Co-Op Record Labels and more on Direct Distribution

This article will explore research of existing Co-Operative (Co-Op) or Work-Owned record labels. While Co-Ops have existed for many years and have gained popularity since the 60s there are few advertised Co-Op record labels. 2012 is the International Year of the Cooperative, as proclaimed by the UN Division for Social Policy and Development. I will not go into depth on what constitutes a Co-Op here in this article but wanted to share some research into locating Co-Op record labels. Another ongoing stream of research into websites and services that offer artist to fan distribution and services of which is a new start-up about to launch called distro.fm.

In my research to date three Co-Op Record labels have been identified that show some success in their operations and have made it past the first couple of years as a startup business. Two exist here in the U.S. and one in Canada. The Blocks Recording Club is based in Toronto, Canada since their founding in 2003 and became a Co-Op in 2005. They host a variety of indie artists; one nice feature is that they use another Co-Op or collective to help with merchandising and sales called The Blue House. For the U.S. there is Black Cactus Records (BCR) in Phoenix, Arizona and Revolutionary Productions Artists and Musicians Cooperative (RPAMC) or Revolutionary Records in Seattle, Washington. BCR presents itself very professionally and give a good account of being a Co-Op and how the logic of combining resources and creating less duplication of effort goes a long way to freeing up individual time to focus on the art of making music. RPAMC appears much smaller in scope but highlights the purpose of passing knowledge from one generation of musicians to the next. This aspect of education to create skilled workers through community effort is the key purpose of creating Asura Records as well as the founding of systems like the Mondragon Co-Ops of Basque, Spain. Follow on articles for Co-Op record labels will explore how these organizations formed and their own business structures, which require outreach and interviews to come.

Distro.fm is a new startup non-profit company that will host artist-to-fan subscription services like you would find on Spotify.com, but the bulk of the money generated from the subscription goes directly to the artist not a tech company. This is a great concept which I will watch as they move towards their launch date. This idea combines the streaming radio trend with content that the artist can release directly to their fan base outside of traditional releases. Content can include jam sessions, concerts, art and interviews. Really it is up to the artist to devise what their fans want and make the content have value to keep them subscribed year after year. A great steady revenue stream potential in this concept especially if Distro.fm delivers on a percentage of profit sharing that beats out the competition.

Please comment to this article if you would like to share any other Co-Op record labels for my research.