Which indie record labels are/were the best run in terms of paying everyone on time, getting releases out, paying their taxes, etc...?

The obvious candidates are the record labels that have been around for a long time, but I'm wondering about the little-known labels that were really solid and not flaky. What would cause their demise?

sst

Ronco

Ron Popeil seems like he'd be more pleasant to deal with than Greg Ginn, and probably would have been a better father figure to Henry Rollins.

define "indie"

xp exactly!

indie in the sense that they can't depend on a deep-pocketed conglomerate to bail them out or subsidize shoddy accounting practices. (so i guess rhino and sub pop are out?)

along with Rough Trade, Matador, and Creation

feel like drag city is one of the few i haven't heard at least slightly shady things about. and it seems like artists stick around there.

yeah that might be my vote

I've never heard anything untoward about Dischord. I think they also provide health insurance for their (admittedly very small number of) employees.

Homestead

Tzadik?

Wait...the label is supposed to pay us?

Touch and Go was supposed to be pretty solid by people.

I think them and AmRep kinda like Dischord have just kinda phased down operations more to mostly just back catalog except a few releases over the past few years.

not K records, who are currently selling off almost their entire estate to pay their debt to kimya dawson, phil elverum, etc... i find it embarrassing and rather sad.

i'm on Saint Marie. It's been fine. that said we have to pay for the production of our own stuff; but we get royalty checks regularly once a year, which is nice and has never happened before. his reissue series (shoegaze albums, piano magic) are doing very well also.

Not a label, but something else (becoming notorious)---this from the hypebot music biz newsletter:

After Raising $9 Million, Music Dealers Abruptly Shutters Sync Licensing Service, Musicians Go Unpaid

A music tech startup going out of business is often just another sad story. But Music Dealers raised big money and cut big deals. Now it's founder has moved on to a glitzy new startup co-founded with a former exec of the defunct synch licensing site's top former clients. The result: many artists are left without payment.

_______________________________________

Licensing service Music Dealers has shut down, and many artists that made music available through the site are crying foul.

Music Dealers launched in 2008, providing easy-access online song licensing to content creators and top brands including Coca-Cola, Sony McDonalds, Disney, CBS and HBO. In 2011, Music Dealers signed an exclusive deal with The Coca-Cola Company to be the brand’s global music partner. That partnership appears to have ended in 2015. music dealers logo

Earlier this year, Music Dealers founder and CEO Eric Sheinkop released a book on the ins and outs of music and branding - Return of the Hustle: The Art of Marketing With Music. But the rise and fall of Music Dealers began years ago.

Between 2010 and 2013, the Chicago and New York based startup raised $9.25 million from CSA Partners. Now Music Dealers is out of business; and founder Sheinkop has moved on, proudly touting the new shopping startup desirelist, which he co-founded with Judith Snyder. For 14 years, Snyder was an executive at one-time Music Dealer partner Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola global brand PR Judith Snyder calls time after 14 years https://t.co/4jjrKSK5CU - So proud to have this woman as a co-founder

— E. Sheinkop (@ESheinkop) June 30, 2016

Musicians Feel Burned

While Sheinkop and Snyder may be off to their new venture, many of the musicians that made music available on Music Dealers are left without payment.

"After countless emails and failed promises Music Dealers failed to pay out $2600 to one of my artists," producer and manager Tyler Neil Johnson told Hypebot. "I went to email again...they bounced back... did a quick google search to find out they went bankrupt and their Facebook and Twitter had been deleted. Its just sad because a lot of artists like my client were never given any warning about this and will probably never see that money."

"I discovered my song had been placed by accident... 5 years later."

Online, other artists are sharing similar stories. "I joined in 2010. Then in 2011 the contract to one of my songs was amended (without my knowledge or consent)," wrote one songwriter. "Soon after that song was placed in an episode of the Netflix version of the TV show ‘Charmed’ as part of blanket deal. I have only discovered my song had been placed by accident recently ... some 5 years later. I have received no fee or royalties at all for this placement... When I contacted music dealers to find out more about all this, I was told the delay in royalty payments was due to the fact that the man who deals with the CBS cue sheets had passed away, so the paperwork was stalled (for 5 years?)."*

Since the status of the company is unclear, songwriters are unsure of who controls their compositions.

Requests for comment from Music Dealers for this story have gone unanswered, so far.

*Discussions here: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-picture/1103772-music-dealers-liqudation.html?utm_source=feedblitz&utm_medium=FeedBlitzEmail&utm_content=395530&utm_campaign=0

How is Thrill Jockey? Presumably decent?

sst

― ienjoyhotdogs, Wednesday, July 27, 2016 12:39 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

hahaha literally does any artist who was on SST not hate ginn & say he owes them money?

How is Thrill Jockey? Presumably decent?

― sam jax sax jam (Jordan), Thursday, July 28, 2016 4:06 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Thrill Jockey is beyond decent. A musician I knew who had been recording for major and indie labels for nearly 50 years was stunned at a) the amount of his first Thrill Jockey check, and b) the swiftness with which it arrived.

yeah think i read david byrne saying he made more on some random soundtrack released on thrill jockey than any of his major label solo records. TJ is just a straight 50/50 split operation right?

“As we’re leaving, Greg opens up the side door—he was there the whole time—and we look at him, he looks at us, and he slammed that door shut and we hauled ass,” said Weinrich. “I’ll tell it like is, I don’t give a fuck. That motherfucker is not cool.”

http://www.ahazeinthehollow.com/2016/07/02/doom-rock-legend-scott-wino-weinrich-obsessed/

Ninja Tune is also a 50/50 split, and still going strong after 26 years (one year less than Warp, who nobody ever seems to have had a major beef w/?)

Half A Cow also started 1990 and basically scaled down to digital-only these days, but out of financial responsibility rather than earlier mismanagement