Sad to see Rubellan Remasters, which released some cool 80's music these past few years, is closing down. Even sadder is it was on the heals of a Split Enz CD I was looking forward to, which apparently was their death knell. Not sure how many copies of the CDs they released are out there, but you might want to pick them up as some of their most popular ones have already gone out of print. I'm posting Rubellan's message below a link to their product on IMWAN
search.php?keywords=Rubellan+&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=SearchI have the unfortunate news that the recently announced Split Enz CD reissue of Frenzy has been cancelled and that Rubellan Remasters is shutting down as a label after nearly 3/4 of a decade of very well received dynamic remasters of many lost or neglected new wave/alternative classics. After the announcement of the reissue was made on Facebook last week, someone associated with the band expressed his disappointment. A representative for the band made contact with Universal who decided to pull my license at last minute, despite all the work done and monies paid. For newer followers, this happened a couple of years ago with another artist and it took six months of regular follow ups to finally be reimbursed by the label for the advance paid, though other fees were not covered and remained a loss.
For those who are unaware, the contracts the artists sign either do or do not have a clause in which their approval is required for the licensing of their material. Many artists of the 80s, especially smaller acts, do not have an approval clause, and if they do then it's up to the rights holder/licensing label to reach out to the artist to get their feedback to either approve or deny the reissue request. In the last case, there was such a clause that was overlooked by the licensing label. In this case, I specifically asked the head of licensing in April if there were any issues with licensing the Split Enz catalog. I received the response: "I’m not aware of any issue with Split Enz." The situation appears to be that there was no approval clause but that the label is choosing to side with the artist, whose catalog the label has done nothing with since the late 80s, in favor of destroying our already strained relationship.
Apparently, the band would like to do another reissue campaign of their own in the coming years. The reports have been they want to remix the albums and 'remaster' them again. Part of the reason I wanted to license the albums was because there were a lot of complaints about the excessive audio compression used on the 2006 remasters, and I personally find them unlistenable. My plan was to remedy that with dynamic remasters of the original mixes. At the very least, Frenzy should have been able to proceed because this 1981 USA remix of the album has never been on CD, had already been paid and work completed, and will be very different to the edition the band might release in years to come. By the time their edition could see a release, my stock would have been long sold out and the contract expired. Now, it's a loss for all involved or interested.
After the way things have played out over the years, this current situation was the final indignity. I notified Universal to cancel all outstanding reissue requests, and also called them out on their poor conduct. There have been times in the past that I thought things were winding down, but it's never gotten to the point in which I asked for everything to be cancelled permanently. It's easy to romanticize the idea of running a third party record label, and part of the main reason I've been forthcoming over the years is to bring the reality to the public. It's a clumsy trainwreck one has to attempt to navigate to get anything released, and even the most tolerant individual has their limits. I've heard the UK third party labels have a much easier time than the USA, but there isn't a way USA third parties can work with these international offices.
For those who have been following my label for years, it's been no secret the struggle it has been to get anything reissued. The primary issue has been the two licensing people I've been required to work with. I'm not going to rehash the sordid history here (it would be a novel) but it's been an absolute chore to maintain any sort of release schedule out of passion for the music and the products, especially over the last couple of years in which some pretty underhanded things had been done. I've literally gotten physically ill at times from the frustration they've caused. It's been one insult after another, but I've tried to maintain some sort of positive opinion of my primary licensing contact because you don't always want to think you're making a deal with the devil. That was my mistake. In the end, it's a big corporate machine and the people in these prime positions might as well be robots. Aside from the licensing side, there have been some amazing people who I have worked with over the years that have proven invaluable. Unfortunately, during the recent layoffs at the label, a couple of those who have been great resources in the past were casualties, yet those who have caused the most problems remain. Go figure...
I'm always pleased to see such support from the long time Rubellan faithful who have followed my releases and taken chances on artists they've never heard. If it weren't for the dedication and enthusiasm of my customer base, I would have stopped this a long time ago. I think I'm the only label in history that has been entirely a one-man show, handling all aspects of the products and the business. It was your excitement of what I was trying to do that kept it going when I've had doubts in the past. Personally, I feel a sense of relief at this point, and it's felt for a while that this was inevitable. I hope my catalog will eventually be looked back on as the benchmark of how a reissue should be done. I definitely started the label out of dissatisfaction with the way many reissues were handled. And while I anticipate responses asking if there are other labels I can license from, the short answer is the USA branches of the other two major labels are either not open to third party inquiries or are far too restrictive on what they will allow, and even then will charge unreasonable fees. I shared some of those numbers with a UK third party and they were shocked.
The online store will remain for now, and there's been further price reductions on titles. I've cancelled two LP represses I was just starting, so what's currently on hand will be the last of it.
Thanks for all of the support over the years, and call this another victim of the soulless corporate machine.
