harder,” Hart said. “But
because of the people involved, it’s definitely w'orth it."
And for traditional musicians in places like Guyana
and Turkey. Bob Haddad and his w'orld music label
Music of the World provide what could be their only
opportunity to reach an audience.
“The equivalents of Polygram or EMI in Africa, they
don’t want to produce traditional music,” Haddad said.
“It would be like Warner Bros, producing a CD of pow
wow music and trying to sell that to the shopping
malls."
The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be
reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.
COURTESY OF AWAKENING RECORDS
The Awakening Compilation: Volume I
5