I am in Toronto tonight. I have found myself with some time on my hands since this city charges $100 for internet and the one place that allows me to get a beverage and use the internet doesn't allow me to connect to my mail server. So it goes. Shit happens. But I spent all day doing very un-hardcore things-like having meetings and talking about hardcore bands all day. Someday I'll go into detail how I had some very awesome conversations with people from some very surprising backgrounds about her high school friends Corrosion of Conformity and loving Minor Threat and having crushes on one of the Cro-Mags back in 1987. Different post, though.

But my blackberry happens to work and it was inundated with text messages and emails about the messageboard explosion of the last 24 hours relating to business that concerned labels, bands, and how this seems to be the summer of bands shouting "fuck labels." I make no claim to know the details of these situations and would care to not really know the details because this is between the bands and their labels and their own lives. But then after some kid had the audacity to email one of our bands to ask them if they could pay them paypal for a record direct because "I read Trash Talk's rant about how labels rip bands off" or some other equally egregious bullshit generalization-I need to write something out about it for the few who care. So I'm going to listen to Atmosphere's new record and zen the fuck out (Atmosphere line) about how labels aren't all evil and bands aren't all innocent. And Toronto's public transportation kind of sucks so I walked fucking everywhere and my knees hurt. And I'm going to do so safely from the confines of my glass house and throw not a single stone as I do it. I'm just going to rant and say my piece.

First off, there is an incredibly slanted view people have of independent labels. I've never felt compelled to explain the gritty details of how Bridge Nine is structured because in the last two and a half years, it has become incredibly complex and difficult to explain. Bridge Nine's revenue has increased. Bridge Nine's expenses have increased. Chris Wrenn put a lot of faith into me when I came to Bridge Nine and he has trusted changes and decisions that have been made behind the scenes. Since I started at Bridge Nine in early 2006, he has made less in a paycheck off Bridge Nine than me, the mailorder staff or anyone who works with Bridge Nine. No one who works for Bridge Nine is rich and has hopefully embraced this reality. We offer very basic health insurance because if you sacrifice making a lot of money in life, I don't want anyone breaking their leg and being fucked financially for life. This was before the Massachusetts law requiring insurance. It's not a factor of having money to burn around here. If I could work out a way to offer bands access to health insurance they'd pay for themselves, I would love to. I'm working on it. We can't "hire" bands, but if you're touring and working a shit job in between, it'd be cool to have access to health insurance if you want it. But regardless, I personally have forgone a paycheck to pay for studio time. I have paid for my own train tickets to New York to have meetings because money was tight. Chris has borrowed money from his parents to help cover plane tickets (back in the day) and I have used my personal credit card to pay for plane tickets when our cash was a little dry. As 2007 ended and 2008 came around, we started to see that boring business concepts like "cash flow management" and being smart about money and how its spent really help. We do this because we know no other way and probably because we're kind of crazy. And it's awesome to swear and have your tattoos hang out at work. But it's work. It's hard work. It's tireless and, often, it's thankless. But even in my later 20s, I still believe in the value of honest music and what the hell else would I do with myself?

We believe in every fucking band on our label. From the top of our sales to the bottom of our sales, I love every band on our label as a fan of music and I'm not bullshitting anyone when I say that. On top of that, I respect every band who gets in a van, draws enough kids to sell a few shirts, records, CDs or stickers, and can go to the next show. I have been on the band side and toured off and on for two and a half years in Holding On and spent the majority of two years touring when Martyr AD was going. I know what it's like to sit on a curb in front of a hotel in San Antonio, Texas and have my fiancee tell me she might have cancer and not have any chance of being home for three weeks. I know what it's like walking around the middle of Belgium at night while my best friend is in tears trying to find a pay phone to call his wife on their wedding anniversary. I've been trapped with the same four people and not wanted a thing to do with anyone around me and found the best parts of my day to be the overnight drives through West Texas listening to Against Me! and Iron Maiden while everyone else slept and couldn't bitch about my musical choices. I've been there. So I put every last fucking ounce of attention that I can beyond a 10 hour day into making this label stable, if for the only reason that the bands deserve it. If you dedicate your life to touring, you're crazy and it's not easy at any level. This is idealistic, but it's true.

A lot of the allegations against labels are due to "shady" or "dishonest" business practices. The bands might be right. They might be wrong. I've seen it from both sides and know it's not as black and white as it might seem, and That's not my job and that's not my judgment to make. I'm not saying Bridge Nine is perfect, but if we're nothing else, we're honest. Every band gets a statement. If I forgot to send it, I apologize up and down and send it. Every band gets paid for merch. We do not cross collateralize our merch from our records. Look up cross-collateralize if you need further explanation. We still hold to 50/50 profit deals. New Found Glory gets the exact same financial structure that Ceremony gets. Their statements might need to be a little different for their respective business reasons, but at the end of the day, the pennies split the exact same way.

Don't fool yourself-bands still need labels today. The reasons might have changed from the past. A lot of people like to think the internet has made labels useless. It's an easy tagline but it sounds much cooler than it is. One case in point that is thrown around recently in the hardcore scene is Trash Talk. I have yet to meet them. I've read their random postings. I've red the allegations. The rumors are all around us. However, I also get the emails from Reflections Records selling their album. Revelation is the exclusive distributor. It all looks strikingly similar to a distribution deal with some licensing fees thrown in. It's still FUNDED by someone. Maybe not a traditional label/band relationship, but there's someone advertising, pushing and promoting and distributing the record, as well as sending out emails saying I can pre-order the record and see them on tour-and it's NOT the band. I know the band isn't disseminating anything false about Bridge Nine and I make no claim of this, but when the wide brush is painted upon me as a "label" that I rip off my bands, I take offense. Some people might rip their bands off. If you're in a position like that-you have to do whatever you can. I hate people in independent business or music who are dishonest and ruin the names of those who aren't. But everyone makes decisions in life, and for those bands who have fought their labels and felt compelled to free themselves from shitty arrangements, best of luck and more power to you. It's an awful feeling when you sign with a label thinking they'll propel your band to the next level and they're not fucking up-but fucking you over. People make mistakes, but habitual dishonesty and animosity is not fun. This is also a shout out to the labels that treat their bands with respect and have done so for a decade, yet they maintain success. Their rosters might not be my liking, but Epitaph rarely gets bashed in public for a reason and Rhymesayers has been Atmosphere's home for a decade and it's not an accident. Both labels have defined business models in a genre that wasn't there before them and did so to an incredible level and maintained ethics the entire way.

At the end of the day, though, the bands who think self-releasing their records is the solution, you'll reach a level where you don't have a manufacturing, distribution, marketing, radio, sales, and promotions staff, so you'll either be comfortable at the self-released plateau or need a label. Tours and booking agents and so on-that can come from the label. It can come from friendships. It can come from bands. But if the booking agent does their job, the band does theirs, and the label does theirs, they can all make money and go forward in life. As downloading has proliferated, some labels have taken a harder stance that they should get a cut of touring income because the windfall of record sales ain't what it used to be. Some audio prison rape like Millionares might not need labels to sell out rooms, but don't use that as an example when telling me the world of music industry has changed and if you do-shut the fuck up and get out of the room. Now.

I've been on all sides. I know what kills a relationship within a band. I know what kills a band/label relationship. I think I am an ethical person. I treat all of our bands in the way I would've wanted and had labels treat me. I don't think I've wronged any of my bands and if they have issues with anything we've done, I have welcomed a discussion. I have heard through the grapevine of some incredibly awesome statements about how I'm an asshole, I've ruined Bridge Nine, I'm not a hardcore kid and I don't care about all of our bands-yet this person gives me handshakes and hugs and says everything's cool. There's always going to be sour grapes when rock stardom doesn't come and it was expected. But on my side of the fence, I won't accuse anyone of shit and I hope they won't do the same until the facts are known. There's a reason contracts allow 45 days to rectify any complaint of breach of contract. If we break the words we agreed to-we have over a month to fix it, or you can sue us. This is standard fare. But that still requires you to voice a problem to the label.

At the end of the day, it is a music BUSINESS and not the music DRUM CIRCLE. There are plenty of people who make substantial amounts of money treating people well. The same band who didn't check their contract out signed it at one point. It's not Tony Brummel's fault your lawyer sucked any more than it is your parents. Contracts are contracts, lawyers are history's oldest liars, and there's a reason they're called "negotiations." But strangely, the second you get home from a job at the Gap and realize you could be "the next _________" you made erratic decisions and did not look as thoroughly as you should at your contract. I know I've been in a rush to leave the house and I've forgotten to put socks on. Your band was in a rush to get huge and didn't care that you were giving up 100% of your merchandise retail rights indefinitely because the advance was more than you made this week and while it might not be proper, ethical, or smart, it wasn't dishonest. The label TOLD YOU IN WRITING what they'd be doing so don't get mad at anyone but yourself or your dumbass lawyer. If the label broke the contract, you have a 200 year legal system of precedent that is on your side to find your freedom.

I welcome any emails to Karl@bridge9.com. I also expect Toast will find a few great typos in here and I'm okay with that.