USA TODAY International Edition
Country stars alone stand
Toby of artists Keith who leads launch trend their own labels
When he’d had enough of wrangling with his record company about album release dates and choices
forsi ngles, country singer Toby Keith 8 nally just decided he’d open his own label.
“It’s such a great mind-opening and soulcleansing process,” says Keith, who launched
Show Dog Records Sept. 1. “ The day that we
opened, all that stuff went undert he bridge for
me. I’ve not been happier in mywhole life.”
Keith is not alone. More and more country acts
are starting their own labels, bypassing the demands and deep pockets of the entertainment
giants and taking more of their careers into their
own hands.
While acts such as Ricky Skaggs and John Prine
have sold their own records to niche markets for
several years, some upstart labels are making big
dents in the charts.
Keith’s Big Blue Note, his 8 rst single promoted to radio by the Show Dog promotion staff ( though it originally
appeared on his most recent album for Universal Music), currently sits in the country Top 10. So does Garth Brooks’ Good Ride Cowboy, from his upcoming box set on his own Pearl Records, available only at Wal- Mart Nov. 25. Neal McCoy’s Billy’s Got His Beer Goggles On, on his new 903 Music, isn’t far behind, at No. 11. Singer Clint Black is a founding partner in Equity Records, which currently has a top 20 hitwith Little Big Town’s Boondocks.
Labels such as Equity, 903 and Show Dog ( along with its partner label, Big Machine) are bringing localized ownership of music back to a country music industry that once thrived with small, start- up businesses.
“ Most of the businesses in this town have been started by the entrepreneurship of one or two guys, with minimum investment,” says independent music publisher Charlie Monk, pointing out Benson Music, Nashville’s 8 rst music publisher, and
Acuff- Rose, co- founded in 1942 by singer Roy Acuff.
“ Acuff- Rose and the Benson Company were two locally
owned, locally operated international companies,” Monk says.
“ They came out of, primarily, the publishing business, but both
had records, management and booking. In the mid-’ 70s, we
had a lot of independent records charting, and a lot of independent production companies that did verywell.”
During the country- music boom of the late ’ 80s and ’ 90s,
many of the locally owned businesses sold out to larger international companies, changing the industry’s entrepreneurial culture into a managerial one.
“ It was a small, creative colony,” Monk says. “ Now, it’s a huge company store. The people who actually own it are faceless. Prior to the big sales, you knew everybody who owned it.”
After a career that saw him earn 11 chart- topping singles and six gold and platinum albums for Epic Records, Ricky Skaggs started Skaggs Family Records in 1997.
“ Once Ricky got a taste of making music, going back to the music of his youth and not having to answert o a label head or a radio promotion guy about what we recorded, it was total creative freedom,” says Skaggs Family general manager Steve Day.
Skaggs Family’s most popular titles can sell about 200,000. That’s a far cry from the numbers Keith and Brooks can put up, but it’s solid for an iche label with low overhead.
And, says Day, “ Sometimes you can make more money by having control of everything in a niche market than you can by going out and swinging for the fence with the big boys.”
Skaggs has said he makes as much money from 125,000 units as he did from 500,000 unitswhile recording for Epic.
But that’s not what Keith has in mind for Show Dog.
“ Toby doesn’t want to settle for less,” says manager T. K. Kimbrell.
Most country acts have formed their labels when their value to the majors has decreased or when, like Skaggs, they want to explore nonmainstream markets. Keith, with his full- service, free- standing label, and Brooks, with his Wal-Mart deal, could raise the bar.
The “ retired” Brooks, who has owned the rights to his own recordings for years, negotiated his way out of his licensing agreement with Capitol Records earlier this year, then licensed his music for exclusive sale through Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club and walmart. com. He retained the Disney-owned Lyric Street Records to promote Good Ride Cowboy
at radio.
His new box set, scheduled to be announced on Thursday’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno, includes three previous albums, a DVD and a Lost Sessions disc that features 11 unreleased songs, including Cowboy. It’s available for preorder on the Wal- Mart website for $ 25.
Brooks, who had eight Billboard No. 1 albums from 1991- 2001, is unlikely to get one this time. Garth Brooks: The Limited Series Box Set probably will not appear on any of the Billboard sales charts. That won’t directly affect sales or revenues, but in an ego-driven industry, sacri ; cing the prestige and promotional opportunities from a No. 1 could be a drawback.
Geoff May; eld, Billboard’s director of charts/ senior analyst, says the publication doesn’t include proprietary titles — product released through a single retailer — on its mainstream charts. Proprietary titles, such as those Starbucks and Best Buy have released, can be listed i n a Comprehensive A lbum chart, which includes both new and catalog titles and appears on the publication’s website. But only if the seller provides sales ; gures.
“ The last word we have from the companies that supply Wal- Mart stores is they don’t intend to report this title anyway,” May; eld says.
Keith’s Show Dog, even with its motto, “ The only thing we take seriously is the music,” takes a more orthodox approach. The label opened its doors with 15 employees, many of whom once worked on Keith’s records for DreamWorks Nashville but left when it merged with Universal Music Group.
Keith will release one more album jointly with UMG and has a long- term agreement with Universal’s distribution company.
Show Dog also will release the soundtrack for the Angel from Montgomery movie Keith is ; lming in Atlanta. That album will feature tracks from Keith, Willie Nelson, BeBe Winans and Lindsey Haun, the 20- year-old actress who plays Keith’s daughter in the ; lm.
Show Dog’s sister label, Big Machine, currently has two singles on the country charts. Show Dog already has signed another act, Scotty Emerick, who has co- written several of Keith’s hits, and Keith says he’s discussing deals with other singers.
Keith says his label has the H exibility with contracts and budgets that he never saw during his majorlabel days. “ I don’t have to make a phone call to New York or L.A. to OK anything,” he says. “ If I see an artist that I reallywant and I believe in, and I want to pay him a point more than anybody in town, I just have to make that decision.”
If Keith’s and Brooks’ ventures are successful, they could encourage other artists to take the plunge.
“ There’s a lot of acts from every label that have called Toby, saying they’re unhappy with their labels,” Kimbrell says. “ Acts realize they don’t get to do their own thing. Every act wants that opportunity to do their thing and put their best foot forward.”
Tim McGra w, f or i nsta nce, h as long expressed a desire to run a label. He’s probably watching Keith and Brooks very closely.
“ He’s done well as a producer with Jo Dee Messina,” says McGraw’s manager, Scott Siman. “ I think he wants to continue down that road. We’re looking at our options and choices and seeing what’s there. It’s something Tim’s really intrigued about.”
Day cautions that the creative opportunities a self-owned label affords come at a price that many artists aren’twilling to pay.
“ The good news iswe’re masters of our own destiny,” he says. “ The bad news is we’re masters of our own destiny. That’s the downside.
“ All that responsibility falls on your own shoulders. Whether you make it or you don’t make it, you’re hanging out there twisting in the wind, whether your ideas are good or b a d. You don’t have a d eeppocketed corporate parent to fall back on, to bail you out when you’re wrong. You don’t have anybody else to point the ; nger at. You’ve got to make itwork.”
Such warnings don’t shake Keith’s con ; dence in Show Dog. “ Things are going to be done a little backwards,” says Keith, “ because I think the music business is set up backwards. I’m going to do ( things) the way I’ve been successful in all my other business. The things that do work that have been going on forever in the music business, we’ll do. The things that don’t, we’ll do it ourway.
“ I d on’t c a re h ow they d o it. We’re going to do our label the way we want to do it.”