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Originally Posted by top 40 squeeze
Man, people have been talking like this since NYC Ghosts and Flowers came out. I really don't think we have much to worry about. Why does everyone assume they're not gonna stay on Geffen/Universal? Their contract is ending but Thurston just made a deal for them to distribute Ecstatic Peace. I don't think they're really yearning to switch labels, or move to an indie, or anything. The way they've always talked about it is that the major label doesn't interfere, doesn't even ask them when they're gonna have new record out, but that they record something, send it over, and the label pencils it in for release. That sounds like a great fucking set up to me. If anything I could see them moving to ecstatic peace, but still, I don't see what would be to gain from it, or really what the difference would be. Except for some contrived pull for Indie Credibility, which is something the Youth practically invented, and obviously don't care about as a status symbol.
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i'm not sure whether or not it's true that thurston is having EP distribuited by Geffen/Universal. if you have a link that explains it all, that would be great. maybe EP is being distributed by the same company that distributes Geffen/Universal? or maybe EP is being distributed by a sister company or a company that's owned by Geffen/Universal?
i'm not sure if sy are really happy with how geffen has been treating them either. earlier on in their corporate rock careers, sy were very supportive, but i haven't heard anything since. if anything, i think geffen's done a poor job promoting them since washing machine. 1KL was not promoted very well, nyg&f came out of nowhere, murray st was not promoted that well, sonic nurse was promoted a little better and rather ripped seems to be promoted ok. looking at the last 10 years, sy really have gotten by because of their core audience and incredible reputation and themselves making things happen. they've been playing way more free concerts, festivals, opening up for bigger bands, they've been pushing themselves. honestly, i don't think geffen's really promoted sy anywhere close like they did with goo/dirty/experimental/washing machine.
i don't think it's possible for SY to put out their own albums, that's just way too big of a scale to manage. Sub Pop & Matador don't even sell very many bands at that kind of scale, i highly doubt that thurston would be able to do what sub-pop & matator can do, that's just unimagineable.
younger people forget that running a label takes alot of work. comparing albums you may press 3-5K to an album you're pressing 200-300K is like a little league t-ball coach trying to coach a championship contending MLB team. i know its hard for you younger people to see this, but things are easier said than done.
although even J&MC made the move to Sub Pop & Matador do have some really popular bands on their roster, i don't know if SY would want to make the move to a minor label(i won't say major because both have corporate distribution). they won't make the same money, they both won't be able to tour as comfortably as they have on a major, and let's face it, they're pretty up there in age.
i haven't talked about SY & the possibility of retirement until i found out geffen didn't resign them(yet) and that this was their last album, but i started thinking about them as people, people with lives of their own, people not put on earth to fill our selfish music needs, people with children & families, people who are not too far away from collecting social security.
how much energy does sy have left in them to struggle with finding a new label and putting out more records? i don't know. alot of professional sports athletes retire when they're old(SY are comparable to a 40+yr old basket ball player...something that never happens) because they just want to be with their family and they have enough money to live on.