There's no single right way to run a record label. And sometimes, listening to too much advice—even from this podcast—can make you feel like you're doing everything wrong.

In this episode of Other Record Labels, we're talking about the importance of finding your own way as a label owner, and why copying someone else's strategy isn't always the answer.

Podcasts, books, and industry experts can provide incredible ideas and inspiration. But there's a downside: they can also convince you that you need to do everything you're hearing.

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What does starting a record label actually look like?

James Nixon is documenting the entire process.

James is a pianist, working parent, and the founder of Fern Rose Records. What began with sharing piano ideas online eventually turned into a plan to record the music he plays for his family, press it to vinyl, and build an independent record label around it.

In this episode, we talk about why he decided to start a label, building an audience by being genuinely useful, documenting the process publicly, turning followers into supporters, manufacturing vinyl, funding a first release, and figuring things out as you go.

It’s a great look at what starting a small record label actually looks like when you’re right in the middle of doing it.

Learn more about Fern Rose Records at fernroserecords.com.

This episode is sponsored by Squarespace.

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What if releasing more music is actually more important than making every release perfect?

In this episode, I make the case for quantity over quality—and why independent artists and record labels may need to rethink the traditional album cycle altogether.

We’ll talk about release frequency, building a catalogue, perfectionism, streaming momentum, and why we’re probably not very good judges of which of our own songs are actually the “best.”

This isn’t an argument for making bad music. It’s an argument for making more music, releasing more often, and giving yourself more chances to connect with listeners.

Presented by Hellbender Vinyl - hellbendervinyl.com

Presented by Hellbender Vinyl - http://www.hellbendervinyl.com

Poison Furrows is an underground label releasing black metal, dark folk, dark ambient, dungeon synth, and other music from the darker corners of independent music.

In this conversation, we talk about building a label around personal taste, why physical formats still matter in niche music communities, and the different roles of cassettes, CDs, and vinyl. We also get into artist relationships, pressing records, finding new music, managing the cost and risk of physical releases, and why slowing down can sometimes be an important part of building a sustainable label.

What if the best way to figure out how to promote music is to look at how you discover music yourself?

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PRESENTED BY HELLBENDER VINYL

Vinyl pressing for independent artists and record labels.

hellbendervinyl.com

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In this episode, I share a simple exercise for reverse engineering the last few records you discovered — and using those discoveries to rethink how you promote your own releases.

We talk about the weird and unpredictable ways music finds us, why there probably isn’t one perfect marketing strategy, and why effective promotion is really a combination of low-stakes, mid-stakes and high-stakes actions happening at the same time.

Instead of searching for the one big promotional win, maybe the goal is simply to give your music as many opportunities as possible to bump into the right people.

This week I’m talking with Patrick McCarthy and Yosuke Kitazawa of Temporal Drift, celebrating five years of one of the most fascinating independent labels around.

PRESENTED BY HELLBENDER VINYL - http://hellbendervinyl.com

We talk about building a two-person label, reissues vs. new music, licensing, release schedules, Hiroshi Yoshimura’s incredible Surround, Les Rallizes Dénudés, and how they’ve built a catalogue that can stretch from beautiful environmental ambient music all the way to abrasive Japanese psych and noise — and somehow still feel like the same label.

And we try to tackle the interesting thought: Are we eventually going to run out of incredible forgotten records to rediscover?

Check out Temporal Drift: http://temporaldrift.today

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