Sympathy for the Record Industry is up for sale. Label owner Long Gone John has put the influential 18 year old Long Beach based label up for sale. He's offering the label's entire set of assets, including master tapes all existing stock, distribution deals, website and mail order business for the low price of $650,000 (or $700,000 if he doesn't like you). The label's catalog includes over 750 releases from 550 artists including the first records from the White Stripes and Hole, as well as work from the Muffs, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, Rocket From the Crypt, Suicide, the Dwarves, New Bomb Turks, the Von Bondies, and Man or Astro-man?.
John spoke with The Daily Swarm about the sale, "I am serious. I wrote the notice quite a while ago and thought about putting it on eBay but never got around to it. The record industry has been complete shit for quite awhile and this morning I was looking at it again and decided it was time. I want to solicit real interest."
FOR SALE Preeminent Independent Record Label
Sympathy For The Record Industry
$625,000.00 or $700,000.00 if i don't like you
Known for a multitude of things including releasing early efforts by Hole, The White Stripes, Turbonegro, Rocket from the Crypt and The 5,6,7,8's as well as resurrecting the classic music of immortals such as Roky Erickson, New York Dolls, Suicide, The Gun Club, Spacemen 3, The Scientists and Wanda Jackson and lets not forget the serious concentration on a plethora (like that word??) of bands in hot beds such as Memphis, Detroit and Montreal and also being among the first to look towards the Far East to unleash the demented and curious off-kilter sounds of those crazed ornamentals (Asians to you of a p.c. mindset)…
So what?? 'Big deal' you say, well, Sympathy has also worked with underated and seemingly unsung heroes like Billy Childish, The Oblivians, Holly Golightly la la la etc and are hailed for recognizing and employing important visual artists to create wonderous covers by Mark Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia, Yoshitoma Nara, Liz Mcgrath, Coop, The Pizz, Dan Clowes blah blah blah la la la etc ad infinitum…
Sympathy are also responsible for releasing records by untold bands of differing degrees of talent with really cool names like The Pleasure F*ckers, Banana Erectors, Anal Babes, Candypants, Teenage Larvae, Tri-State Kill Spree, Iowa Beef Experience, The Child Molesters, Penetration Moon, Smegma, Ethyl Meatplow, The Spaceshits and Destroy All Monsters…
Single-handedly responsible for lowering the standards of the entire record industry…
includes:
questionable/nebulous rights to nearly 750 releases by over 550 bands
current distribution deal with foremost U.S. independent distributor with strong international distribution as well
existing stock modestly estimated at a wholesale value of 1.8 millon dollars
all master tapes, acetates, stampers and mothers to continue production of titles
massive personal archive of sympathy rarities (lots of amazing surprises)
preliminary cover layouts/some original artwork/interesting and valuable artifacts galore
established web site and vastly lucrative mail order business
over 30 snappy sarcastic slogans featuring much-loved heavy-hitters:
"We almost really care'
"Is a force this powerful going to be overlooked by an industry that needs all the Sympathy it can get"
"You've tried the rest now go f*ck yourself"
"Sound and fury signifying nothing" (ok, we stole that one from Shakespere)
"West coast perpetrators of the finest in musical mayhem"
"The most favoritest populars, cost so little goody you like 'em"
'A name you can pronounce since 1988"
'18 years of performance anxiety, instability and poor judgement'
'We just don't know when to gve up'
"A tradition of obscurity and obsolescence"
incomprehensible bad reputation included at no additional cost
interested parties contact long gone john (anti-mogul/fat cat/accidental c.e.o.) at sympathy13 [at] aol [dot] com