Consumption Records

Date of Birth: 2003
Releases to date: 25
Biggest seller: Consumption Records Sampler, Frank F_BA
Upcoming releases: I Cover Your Songs compilation
Online:
Gonna Start a Revolution
"A major goal was to inspire people, to create and participate in a model of distributing music that was different than the system that we are all accustomed to that is rarely questioned, even within indie music. Money didn’t seem to make sense because it was like ‘How much am I going to charge for this?’ Really the main priority was to get the music out there. I thought of making it really cheap, but then it was like a dollar. You sell 15 tapes and you have 15 dollars? It seemed kind of petty. Charging money for it seemed petty, giving it out for free seemed like a waste of energy because people will accept it even if they don’t want it, so I figured people should have to do something in exchange. That’s where the art challenge came in. We make art, and then you make art.”

Art for Art’s Sake
"A lot of people put a lot of time and effort into making the tapes and it’s not really a lot to ask. If somebody didn’t want to pay for a tape or a record it’s generally because either that they don’t have the money or they don’t think they should have to pay, so it becomes about an unwillingness to part with money for whatever reason. Whereas paying for the tapes, generally when people feel reluctance it’s usually because they’re kind of shy or insecure about being creative and having people see that. So it’s a great opportunity to let people know that really it doesn’t matter what you do. Different things appeal to different people and different art challenges appeal to different people. Some are challenges asking you to draw, some ask you to sing; they can be unusual situations. Sometimes people pick the tape based on the art challenges involved. It’s not going to be judged, it’s not going to be graded. The only requirement is that you make an effort to do something.”

Cult Hero
"One challenge is the cassette format. When I first started I used cassettes because it was accessible. I didn’t have a computer; I didn’t have a CD burner. Now it’s like this curio. A lot of people don’t use tapes. So there is the challenge on the one of hand of wanting as many people to hear the music but on the other hand I’m using cassettes as a format. Although I have to say a success that I’m very proud of is that I’ve had people tell me — I’m not gloating here — that because of Consumption Records they still keep a cassette deck in their house. I’m still a bit of a Luddite in many ways so I don’t really see why I should stop doing what I’m doing just because a lot of people don’t want to use tapes anymore. I think tapes have their own appeal. Music is very personal and there’s a lot of nostalgia involved around music. There are some people that are not always into the newest thing.”