For this article, I interviewed Richard Rosenblatt, the former president of independent blues label Tone Cool Records, and Danny Goldberg, a very successful music journalist (writing for Rolling Stone and Billboard Magazine), manager, record company president and label owner. Danny recently stepped down from his label, Artemis, and is now working with his entertainment group, Gold Village Entertainment. He also formed a new label, Ammal Records, in partnership with New West Records distributed by RED, which is predominantly owned by Edel Records in Europe. “I have a tangled web of friendships and feuds with executives and artists at every company,” said Danny. In his years as a manager, he worked with such acts as Nirvana, Hole, Sonic Youth, Bonnie Raitt, The Allman Brothers, Rickie Lee Jones, Led Zeppelin, Tom Cochrane and the Beastie Boys. Goldberg was formerly chairman/CEO for Mercury Records, Warner Brothers Records, and former president of Atlantic Records. Richard started as a harmonica player in the blues band, the 11th Hour Blues Band. He later created Tone Cool in his basement and gained distribution from Rounder, Universal, and later AMG. He signed such artists as Toni Washington, Susan Tedeschi, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Hubert Sumner, The North Mississippi All-Stars and Taj Mahal.

Record Labels of the Future
“The Bob Dylan of the future will somehow find an audience in this era” said Danny Goldberg. If this is true, will record companies of the future be able to sell his record for a revenue that will appease Bob, shareholders, consumers, retailers, managers, producers, and every person who put their every ounce of energy into the music? What kind of label and record deal is the music industry ready to offer the multi-platinum recording artist of the future? Record labels have only been around since about 1915, forty years after the advent of the tinfoil phonograph and roughly 2.2 million years after human civilization started listening to music of some kind. The music industry needs time to grow and find its footing in this ever-expanding culture of technology and business conformity. To be a part of the music industry today is to be a part of a seemingly infinite web of labels and conglomerate heads. To seek independence from this web is natural for some and is where independent labels thrive. As defined by music guru Donald Passman, independents are record companies that are not owned by a major record company. This broad definition wields a wide variety of independent labels. The biggest delineating factor of independent labels is those with major-distribution and those without. Independent labels are not nearly as well funded as major labels are and therefore lack the strong ability to fund a publicity campaign and give radio play for Bob’s new album. Major labels can get him all the digital posters to make him stick out in front of the unfathomable amount of artists on iTunes who may or may not sound just like Bob.