by Paige Brocious, News Correspondent
In a recent interview, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke said that “it’s simply a matter of time – months rather than years – before the music business establishment completely folds.” And when it does, he said, “it will be no great loss to the world.” It is this seemingly bleak view of the music industry that motivates small Do-It-Yourself record labels like Boston-based F Nice Records.
Headquartered in Charlestown, F Nice Records is “committed to the local music scene of Boston and New England,” said DAve Crespo, F Nice Record’s Head of Events.
F Nice’s office is a warehouse surrounded by industrial tools, screen-printing supplies and quirky, artful furniture. There is laid-back atmosphere about F Nice, but these guys mean business.
Beyond being a record label, the F Nice provides much more than traditional record companies, offering in-house technology and production as well as viral and radio promotion, venue booking, merchandising and CD duplication. Matt Lax, president of F Nice, attributes much of their success to cutting out the middleman.
F Nice is based upon mutual trust between the record label and the artist, as well as the artist and the fans, said Dex Ter, vice president of F Nice. He said that this formula has been compromised in the corporate music world.
According to Crespo, F Nice seeks to “re-gain the trust of the music scene and to expose Boston for the talented city that it is.”
Ter, a self-proclaimed music idealist, said that F Nice unofficially came about when he and Lax were neighbors. Lax helped manage Ter’s band, The Your Mothers. They founded a record label soon thereafter “to protect [them]selves, and began looking at it from a business perspective,” Ter said.
This new business consumed more time than Ter had for the band, so he quit the band to devote his time to the record label.
Naming the record label “F Nice” was a conscious choice. They wanted “something angry that would get people’s attention,” Ter said. According to him, the label is meant to express their “overall opinion of the music industry scene” and their rebellion against it.
“It is illegal to sign away your rights other than in the music business,” Ter said. He mapped out the current system as a series of legal bindings, where a band or an artist is perpetually in debt and don’t have ownership over their own work. He cited artists like Prince, who couldn’t perform under his own name for 25 years, as examples.
The founders of F Nice see the current trend as an advantage to smaller labels. The company thrives off of the I’ll-scratch-your-back-if-you-scratch-mine relationship with their artists. The success and growth of the band is always the primary interest of their work. These guys are adamant about finding local artists that are worth protecting, and providing them with the services they need to make it big.
When asked what specific sounds they look for in the bands they promote, book, or sign, Lax hesitated slightly before replying that they look for “good” music. He said that F Nice looks for bands that write their own songs and approach their music with heart and dedication. Ter said that the integrity of the artist is key for F Nice, “because you don’t make a deal with music, you make a deal with the person.”
F Nice currently has five bands signed to their label. Iceburg Young and Tea Musket combines elements of hip-hop, psychedelic rock, and folk in their music. Deadfish features upbeat sounds with a reggae influence. Purple Myrtle is a jazz-blues duo. Pray for Polanski and Hello Ninja are indie-rock groups.
Andy Minty and Chris Gorham, members of Iceburg Young and Tea Musket, said that they were pleased with the work F Nice has done for their band. The band knew Ter from high school, and got involved with F Nice after Ter saw them perform. F Nice made shows “fall into their lap,” Minty said.
F Nice “never infringes on [the band’s] creative freedom, and backs them on all their decisions,” Minty said. IYTM has released one album with F Nice and is working on a second titled “The Egg Album.”
F Nice Records will be hosting a series of shows at McGann’s Irish Pub throughout the summer featuring live local talent. The shows are 21+. For tickets or show information, visit FNiceRecords.com.
