April 05, 2004
Sidenote
Posted by nerdling | April 5, 2004 03:58 PM
I read an article today on reuters.com about how the independent label Sub Pop, best known for it's involvment in the Seattle grunge scene of the early '90s, is making a comeback with a strong roster of artists and even stronger sales. While I can't dispute that the label does put out some good stuff—I own more than a few Sub Pop releases—I'd like to draw everyone's attention to the information on the second page:
Sub Pop is 49% owned by Warner Music Group, but all its product is handled by Warner's independent arm, Alternative Distribution Alliance (ADA), rather than WEA.
Poneman says, "The mom-and-pop stores are the taste-making stores. As such, ADA is the superior distributor, because they have at this point established enduring relationships with a lot of those stores."
I already knew that Jonathan Poneman is a greedy, manipulative shithead but this is a bit much. The mom-and-pop stores are not the taste-making stores; they are the elitist-making stores where the people who care enough about music not to buy it at Wal-Mart shop. As such, whether they are the taste-making stores or not, they are also the stores where people are more likely to be just slightly annoyed that a label (insert Sub Pop, Matador, Trustkill, et al, here) that was doing just fine on its own feels the need to sell half the company to some huge, crafty, money-grubbing entity that sucks the blood of its young to sustain itself.
ADA is a better distributor because it maintains the illusion of independence (to soothe the consciences of anyone who still feels responsible to the music community) with the added bonus of major label backing. ADA is a better distributor because WEA owns half of Sub Pop and they want a return on their investment; such money is easier to get when your bands are showing up on "indie" record stations, KROQ and MTV.
Then again, I suppose it isn't that hard to give up money that you got by screwing the bands on the roster out of it.
