MATADOR: WE'RE SORRY

"We're sorry for unleashing Seven Mary Three on the World"...then later: "actually that was Mammoth Records, an easy mistake to make."

The Interpol record has done quite well for them.

re: dropping "fringe" artists - I wouldn't be surprised if they had only a 2 or 3 album deal with Solex, though of course don't know the details. There's a diff between getting dropped and not getting a contract renewed.

Surely the S+E reissue brought was good for the cash flow, since it has a minimal overhead cost and pretty much came pre-sold.

I think Hstencil is also correct about Solex only having a short-term contract with Matador. I seem to remember reading an interview a few years ago in which Elisabeth suggested that Hard Kick Low Bop was the end of her contract.

Pretty much all their electronic, hip hop and European acts (check the "Matador Alumni" section of the drop down "Artists section" on the main page).

I think Matador's still a great label, and though they aren't breaking new artists the way they were in the early 90s, they're still putting out albums by some of the best artists in music today.

does gerard read this board? he's always seemed to be a really together, well-spoken guy from other lists i've been on with him, and i have a tremendous amount of respect for him.

But yeah, you're definitely right. Matador has been building itself on the backs of smaller indies since the start.

I'm sure the new Cat Power is selling fine. I don't know how much back catalog they have left, though: it looks like a lot has been deleted.

Sounds like Gerard is, again, stealing my good ideas and making money off of them while I am living in the poor house in San Francisco's Mission District.

I did a similar thing on my website (SanFranciscoArtMagazine.com) on April 1st, 2001...putting this on the gateway page:
http://www.sanfranciscoartmagazine.com/april/fools.html

The concept of a 'joke' needs to be understood more.
-- Ned Raggett

Yes, indeed. Mind you, my website was entirely created on my daughter's $600 "BARBIE" computer and no one on the website was ever promised money for writing for it...yet, there were some of writers calling me up.."What do you mean the site's closing?? That's so sad, what with the dot-com bust and all. I knew we'd be next. I am so sorry to hear that. Wow...all three offices closed?!"

I thought mentioning the fact that we had "Offices" would be a clue.

Joke, people. Joke!

Yes, I think Gerard is trying to steal my thunder.

Look, he hasn't discovered a good band since the time he heard me playing a Squirrel Bait demo.

GC: "What's that?"

BK" "Ok, that's a tape my penpal in Louisville sent me. Not too shabby."

GC: It's fucking great! Are you writing him back soon? Can you put one of these here contracts in there and tell him it's "stationery" for him to write you back on. Tell him to put his signature under the part at that bottom where it says "With Love Forever" ?

It was not meant to suggest that Matador is going out of business. Though you can bet we are VERY sorry anyone thinks so!

2) Solex. Sorry, putting a positive spin on Matador not releasing the next Solex album is beyond my capabilities. She's an amazing artist and a terrific person and we sorely wish we had room & time for everyone who fits that description. Our loss will doubtlessly be another smart label's gain.

3) "how is Matador doing?"

Not bad. As someone mentioned, the Interpol album has been one of the strongest sellers in label history. While the reduced list price was a margain killer for some time, the album has been sold at full price since January. The new Cat Power album is off to a good start and if you'd like to know more about other records that may or may not sell well, there are other places you can read about it.

4) S&E reish.

though it cost us nothing to re-record, the packaging costs were actually super high. I'm not bitching, just saying.

5) the label dropping all of its hip hop, electronic and european acts.

While Mr. Funk is partially correct, there are several artists who were not technically "dropped" (ie. they were either signed to one-off deals or their recordings were licensed from another company). That said, we have new records from the vaguely electronic Matmos and Lesser coming later in 2003, along with a new album from the vaugely european The Wisdom Of Harry.

6) my office ain't plush. Not the current one, anyway!

7) Burma Kitty.

With my head bowed, I fully admit that pretty much every decent idea I've ever had was ripped off from B.K. Some of the lousy ideas, too.

re:
I'm not bitching, just saying.

With my head bowed, I fully admit that pretty much every decent idea I've ever had was ripped off from B.K. Some of the lousy ideas, too.

Yeah, SURE that's Gerard Cosloy posting.

I NEVER had a lousy idea.

...oh, wait a minute...maybe with that one guy...and then there was the time...and that one lawsuit...then there's the time I asked my husband if it would be ok if I...and then there were some message board rants...

hmm...where was I?

Oh, Gerard, I think you owe me an email. I haven't heard from you since last time I was whining about messageboard abuse.

It's ok. Don't be afraid to write.

My husband doesn't read my email.

...at least I don't think he does...

Hard for us to determine for sure just how much or how little this had to do with the album's success at retail. The cheap price made it easier for people to check out the band and certainly made it easier for stores to take a bigger initial quantity of the album than they might've otherwise. On the other hand, were it not for other things happening in concert with this cheap price campaign (ie. strong press, well received gigs, lotsa college play, good word of mouth in advance of the album, good reactions to the pre-album EP, etc.) the reduced list might've been meaningless. We did this once before with another band's debut album and struggled to sell a couple of thousand.

I wouldn't say we'll never do it again, but there's no guarantee that a reduced list would help another new release. I think it is one of those things that only works if we do it on very rare occasions and as noted above, other scenarios need to develop the right way or the price all by itself won't make any difference.

Since 'Turn On The Bright Lights' went up to full price in January, the sales have actually increased. Would we have seen similarly strong sales had the album gone out with a standard price last year? We'll never know.

Keith : as soon as Prodigy comes back, I'll start posting about the Dustdevils and Bettie Serveert again.

GC

But Interpol didn't get 3 UK-only EPs and their full length released four months after Matador Europe released it, making the band look like an after-thought.

Since 'Turn On The Bright Lights' went up to full price in January, the sales have actually increased.

God bless Year End Best of lists.

-- Gerard Cosloy (gerar...), March 11th, 2003 7:25 AM. (link)

Ahem.

http://www.matadorrecords.com/matablog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/matadorposter5.jpg

haha that's going to make someone I know on here pretty excited

god help me, i'm sorta considering that

oh shit i saw that earlier today but missed chavez on the flier...

damn...

guitar wolf used to tear shit up live

vital chatter here: ¡Olé! It's the Matador Records Poll! Part Tres: 101-150

Yeah I really wish it wasn't in Vegas. I have no desire to spend three days there.

ooh gbv reunion

i thought guitar wolf weren't going to go on w/o bass wolf (rip). thit is good (and probably old!) news.

"this" obviously

i distinctly said that superchunk should be above puppet show jsbx

Liz Phair should play to, and look incredibly nervous the whole time. Anyway, Fucked Up's last real album was pretty amazing.

I'd be into that but I think that's too much Matador for Vegas… still will be hella parties

i saw Matador tweet something about a Black Friday sale so I ventured over to their site and started poking around the shop.

am i totally missing something or is it (and their site in general) a confusing, difficult-to-navigate, occasional dead-ending disaster?

i can remember back in the day they were behind the curve as far as the internet goes but i guess i assumed they would've caught up by now.

am i wrong here?