The Richter Collective announced earlier this week that they are to close at the end of the year. An email from March 2008:
The Offical Launch gig of ‘The Richter Collective’We are an Independent DIY record label, music distributor and gigs promoter. The Richter Collective was set up in 2007 by Armed Ambitions and Popular records after a series of split label releases.
As a distro we stock only good quality independent labels and artists, the majority of which are based in Ireland.
As a label we are currently working with two bands; Adebisi Shank and The Vinny Club, more will be announced very soon.
We also ask do a podcast each month asking an independent artist to tell us about five bands we’ve probably never heard of and chat a bit about them. At the end, the artist introduces us to one of their own songs.
Our launch gig is planned for Saturday April 5th in The Lower Deck and we hope you can come along , distro available on the night and we are glad to dance the night away with Los Langeros (http://www.myspace.com/loslangeros) , Ten Past Seven (http://www.myspace.com/tenpastseven) , Bats (http://www.myspace.com/leatherbeatsfeather) and Discarded Retarded ( http://www.myspace.com/thediscardedretarded) – Doors 8pm 6 euro before 9pm / 7 after.
Who knew what that would lead to?
Having watched the Richter Collective grow into one of the most important labels in Ireland in only four years, today’s announcement came as a big shock. It’s easy to be negative about the health of the independent Irish music scene when a label with some of the best bands in the country on their roster run into problems, but really it’s not that simple. As they say themselves, the problem lies as much with trying to operate within the confines of the “traditional” record label business model as anything else.
Their statement in full:
It is with mixed emotion that we are announcing The Richter Collective will be coming to a close at the end of this year, December 2012. We are regretful that we will be losing the label but also very optimistic and excited about the future. The reasons for this are numerous and to go into in great detail would take far too long. In a nutshell it’s a decision that’s part based on money and part based on not wanting to compromise on the vision we had for the label when we started. It’s become increasingly difficult to apply new ideas within the constructs of a “traditional label” model and our label still falls within that remit. Instead of being doom and gloom about this decision we would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has helped us along our journey, especially the amazing bands and artists we have had the pleasure to work with.
We started this label a mere four years ago and have had the pleasure of releasing over twenty seven amazing pieces of work. The support that we have had in terms of coverage has been far beyond any expectation we ever had when we set the label up. We managed to get our releases into stores all around Europe, the US and Asia and (hopefully) helped the acts we worked with reach new audiences around the world. We came from a hobby label background and tried to build a new label to rival the larger Independents in term of reach and scale and we are so proud of what we’ve achieved in the last few years on a relatively small budget. Now, it’s time to move on for both of us, we started the label at a time when there weren’t many other options for Irish acts in terms of independent labels but now there are many amazing new independents in this country and it’s such a great time for new music.
We will continue to be involved in independent music in Ireland and hope to work on some exciting new projects in the future. For now we will continue to operate “as normal” and sell off all remaining stock we hold. We are planning a big Xmas bash for the end of year and have a few more bits and pieces up our sleeves. If you have been thinking of buying any of our music in the past we’re still open for business at http://www.richtercollective.com and http://richtercollective.bandcamp.com
We hope you continue to support all of the acts we have worked with in future projects.
Thanks!
RC
They’ll be missed.
http://www.richtercollective.com
http://richtercollective.bandcamp.com
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