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  • THURSDAY JANUARY 25 2007 10:00 AM

Independently Wealthy: Brett Gurewitz and Epitaph Records

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.

 

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Comments
winstonsmith

winstonsmith

I'm lost
May 2004

JAN 26, 2007 08:14 AM

BatAttaK said:
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.


This is Brett and we haven't been distributed by Sony for a very long time. We moved from Sony to KOCH (who were an independent) and then from KOCH to ADA. In all cases the distributors influence was next to nil. The RIAA will certify any album gold or platinum simply by receiving some form of verification from a label whether they are a member or not. Epitaph is not. We are a member of the A2IM http://www.a2im.org/ And we've never gotten soundscan numbers from our distributor.

Shal

Shal

Los Angeles, CA
October 2002

JAN 26, 2007 10:06 AM

winstonsmith said:
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.



That's really great to know. smile I have the bad habit of checking the RIAA lists to see what labels I should think twice about supporting, given the RIAA's recent "sue the shit out of our customers" legal tactics, and seeing Epitaph go on there a few years back was a real blow.

Now, you should sue the RIAA for putting Epitaph on their list fradulently for the past few years.

BatAttaK

BatAttaK

Seattle, WA
OLD SKOOL

JAN 26, 2007 12:47 PM

winstonsmith said:

BatAttaK said:
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.


This is Brett and we haven't been distributed by Sony for a very long time. We moved from Sony to KOCH (who were an independent) and then from KOCH to ADA. In all cases the distributors influence was next to nil. The RIAA will certify any album gold or platinum simply by receiving some form of verification from a label whether they are a member or not. Epitaph is not. We are a member of the A2IM http://www.a2im.org/ And we've never gotten soundscan numbers from our distributor.



Thanks for that info. I absolutely retract everything that I said. You certainly would know better than I the status of your label. As Shalome mentioned I would definitely address the fact that they list you, along with many other indie labels, as being members. Listing here. It definitely makes me wonder about whether labels like BYO, Punk Core, and Fat are really members as well. Inclusion on a list like this certainly impacts credibility with many fans.

Thanks for the reply and making us 'out' you like that. You have recaptured the heart of a long time (and I mean LONG time) fan. smile

prozach

prozach

Brooklyn, NY
June 2003

JAN 29, 2007 09:54 AM

Listen. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter. All that matters is that its 2007 and the new Sage Francis records come out in April (ish) and Epitaph is probably going to make it a record that cracks the six figure mark for the first time ever for him.

That is a beautiful thought and 'Personal Journals' is one of the most beautiful records ever made.

The End

JustinIB

JustinIB

Fort Drum, NY
August 2006

JAN 30, 2007 01:49 PM

Wow, Mr. Brett isn't a skinny little crackhead guitarist anymore. Looks like he's been hitting the gym-clean and sober! Good for him. It was only a matter of time. People have to realize that "punk" is now what rock was when punk came out. We're old, people, and our trouble-making musical tastes are the mainstream, no matter how brash.

I'm glad Brett's back in the band, too-the music is so much better.

Ainur

Ainur

I'm lost
May 2005

JAN 30, 2007 10:13 PM

Respect? Yes, for sure. And while the idea of the MP3 "locker" is great in concept, we're being tracked and watched online far too much already. It's a constant battle at this point to maintain any amount of privacy online. A permanent record of your music purcases, while it sounds great, would be a MAJOR tool for marketing music to online consumers (and a major money maker for whoever was selling your buying habbits).

lint737

lint737

Hollywood, FL
July 2004

FEB 01, 2007 11:56 AM

Good I hope he makes a trillion dollars. Punks have kids to "support" too. I hope every good band makes good money. Without the money usually you can't go on making records. I'm sorry I have been over this "selling out" shit for a long long time. Either you like the record or don't buy it or not...as long as no dolphins were harmed in its creation,

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