OK, I’m going to try to be very narrow in my critique here as I generally don’t like to rag on stuff in my writing. So, let’s just right-off-the-bat start with the qualifier that I’m going to skirt the issue of the aesthetic value of the particular bands in the video below. Let’s assume for the sake, of argument, that they have their audience and they do quite well for themselves…again, just for the sake of argument.
Now, I also have an basic assumption that comes into play and that is the idea that all art of value is about trying to establish a unique point of view on the part of a the artist. By the same token, any good label will, I think, have some sort of identity as well and that identity will reflect the aesthetics of its owners. For example, by and large, you get a general feel for what Alfred Lion and Francis Wolf were into and, in particular, the culture that surrounded them when you listen to Blue Note albums. The same, I would argue in a general sense, is true for Sub Pop’s Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman, SST’s Greg Ginn, (and for some Houston examples) Leland Rodgers’ Internationals Artists, Anomie Records’ Scott Ayers and Bliss Blood, Rap-a-Lot’s J Prince, and Dull Knife’s Brent Tipton. If you can establish that kind of unique perspective, you can build an audience of fans who appreciate your aesthetics as well as provide a historical record for future generations. (Yes, I’m arguing that label owners a pseudo-historians of particular scenes.) Now, I’m not saying you will make money, only that you will have something cool in my book.
So, having established where I come from on labels, I find this somewhat puzzling. In the newest Houston Press Music Awards, Space City Records has somehow been nominated for Best Local Label. Mind you this is a label who has been around for – as best as I can guess – a bit over a year and, as far as I can tell hasn’t released anything beyond some on-line downloads. A look at their Facebook just in June is fascinating in and of itself:
“We would like to welcome aboard our good friend XXX as Space City Records first lawyer. Congrats on all the hard work buddy!”
“Welcome XXX as Space City Records, VP of Marketing. Our company continues to grow everyday, thank you all for keeping us going.”
OK and this one from May is good too:
“Welcome aboard 3 new execs to Space City Records this year so far. xxx (Executive Vice President), XXX (VP of New Media Marketing), and XXX (VP of Promotions). The family continues to grow everyday, thank you all for supporting what we do!”
Damn, Man! I can’t wait till they post who gets the Executive in charge of the running down the street for a six pack, smokes, and Kitty Litter But I’m getting off-point. The point isn’t the lack of tangible product released in the last year (at least any I can find on their websites), nor is it the whole “look at us play businessmen” on Facebook, nor is it even why the label is even nominated – it’s this video below:
Now I want you to put aside the obvious questions about the “Hey, look at all these neat transitions I can do!” aesthetic. What I want to break it down is – in listening to these bands – what is the point of view of the owners of the label?
I hold there is none that this label is a vacuous business enterprise lacking in any soul whatsoever.
Or let me put it in a completely ridiculous way; this is not Darth Vader in episodes 4-6, this is Darth Vader at the end of Episode 3 holding his fists in the air and crying “NOOOO!” while we in the audience just try not to giggle.
well there is no disputing that it’s all about whoever gets the people to vote.
i think it’s funny how team science records, who have been consistently putting out records, like actual records, for five years, has never been nominated. And not just local bands, but national acts, like Matt and Kim and Franz Nicolay.
i guess when you refuse to toot your own horn, nobody gives a shit.
Believe me I thought of adding Team Science. Fucking awesome label but the list was already getting long.
After reading this I checked out the bands on the label. Whether the video was bad or not, or you are some way pissed off about a nomination, they have signed some pretty talented artists. From the looks of it almost all of them are nominated for the Houston Press Awards along with the label. Not really sure of what to get from your article. I actually have downloaded a few tunes from a couple of the bands. Lighten up buddy, people are just out there trying to find success. Why would you ever have a problem with that?
VP of Street Team?
We have a winner.
Well, Adam, let me give you the cliffs notes.
My main point is the label here doesn’t have a particular unique point of view and I think that is crucial for a label to be worthwhile. Chris Mentioned the very worthy Team Science which has a wide range or artists but still reflects the owners taste. Space City Records looks like a random Google search of local bands.
And as for the HPMAs. If my band were to be nominated this year I would object because we haven’t released a thing over the last 365, so why should I hold a different standard for this label? Me, I’d be embarrassed to be up there when there are other local labels who actually do represent a particular aesthetic and scene and most importantly HAVE released tangible albums. Sorry but the Best Label award is unearned – end of story.
From the looks of it almost all of them are nominated for the Houston Press Awards along with the label.
Screams “talented” to me!
Why are you hating? All you have done is point out they are are a growing local indie label who is getting exposure..You cry foul with no basis to cry it other than your own personal opinion..and guess what.. opinions are like assholes, everyone has them. And thats right Chris. The people voted..thats the whole point of the Houston Press Awards is it not? Why dont you get mad at the fact that the Houston Press allows national acts to be included on ballots that are meant for local emerging artists to get exposure and their names out there…and are you that stupdid to NOT read the label’s website? “Space City Records is a new label out of Houston, Texas. Their goal is to bring a fresh style to Houston with original music, quality performances, and professional recordings. From Hip Hop to Rock, Space City Records brings something for everyone.” Seems pretty straight forward on what the owner’s point of views are. You make points about labels like Rap-a-lot and others..do you think they had it all down perfect and didnt have to grow and learn when they started out? Or maybe it never occured to you that they started really small and started growing and took everything off their site and started from scratch? Of course not that wouldnt make any sense would it? Because just because you have a small spot in cyberspace to spout your own opinion it means you are God in that area and know everything..And to base an opinion SOLELY off a small 1 minute video with nothing but intros to some songs and photos of bands and groups is just simply amazing to me that you could form such an uneducated dead set opinion on something. One sided maybe? Sounds to me like someone you know and like didnt get nominated so you have to trash what you can.
Once again I visited the webpage, facebook, and myspace. They suck 4 times over. Once for each page and an extra one for being nominated for not having done released anything.
I’ll ignore the rest of your monologue as it never addresses this one basic issue.
LATE BREAKING NEWS FOR BRANCH HOUSTON…
“Space City Records is a new label out of Houston, Texas. Their goal is to bring a fresh style to Houston with original music, quality performances, and professional recordings. From Hip Hop to Rock, Space City Records brings something for everyone.”
is not an aesthetic point of view, it is a marketing pitch.
Their goal is to bring a fresh style to Houston
And by “their,” you mean “our,” right?
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. From an outside point of view, this article just looks like you had a bad day. They might not be Team Science, but honestly who cares? The comment about random google search of local bands I find completely closed minded. They have bands on there like Kemo For Emo who have been around since I was in highschool and who has put out ep’s and albums throughout the years. They are pretty bad ass for a band not on a major label. Also there is a rapper on there named Kyle. Take a listen, I’m not into rap but the guy is really good. It also looks like he’s gotten quite a bit of press. My point is, before you start to rant about how someone is undeserving of something, look into it like I did. I started off with the same opinion as you after watching the video, but the bands and the label get press for a reason. I mean they have to be doing something right? But again, its your article, and my little ol’ opinion.
As the owner of Space City Records, I’m not a fan of this article, but you have the right to speak your mind. Just for the record, 4 of our artists will be releasing a CD in the next month or 2, and what better time than after all this publicity? We aren’t just jokers who wanna run a label, we love music and want to become a prosperous label like the ones you mentioned in your article, one day.
We are new though, less than 2 years old, but will continue to do what we do and hopefully turn you into a fan eventually. Being nominated just showed us how much support we really have. No hating here, just defending my label
And that is fair (and props for posting by the way) but I think you can apprecaite why a label that has released material over the last 365 would be considered worthy of a nomination whereas one that hasn’t seems lacking.
Here is the thing in music. I think Johnathan Sage pegged my sentiments perfectly when in giving advice to aspiring bands he said, “My advice is to just put stuff out; it’s always going to be better than the band who did nothing.”
Right now, and I mean this with no malice, you are at nothing. After that first release there’s a different story but for right now anybody who has released anything over the last year is better than space city records.
Jeez, it’s like giving the Nobel Peace Prize to someone who is so new at their job that they couldn’t have done anything. I mean, whew, how embarrasing would it be if that happened?
Thats what I’m sayin Aadam! Hit the nail on the head like waddup..
Wow, You really don’t get it do you. Let me try again…
“The comment about random Google search of local bands I find completely closed minded. They have bands on there like Kemo For Emo who have been around since I was in highschool and who has put out ep’s and albums throughout the years.”
First off no, becasue I went through all the bands and there is no unifying thread at all in the bands. Thus random google search applies. Secondly I am purposefully sidestepping the quality of the bands so sorry to hurt your feeling about Kemo For Emo but I guess that would require actually reading the bloody post. Here let me cut and paste from the 1st paragraph for you; “I’m going to skirt the issue of the aesthetic value of the particular bands in the video below. Let’s assume for the sake, of argument, that they have their audience and they do quite well for themselves”
Now more to the point – did Space City Records release one of their albums you cite? No, THEY DID NOT.
Do you understand the distinction between a band releasing records and a label releasing records? If you do not, then you are never going to understand the critique of why the label is unworthy.
Even you seem to agree that it’s a hodge-podge when you bring up the “rap guy”. I mean a great label is one where if you like one artist you’re likely gonna be on the boat for the rest of the bands. Clearly you admit you are not…but, your defense is that someone else likes them. Please explain to me the aesthetic point of view of this label – not “bands who rock”, not “cool bands”, not “bands that get a lot of press” – I mean something that tells me something about the owners. Look at the examples I gave (which falls under my criteria for great labels) and tell me how in the hell, this label falls under that umbrella? They don’t – it’s a bloody joke.
Get back to me in a year if and when they ever produce product. Had they even released one thing this year, you’d have something to stand on but they haven’t so why do you insist on pressing the point? Label FAIL!
Why does there have to be a unifying thread to the music? Most people have a very mixed bag of music they enjoy and listen to..why cant a label be the same way? Why does a label have to stick to one area of music? To please you? Because they didnt realease anything this year that is your only thing you have to say…thats it… doesnt mean people dont know who they are..doesnt mean they dont have good bands… I see nowhere in any rules and guidelines for the HPMA’s that a label had to have realased ANYTHING! It doesnt say Best Local Label with new albums out this year does it? These bands who have realased albums or cd’s or ep’s seem to think they are doing something right.. because this is where they have chosen to go. Ignore whatever you want..because it is clear that no matter what is said to you your mind is made up based on small infinite things that you personally see as indescrestions against your personal idea of what a label should do and how it should be run…if you dont like it..then do it yourself… or buy the Houston Press out and run the awards as YOU see fit..The people voted..so it doesnt really matter what you think about them..weather they win or not..it doesnt matter..they still got nominated.. Have a good day
“Because they didn’t release anything this year that is your only thing you have to say…that’s it”
YES
THAT
IS
EXACTLY
IT
HOW FUCKING HARD
IS IT TO UNDERSTAND
THAT YOU HAVE TO ACTUALLY HAVE DONE SOMETHING TO BE RECOGNIZED?
Hey can you nominate me for best physicist? i haven’t really done anything but read a few books!
I mean what the fuck?
How dare you stand up for a label that hasn’t released a thing over the last year when there are other labels who have released things in the last year. If a five year old released a CD of themselves humming to fucking Mario Bros 3, their label would better than space city records because they actually would have actually released something. YOU ARE WORTHY IF N>0 WHERE N IS THE NUMBER OF cdS, lpS, OR CASSETTES RELEASED INT HE LAST YEAR. GET IT?
Please for fuck’s sake. explain to me why any award – even one that’s just for fun like the HPMAs – should honor any individual or organization that hasn’t done anything yet? it’s ridiculous.
You said it yoruself…”even one that’s just for fun like the HPMAs”….so if its just for fun …why are you so butthurt?
Because there are labels who have done great work over the year. Labels who weren’t nominated. Labels whose owners have risked personal money and put love and effort behind their work and have product to show for their efforts. The awards are fun but they also are a nice recognition for work completed. Space City records on the other hand is completely undeserving and so is utterly contemptible in my eyes.
Once again I have very clear reasons for my disliking the label and the fact they are being nominated so the question is why are you so busy pumping up such a vacuous label? They suck any friend of the label owners should recognize how undeserved the award is and try to slink away under the radar instead you boast their lack of product and can’t explain the owner’s aesthetic but keep coming back for more.
My suggestion is move to something a bit more on your level of discussion -something like Dora the Explorer would be a good starting point.
What Branch… do you see swiper?
swiper?
well
If you see swiper say “Swiper, no swiping.”
From a personal aesthetic standpoint, every single one of those song snippets sucked–and not even a little. They sucked a lot. But in the credit where credit is due category, “Krunkquistadors” is a fucking awesome band name, even if they do, as I mentioned, suck.
I have to admit my world is a little better knowing that a band like krunkquistaqdors exsits.
This is getting kinda heated now. Just FYI I did read your post, but my point was that I “personally” feel that a label is not an entity in itself, it is the groups, or bands, or acts that make the label. There are many major and indie labels that offer a large variety of music. I mean Madonna and Green Day were on the same label at one point. I understand where you are coming from and I get that. I am not trying to personally attack you, I am just mimicking you in the fact that I am expressing an opinion. Digging a little deeper I was able to see they released compilations earlier this year displaying most of the bands on the label. I guess that’s not a lot but like you said, they’ve been around maybe a year. People will always have an opinion about what you write. That’s part of the game. Your article is very well written and I truly do understand your point and agree on some levels. My only issue is that the time was spent to talk negatively about something, rather then writing an article on, let’s say Team Science. I mean they have everything you like in a label, minus public knowledge for voting. Use this as a forum to promote them. If you want to talk Houston Press issues then look at the actual winners the last few years. I was researching past Houston Press awards to see how many times Kemo For Emo won and it was 0. Because the awards went to bands like POOR DUMB BASTARDS. That right there is an argument for you. A band winning “Best Punk” who is not a punk band to begin with. Seems like the whole Jethro Tull winning best metal against Metallica. That’s a good argument. Any way, hopefully no hard feelings. Keep on writing!
Please send me the link to the released comps. Why these comps aren’t prominently listed on their sites is beyond me and why this hasn’t been brought up until now is also quite perplexing. I could not find them listed anywhere on their website, myspace, or facebook. I did see some free MP3′s but that is utterly moot as a five year old could release their own free MP3s and little cost or effort. So if that is what you are referring to, that doesn’t count.
I am spending time writing negatively about this label (again I’m not even going into the quality of the bands) because there are labels who…Oh just look at my 4:29am reply above.
As for Poor Dumb Bastards – actually they are quite punk. Your definition is a bit narrow; there is a lot more to punk than pop punk which is where I’d put KFE. Pick up some old Houston Punk comps from the 80′s or early 90′s and you’ll see where PDB fits in.
Ramon,
As I agree with you concerning the POOR DUMB BASTARDS topic, I made a mistake in what I was saying. In 2005, the category was “BEST POP PUNK”. Starting in 2006 they went to just “Best Punk”. Sorry for that but that was the point I was trying to get across. PDB should have been put in the correct category (Punk).
Adam
I don’t have anything important to add, but complaining about PDB being nominated for Pop Punk instead of Punk is nitpicking (not that what Ramon is doing is particularly consequential
). A categorization scheme is always going to end up with stuff that doesn’t exactly fit, and the HPMA in particular seem to come up with genre placements that are far further out of whack than this- Satin Hooks, who are a rock band, were once nominated for best experimental; my own band was nominated in consecutive years for Best Indie Rock and Best Punk. These labels just don’t mean much. That’s especially true of “pop punk,” which is a subgenre of a subgenre, or more accurately a style of a subgenre. I guess I could see how PDB don’t fit whatever the narrow definition of “pop punk” is, but it would really be more like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest beating Metallica for Best Thrash. It would be kind of ridiculous that such a narrow category exists to begin with.
Which is why I am guessing it was removed. My point was in 2005 PDB won for best Pop Punk, when there was a Punk category at the time. And they beat actual pop punk bands. That was it.
“but it would really be more like Iron Maiden or Judas Priest beating Metallica for Best Thrash.”
Now that is funny
Justin – you really could get an opinion of a group listening to 3-4 seconds of music? Not insulting you, just asking.
Yes. It’s a skill I picked up working in radio, where I had to do this week in, week out for 17 years. Another thing I picked up is telling how long a snippet of music is. Each one of these is closer to 10 seconds than 3. Here’s a question for you: Would you pick the best part or the worst part of a song to show off in 10 seconds?
Well we teased him a lot cuz we got him on the spot, welcome back.
Welcome Back.
Welcome Back.
Welcome Back.
rrrrRamon.
Space City Records — named so because in the 60′s the name of the town was mentioned on a moon landing? — is trying to dominate the rap/jam band/metal funk/everything under the sun that the kids can believe in market. They should change course of course so they could be…I don’t know…um…fucktard myopic major Star Wars dork fuckers.
“fucktard myopic major Star Wars dork fuckers”
Now, that is my kind of label!!!
Hell yes!!!!!
Now me I love….Heeeeey, wait a minute…
in a good way
1) If you do not release recordings, I suppose this “label” can still provide meaningful promotional support. It seems they’re making an effort in this arena, misguided as it is. But they seem to be a bit top heavy. One shouldn’t have a 1-to-1 VP-to-band ratio.
2) While all of this music is certifiably awful, I’ve heard much, much worse within their respective genres. It wouldn’t shock me if they did put out records and develop followings (rather than stuffing the HPMA webbernet ballot box).
3) This post and the Space City Records web site serves to point out how useless labels are becoming. When any artist can start their own label with a few MP3s and a Web site, that business model is dead/dying.
4) Viva democratization. But as with blogs, we live with (and embody) the consequences. There’s much more awful crap out there than decent stuff. I suppose that’s always been true, but the Web and cheap recording technology makes the marginal cost of crap (and good stuff, too) effectively zero.
My first comment never went through, it wasn’t mean or anything, but here’s another. As the owner of this label, I obviously find offense, but you are entitled to your opinion. I understand that we haven’t released any albums this year, although in the next 2 months, we will have 4 releases out, and what better time that now with all this press? But yes, we never released a full album. We have been doing everything to prepare for the new releases, we have just been slow being so new, making sure we cover all angles and hitting the live scene hard.
Even if you don’t like our music, think we are too young to be labeled as Best Label in Houston, you have to know that we work hard to do what we can with our artists. I also, don’t just assign any ole Joe for VP positions. My VP of marketing actually has a marketing degree, our lawyer actually graduated law school this year and became official. I am looking into the future and being prepared for when we do release 6-8 albums a year.
Big labels spend tons of money to do what they do, we just aren’t at that point, but guess what, we aren’t in debt at all, so I say that’s a win.
As for me having no soul, cmon man lol. The bands I pick for the label, are very talented guys and I choose a band based on how well they record, how well they perform live, and their overall personality, because who wants to deal with a jackass?
There may be no uniformity in their styles, but diversity is what makes Houston, Houston.
Either way you see us, as a fan or critic, we will continue to work hard to produce quality music and bring great bands to this city. No hating on Ramon for this article, just gonna stick it in the “motivation bag” and turn Ramon into a Space City Records fan one day.
our lawyer actually graduated law school this year and became official.
Wait, so previously your lawyer was not a lawyer?
No, we never said we had a lawyer until about late April, it’s against the law to say you are a lawyer without being legit. Before hand, he just guided us as a friend.
Well, let’s get one thing straight here. You can have a big mix of artists but, to me, a solid indie label has to represent something. That is my criteria for what I think makes a great and iconic indie label and I think that is a pretty clear criteria on which to base my critique becasue you can agree or disagree with it. I’m not merely saying – they suck. You can run the logical argument and say, hey I disagree with assertion A and therefore the rest of the argument is moot – if A then B.
The discussion has veered off quite a bit from that but I want to just say that on the other topic here of the nomination, I hold my band to no less a degree. We have also been busy but that hasn’t really made us particularly prominent in the real world over the last year. Sure we have three releases planned over the next year (a single which was released at the end of May), a CD by the end of summer, and a double LP in the winter but that doesn’t count. Now, if we were nominated for best band my reacton would be “What the fuck?” when compared to what has been released and accomplished over the last year. It’d be insulting of my band to accept such a hypothetiocal nomination (much less get our virtual street team on the case) to the bands who have released, toured, and played more shows than we have over the last 365. So why should I hold your label to a different standard. In short see the Johnathan Sage quote I used in my reply to your previous comment and that sums it up for me.
Good luck.
I have to say, as far as “releases” go, we have pumped out over 2 dozen songs last year. We had an entire compilation CD with 18 songs on it. 7 Miles from the sun released 5 songs, the physical CD will be out soon. After Time Has Passed released 3 songs, physical CD will be out in the fall. Krunkquistadors released an album in 2008 and a few singles last year. Kemo for Emo released a new single last year. Myself, as a remix producer, released 9 songs last year. A band that left the label, Linda Ln, released 5 songs. 2 of the DJs we had, but had to let go, released a full length demo for club promotion.
So if your definition of “release” is getting it on CD, turning it into soundscan, doing the whole process, then yes we lack. But if you go by songs released to the public, even online, I say we did pretty well.
Hrrrm, All I see is a Cafe Press link that is dead along with a bunch of other dead links like the one to the on-line store and Amazon. I’m assuning that this complation CD was “released” on Cafe Press which is an On-demand printer and that you are using Reverb Nation as a way to sell MP3s? I’m having to guess as RN is blocked at work and because the rest of the links are just flat out dead.
Yeah, so you’ve “released” songs to the public but so what so far that really makes the label kind of moot becasue the bands could have doen this themselves and in fact they have. It’s hardly an accomplishment at this stage.
Look you have basically put the cart before the horse and that is your problem.
A better, more respectible, strategy would have been to use your street team next year after you’ve done the work of releasing the music. Unfortunately, you guys jumped the gun and you will deservedly catch some shit for it.
Here on let me just count out five labels that released stuff last year
Cutthroat
Dull Knife
Paper Weapons
Ditchwater Records
Team Science
Somehow only one of those was nominated…
Or how about say…I dunno Swishahouse? I mean c’mon Swishahouse did more in the last year than Space City records but they aren’t nominated. So, I would say they’d be a little more worthy of some recognition.
But hey, marketing coup right? It’s not about what you’ve done, it’s how you can sell yourself.
So in closing, here is a little Bill Hicks teachable moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDW_Hj2K0wo
The only thing we had on cafepress was a tshirt, and we recently purchased our own silk screening kit for making our own merch, along with cd duplicators and printers. And we just use reverbnation for their widgets to post on other social networking sites. Maybe we jumped the gun, but dont blame us for getting the votes, if you are so upset talk to Houston Press about choosing a different way to nominate folks.
Also, I am the head engineer at my studio, where all the artists record. I offer them free recordings, which they find far more superior than what they have previously done, so no they couldn’t of done it themselves. I am here to get artists recorded, out there, and try my best to become a great label. I respect your opinion, but you can’t change what happened.
actually, you could’ve changed what happened by pulling yourself out of the running…
of course, it doesn’t really matter because no one will remember this (or your label) a year from now.
“Maybe we jumped the gun, but dont blame us for getting the votes, if you are so upset talk to Houston Press about choosing a different way to nominate folks.”
Hooray for your street team then.
You twittered, facebooked, myspaced, called up people, and god knows what else.
Congrats, you got out the vote. Whooop.
The Houston Press allowed a huge hole and y’all took advantage.
It’s kind of like when Tom Carter got Groove-A-Plenty nominated for best Funk band even though the band didn’t exist…I mean nowhere in the HPMAs did it say the band had to actually exist.
So, yeah, good for y’all.
Give your VP of Marketing a raise and a pat on the back.
Let’s just rename the category next year to “Best Label Good at Nominating Itself”
Next year if/when you have actual releases under your belt, I’ll honestly be happy for you to be nominated but this year and this HPMA the label is just this giant ball of douche.
That video is the worse thing I have ever seen.
Not one of his bands has tour dates booked.
Bands that dont tour = Bands that dont sell records.
To be honest with you I don’t think there was to much ballot stuffing. I mean my band was nominated and we have NO idea how that happen. I don’t think any of us actually knew there was a vote going on for the HPMA’s, so we didn’t solicit votes nor would we have done so. We’ve played 3 shows I think this year and put out two Mp3s, and we are a best new act. Doesn’t this happen every year? I mean last year Beau was nominated for best bassist. You might have seen Beau with a bass in his hand 6 times last year playing punk songs. And then there was that fake band that one a few years ago. All you probably need to get nominated is 2 or 3 votes is what I am getting at I guess. There is no prestige in this AT ALL. And if you really are HUMBLED by the nomination then you should go ahead and give up. I think there is a difference between a band or label that actually gives a shit about the HPMA and one who doesn’t. I know, you might say, “It’s still nice to be recognized.” But I am starting to think at this point it isn’t as far as the HPMA’s go. I do like free booze though.
Sorry the sentence should read, “And then there was that fake band that WON a few years ago.”
Sorry I’m showing up to the party a little late, but I’ll throw in my two cents.
Full disclosure: I’m the lead guitarist of Kemo For Emo, Krunkquistadors, as well as, apparently, the much vilified VP of Marketing for Space City Records. To be honest I think some of your arguments are valid – You expect more work out of a label that is supposedly one of the best of what this city has to offer, if we are to live up to the HPMA nomination. That’s a fair critique and I won’t try and tell you otherwise.
As far as our bands being “certifiably awful” as one person put it…well that just goes down to personal taste (obviously) so that’s neither here nor there. To defend my own musical work, this is Kemo’s 4th HPMA nomination, the other 3 of which were well before this record company has existed. We went the past 2 years without being nominated, but we also were not active during those years.
We choose to have a diverse artist roster because we want to represent Houston’s best, regardless of genre. So your “no soul” argument is the one I’m really disagreeing with. We’re forging our own path, and I hope you can at least respect us in that regard.
And you’re right – this is a marketing coup. The fact you’ve taken so much time and (and anger, I assume) out on us tells me that we’re doing our jobs correctly. You didn’t know about us before, but you certainly do now. I can only hope that at some point you will change your negative opinion of us – which is my next step as both a musician and the VP of marketing.
At the end of the day I’m just a regular dude with a 8-5 that’s trying to make something significant with music, be it as a guitarist in both bands or sitting behind a desk with my marketing cap on. If nothing else, I hope you can respect that. If not, that’s cool too. If I can’t change a bloggers’ mind…well, I’ll survive somehow.
If you’d like, we can speak sometime about it if you want.
Respectfully yours,
-Jake
Well I appreciate your understanding that it’s about earning it and that having even one proper release would make a lot of this moot but it’s a shitty win because you guys did put the cart before the horse.
I mean let’s say it’s a year from now and you guys have all these releases out, you guys got overlooked, and someone who hadn’t done anything gets the nod via a successful marketing campaign, you’d be justified with a collective “WTF?”
Yeah the HPMA’s are meaningless in the end but that kind of weaseling-in is just corny and amateurish and ultimately not cool for labels who have earned it. Again, a year from now if you guys pull off the releases, you guys can pat yourselves on the back after having earned it. Now it’s just kind of arrogant and presumptuous.
As for the soulless thing. Well, the problem is that a label accomplishes many things and I think one of the most valuable things that a label can do is have a kind of identity and right now the roster has none (which is what I mean by being soulless) – it’s a big thrown together haphazard casserole that looks like some all things to all people marketing strategies that end up being a disaster. The end result is a bunch of bands that on the surface have no correlation with each other.
Relapse records – Metal, Matador – Indie Rock, ESP – jazz, In The Red – Garage…
That is, to put it in marketing terms you can understand, a way to build a brand. If I love Garage and I see a band on In The Red, I may take a listen. if you were to have a great garage band on your roster, it will take a Garage fan a bit longer to find it if it’s on a label with a bunch of random bands. So that’s what I’m talking about by an identity and the owners’ tastes coming into the fore.
Oh and personally I would drop the whole VP of Marketing and blah blah blah unless you get awesoem titles like VP of Rawk and Rolllll or VP of the metal fist or some such nonsense. I mean, really, it’s pretty meaningless and corny at this stage.
Oh well, good luck.
As one of the founders of Space City Records all I can do is mimic my man Kris on this one. We may be new and may not have put anything out yet that you deem worthy of being nominated for a HPMA, but all we can do is continue our hard work with our hard working bands and artists to change your perception of us. While I personally am sorry that we do not fit your personal idea of prerequisites required to be nominated, we know how hard our artists and staff work and are not sorry for that at all. I hope that in another year from now when this all happens again that you will see that side of us, and that this article will read differently at that junction in time.
Plenty of successful labels have diversity – Epitaph Records covers everything from punk to hip hop these days…which isn’t far off from our own roster. Roadrunner had Nickelback and Glassjaw at one point, and I’ll shit a golden brick if you think they’re somehow similar to one another. American Recordings has Tom Petty and Slayer. So your argument about needing similar artists in a label is basically void in that respect.
The fact of the matter is we’re trying to build press, and seeing as your blog post made Houston Press’s Rocks Off blog, I think we are successful in that regard. Upsetting a random blogger is one of the consequences to that, I guess.
So, if you want to keep taking potshots at us…that’s fine. We’re all nice guys, so none of us are looking for a fight – honestly. But I won’t be losing any sleep if you still choose to be upset about this either.
-Jake
P.S., I don’t typically go around announcing my position with the label – but since you chose to address it in your various posts I figured I would own up to it.
In all those cases those labels beagn with a particular genre and expanded for various reasons. they didn’t build up from diversity they grew into it which is more organic.
yeah I was just joking with someone that in the end you guys get a lot of press so I lose. Ha ha ha.
Meh, I’m not looking for a fight…I’m scappin’ here but in the end it doesn’t maan two shits – it’s just the HPMAs and they are fun and not to be taken too seriously. I mean this is really just kind of academic when you get down to it.
I was just saying that the VP labels are corny at this stage. I wasn’t outing anyone (which is why I substituted XXX for people’s names). Look, if someone says, “Hey you handle the marketing side” that’s cool. But the whole VP this is really cheesy. I mean what kind of a complicated corporate hiearchy do you guys have there where you need such titles? That’s all I’m saying and I was trying to be a bit jokey about that to not sound so mean. But, to be blunt, it’s a bit much is all I was saying.
Cool. We’ll catch you on the flipside then – If I run into you at the Showcase I’ll buy you a beer.
-Jake
You have to buy him a beer, because it’s free! Remember that’s what this is really all about!!! FREE BOOOOOOOOOZZZZZZZZZZZZZZEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!
You WONT have to rathe! JEBUS I can’t type today.
WOOOOO free beer at the rice hotel! hell yes!
ohhhhh that’s our Romey!
is it me, or wasn’t there already a SPACE CITY RECORDS in Houston?
seriously, like a decade ago…
Well there’s these dudes:
http://www.myspace.com/bignblackent
Also:
http://amiestreet.com/label/space-city-records/
And:
http://www.emusic.com/label/Space-City-Recordings-CD-Baby-MP3-Download/230735.html
How about we get Houston a new nickname?
1st
Thread over, this guy wins.
Dang, some 57 responses. That’s no small feat on this site.
Whosetown? Houstoned? As much as Space City Records gets early props from a forgettable award ceremony, this seems more about an aging scenester named Ramon needlessly needling nothing. Hello, it’s Houston and no one really gives a shit anyway.
At least we have this comment to enrich our lives.
I dunno. Yeah, you are right that in the end it’s meaningless – and if you read the commentary before that comes up quite often and I was talking with a label owner last night who agreed even though his label had put out some excellent releases over the past year and was overlooked in this category. But on the other hand I know what goes behind releasing album and so, appreciating the work, it does mean something to me that the fruit of their labor is recognized.
I also pay my way into shows I am reviewing (unless I am broke that week), once shoved money into a poster artists’ hands who didn’t want to be paid, and yes, I even pay for mp3s on-line. That’s the way I roll because I know what goes behind the work of a promoter, artist, and label.
So does it matter in the big scheme of things? no. does it matter to me? Yes.
the houston i remember, would’ve beaten up anyone spending this much time discussing music awards.
Hey, ya gotta do something to kill time at the office.
well, i did just kill about an hour reading thru this thread… those Space City label guys, tough, seem nice enough, and certainly young and inexperienced enough. i’d cut ‘em some slack and bitch slap the HP who, although I can’t say for sure, since i dont live in houston, but i get the feeling they are still the real villains of the story. they’re still sucking from the Village Voice Media dick right?