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Christian Holden and Chad Matheny Start New Record Label

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Jan 28, 2020.

  1. Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Christian Holden of The Hotelier and Chad Matheny of Emperor X have come together to form Dreams of Field Recordings (DoFR), a new artist-managed cooperative record label. The full press release can be found below.

    Both artists’ back catalogs are now available through DoFR’s website http://dreamsoffield.com, and the label’s first new release is a digital single from Emperor X called “Sad React,” out today.
    Inspired by solidarity economics, credit unions, and established international cooperative principles, DoFR aims to create a new kind of artist-controlled and financially-transparent label structure that is vitally essential to the art and music communities of our current time. In the long term, they hope cooperative label structures will catch on as a viable model for music scenes everywhere, forming a network of artist-cooperatives that offer a practical alternative to both the bland conformity of media megacorps and the financial insolvency of many DIY operations.

    Dreams of Field Recordings will function much like other independent labels but with three key differences that make the DIY/punk ethos an explicit, rather than implied, part of its financial DNA:

    1. NON-PROFIT MOTIVE: 100% of the label profits must be reinvested into member-artists and their releases. While many labels spend profits more or less like this already out of good faith, DoFR will bake this requirement into artist contracts and its founding articles of organization. This removes economic incentive to invest only in projects that are more likely to sell, leaving more room on the release schedule for albums that challenge the current state of music.

    2. DEMOCRACY: Major decisions (such as signing new bands) will be made by a board of all artists signed to the label on a consensus basis. Day-to-day operations will be carried out by working groups (paid people), performing the tasks label owners perform, but accountable to the artist board.

    3. TRANSPARENCY: Label financial statements, including a list of all label/artist revenue and costs, will be available to the public on DoFR’s website. This is an attempt to eliminate the confusion of music makers and their fans about how capital flows around music communities.

    In the wake of operational conflict surrounding their former record label (Tiny Engines) and some of its artists that went public with the matter, Chad and Christian found themselves among a group of peers seeking to find and redefine true independence.

    “It was the first time in my music career that a group of musicians on a label really felt like an active scene, a mini-class, a union-like assembly of allies,” Matheny explains. His project, Emperor X, has been releasing and reinventing the approach to independent music since the late ‘90s, most recently having released the critically-acclaimed Oversleepers International via Tiny Engines in 2017.

    That solidarity Chad talks about was his initial inspiration for putting more details into the dream in private email/Slack/Discord conversations and Twitter threads. Upon seeing Christian, a longtime friend and labelmate, sharing similar feelings, the two decided to re-focus their energy into a new kind of record label that could be less susceptible to the problems their peers were facing.

    “Dreams of Field Recordings was an idea I’ve had for years. I had originally intended it to be the title of an audiozine project, but the main goal remains to focus on music as an art form that asks questions, starts conversations, and explores new territory,” Holden explains.

    Witnessing how institutions like this have been on the decline in recent years, Christian found themselves inspired through those initial conversations with Chad, as well as with other radical visionaries in the music world, about what is needed and how they can actually create it themselves.

    They continue, “I feel clear about how DoFR is going to fit into this world of many moving pieces, and am excited to get to work.”

    Chad and Christian will host a live webinar at http://dreamsoffield.com/webinar tomorrow at 3:00PM Eastern to discuss what makes a cooperative different than a traditional business and why they lend themselves to the model of a DIY record label.

    The webinar will begin an ongoing dialogue between the label and attendees about these ideas and how they may work in various contexts, as well as allow for discussions about mutual grievances within the current state of the music world and explore how we can structure institutions to address them.

    To participate in the webinar, please visit: http://dreamsoffield.com/webinar

    For more information on DoFR, please visit:
    www.dreamsoffield.com
    http://dreamsoffieldrecordings.bandcamp.com

     
    Mary V likes this.
  2. .K.

    Trusted Prestigious

    I hope we get another The Hotelier album if they are still active. I’ve really enjoyed their records.

    I know very little about the band, any of the drama around their label or scene of people. But, this project sounds like they have a plan to avoid issues and have good intentions so hopefully it works. I like the play in Field of Dreams.Good luck
     
  3. bmir14

    Trusted Supporter

    what. is. going. on. with. hotelier.
     
    Sean Murphy likes this.
  4. SAB22

    adulting22.bandcamp.com Prestigious

    Tiny engines dealt with some backlash from artists about not getting their due royalties, Tiny Engines have since been pretty quiet as far as I’m aware on the social media sites, but it sounds like the label is donzo given this news.
     
  5. Ellite25

    Regular

    Are you asking about whether they’re making music or not? If you are, I’m pretty sure the answer is no. Christian talked about it on The E Word podcast and from what I remember he said he hadn’t been making music and was earning money other ways. It doesn’t sound like they’ve broken up (they still play some shows), but they aren’t actively creating anything. The podcast was pretty good btw and worth listening to.
     
  6. .K.

    Trusted Prestigious

    That’s too bad. It’d be a great way to kick off their musical endeavour having releases from both bands. Sure they have their reasons.
     
  7. Fletchaaa

    Trusted Supporter

    I thought he was defending Tiny Engines on twitter when the issue with them happened but I guess he changed his mind.
     
  8. bmir14

    Trusted Supporter

    Damnit. Thanks so much for sharing this. That's such a bummer. Also a little infuriating in that they have a tweet pinned to their band account talking about recording.