Pretty much every artist we talk to for the Blog works with a record label, whether it’s a major or an independent. And when you sign with a label, chances are they own your masters and have at least some say in what your album sounds like, what your singles are, when and where you tour and how you promote yourself. The way to avoid all of this, as Neurosis singer and guitarist Scott Kelly explains, is to start your own record company. In the following guest blog, Kelly talks about why Neurosis never signed to a major, why they started Neurot Records and how they deal with the artists on their label.
Neurosis aren’t currently on tour, but the band has a show scheduled for New Years Eve in San Francisco at the Great American Music Hall. And two previously unannounced concerts have been scheduled for January 24 and 25 at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple in Brooklyn, New York. Tickets are onsale now and Neurosis will announce a special guest for the New York show in the days ahead. And now, here’s Scott’s guest blog:
We had always intended to leave our label and be independent, but had never reached a point where we could really focus on that because of our constant touring. As great as it was go be onstage, touring had become this kind of a pit where we just f—in’ threw money. When we decided to stop touring all the time, it became priority number one for us to take care of ourselves and create our own label.
Thankfully, we had never signed to a major label. We never had an opportunity that was perfect. There was a lot of sniffing around, and we had offers during the Nirvana craze. But we never got what we were asking for, which was: We’ll do whatever the f– we want and you give us a ton of money up front. Our terms were such that it would never happen, and it never did. They were probably right not to sign us because we would have put out 10 minute songs that they never would’ve been able to sell and it wouldn’t have worked out for them.
Being independent is one thing, but running your own label is another story. With major labels, you basically know you’re gonna get shafted in some way, and you probably can’t prove it, so it doesn’t really matter. But independent labels rip you off, too. Let me first clarify that Relapse has not ripped us of and we remain good friends with all those guys. But the key to be doing your own thing is to have complete control. We’ve always had major issues with control, probably to a fault. We are complete control freaks and we can’t stand to have anybody f— with what we do in any way.
We will sabotage ourselves to make sure that doesn’t happen, and will continue to do whatever we need to do in order to call all the shots. It’s that important to us. And the one sure way to make sure nobody will ever tell you want to do artistically or in any other way is to own your own label.
Most labels are set up with the intention of making money. Neurot is not. The label is set up with the intention of sustaining itself. On Neurot, the bands own their masters and they’re free to go if they get a better deal or want something that we can’t offer. We decided a long time ago that money clouds everything, and although we fully realize that there is money involved and everybody needs to get paid in order to keep sustain their livelihood, there is no f—in’ price you can put on this music.
It’s not in that realm. It has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do with emotion and family, and the things we have worked so hard to cultivate for ourselves through this band. We’re content to work our day jobs and support our kids off that way, and continue to do whatever we want artistically forever. That is payment enough in this world. There’s not a whole lot of people who get a chance to do this, and its hard to get to this point. We’re lucky we’ve survived this long on this earth.
