NYC Indie Labels: Frenchkiss Records
Just as the major labels began their decade-long downward spiral, NYC’s Frenchkiss Records began growing. Today, they’re a sustainable and influential indie rock label, and in an age when seemingly home-brewed labels are often just boutique imprints for giant conglomerates, Frenchkiss Records staunchly remains a true independent.
Est. in 1999
“Frenchkiss is definitely my baby,” label owner and Les Savy Fav bassist Syd Butler told us in an interview yesterday. “I’ve had people ask to invest in it, and all I can say is ‘well, maybe we can invest in other things, but Frenchkiss – that’s mine’.”
None of this, however, means that the label is against expanding. Last year, Frenchkiss started its own publishing company. Last month, it announced it would leave the RED distribution network completely in favor of its longtime digital distributor, The Orchard. And just yesterday, Butler confirmed that Frenchkiss would start its very own label group in an effort to help “developing labels transform into developed labels.”
How To Grow Your Own Label From Home (Or The Road)
Since Syd Butler’s day job as bass player for the NYC indie rock band Les Savy Fav keeps him on the road much of the time, he conducts a good portion of his official Frenchkiss duties from a Blackberry. He started the label to release his band’s second record back in 1999, and has refused to treat either role as secondary.
“When we first started, expectations were different,” Butler says. “Back then, the bands we signed were happy to sell 500 copies of their records.” Frenchkiss has grown significantly since, and the label places its goal for new bands at about 5,000 copies. “We budget all of our records on that number, so if we can sell more than 5,000, it’s a huge success for all of us. Anything less and we know we have some work to do.”
After blowing up on Frenchkiss, Passion Pit signed to Columbia for UK distribution
Of course, some Frenchkiss bands do much more than that, often selling 5,000 copies in vinyl alone. Butler cites Passion Pit, who went from playing shows in front of friends at small clubs to filling 2,000 seat venues and selling more than 20,000 records in 2 weeks.
Other label mates, from straight-ahead rockers like The Hold Steady to no-wave infused experimentalists like Ex Models have become critics’ darlings and major names in their circles after joining the label. Same goes for newer signees like The Antlers, Local Natives, and Freelance Whales.
But then again, the term “signee” may be a little misleading. According to Butler, The Hold Steady’s contract was “a handshake over a burrito.” He says that’s business as usual at Frenchkiss: “We basically give the bands some money, and tell them they can use it to go make a record… or not.”
“Sure, we expect them to deliver an album, but they can pretty much use [the advance] on whatever they want. Some of the bands are pretty good on Pro Tools and end up doing a lot of that at home, and some of them use that money to help pay a producer and a studio.
“Then, there are sometimes bands who’ve completed everything themselves and don’t want us to own the masters, but they’ll license it to us instead. In that case, we’ll basically rent the rights to sell the album for ten years. There are a lot of ways it can work.”
An Artist’s Biggest Threat
Since Frenchkiss grew substantially when the major labels were crying foul on file sharing, Butler can be dismissive about most of the negative side effects of a free and unfettered web. “If you put out a good record, people are going to buy it,” he says. “The days of selling 50 million copies of one album – that’s what’s long gone.
Les Savy Fav with Syd Butler, center
“The weird thing, though, is that the songs you give away, the ones that people share the most – those are the ones they buy the most too. Those are the ones they come out to concerts to hear.”
What Butler does see as potentially dangerous are album leaks. He’s had to deal with them in his own band: “The last Les Savy Fav record leaked about 2 months before its release date. People were downloading it and ripping it before we even had a chance to promote it or to offer it up for sale.”
“It was strange, because when we went on tour, our audience was growing, and people were singing along to the new songs. Yeah, we were getting paid more money to play live, but people stopped buying our merch, and that really effected us.
“If you release a record and then people some people download it or whatever, that’s one thing. But at least you were allowed to do what you needed to do to set it up and sell some copies. A promotional campaign starts 4 or 5 months out. It takes a long time to get all those ducks in a row, and if the album leaks right in the middle of meeting – well, the whole ship falls apart, and that’s when a band has trouble selling its record.”
Keeping It In The Family
Frenchkiss is rare for a small indie in that there appears to be little tying their bands together as far as genre is concerned. Although there are sure to be some crossover fans, it’s often hard to hear a stylistic thread running between the electropop of Passion Pit, the cacophony of Ex Models, the homespun charm of Freelance Whales and the jittery art-punk of Les Savy Fav.
Butler (right) + Frenchkiss staffers
Butler says that Frenchkiss only has two rules for signing new bands: they have to love and believe in the music, and they have to love and believe in the people. One is not sufficient, and there are no rules as to style. (“If the next thing we all love is a hip hop band, we’re going to sign a hip hop band,” Butler says.)
“We only put out about 8 records each year, so we really get behind all of the bands we sign.” The bands have to get behind Frenchkiss, too. “There are some bands who pass on us because they’re offered a ton of money to sign at a major label instead, and that’s fine.”
“I think the bands who sign with us see the advantage of being on an artist-run label. I’ve been in that van, I’ve done that drive, and it means we can all relate when we’re hanging out having beers or getting dinner together. It adds this level of trust and connection that’s not there with a manager and an A&R guy. They know that our survival depends on growing each of the bands we sign. We can’t afford to throw any of them away.
“I know too many bands who’ve signed to a major and then find that their A&R guy gets fired and they have no idea what’s happened. With us, when a band calls they’re going to get me on the phone. At the end of the day, I’m the boss, and no one is going to fire me from under them.”
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