Cela Semble Une Bonne Idée.

When starting up this venture, a lot of names were bandied about.  Here they are, along with why they were considerd (and rejected).    “Respect Records”How this came to be the first name, no one knows.  It was ditched early on because far too many people thought it sounded hokey, and like a junior high school after-school special record company.  In retrospect, it wasn’t such a bad name.  It was short, and an alliteration – both always good.  It hasn’t been used by anyone else, and it can be easily abbreviated to the very cool (and stylish) RR Records.  This would match up with the founding company (Design Different – DD), and would look really good as a nice logo with the first R flipped like in a mirror.  Finally, it also conveyed to artists that we are a label that will finally respect your music / integrity, and to listeners (especially of our future hip hop acts) that we’re a feminist friendly label.  But, turns out, the name still sounded hokey.   Different Sounds / Sounds Different / Sound Different Records.  This is a pretty straight-up play on our overarching company name of Design Different.   This name lasted several months, but just didn’t inspire us.   Antiquarian Records The final choice (so far, we’ve still got a little while to change our name again before the first album drops).  Based loosely on the name of an Omaha book store & hippster hang out, this name is all about what’s old is new again.  The Arts & Crafts movement of the 1920’s, the collective space / live-work / settlement house movement, the anti-war movement, the populist & progressive era movements– It’s all here again and we want to be a part of it.  Antiquarian records won’t be putting out CDs that you get hit over the head with either (otherwise we might have gone with “blockbuster,” “pop,” “smash,” or something).  But we plan to produce little gems that indie kids will search out, devour, and love.  That’s what an antiquarian bookstore is like, that’s what antiquarians themselves are like, and that’s the type of music we’re going to try to make.  Or something like that.   

First off, you should know that my first love was music.  Before getting into website design, web-hosting, or small business consulting… even before starting in politics, I loved music.Naturally, while working on most other projects, I’ve always had in the back of my mind the idea that I might be able to go back to music full time someday.  Recording a great indie song is very similar to recording a great TV commercial or political ad.  With the technological advances of the last decade, both can be done “in-house” with a relatively small investment in equipment.The fidelity level of home recording has gotten to the point that what makes a great indie-label isn’t the “professionalism of the sound”  but rather the sound itself.  And to have a sound that sells (or spreads), the trick isn’t to hit a perfect pop formula, but to sound unique.  Broken Social Scene & Feist are great examples of this from the Arts&Crafts record label up in Canada.  In my home town of Omaha, Bright Eyes & the Faint are vastly different bands, both sharing recording space, and the Saddle Creek indie label.Furthermore, the skills that make marketing a political candidate or local business using new media are identical to the ones used to market a new band.  The talents and theory used to brand a business or candidate, are the same you use to build a band’s image.  The tricks you learn to get people to show up the polls on election day, or to come try that cup of coffee from the new place- those are the same tricks that get young people off their ass on Thursday night to come see a show from a band they’ve never seen before.What I’m saying is, the talent & the materials translate.  So I figured it was time to make the switch.At Antiquarian Records we’ll be starting off slow- probably only producing 2 or 3 albums in 2008 from one or two artists.  But over time this venture will grow, and perhaps even your band will be the next one we sign.