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Independently Wealthy: Brett Gurewitz and Epitaph Records

THURSDAY JANUARY 25 2007 10:00 AM

Submitted by B_Werner. Edited By erin_broadley.

With a new album on the way from his band Bad Religion and the responsibility of overseeing a roster of active bands selling tens of thousands of records, guitarist and Epitaph Records honcho Brett Gurewitz is ready for another busy year.

Billboard caught up with Gurewitz to talk about this 26-year-old label, which began in a bedroom in his parents' house and now boasts a staff of over 50 employees in North American and overseas offices. That's what happens when you release huge sellers from the likes of punk bands like The Offspring, NOFX and Rancid and allow your business to grow organically.

Over the years, Epitaph went from being a localized Southern California punk label to signing artists like Tom Waits, Mavis Staples, Neko Case and Blackalicious to its Anti- imprint. The fact is that unlike many of its comteporaries, Epitaph has been eager to adapt and vary its focus in order to remain relevant.

We won a Grammy for Solomon Burke a couple years ago. We have Motion City Soundtrack, who are one of the best pop-punk/indie/emo bands out there. We've released hip-hop artists [Atmosphere, Sage Francis]. All of that was unthinkable when we first started.

We truly had a niche then. We were Southern California hardcore. That's what we called it. The way to be an indie back then was to have a sound and a niche. That's what we had to do. Nowadays, sounds and niches are like an automatic shuffle in Vegas. A new niche is new every three weeks, so we have to stay on top of everything.

Rather than taking the typical party-line about digital downloads, Gurewitz is ready to embrace the industry shift to digital retail and the falling sales of CD's and other forms of media; a change that he claims will be simple for Epitaph ease into.

[...] as a fairly decent-sized indie, we have much less to lose if there's a full conversion to digital. We have no vertical integration. We don't own any pressing plants or distributors. We're big enough to have all our masters on all the important digital sites, and we're small enough to not have the encumbrance of these giant brick-and-mortar distributors that the majors have.

For me, there's less to lose with a sale on iTunes, and what I have to gain is pretty nice. There are no returns. There's no overstock. I never again have to worry about overpressing.

Gurewitz is also eager to implement new ways of tracking what an artist sells and maintaining personal data collections. Gurewitz envisions a virtual "data bank" which can "house" every individual's MP3 collection and keep an accurate account of who has purchased what.

For any individual who buys a song, it should go on record somewhere that that person bought the song. Then the individual has that song and has access to it forever. The data should be kept in a bank, in the way you keep your money in a bank.

So wherever you buy it from, be it a PC or a handheld mobile device, it goes into the bank, a digital locker. You never have to back anything up. It's like a Chase Manhattan for your family photos, your music, your TV shows. And you shouldn't even have to buy it. If you want to watch or listen to free stuff, you have commercials. But if you own it, it goes into the data bank, and you don't have to buy different devices and different gig devices.

The most inspiring part of Gurewitz's success has been his refusal to panic and his eagerness to branch out and try new things, all while maintaining an indie ethos. Though the label has its fair share of critics, it cannot be denied that Epitaph has been able to carve a niche for itself while refusing to be pigeonholed as a traditional "punk" label. Other indies can afford to take a cue from Gurewitz's open-minded approach if they expect to last in an ever-changing world where indies and majors are routinely aiming to sign the same bands. Good luck in '07, Brett.

22 Comments

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Clio

SUICIDEGIRL

Netherlands

JAN 25, 2007 10:46 AM

Respect.

PsychoSwtchblade

Ortonville, MI

August 2005

JAN 25, 2007 11:13 AM

Meh...At least he was smart enough to start HellCat too and not completely turn Epitaph around without first keeping his punk fanbase close. If he did that he would (in my eyes) completely lose the punk fan base. Smart business move...

prozach

Brooklyn, NY

June 2003

JAN 25, 2007 11:31 AM

Epitaph is also doing a really cool record deal contest for student musicians.

Here

Shalome

MODERATOR

Los Angeles, CA

JAN 25, 2007 12:20 PM

I was very sad when Epitaph joined the RIAA in 2005.

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

JAN 25, 2007 12:44 PM

Shalome said:
I was very sad when Epitaph joined the RIAA in 2005.

Yep. Cool guy, done some cool things, but that's disheartening.

dufsmashXIII

Eureka, IL

December 2005

JAN 25, 2007 01:26 PM

badass.

winstonsmith

I'm lost

May 2004

JAN 25, 2007 02:52 PM

Epitaph is not a member of the RIAA no matter what they may say. Epitaph is an upstanding member of A2IM or the American Association of Independent Music. Check them out here http://www.a2im.org/

RubberSoul

Los Angeles, CA

February 2003

JAN 25, 2007 03:39 PM

Hypocrite. Shitty band. Next.

BatAttaK

Seattle, WA

OLD SKOOL

JAN 25, 2007 05:02 PM

Shalome said:
I was very sad when Epitaph joined the RIAA in 2005.

What amazes me is that a label like Punk Core (home of The Casualties fer chrissakes!) has joined the RIAA as well. We're not talking multi-platinum, million dollar Epitaph here.

*le sigh*

OctEgon

Tustin, CA

July 2005

JAN 25, 2007 06:42 PM

Yeah, Epitaph is basically the raddest label ever.

meggle

Berkeley, CA

November 2002

JAN 25, 2007 06:47 PM

yes/no...great/it sucks!

typical...have to take the good with the bad [religion...]

smells like capitalism...

bean

STAFF

Los Angeles, CA

JAN 25, 2007 07:04 PM

winstonsmith said:
Epitaph is not a member of the RIAA no matter what they may say. Epitaph is an upstanding member of A2IM or the American Association of Independent Music. Check them out here http://www.a2im.org/

Huh, doing a little research, it looks like you may be right. Turns out the only source of the rumor that Epitaph joined the RIAA is their inclusion on the RIAA member page, which has in the past erroneously identified other indie labels as being members.

PointBlank

New York, NY

November 2004

JAN 25, 2007 07:59 PM

bean said:

Yeah, it's hard to tell. One thing that's troubling is that I can't find Gurewitz or any Epitaph reps saying they AREN'T in the RIAA, unlike the guys at Matador (who are included on the members page, despite not being members). Curious.

BatAttaK

Seattle, WA

OLD SKOOL

JAN 25, 2007 10:02 PM

From what I can tell is that the RIAA will include you as a member even if you do business with an RIAA member company. For example, Epitaph is distributed by Sony. Sony is an RIAA member company and is the reason why Epitaph were able to garner all of those RIAA certified gold and platinum albums for The Offspring, Rancid and others. They are members by proxy and certainly benefit from that relationship. They get SoundScan sales tracking, better distribution, awards, etc. They may not necessarily be dues paying members but they are certainly suckling at that teat.

winstonsmith

I'm lost

May 2004

JAN 26, 2007 08:08 AM

I am Brett Gurewitz and I'm telling you now (as I did above but without identifying myself) that Epitaph is not a member of the RIAA. In fact we are one of the founding members of the A2IM in the U.S. and IMPALA in Europe. I'm also active in a new organization called MERLIN which hopes to represent and protect indies interests comercially where necessary.

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