19 February 2009
Touch & Go Goes Out of Business
Originally posted to a music industry listserv which will go nameless. I heard from a few people that they enjoyed the sentiments so I am re-posting it here, loosely written internet style typos and all:
Just wanted to send a response & some, erm, deep thoughts about commentary going on on the [redacted] about Touch & Go’s sudden shutdown.
Brassland was one of a few new labels to switch to T&G distribution as of January 1, 2009. Very bad timing = erm, yeah. End of the universe = no. Death knell for anyone running a company based only on the sale of recorded music using a business model Factory Records and Touch+Go pioneered = perhaps.
I don’t want anyone to mistake me. This change is kind of ruining my life right now; is likely to cost my company + a few of the bands I’ve worked with tens of thousands of dollars; and some of the people working for me (especially myself) will have to put in many many man hours of labor to keep the train on the track. I’m definitely bummed out & somewhat annoyed.
That said, my feeling based on talking to a number of people more intimately involved in T&G’s current operations and those of competitors who know the retail environment well is that this is maybe something that just had to happen like it did. Could T&G have laid off a chunk of its staff and operated for months or years as a skeleton of its former self? Probably. Am I sort of surprised & upset there wasn’t more in the way of private efforts made before the announcement to help shore up distribution options for the labels left homeless by this change? Yup. But is T&G still doing this in a pretty classy way? Yes. From what I understand all the employees left (other than a few laid off last week) are being offered at least 6 weeks to wind down their affairs. In this economy, in this industry, that alone is something of a radical gesture — and an example I think any of us would be proud to emulate. And so far the employees still there are being helpful in trying to make this transition as painless as possible for us labels…
After the shock wears off, I get the sense a lot of us will, yes, look back at this as the end of an era — but also as an oddly fitting conclusion to this chapter of Touch & Go’s story. It’s like a band that breaks up with out all the bullshit and fanfare of pretending that a break-up can be candy coated.
Mostly I’m taking this as a very public revelation that Touch & Go’s founder, Corey Rusk, and his staff were pretty amazing + talented individuals for being the only people to take that business model and make it function on the scale that no one else ever made it succeed. Factory Records certainly didn’t take it this far, nor have any of us who have followed in the T&G footsteps.
I haven’t gotten to the anger stage of the grieving process — and maybe my feelings will be different when that happens — but there you go…
Posted by Alec Hanley Bemis
Tags: Brassland, Ethics, Music Business, Touch & Go