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Who runs Ace Fu?
"Eric Speck who started the company, and me."
Can you explain what the name stands for?
"The Ace Fu policy on this question is that I'm supposed to come up with a witty story. But the truth is Eric had a t-shirt with a kung fu guy on it and it said "Ace Fu"."
Is the record label a job or a hobby?
"It is not my full time job, but it is becoming quite a bit more than a hobby. I got a music business degree in college, and wanted to work at a label upon graduating. But I couldn't stand working my way up via a mailroom, even a cool indie's mailroom. So I got a job at IBM where I learned how to program computers. During the whole dot-com thing I started making a good bit of money as a contractor travelling to suburban office parks all across the country and making extremely boring programs for Pharmaceutical companies; e.g. calculating how many people died using their drug in a clinical trial v.s. how many the FDA allows for approval. The whole time I was thinking of starting my own label, I heard the first Pinback album through a mutual friend of Eric and mine and I decided to get involved with him rather than go it alone.
Although I still program as a day job I have gotten a less stressful job and don't have to travel. But as Ace Fu becomes more profitable/successful I find myself sleeping less and doing a lot of label stuff while at work (like this interview)."
How did you finance your first release?
"Eric put out five 7 inches and one full length CD before I got involved, he financed them through working crappy jobs in and out of college. But they were all on a pretty small scale. I had a bit of cash from programming for the Pinback release, and the rest of my investment has been all credit cards."
Who or what has inspired you to start Ace Fu?
"I know Eric was inspired by looking at the successes of the icons of punk/indie labels: Discord, Touch and Go, Sub Pop, Matador, etc and thinking "Why not me?" Personally, I was inspired by interning and being friends with one medium-sized and a lot of small labels, and thinking that I could do it better than they were doing. My own heroes include the same indie/punk legends, but I also very much admire people like Barry Gordy and David Geffen who were able to push their own taste to a mass scale."
Are you a musician and/or journalist?
"Both. I went to music school, and played guitar and sang in a number of bands (none of any importance). My brother started, and I wrote for a fairly popular web zine, Tongue, before anyone knew what a web zine was. I wrote music reviews and interviewed a few indie rock stars, he interviewed mostly indie comic people, and we both wrote fiction for it."
What advice would you give someone who wants to start up a record label?
"Don't unless you really have to. Meaning, at this point, if Eric and I were to have put all the time we spent into Ace Fu into a job at McDonald's we would be much further ahead financially.
I know so many little labels that have failed for a large variety of reasons. It's different than failing in a rock band, as you wind up with quite a bunch of CDs in your apartment to remind you every time you move, and a large credit card debt... But, if you are moved enough by other people's music to want to get really involved in it, and if you have an abundance of time and the ability to work really hard, (and money helps, but credit cards are ok for that) then go for it. Just know that it is a lot of time spent working really hard to become even marginally successful, and if you don't really love it you are going to either really hate your life or fail."
What are pros and cons of running a label?
"The main thing I love is pushing the aesthetic of Ace Fu into the world. 95% of our internal disagreements are over aesthetic issues: we don't fight about money or work, but we do fight with each other what direction the label is going in artistically. It's great to see a band play to a full house in a city they don't live in and think "without us, this great music would not have reached these people..."
As in all business, the cons are when you are not as successful as you would like to be."
How does a regular day at the Ace Fu office look like?
"Eric and I live together and have a home office. Since we both have day jobs (Eric books Brownies in NYC), a regular day is: I leave for work at 8:30. Eric gets up a half hour later, works for a couple of hours on label stuff and emails me about what I need to do, and goes to Brownies. During the day we each do what we can within the constraints of our day jobs. Then I get home at night and put in a few hours. We meet with each other on the weekend mostly. Twice a week we have an employee come in during the day and do more stuff for us."
What records are on the turntable?
"Lots and lots of demos. Besides that (and our own stuff) I have been loving the new 90 Day Men record. I also listen to a lot of classical and jazz. Eric listens to a lot of Springsteen (always) and Ryan Adams (lately)."
Is there an Ace Fu sound?
"We look for bands of all different styles, our policy is if we love and think we can sell a band's music then we go for it."
Which releases would you recommend to Ace Fu "virgins"?
"Those Pinback records seem to have a near universal appeal. But like I said, I think all of our releases are quite different."
How do you find new bands?
"Lots of demos. It helps greatly that Eric books Brownies which puts our ears really close to the ground, especially in New York."
Do you encourage bands to send demos?
"Yes. We listen to everything. It's the only way to really become aware of really new bands from across the world."
What is the strangest experience in the label's history?
"For me it was The Sucka MCs. I met MC Rob in a kickboxing class in Boston. After a couple of months of beating each other up, we started shooting the shit. I gave him Pinback, and this lanky Jewish white guy tells me he raps in a band from his home town of Iowa City. I didn't believe him until he gave me a demo. I couldn't believe they were good until I listened to the demo like 10 times."
How do you use the Internet? What are the positive or negative effects of it?
"Day to day. We do everything online possible. From the 100 or so emails we send out a day, to selling our stuff on our web site, to making mp3s of demos we're interested in for our friends to listen to...
Positive/Negative
We had Pinback on the Napster "discover music" promotion when Napster was in the news every day about being shut down, and their usage was triple their normal pre-court injunction average. This was one of the bigger steps of building Pinback the fan base they currently enjoy. We currently don't have the ability to get our bands on MTV or on top 40 radio, and by disabling Napster the RIAA has taken a very effective means of promotion from smaller labels.
Like most of my wired friends, I download a lot of music, but still spend the same amount on buying music that I always have. I had a roommate who has over 500 CDRs of mp3s (like 10 hours of music on each). The RIAA fears people like him, but the reality is, that he still buys, and likes buying records. Just now, he doesn't have to buy any artist or album before realizing it's crap.
As far as getting royalties from downloads ala what ASCAP/BMI does from radio. It would seem that all indies are in the hands of what the RIAA manages to set. However the RIAA's lack of foresight to realize that by disabling Napster they have fragmented peer to peer technology so badly there will never again be any real chance of monitoring music downloads and collecting royalties. Their idiocy is nearly comical when considering that 35% of all software in use is pirated, and that people in mass have been using and developing more efficient ways to illegally trade warez of software, porn, etc since the bad old days of dialling in to people's bedroom based BBSes.
Furthermore, the RIAA is of the opinion that they don't have to offer anymore for the consumer's money because of their manufacturing costs being cheaper than ever. The benefits of breaking up AT&T can be seen in the obvious way of the price of long distance phone calls dropping in my lifetime to almost nothing. As a result of the break up, phone companies are left with the huge task to compete with each other. Which really limits the effectiveness of lobbying congress. Although the RIAA is not exactly a monopoly, it is undeniably a unified network of very powerful corporations that resembles one, and definitely needs to be monitored and probably needs to be broken up.rant off"
In the vinyl versus CD debate, where do you stand?
"Although I do have a small vinyl collection, my original pressings of Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" and "In The Court of The Crimson King" sound particularly good, and it is nearly magical to watch a big thing of wax spinning and making music... From a financial standpoint, it doesn't make any sense for a label to press vinyl as it costs about double per CD, and you sell like none of them. From a music lover stand point, I used to really enjoy buying random cheap vinyl, but I now get the same thrill from downloading stuff I haven't heard before. I don't think I'm cool enough to fully understand the appeal, as I have been shown time and again that I'm not cool enough to hang out with DJs."
Do you have a goal?
The two maxims that govern Ace Fu are:
1. "I didn't want to work a day job, and I didn't want our bands to have to work day jobs" - Bruce Pavitt, Sub Pop, "Hype!"
2.. "Life ain't nuthin but bitches and money." - Easy-E, NWA, "Straight Outta Compton"
What future Ace Fu releases should we be looking out for?
Secret Machines "September 000" - minimal spaciousness and beauty ala Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon" (release March 25, 02)
The Sucka MCs "Da Album" - the absolute best rappers from Iowa City Iowa, and in my humble opinion, the world (release April 15, 02)
Both are truly exceptional records, but are obviously vastly different from each other.
Pinback Outtakes/rare CD (In the not too distant future)
Ex Models - to be named 2nd album
http://www.kindamuzik.net/label/ace-fu/ace-fu/1417/
Meer Ace Fu op KindaMuzik: http://www.kindamuzik.net/artiest/ace-fu
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