Frank Black Says Record Labels Aren't 'Vital, Creative or Interesting'
- Posted on Jul 23rd 2009 11:00AM by Benjy Eisen
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When alternative music gained momentum in the early '90s, many artists migrated from major labels to smaller, boutique ones. Very often, the smaller label or imprint would actually be distributed -- and sometimes even owned -- by a major. Nonetheless, the movement towards "independent" labels eventually spawned the term "indie rock" and, from that, the new school of alternative rockers. The Pixies, however, are part of the old school. During their reign, the band was signed to Elektra Records, but despite plenty of recent activity, they haven't released a new studio album since 1991's 'Trompe le Monde.' As Spinner recently reported, Pixies leader Frank Black (aka Black Francis) isn't interested in forming his own imprint, even after many of his peers have successfully gone down that road. Meanwhile, if you haven't noticed, the labels have themselves in a bit of a mess right now.
Francis offers his theory as to why that is. "Labels are more concerned with their own survival than they are with the distribution of music and, of course, the irony of that is that if they would just concern themselves more with the distribution of music, a lot of their problems would solve themselves, I think," Black tells Spinner. "But because there's so much reticence, they're so nervous trying to protect what few assets they have left, they're so caught up in that that they can't really be vital or creative or interesting. They can't get out of their rut. They know it's over, but they don't know how to start up with a new fresh page."
Things are no longer the way they were during the Pixies heyday, but Francis seems to think that the labels are still riding that wave and that therein lies the problem. With home runs on MTV and the mainstreaming of alternative rock, labels were seeing massive profits but they weren't reinvesting or researching new technologies, believes Francis. "There's so much momentum from that period -- let's say the late 80s throughout the 90s -- there's so much of that energy still going on that now, even though all the record businesses have kind of fallen flat, they haven't caught up with themselves yet," he says. "They're the naked emperor, kind of."
We're not sure they're exactly like that, Francis, but we bet they'd still offer the Pixies a deal if you so much as knocked. Just sayin'.
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