my first first!

patrick.henry@clownpenis.fart

this is terrible.

...yet assholes 'round the globe will continue downloading their releases illegally, shrug and say "I'm not hurting anyone, so what's the big deal?" with a shit eating grin.

thats a real shame!

the No Choice album 'Dry River Fishing' is a great album

Never heard of this label but I'm guessing if it's being covered on this website it's probably something I won't care for. Thanks.

thats a real shame, i enjoyed almost everything they put out. go there immediately and buy everything by black couger shock unit. well worth it.

sucks. sad but true.

Wow all the sudden people on here care about illegal downloading??

That's a first. People think I'm not "punk enough" etc, because our label refuses to go down the road of digital distribution via companies like I-tunes, and sno cap and all that shit. 95% of these companies are out to fuck the label and the band.

Basically it says on the front of these contracts, WE DONT TAKE YOUR IPR's. Then about 5-6 pages into the contracts it's basically like they say "oh yeah nevermind that part"

Not to mention that places like I-tunes and E-music etc, pay you pennies per track.

This shits fucking the entire scene. We will never see punk rock at it's roots ever again.
Too many greedy fucks.

Most of the people on here could give a shit less about stealing someones music. Cds will go the way of Vinyl, there will be a few collectors and people who try to stick to the punk roots, but other than that, there won't be a market for hard copy music anymore.

Now days is a sorry pitifull excuse for a punk scene. Is punk dead? Yeah for the most part it is.

no one buys our records even though they're awesome

not sure if that was intentionally funny, but I LOL'ed. that's kind of how I feel about Rocket from the Crypt...amazing band that hardly anyone knows about.

Godammit. I have most of the newest industry catalog, but godammit. Shonben, the phoenix foundation, bedford falls, No choice, BCSU, A death in the family...all amazing. Godammit.

Can we all go back to a time when the internet was still in it's infancy somewhat, mp3 players were either nonexistent or cost $500 and we ALL bought CD's and played them on our discmans (with skip protection)?

In short, just go back to 1997.

Good fucking dudes. Terrible news.

sad news delivered well. i enjoyed reading that

it's very strange to see people on this site care about illegally downloaded music. I'm against it on my own terms because I know, once I get it on mp3, it goes way down on my "to buy" list". That's just me.
I know some kids download it,like it and buy the album (or dislike it and trash it) and that's awesome. But there's also an increasing amount of people who download it and then convince themselves that the album isn't worth paying $10 (or whatever) for and just keep it on MP3. The "sure I'll keep it for free, but I'd never pay for this" theory comes into effect (or some other awesome rationalization).
It is hurting the industry, because it's not being used in a positive manner, it's being used in a self serving manner and that's the problem.
-Dante

Cardiff, Wales based label Newest Industry is hitting the breaks.

English > you

I feel some sympathy for the dude that puts his heart, soul, and wallet into music he enjoys, but this guy kind of sounds like a dick. His label has been around for less than 5 years, the scene is fundamentally the same now as it was then. Let's see who draws his ire:

Bands and/or band members
Other labels
Music consumers
Digital distros

So, uh, everyone. Way to go, blame every single person in the scene for your financial woes but yourself. YOU put out awesome records, YOU did everything you could out of a selfless interest. You claim that pretty much everyone has dicked you over, then you beg for us to buy your leftover product. Right.

not to be an ass, but this label always had excuses for everything. They never sent me my orders and when I asked for a refund they told me UK Post lost like thousands of their orders...yeah right

Blame it on illegal downloading, but a label's unwillingness to adapt to the current scene of music sales is what will ultimately do it in.

I'm never happy to see a small label go under, but also don't need any of these "woe is me" type announcements placing the blame on everyone but themselves either. Yeah it sucks to see Newest Industry go under, but is it really a surprise to see a label that is almost exclusively CD only releases, and apparently not doing download sales, lose their shirt in 2007. CD's have been on the way out for a few years (probably since this label started). Vinyl, while less profitable, is actually seeing an increase in sales. Downloadable music, which has no manufacturing cost, is seeing large gains in sales every year. Why are they sitting on a kitchen full of cd's? Should you really be pressing 1000 cd's if you don't think both you and the band can each sell at least a few hundred copies and at least break even?

Also, and this isn't necessarily directed at NI, but based on a comment posted...What good does it do to not participate in any kind of download sales, complaining that Itunes, punkdownloads, etc. only pays pennies in royalties (which isn't really accurate by the way), and just hope that people will stop with things like Soulseek, Limewire? There are a good number of kids out there willing to pay for their downloads, but they can't do it if you aren't making things available. Shit in one hand, wish in the other, see which one fills up first.

There's really no excuse for allowing yourself to get $40k in debt from a punk label. If that happens, it's because of some serious mismanagement by the people running it.

good luck Dave and sorry to hear about this.

Dave also was involved with the best zine ever, Fracture

If Crackle Records go next the UK is truly fucked

I got the Hello Black Cougar Shock Unit album, I did my part.

It's funny, because basically the same thing happened with Fracture magazine, which I think was run by the same people...well, getting cheated out of ad revenue isn't the same as getting f'd from illegal downloading, but whatever. Same diff. I've got an idea for everyone, though. Next time you see an album you want, don't download it; not even off iTunes. Get it mailorder for the label or from a reputable site like interpunk. Or, better yet, go to a fucking local independent record store and buy it. Jeez.

What ever happened to I Excuse, The Enablers or The Paperbacks? Those were three awesome bands. And are A Death in The Family or Four Letter Word going to tour the West Coast of America? Damn, I realized I've bought half of the Newest Industry catalog... sorry to see you guys go.

Call me a dick for downloading music but I have about 300 more albums BOUGHT that I probably wouldn't have otherwise purchased if it wasnt for illegal downloads, so fuck ya all.

well I just ordered like 10 albums from them, so maybe they'll not quit?

shoulda put out more Off With Their Heads records.

This sucks ass.

Black Cougar Shock Unit are fucking awesome. Anyone know if they're doing anything at all at the moment?

It's really sad for the music scene when a couple guys or gals can't get together and put out a few records and atleast make enough money to keep it going. Never mind making a profit, I doubt this label ever did. But I bet they loved it enough to do it indefinitely just for fun.

Illegal downloading hurts in more ways than just directly. Now that CD sales are dropping off, most retailers are narrowing their catalog to only the most mainstream music. It's nearly impossible for a new indie label to get their foot in the door anywhere and put out new interesting music.

Our label BARELY squeeked in at the last minute a year ago to get the distro we needed to stay alive. We were literally the last label in the back door before all the opportunities at our distributor to new labels were closed off. Earlier this year, we literally did a face first slide into homebase to get into Best Buy, FYE and Hot Topic for some of our titles. We got really really lucky and even then it's a struggle to keep it going. I can't even imagine what it's like for other labels that haven't made it as far yet.

This isn't about a business failing or succeeding in the normal sense kids. This is about the slow deterioration of musical diversity due to the individual choices of consumers and how they have reacted to new technology and new ways of sharing and playing music.

If you think music sucks today, go grab a few friends, march down to an indie record store, and pick up a couple new albums like we did in the old days. If you like digital downloads (which blows my mind, because you can get MP3s, WAVs and WMAs from a CD with no DRM and still have the original copy) then atleast go buy it from a legit online store that pays labels and artists fairly. We are on all of them, much like everyone else.

Still, wouldn't you rather have the original CD for damn near the same price?
1) You've got the uncompressed "perfect" version of the recording
2) If your hard drive crashes, your music is not lost
3) You can create digital music files for your mp3 player from a CD easily
4) You are preserving the artistic concept of an "album"

Think about it. Unless you want the only music left in 10 years to be Britney Spears and Hinder clones.

This sucks!

I have a Black Cougar Shock Unit CD winging its way to me from No Idea right now..

Its a real shame this label is finishing : (