Apr 11, 2022 • 1HR 12M

What is a metalabel? (full)

Reviving the Dischord Records model for the Discord era, with Yancey Strickler and Austin Robey

Upgrade to listen

Appears in this episode

Emilie Friedlander
Andrea Domanick
Cathartic conversations about culture in the age of platforms, with Emilie Friedlander and Andrea Domanick
Episode details
Comments

A quick note: You can now follow The Culture Journalist on Twitter and Instagram.

Hey guys,

Remember when being a music fan meant falling in love with a label and collecting every single release? Today we’re going to be talking about labels, and the special role they play in the creator economy —  past, present, and future.

These days, when you hear about record labels, it’s usually in the context of a high-profile artist going on social media to speak out about being locked into a terrible deal, or some jaw-dropping headline about how the majors are generating a million dollars of streaming revenue in an hour as artists struggle to make rent. 

But until relatively recently, record labels — and especially independent record labels — occupied a much more influential position in the zeitgeist. In the years before streaming became the de facto mode of discovery, one could argue that they served as a sort of organizing principle for musical knowledge, crystallizing scenes and movements under …

This post is for paid subscribers