The_Business_of_Business.html

The_Business_of_Business.html Community

The highest item on our agenda. We'll say this again and again... we're not trying to build a company, we're trying to build a community. Our personal goals are to find ways to make our dreams sustainable ways of life. We recognized at some point that it was easier to accomplish this as a group rather than as individuals. That means that everyone we're working with is someone who we consider a friend -- someone we're willing to trust. If we're not friends now, that means we've heard something or read something or seen something an artist has done that really inspired us and made us think "that's the kind of person I want to work with".

Self-promotion can be a pain in the ass. No sane person wants to feel like they're trying to sell themselves to people all the time. We've found it's much easier to promote when you know that your efforts are helping your friends too. When you're pushing the envelope for a community, not only does it step up the urgency, but it makes you feel better when you're successful and everyone drives each other to do better.

We found somewhere along the way that the richest experiences in our lives were those that involved something greater than ourselves. That precept operates on multiple levels... when the band we started was part of a larger community of musicians, everything we did felt that much more vital... vibrant... alive.

Working 40, 50, 60 hours a week has made us feel the opposite... numb, unfeeling, dead... We don't want that for ourselves and we don't want it for our friends. We believe that all of us have the means to pull ourselves out of this and live better lives, but we can accomplish this more effectively and in a more meaningful way if we work toward our goals together.

Money

Our least favorite subject -- so, we're trying to do this in the least painful way possible. After working for one of the best companies in "Corporate America" for several years, I started to see very clearly how making money an end rather than keeping it focused as a means is not sustainable -- and no one here is looking to get rich, we're looking for sustainability, the ability to make our passions a lifestyle that sustains itself, for everyone involved.

When we do a release, there are no contracts. The first step to building trust back into the world is to learn to trust someones word. Now, if I told any sane business manager that this was how I'm running this thing, they'd tell me I'm an idiot and I'm going to lose my shirt. I'm not willing to accept that. Communities are built on shared need structures and on trust. Our shared need structure is the need to create, to share those creations, and to keep putting food on the table (or in the van)... our trust is the agreement that we care enough about what each other are working on to help push and promote each other. We're not trying to build a company here, we're trying to build a community.

Marketing, PR, Advertising, etc.

Fugazi set a great example for the indie scene on advertising, but not everyone can be Fugazi (unfortunately). For most of us, some level of PR and advertising is going to be a necessary component of building an "audience". However, if you're at all like we are, you're probably disgusted with the amount of advertising you're confronted with on a daily basis and therefore you're probably reluctant to add to that mess. With that in mind, we try to keep the following two ideas at the core of any advertising we're going to do:

1. Advertising should be tasteful and provocative -- it should be something that when people see it, they take something away from it that's more than a product to buy.

2. Any advertising should be structured in such a way that it easily promotes not only an individual band/artist, but exposes the viewer to an easy way to see everyone's work (other folks involved in the label). Cross promotion is our most important tool. When I know I'm promoting my friend's work as well as my own, I'm going to work that much harder for it.

With those two items in mind, it's logical to have visual artists as part of our organization as well. With a visual artist who's willing to help build tasteful ads / stickers / posters under these ideas, they get promotion, the bands get promotion, and everyone gets to feel better about having put something out to the world that hopefully contributes positively to someones day rather than just being another set of words in their face.

Larger Communities.

Currently Last Minute Records is not a "real" business. It will make sense for us to tackle those hurdles soon, and some of this may change when we do. Of course, since no one is signing any contracts, you can leave our family if you ever start to feel uncomfortable about where we're going. We're investigating the feasibility of becoming a non-profit business because it gives us alot more flexibility to contribute to the local community here in Chicago (in non-music related ways... we'll send you some info on that separately if you're curious). Whatever we do, we'll do it in a way that doesn't compromise everyone's ability to try and make their dreams sustainable; however, in tandem with that, we want to be contributing to larger communities. With that in mind, we STRONGLY ENCOURAGE that each release donate a specified amount (usually $1 a CD/LP/7" is a very tangible way for people to think about it) to some outside charity. This is again, a way to help us realize we're part of a larger community and to help each of us invest in something really meaningful.

It's layer upon layer upon layer and if we do this right, each person we interact with will be another potential member of our community or another community to spawn.

Motivations

We've hinted at this alot already, but our motivations extend beyond getting great music out to people. We're astonished everyday by the lack of community we see around us... by how little people seem to trust... by how much what we love (music, art, writing) has been turned into commodities to fatten someones bank statement. We want to make great music, but we don't want it to be just another way to have a day job. We want to be able to connect with people, to really communicate, to support each other and others working toward similar goals, to rebuild the idea of trust in a generation raised on contracts and lawsuits. In short, we want to take this experiment called life and see what we can build with it. We hope you'll join us.


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