Interview: Ripcord Records
I planned for it to be a small thing. Just a couple of boxes of tapes and now it has taken over my entire spare room.
In February 2021 the UK was back in lockdown and Bandcamp Friday was a monthly event which was inspiring conversation and collaboration between labels, bands and fans. One release that gathered great momentum due to its ambitious size was the 150 track double compilation Refuge I and II released by Glasgow based label Ripcord Records. This release started popping round social media from the different bands involved and was my first introduction to Ripcord Records. Since then more compilations and releases have come along with a burgeoning distro selection. Gary Davidson caught up with label creator and owner Charlene to dive into the background and workings of everything Ripcord.
E&D: I think I first came across Ripcord when you released the heroically impressive Refuge I and II complications in February 2021. You had been a label for a time before then, so how did it all start?
Charlene: I’d been wanting to start a record label since my teens but obviously never had the cash back then. Fast forward to my late 30s and my friend Dan was running a tape label and I got inspired by this to start my own. He gave me lots of advice and I owe it to him for giving me the required knowledge to start. I planned for it to be a small thing. Just a couple of boxes of tapes and now it has taken over my entire spare room. So yeah, we started as a tape label and got some friends to have faith in us to release their records on tape and it just went from there.
E&D: Where did the inspiration come from to take on a huge project like the Refuge compilations?
Charlene: We had done a couple of compilations before, you know, the standard 20-25 tracks and one day I just thought “let’s do something really massive – let’s do 101 tracks!”. I don’t know where the inspiration came from other than madness! I didn’t know if it’d be possible to get enough bands but I tried anyway and it worked out. It was a lot of work though. A lot of spreadsheets were needed to keep track of who I’d asked and who said yes. To get 101 tracks I had to ask about 900 bands so it was a huge undertaking. I’d start around June for a December release. It was all for charity too and we made £1000-£2500 per compilation.
E&D: How did you go about arranging the tracks into some kind of running order?
Charlene: To be honest I just did it randomly to start with and then I’d listen to it and make some changes where tracks just didn’t fit right. Again, this was very time consuming because you’re talking over 11 hours of music! I did get some feedback that the compilations flowed well so I was happy about that as that was one of the things I was worried about.
E&D: What parts of running Ripcord do you enjoy the most and which are the most challenging?
Charlene: I love working with the bands. Each band is unique, with their own ideas, and I always learn from them. The creativity I’ve seen and the amount of work the bands put into their records is really mind blowing at times. I also feel I’ve made good friends while doing this. The challenging part for me is getting press. I always email about 90-100 mags/blogs which is very time-consuming and rather dull if I’m honest but it has to be done. However, more recently bands are seeing the benefit of using a professional PR agency so that takes the press stuff out of my hands.
E&D: What factors come into consideration when a band gets in contact to discuss a release? Is it a case of loving the music first and going from there?
Charlene: It’s definitely loving the music first but we narrow it down to genres now so a band needs to fit into the kind of music we release (post-rock, post-metal, black metal etc). Before, we had more of an ‘anything goes’ attitude so long as we liked it, which worked to a certain extent but it began to feel like we were all over the place. So we decided we wanted a focus, which I much prefer now. With the bands, we have a chat with them to see if we have the same expectations and if we gel it goes from there. I do like a band who gigs a lot because I think that’s important.
E&D: Does running a label ever get easier or do the challenges that are present at the beginning just get swapped for others as the label matures?
Charlene: That pretty much describes it. When I started I didn’t really know what I was doing. I didn’t do press or EPKs or anything. As I learnt more I had more work to do – contacting press, making EPKs, helping with artwork, creating adverts and finding a balance when it comes to using social media – you don’t want to swamp your feed but you want to do it enough so people see it.
E&D: As well as being a label you operate as an exceptionally fine distro. How have you found the process of importing records from other labels in the post-Brexit landscape?
Charlene: It’s been surprisingly smooth sailing. I think the labels had to sort a lot of paperwork to export to the UK but for me it’s been ok. Sometimes we get hit by customs and that affects sale prices but that is actually quite rare, so as much as I want to dog on Brexit haha we haven’t had any major issues.
E&D: How do you decide on the number of copies and which releases to purchase for the distro?
Charlene: This is a good question and is something we’re still learning! We tend to err on the side of caution and get a small number of copies for each release. It depends on the release though and where we’re getting it from. If we’re importing we tend to get more and if it’s from a UK distributor we get less because it is easier to get more (lower postage, no customs). I basically just get in titles that I like. That’s why you get some weird releases in there like Silverchair haha. But in the main, I figure if I like them, some other people will too. I also go by what has sold well in the past. Sometimes you know a release will do well, other times you think it’ll do well and it doesn’t and vice versa! Some are requests which I’m happy to do when I can. It’s a hard thing to figure out though and I still haven’t mastered it.
E&D How does operating as a distro work, do you purchase at a lower price so the albums technically become yours? Would there be routes to return items or do they become your own liability once purchased?
Charlene: We purchase at a wholesale price then there’s VAT to be added and then our own mark-up. We try to keep prices down as much as we can. Yeah the records become ours. It depends where we buy them from as to whether we can return them but the UK distributors tend to not allow returns except in cases like damage and even then it’s a hassle. So basically the records are ours once they are bought and therefore our responsibility to sell.
E&D: Do you feel you need to keep the identity of the label and distro separate or does one help with sales and exposure of the other quite mutually?
Charlene: We have them on two different websites. Our own releases are on our Bandcamp, and the distro has its own site. The two are quite separate but we never really intended it to be that way. We do put our own releases on the distro site so we do mix the two but I wouldn’t say the two feed off each other, though I’d like them to. The distro has grown way bigger than intended so it kind of needs its own website.
E&D: The distro has started moving more in the direction of vinyl releases whilst some label releases are still on CD. Do the bands play a role in which format to release from the label or are there other considerations involved as well?
Charlene: Regarding the label, the only vinyl we’ve released has been in collaboration with other labels so we’ve never had to foot the bill for the entire run. We’re still a small label and don’t really have the cash to be putting out vinyl ourselves so when we approach a band or they come to us, the deal is for a CD.
Vinyl collaborations are so different from putting out a record yourself. All the decisions and manufacturing are mostly done behind the scenes as it were. It basically goes: agree to be a part of it, wait, pay when vinyl is ready, receive vinyl.
When I put out a CD by myself it is very hands on. There is a LOT of communication between us and the band where everything from artwork to press to single premieres to release dates are all discussed and agreed upon. Obviously the vinyl collaborations are much less work for me but I do prefer the hands-on approach of doing a CD and having that relationship with the band.
E&D: Thank you kindly for your time Charlene and keep up the good work, my bank manager is very chuffed with my credit.
You can find links to both the label and distro above as well as following the Facebook page to keep up to date on new arrivals and deals.
