An Indie Music Success Story
It’s hard not to root for David in a world full of Goliaths. Especially in an arena as unseemly as the music business, filled with its requisite leeches and leches.
So the 20th anniversary of Merge Records is definitely cause for celebration.
Check out the great feature today on NPR’s All Things Considered telling the story of the record label’s beginnings and the ability of Merge’s co-founders (Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance of the band Superchunk) to maintain their integrity and thrive in an industry where survival alone is nearly impossible these days.
Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan of Superchunk, co-founders of Merge Records
An ear for talent certainly doesn’t hurt, and with a roster that includes great bands like Spoon and Arcade Fire, Merge has proven to independent radio programmers and music critics that it’s always worth making the effort to scope out a Merge band when sorting through the vast array of new releases vying for airplay and attention.
With such a wide cross-section of artists on their roster, it is self-evident that not every Merge band is for everyone, but it’s definitely worth your time to check out Merge Radio or the Merge Records YouTube channel to sample some of the artists represented on their stellar roster.
Good music is still out there, folks. Sometimes you’ve just gotta know where to find it. Merge is one of those places.
As McCaughan says, “We’ve always run the label like music fans. And our customer base is music fans. We started a label, and we run a label counting on there being people like us.”
