record label miles stones?

hi gang,
something i philos0phize about -

what do you think are the milestones of a record labels life? in terms of releases.

my opinion (and its ruff and subject to change) - is that any dj or producer with a few grand in cash can try putting out a few records and if things dont pan out than dont hold it against them.

so - here was my (rough) sketch of label milestones -

releases :
1-3 - testing the waters
4-5 - established label
5-10 - workhorse
20+ - industry cornerstone
50+ - legendary.


thoughts / opinions?

I would rate a 4 - 5 release label not as established!

I would say:


1 - "we have some money and some concept, lets try something new"
2 - 7: "let's just experience if the following catnumbers can reach the success from #1"
7-20 established label
20 - 50 "workhorse"/essential scene component
50+ - legend

The important milestone is when you put out a record that everyone buys and becomes an essential tool everyone wants to own.

There are a couple of labels with over fifty release that I'm sure are all mostly pish and I'm happy to own none of them. There are several labels with only a handfull of releases which are devestating records and I want to own each and every single one of them.

Personaly I don't give a **** how many records a label has released, that just means the the label is either making some money or not losing enough to worry the person who's into it for the music.

quality over quantity

yeah, quality over quantity is more important i think

I agree.
Every release should be treated as something special in it's own right, other wise you are flooding the market with garbage filler.

Quality over quantity for sure; however, most people don't take into consideration labels that have 50+ releases that are utter shite...They must be doing something right or there must be a grip of people with poor taste. It really says something about a label if a lot of people agree its garbage, but they have 50+ releases...

I think it's rather obvious why a label can get up to 50 releases and everyone considers them a bit cacky when they look back on it. Most labels produce for a single style which later on falls out of favour for new inovations, new artists and new techniques, very few long established labels go out of their way to incorporate it. Therefore people who's tastes change no longer match the tastes of the label in it's hey day which it was very popular.

Look at for example wonky techno or schranz. Both are relatively newer styles, people now listening to them who didn't start with them probably first got into Swechno stuff for example and would laud applause on each new Drumcode release, now they reckon some of the tracks are cacky and the label really wasn't all the impresive and will instead be singing the praises of labels like Neue Heimat or Highball which are the new labels showcasing what they are into.

It's also related to the timeless classic syndrome, I mean how many record that are coming out are pulling timeless classics out of their arse? I mean stuff like The Bells, Knights of the Jaguar, The Seawolf and their ilk are probably still be played in clubs up and down the country. Having a good classic on your label certainly helps keep people with a positive view of your label which will be long lasting past when a genre switch pops up. There is a lot more of big tunes of thee moment type stuff going on now, stuff like Pontape and Murder Was the Bass were massive, massive tunes when they first came out but how many of them are still going to be being played this time next year?

also (imo) bear in mind that a label with under 5 releases has a hell of a time getting distro's and shops with little/no use for you to push your stuff.

to seems people like to shit on the labels with 50+ releases but they are clearly the labels that people know about and buy.

not to disagree with the 'qaulity over quantity' argument (which i agree with). . . but there is certainly the factor of market penetration to address.

i find that a few labels i buy from, release stuff that you buy and play at the time but then just put back into the old collection and never see the light of day...are they a successful label or am i a fool?

i think it's very difficult to say whether a label is a firm success or not, because at the end of the day someone is going to disagree with you...