Johnny Jewel goes in on record labels

The dark disco mastermind, head of Italians Do It Better and factor in all of the label’s acts, has a fascinating Pitchfork feature interview this week. He’s a complicated guy, but we couldn’t agree more wholeheartedly with his assessment of record labels:

“An ‘independent record label’ is an oxymoron. You sign an artist, and they’re no longer independent: Their rights are compromised, they don’t have control over their budgets, and the label is forcing them to pay for remixes they don’t like.”

Johnny Jewel has had an astounding amount of success without compromising a single time, and we’re inspired by his example. Oh, and he’s also releasing a crazy amount of music this year. Chromatics scored upcoming film Lost River, and their new album Dear Tommy is scheduled for later this month. Glass Candy has a couple new, incredible singles ahead of their next album, due later this year.

“when the music gets played, the artist gets paid”

Originally published at blog.hearo.fm on March 25, 2015.