2/9/10
Today, with a heavy heart I end 11+ years of working with anticon. In the early days of the label, anticon was a pet project of mine, a life-long dream. We fulfilled the dream of a collectively run record label and put out many great records and stood as an image of defiance against the music industry. Those memories, I will always have and be proud of. Sadly, those times are gone, and I need to live in the present as I prepare for the future.
Leaving the company was not an easy decision, but it was made necessary by a number of factors. Upon returning to the states from a 2-year exile in Spain, I found myself increasingly at odds with the business end of anticon and began doing more DIY work via soleone.org. Running my own website and taking a more hands on approach with my art has always brought me great satisfaction and it is what I am choosing to return to. There are no ill feelings between myself and members of anticon. I will continue to work with many of the artists and will always love them as brothers and consider them allies. This is a decision to change the way my music will be exploited and adapt to shifting paradigms.
We created anticon as a response to what was going on at the time in the music industry - the indy boom of the late 90’s. There were still a viable music industry then and people bought records. That’s how we built up our empire. The music industry isn’t just dying, but what it means to be a recording artist is changing. Technology is making everything cheap, and cheapening everything it touches. Soon the old ways of selling records will be a distant memory, along with magazines, working musicians and employed blue-collar dads. It’s not a time to cry about the recession, or urge people to go to their local mom and pops and pick up the new sole & skyrider LP. Technology is working its magic, and instead of being a passenger on its ship, I have decided to plot a new course for myself.
The very fact that I have thrived in this environment still sometimes is a surprise to me. I’m 32 today. I put out my first vinyl when I was 16. For me its always been about ethics & passion, doing what felt right in my core and acting on that, whether or not it was the popular or conventionally wise thing to do.
From now on now all my releases will be made available @ soleone.org via my new label Black Canyon Records and exclusively distributed worldwide via Revolver USA. There is an email newsletter list ton soleone.org, if you wish to be kept in the loop on my releases/updates that will be the best place.
Peace
Tim “sole” Holland
Well that makes me sad.
www.soleone.org
www.anticon.com
-Ben
