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Hydra Head Records Is No More.


six acre lake

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Damn, that's the first thread I've opened since the forum {censored} the bed and it's terrible news.

 

 

Wait, wait. Some obscure label failed? Say it isn't so.

 

 

Hydra Head isn't really that obscure and they've out out a ton of fantastic records but yes, I'm sure it couldn't have been easy to make the books balance these past few years.

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You had a better shot at it back in the early 90s (when Hydra Head was founded) before downloading became such a major issue and before the record industry as a whole took a colossal dump.

 

 

Really? Before the internet/free web marketing/cheap recording tools/illegal downloads came into being, what independent labels were out there releasing this kind of music and succeeding at it for over 20 years?

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Touch and Go? SST? Not as extreme examples, but your little sister and her friends probably aren't listening to Don Cab or St. Vitus either.

 

 

yeah, I'll give you Touch and Go as being somewhat similar. SST was releasing stuff with far more popular appeal and promoting bands with much bigger followings. Not even apples and oranges there. And even they pretty much ceased most of their business by the mid-90s (which was, oddly enough, after approximately 20 years in business and before the advent of file sharing).

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Hydra Head isn't really that obscure and they've out out a ton of fantastic records but yes, I'm sure it couldn't have been easy to make the books balance these past few years.

 

"The label grew to accommodate local bands such as Roswell, Corrin, Piebald and Converge". Only obscure to me apparently, but I'm old as dirt and have never really been into metal. :idk:

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Really? Before the internet/free web marketing/cheap recording tools/illegal downloads came into being, what independent labels were out there releasing this kind of music and succeeding at it for over 20 years?

 

 

I was working at one back then, and it wasn't inexpensive gear we were using - we were using 2" 24 track machines, large format consoles - pretty much the same as everyone else was back then. You set (or were given) a budget, you did your pre-production, rented studio time, and went in and made the record. Indie labels weren't all making a killing - most failed, same as always... but that doesn't mean they didn't exist. Heck, you can go back to the 1950s and even earlier and find indie labels... some of which did very well. Atlantic for example. Want more? How about Chrysalis, IRS, Matador, Tooth & Nail, Epitaph. Rough Trade, etc. etc.

 

Yes, marketing was different, and distribution was different - you had to use an actual distributor who could get you into stores, and you had to advertise on the radio and in print, and have a promotion department - again, just like any other label. You had some challenges, but you also had a lot less "noise" to contend with.

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I was working at one back then, and it wasn't inexpensive gear we were using - we were using 2" 24 track machines, large format consoles - pretty much the same as everyone else was back then. You set (or were given) a budget, you did your pre-production, rented studio time, and went in and made the record. Indie labels weren't all making a killing - most failed, same as always... but that doesn't mean they didn't exist. Heck, you can go back to the 1950s and even earlier and find indie labels... some of which did very well. Atlantic for example. Want more? How about Chrysalis, IRS, Matador, Tooth & Nail, Epitaph. Rough Trade, etc. etc.


Yes, marketing was different, and distribution was different - you had to use an actual distributor who could get you into stores, and you had to advertise on the radio and in print, and have a promotion department - again, just like any other label. You had some challenges, but you also had a lot less "noise" to contend with.

 

 

Yeah, that was pretty much my point. It seems like people always want to blame every failure of their own band, their favorite band, their favorite record label, etc. on the new technology and specifically on file-sharing. But it's always been damn near impossible to make it in the music industry and it's always been damn near impossible to keep an indie record label devoted to obscure and challenging music afloat for many years. Technological innovations have presented new challenges, but they have also made it way easier and way cheaper to record and distribute. If anything, I feel like alot of what gets blamed on file-sharing, is actually the result of the market being flooded due to how easy it is to record and distribute records now.

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