General Question: 60's independent record labels

There was a little local record label in my area back in the '60's I'm doing a blog on and I need some general information about record distribution. I'm dealing with a "garage band" label, but I figured you guys might be able to give me some general information.

1) Asuming it didn't have a distribution deal, would a label like USA [[Buckinghams), GM [[The Dorians) or Etiquette [[Sonics, Wailers) hope that local sales would create enough interest to lease or sell a recording to a major label OR get major distribution?

2) Did proximity to a major market play a hand in this? That is, would a "hit" on CKLW, with it's wide reach, spawn a hit in Cleveland, Chicago, etc.? Would a hit on a station with less coverage [[WKNR, for example) diminish this effect?

3) Would a medium market like Flint [[WTAC) be close enough to a major market like Detroit for a local label "hit" to break the major market?

Appreciate any help you can give me on how an "independent" label in the 60's distributed their product.

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USA and The Buckinghams is a poor example, as USA Records was the record label arm of a regional record distributing company.

In the case of Etiquette Records, I'm sure the label owner went to Seattle and tried to get the radio DJs to play it, and tried to get local record shops to order his records. I guess that the same would have been true of the label in Flint, having the owner trying to market in Detroit.

In the early days, before Tamla had a regional distributor, Berry Gordy and his "staff"[[artists) used to load up cars with 45s and "self-distribute' them as far as Chicago, Milwaukee, Toledo, Akron, Dayton, Cleveland and even Pittsburgh. I think companies self-promoting helped more than having a local hit on a station outside a metro area. The self-promoter would mention the local success. Having a local hit that might have been heard on a strong evening station by people in the nearby big cities wouldn't hurt.

Can you not talk to the owner of that local '60s label, or someone who worked for them? Or, are they all deceased by now?

Wasn't GM located inside Detroit? They certainly didn't have even a regional distributor. Their records are pretty rare, other than the Dee Edwards.

Etiquette may have been a poor choice, too. It was owned by 2 of The Wailers. Dolton might have been a better example before it sold to Liberty. GM was a Detroit studio and label. I've got "Help For My Waiting" [[The Doriens) in my stax o' wax.

Palmer might be a better example. Did they have a distribution deal, and if not, what would that path have been to turn Tim Tam and the Turn-Ons or The Shy Guys records into more than local hits?

Maybe I'll get lucky and this will be released before I do the blog. It's the trailer for a documentary called "Record Man" about the promotion of early rock and roll....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TZQTsssMS0

Doug, that's a great piece of video - well done.

To answer your question - basically how did a company get a hit record - if we knew the answer to that one, we'd all be rich. Anyway...

Some independents had connections in one way or another to a major. This could be via the label owner, the producer [[often the same person) or a third party. If the producer didn't want to press the record on their own label and thought it best to get a national deal, he/she would go down to Record Row on Woodward Ave - Detroit - and hawk it to the distributors aliong there. To get it picked up by a major meant the writer would often have to give a slice of the royalties away to the major's guy.

Some guys went to New York to hawk it there - or to Chicago - and sometimes the major would pay money up front and release it, but sales would still flop due to zilch promtion. But I guess you already know that.

Radio stations in Detroit like WJLB didn't have enough wattage to make a regional impact. However, CKLW did have the power and the programmers there would want to know that the label owner had the financial reources to press up in quantity before playing the 45, as they knew sales would take off after it got airplay. CKLW coild be heard right down South. Having said that, just how successful the disc became is one of those things nobody could have predicted.

Yes, some records got picked up by a major after getting local airplay. I don't think location had much to do with it, as a producer would often travel to where the action was and try to get the record played on whatever radio stations he/she could.

My 2 cents worth.