By Andy Gensler (@andygensler), New York
This Saturday (Oct. 8), heads of 20 or so independent music labels will gather at the Brooklyn Flea’s Smorgasburg on the Williamsburg waterfront in New York City. Among them will be Jonathan Galkin from DFA, Laurence Bell from Domino and Nick Catchdubs from Fool’s Gold. No, it’s not a conference or panel discussion on sync licensing, but rather the Independent Label Market (ILM), where some of the world’s most renowned indie labels and their chief executives will re-connect with the public — and, in some ways, get back to their roots.
“When someone starts a record label, it’s usually one person raving about bands to people they know,” says Joe Daniel, co-founder of Angular Records and the mastermind behind ILM. “Eventually they’ll have to have someone else sell their music to someone else. We’re just removing the middle guys in that relationship and bringing the record label boss back together with the record label consumer.”
The inaugural Independent Label Market (ILM) was held last May, at London’s Berwick Market. Twenty label heads sold their music and merchandise directly to fans - and, by most accounts, it was a success. Strong sales, Daniel says, were facilitated by some of his personal heroes, including indie label pioneers Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records and Daniel Miller of Mute. Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker performed an impromptu DJ set on a portable record player, and label heads hawked some unusually inventive merchandise - for instance, slices of cake with an MP3 download code.
Though Daniel says his one retail experience was working out of an all-night fast food van in Cambridge selling “burgers and chips,” he admits that the greasy experience did little to inspire the ILM. “I did merch for These New Puritans, a band on my label, in Berlin last December,” he explains, “because there wasn’t anyone else to do it. It was fun and easy being a salesman for stuff I knew so well. I was like, ‘I’ll tell you an interesting story about that artwork…,’ which most people working at a shop would never know. I’m very familiar with all the items - records, CDs, artwork, b-sides.”
Other label owners slated to participate represent XL, 4AD, Mexican Summer, True Panther, Secretly Canadian, Jagjaguwar, Dead Oceans and Throne of Blood. Among their exclusive merch: a new single by Portishead (mentioned on Jimmy Fallon’s show), a Radiohead track remixed by Jaime XX, the last-ever limited edition The Luyas / Twin Sister split 7” on Dead Oceans, and a limited edition “Bootleg LP” of Real Estate performing their new album ‘Days’ in sequence, live at the Domino booth (full-list below).
The fest will also feature live DJ sets by Eamon Harken and Justin Carter (of Mr. Saturday Night fame), a performance the Neurotic Drum Band, a special DFA set, a live MPC set by Party Supplies on Fool’s Gold. Use and new record stalls courtesey of such NYC bastions of vinyl as Other Music, Halcyon and Sound Fix. Adding to the event’s allure is that the ILM is being hosted within Brooklyn’s Flea Smorgasburg, a foodie’s paradise with between 60-70 vendors hawking delectable comestibles including fried anchovies, fresh oysters and lobster rolls.
List of Merch:
YOUNG TURKS
- Mixtapes from Romy xx, Jamie xx, John Talbot and Bullion
- Exclusive Sampha vinyl
- Limited edition posters and signed merch
Full list of Merch:
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/u-k-independent-label-market-comes-to-brooklyn-1005394952.story
