Igloo Magazine presents Five Questions for Labile label operator and musician Derrick Stembridge (aka Drifting In Silence) to plunge into their experimental, ambient, and industrial sonic forms, and learn more about their label and artist trajectories.
Disrupting how we see and hear music
Igloo Magazine :: When did Labile start up and what was your inspiration?
Derrick Stembridge / Labile Records :: I started Labile Records in 2003 mainly to promote my works with Drifting In Silence. This expanded over the years adding new artists that we would find, or that would contact us directly. The label’s main inspiration was building a platform with a wide range of sonic landscapes that touched on IDM, ambient, industrial, etc. I had just gotten distribution with IODA, now Sony Music’s The Orchard for digital distribution, and various channels for physical distribution.
Who were some of your initial artist relations and did your location help or hinder progress?
Starting, I signed on Jess Hewitt from the band Drev, Mike Petruna of re:conscious, Jamie McMenamy of uniUS, and we mainly focused on physical and digital distribution with US & EU marketing. The location has never been an issue, even when starting Labile and doing promotions mainly in print and online.
What were some of the challenges (if any) of starting up a label? …and how did you envision the label to stand apart?
The main challenges early on were the lack of options for online distribution to sell online. I feel the technology options are pretty amazing now. So much that not a lot of artists need labels at all and can have the same options on a larger scale. I think this is where we need to get innovative. Record labels need to stand out now more than ever. When we started Labile Records, it was about giving artists a chance to have a good platform and voice to hear their music. Then help the artist with PR and marketing, advertising, and promotion so the artist can spend more time creating while we focus on everything else to get the word out.
When we started Labile Records, it was about giving artists a chance to have a good platform and voice to hear their music. ~ Derrick Stembridge
What is your motivation in keeping the label moving forward into the next decade?
Music is in such an exciting place now. It is limitless now. We are always looking for how artists can make a genre mix or create new techniques and off-the-wall instruments. With that, it’s exciting to develop new ways to promote the artists and do something disruptive that changes how we see and hear music. The big thing we are working on now is more collaborations with our artists. We feel this is the key as we go into the future, and with the platforms, the music can cross-pollinate and find new listeners. So far, it has been doing well. Drifting in Silence released its new album Simulation in late September with the artist Tineidae and will make our third go at collaborations.
The fifth question (Tell us more about how you (and your staff?) take the label’s “sound” to the listeners and fans. Distribution, campaigns, live shows, word of mouth etc.) was covered in Derrick’s responses.
Visit Labile at labilerecords.com.
