It’s happening everywhere in the music industry these days. Eager to get their music out there to the masses, ambitious independent DIY artists are launching labels, finding their own distribution and are collectively establishing a new model by which everyone’s doing business in the latter 2000s.
Aligning with their business partner Mack Lindsey, the dynamic husband and wife team of Ben and Kimberly Rowell is leaping full force into the fray with their exciting and eclectic new Backspace Records (www.backspacerecords.com), an Atlanta based indie label dedicated to, as their mission statement reads, developing artists musically while giving them the chance to succeed financially. Rather than growing Backspace as a niche label, their goal is to have a roster of diverse artists and niche each one of them.
The choice Ben and Kimberly made is great news for the indie music world in general and specifically for the handful of unique artists that Backspace is beginning to present to the world: rocker Mark Gaignard & The Also Ran, young Atlanta based singer/songwriter Brandon Swift and Guitar Red, a veteran bluesman who has made his living for years “busking” in and around downtown Atlanta.
“Our mission statement has changed somewhat since we put together our first business plan,” says Ben. “At the start, we wanted this to be a label based on singer-songwriters whose vibe was stripped down and acoustic, but the more things evolved, the more it made sense to open the roster to include a wider range of artists and styles.”
Another inspiring element to Backspace is that a portion of the label’s profits will go towards organ donor organizations. The motivation behind this is that Lindsey, the Rowells’ business partner, is a recent heart transplant recipient. Ben says, “Mack has a big heart and he just got a new heart, so we’re just trying to give back.”
Currently, Backspace Records is focused on doing digital distribution through The Orchard, which will make its products available on over 400 sites, including iTunes, Rhapsody and emusic.com. A limited number of CDs will be pressed of each product to sell via amazon.com, bestbuy.com and at the company’s own website (www.backspacerecords.com).
Contacts:
Guy McCain, 818-760-8077
