Lost Sound Tapes is a record label based out of Seattle, Washington, USA and run by Jon Manning. Fallen Love head Harley spoke with Jon through e-mail.
Fallen Love Records: You started Lost Sound Tapes in 2005 as an outlet for your musical project Blanket Truth. What was your music history like pre-LST?
Jon: I've always been a huge music enthusiast - all kinds. Never thought I'd be a maker, I just saw myself as an appreciator. When I heard The Mountain Goats and Casiotone For The Painfully Alone in high school it changed everything for me. For the first time I thought, "Hey, I could do that." It wasn't until then that I went from being a bystander to a maker. Then I got involved with putting on house shows in Seattle and DJing on Hollow Earth Radio (for five years).
FLR: How long was LST in existence before you thought about putting out music from other people? What motivated that expansion and how did you find those early bands you worked with?
J: It was pretty quick. The first release was Blanket Truth. The second was a split with a friend from Portland. The idea of doing a split opened things up for me and I released a ukulele compilation. I received a great response from the bands and thought it was a direction that was right for me. There's no greater joy for me than to help someone bring a creative project to life.
FLR: Can you walk us through the production of a typical LST release? What comes first?
J: Most releases the band asks me [to put out their music] but sometimes I ask the bands. It depends on the situation. Generally it's friends that I work with. There are only two bands I've released music for (compilations excluded) that I have yet to meet and one of them lives in Brazil.
FLR: What parts of the production process do you handle?
J: I handle everything after the music is created. I send it off to be professionally duplicated, layout the artwork (usually provided by the band), print the covers, stamp the labels, assemble, and do my best to promote the release.
FLR: Your releases tend to be predominantly cassettes, though you do have some CD’s and vinyl in your shop. I'm an admirer of cassettes for the size, price, and durability. Two of the first three Fallen Love releases were on tape actually but everything we’ve done since then has wound up being on CD, largely due to the artist's preferences. Do you ever find it a hard sell convincing bands to do a cassette release?
J: Nah. If it's a hard sell then we're not the right fit.
FLR: The digital revolution was already underway when you started up a decade ago but things are still changing daily it seems. How does digital culture affect the way you operate?
J: Well, we definitely provide download codes for a lot more releases these days. Other than that our methods really haven't changed much: make a tape, tell people about it, hope people are interested. What sells and what doesn't is still a complete mystery to me.
FLR: How do you handle promotion?
J: Usually I send the info to a few blogs, post on the LST blog, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr... Occasionally things will be picked up by larger sites but there's no rhyme or reason to it. Sometimes radio stations will get in touch for copies but that's not that often.
FLR: Where do most of your sales tend to come from?
J: It's mostly website/Bandcamp sales and the bands when they tour. Records in shops and distros are a pretty small portion. I don't often send tapes out to distros because the tapes are usually fairly short runs and I don't know what people will sell and what won't so I don't want to send 5 copies out of 100 to a distro where they will just sit and no one will get paid for it. That happened too many times so I just stopped. People who actually want it will get in touch! From what I've found, this is mostly a niche format, DIY music. Making it available to a larger audience doesn't increase the number of interested people.
FLR: What have been some of the biggest highlights in LST history so far?
J: So many! The first that comes to mind is Rose Melberg's September. She and that album are both very special to me. There was the first vinyl release - iji and Watercolor Paintings' split 7" that was released for the first two-month summer tour I went on when I played in iji. The iji Sorry Seashells tape brings back lots of memories of burgeoning friendship. Also the Seasonal Splits 4 cassette box set was a very ambitious project that actually turned out pretty well.
FLR: What’s the hardest part of running a label?
J: The hardest part for me is promotion. I never know what other people are going to take to and what people won't. I love everything released on Lost Sound Tapes so I'm not very impartial. If there's anyone out there reading this who wants to help us promote things digitally, please get in touch. I also have a hard time updating the website. It's something I need to make a conscious effort to do more often.
FLR: What’s something you would love to do as a label that you haven't had the opportunity to yet?
J: I just want to keep making high-quality cassettes filled with great music from excellent people. Is that too much to ask? :)
FLR: Does LST generally make enough to turn a profit?
J: We basically run on a nonprofit model. We sell cassettes inexpensively, $5 a piece, and put any surplus back into the label to make more tapes and help more bands/artists. I don't take any money from Lost Sound Tapes for personal reasons. Since the costs and quantities are low, tape releases don't usually lose money.
FLR: And finally, what do you see as being the role of an indie label in 2015?
J: These days I feel like independent labels exist to serve as inspiration for other bands, labels, and music fans. To show them "Hey, you can do it too!"
Lost Sound Tapes on Facebook
Lost Sound Tapes on Bandcamp
