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Monday, March 30, 2009

News Kill Rock Stars Finds New Distributor

Posted by Ezra Ace Caraeff on Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 2:24 PM

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In the wake of the sudden—and damn depressing—closure of Touch and Go's distribution wing comes the news that local label Kill Rock Stars has found a new distro home with North Carolina's Redeye Distribution. Huzzah!

This is much better news than that one time we wrote about the entire Kill Rock Stars staff getting pinkeye. That was so gross.

Full press release after the jump...

March 30, 2009

Redeye Distribution Signs Exclusive Distribution Agreement with Kill Rock Stars

Redeye Distribution is thrilled to announce the addition of the legendary independent label Kill Rock Stars to its roster of distributed labels.

Glenn Dicker, co-owner of Redeye, said "Kill Rock Stars is a label that we have always looked up to as a gold standard for us to distribute, so it is with extreme excitement and pride that we take on their digital and physical distribution on a worldwide basis. We're looking forward to rolling up our sleeves and getting to work for these guys!"

Kill Rock Stars' President Portia Sabin is particularly excited to be partnering with a fully independent distributor: "I think it's really in keeping with the history and ethos of KRS to have an indie distributor."

Sabin is a former board member of A2IM, the American Association of Independent Music, and is a current Vice-President of WIN, the World Independent Network. "There are a lot of challenges in the music industry right now, but also a lot of opportunities, and independents need to stick together to be able to seize those opportunities: labels, distributors, and record stores alike. "

KRS will move its catalog, including records by Elliott Smith, The Decemberists, Sleater-Kinney, Bikini Kill, and The Gossip to Redeye. Its next release is the new record from The Thermals, "Now We Can See", due in stores April 7th.

Redeye is already home to many excellent independent labels such as Barsuk, Warp, Luaka Bop, Daptone and Yep Roc and artists including Public Enemy, Over the Rhine, The Faint, Lisa Loeb, The Donnas, Cake and New Model Army.

ABOUT REDEYE DISTRIBUTION
Founded in 1996 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Redeye Distribution has grown from a small regional supplier to an international distributor recognized eight times by the National Association of Record Merchandisers (NARM) as the Distributor of the Year (small division).
Redeye Distribution was built with the goal of providing the best possible service to our customers and our distributed labels and artists offering a diverse but selective catalog of quality music and a knowledgeable, hard-working, friendly staff who are passionate about getting music into the marketplace.
And while the marketplace changes, Redeye changes with it, offering newer services such as digital distribution, mobile distribution, direct-to-consumer fulfillment and licensing - extending its services beyond traditional distribution to music retail.
Currently based in Haw River, NC with more than 55 employees, Redeye remains a true "indie" — independently owned by our founders and not answering to any larger corporate entity or board.
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Comments (4) RSS

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1
Redeye is a nightmare to work with and they don't pay their bands or labels accurately... Good luck KRS.... Even more, good luck to The Thermals, this is a major setback for what will surely be a rad record.... Watch their accounting KRS cos Glenn Dicker and his crew are as crooked as can be...
Posted by 3 albums with Redeye and Yeproc on March 30, 2009 at 8:19 PM · Report
2
Oh, I don't know, I don't think they're THAT bad.

Recently left Redeye after releasing a couple dozen albums on my label (Dirtnap) through them.

They ARE very expensive, and their contract is not that label-friendly.

(went over that contract VERY carefully before signing it, and got 'em to throw out a lot of the more onerous clauses, which is why I think my label wound up having a better experience with them than some)

I never really had reason to doubt their honesty, though.

Have found them to be generally pretty responsive to my concerns/complaints (and we HAVE had some over the years) and I really like a lot of the folks there, especially co-owner Tor Hansen, whom I still consider a friend.

But then again, we DID recently leave 'em, which I guess tells you something. I just don't see Redeye as a very vital distributor, at least for the kinda music we specialize in..........

Ken Cheppaikode
Dirtnap Records
Posted by Ken Cheppaikode on March 31, 2009 at 1:40 PM · Report
3
We left a much larger distributor a few years ago in order to go with the smaller Redeye and so far it's been a great fit. Even though we're a small label at least my calls get returned. Also, I've never had any issues with their 'accounting' that haven't been sorted out. A lot of artists/labels complain that they aren't selling enough records and it's easy to just point the finger at the distributor. If you have a release people are demanding I'd think Redeye are as good as any at getting it to them. After all, they want to make money and that's how they attempt to do it so: by selling records! I thought Ken from Dirtnap had a fair take. If you're not happy you can always leave. Unless, you signed a crappy contract, in which case, you have no one to blame but yourself.

Greg Glover
Arena Rock
Posted by takinaride on April 7, 2009 at 1:35 PM · Report
4
The first post is only too accurate. Glenn won't take your calls when he owes you money. Then he'll try to sign your artist. Good luck KRS, you'll need it.
Posted by established indie label on April 8, 2009 at 8:17 AM · Report

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