American Dream Records - Sound In the Signals Interview
Can you tell me how American Dream Records got started and what made you want to start a label?
We’re both members of the community over at AbsolutePunk.net, and one day there was a discussion going on about how some people wanted a vinyl release of Name Taken’s Hold On. That’s an album that I love and I agreed with everyone that it would be great to own on vinyl. Problem is, this was just talk on a message board. There was a petition that a few people were signing, but for the most part it was just people sitting around talking about it. If you’re just sitting there saying “I want this record to be released,” especially a record that was put out by an indie label from a band who is no longer together, you’re not going to get anything accomplished. We wanted to actually make something happen instead of just discussing it as a concept. We ended up talking to the label and even though they weren’t interested in putting the album out, we decided to take that motivation we had and find a project to put it to use on. So, we did. Also, the Name Taken record actually is coming out soon, so even though we didn’t press it ourselves, maybe we helped provide a little spark for making it happen.
You’ve had the opportunity to press some really good albums. One of which I really thought looked cool was I Can Make A Mess… album Gold Rush. How did it work out for you to press that album?
ICMAM had a Kickstarter running to fund the production of that album, and there was no vinyl option available. So, I just straight up asked if they’d be interested in doing a vinyl pressing. Ace and his crew were familiar with me from the time I’d spent on AbsolutePunk, and I had already helped back the project through Kickstarter, so we went from there. It was nice being recognized like that and being given the opportunity to put out a record for somebody I’d been a fan of since I was a kid.
The vinyl version of Gold Rush had different artwork why did you guys decide to change the artwork for the vinyl and how did you come up with the new design?
The art for the CD/digital version was fairly simple. The art element of our releases is really important to us. It’s not just a cover on a CD booklet that you’re going to throw away somewhere, it’s a legitimate piece of art. We had the idea to reach out to the I Can Make A Mess fans, many of who are artists and graphic designers, and we had a contest where people could submit their version of the cover. We ended up picking a cover that was more dynamic compared to the CD/digital version, but still fit the feel of the record. The lyric sheet was also totally different and looked great.
One of your more recent releases that have generated a lot of interest is your repressing of This Day & Age. I read on Ap.net in the comments where you discussed what the album meant to you. What was it like being able to press the album? Are most of your pressings chosen solely on how much you enjoy the album?
Yeah, that record really means a lot to me. It came out eight years ago when I was 18, and I still listen to it all the time. I have a lot of memories and emotions tied up in the songs on that record. For me, it’s still kind of surreal that I was able to press that. I never would have thought that almost a decade later I would be the one putting out a vinyl release of that album, or any album at all, for that matter. It’s a great feeling to be able to transform all of the time and energy and passion I’ve had over the years into something real and tangible that other people who feel the same as me can enjoy. That’s the best part, really. It’s a special feeling to be able to deliver something like that to other people who love the music as much as I do.
And most, if not all, of our pressings are chosen by how much we enjoy the album. It’s a combination of us really liking the record, wanting to support certain artists, and what people are interested in. We are never going to release something that we, ourselves, do not enjoy. We’ve had a couple of offers for things that we turned down because personally we couldn’t support the projects. I don’t want to put out a product that I don’t believe in, so I won’t.
Can you give me the rundown of how the process goes from deciding you’d like to press an album to actually having that album pressed and available in your store and various retailers?
It starts out with getting an idea for something, be it an older album that was never released, or something new. Then we’ll get in touch with the label or the band and see if it’s something that there is interest for and can actually be worked out. From there we start putting together the specifics of the release. Colors, artwork, that sort of thing. This is probably the most time consuming part of the process since pay a lot of attention to detail. We want it to be something that everyone is proud of, and we want it to be something that we would feel like we’re getting our money’s worth if we were the fan buying it. After that, all the templates and audio get sent to the vinyl pressing plant and they get it in order. We make some preliminary approvals, double check things, and then it gets manufactured. It is then shipped to us, put into our store or sent to a distributor, and is ready to be purchased.
What album would you like to see pressed on vinyl and also what would be a dream album for you to press on vinyl?
Butch Walker – Letters
Midtown – Forget What You Know
Hidden In Plain View – Life In Dreaming
A dream pressing for me would be Charlie Simpson – Young Pilgrim. Almost all the records in that pressing were destroyed in the warehouse fire that happened during the London riots last year. Only a handful of copies survived. That album is incredible, and I’d love to bring it to the United States.
Recently I’ve seen vinyl price hikes and single and double LP’s are starting to be priced starting at $20 for single and upwards to $25-28 for a double. I noticed you guys are very fair in pricing your product. What do you think of all the recent price gouging for vinyl releases?
Prices have gone up. What’s fucked up is that quite often they’re being marked up by distributors, which means the fans are getting charged extra so that a middleman can make a few bucks. That’s not to say distribution is always evil, it can be done right. For our releases, if you’re in the United States you can get almost all our records for under twenty dollars, and that includes shipping. The only exceptions are the bundles and rare editions we have sometimes offered. Costs do change per release depending on a lot of variables, such as vinyl color and weight, as well as packaging and licensing. Will there be some situations where $20 for a single LP is justified? Sure. Do I think it should be the norm? No, not at all. We know the economy sucks right now, and we know we’re putting out releases for bands and artists that have smaller, but passionate fan bases, so we’ve tried to find a balance in all that. We are a business, so we want to make money, because that lets us make more records. But, we’re not here for a cash grab. If you try to keep something like that up for too long, it will come back to bite you. It’s not a good business model to take advantage of your customers just because you can. It’s possible we’ll have a release that is more than $15 for a single LP, but right now I can’t really think of a scenario in which we’d charge $20 for a single record. Unfortunately, it seems it’s becoming more common. It’s good for the label and the artist (assuming the artist is even involved with those pressings) but for the fans, not so much. That opens up an argument about supply and demand and ethics, but whatever. We won’t be charging that much anytime soon, and if we ever do I assure you we will be delivering something completely worth the cost.
Another thing that has been a lot lately is the release of albums without much artist input. Do you feel like the artist should have input in the release or do you think that the actual pressing of the album is the most important thing?
It’s unfortunate that a lot of bands lately haven’t found out about some of their best albums being put out on vinyl until they were actually on sale. Anberlin didn’t know about Cities being pressed on vinyl until Record Store Day last year. Shaun Cooper from Taking Back Sunday and Straylight Run didn’t find out that Victory Records had put out another version of the self-titled Straylight Run album until it had sold out on the day of its release. That’s just wrong. Artists should be given a certain amount of respect and I do think it’s important to include them in the process of the release. Some artists prefer to be more hands off than others, but for our releases we start out by asking the artist what they would like to see in the release. From there we combine our thoughts to put together the best package we can. We wouldn’t be putting out the record in the first place if the band or artist had never recorded it in the first place, so why wouldn’t we want to get them involved in the process? I think it adds a layer of legitimacy to what you do, as well. It’s not good for you if people hear secondhand about how the band had nothing to do with your release, and along those same lines, working with the band helps your credibility and can open up more opportunities than if you’d just gotten the rights to the album and did it all on your own. As long as it is practical to do so, I think it is in the best interest of everyone to include the artist in the process.
What is the record you bought were you knew that you wanted to run a vinyl label?
It was the records I couldn’t buy that convinced me I wanted to run a vinyl label.
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