Sympathy for the Record Industry (also known as Sympathy Records or Sympathy 4 the R.I.) is a mainly independent garage rock and punk label formed in 1988 by record industry anti-mogul Long Gone John. The first Sympathy release was the Lazy Cowgirls' album "Radio Cowgirl" LP, which Long Gone John said he released as a "favor to the band." Sympathy has a catalog of more than 750 releases, and is based out of Olympia, Washington. The label's name references The Rolling Stones' song "Sympathy for the Devil".
Notable artists who started on Sympathy and went on to gain mainstream success include The White Stripes, Hole, and The Electrocutes (the first Donnas incarnation).
Long Gone John is the owner, CEO, and seemingly the only employee of Sympathy. He is an avid record collector, with more than 10,000 records in his collection. He also owns Necessaries Toy Foundation, a company that creates 18-24 inch figures. Long Gone John also operates Sympathetic Press, a book publishing company that prints books with rock 'n' roll themes.
Other Sympathy acts worthy of notice have been Jack Off Jill, Scarling., Miss Derringer, The Muffs, The (International) Noise Conspiracy, The Von Bondies, Rocket from the Crypt, Billy Childish, Turbonegro, April March, The Splatterheads, The Dwarves, Suicide, The Gun Club, Inger Lorre and Motel Shootout, Man or Astro-man?,The Red Planet Rocketts, Kim Salmon, Bored! The Waldos, The Mystreated, and Redd Kross.
On July 20, 2007 Long Gone John announced via his Myspace Blog that he was selling the label for "$625,000.00 or $700,000.00 if i don't like you".
In September 2011, John decided to start releasing records once again. He signed a distribution deal with Independent Label Distribution, then immediately put out a full length LP as well as three 7"s by The Ettes. The company now distributes new records as well as many older ones from John's catalog.
Read more about Sympathy For The Record Industry: Discography
Famous quotes containing the words sympathy, record and/or industry:
“But as to women, who can penetrate
The real sufferings of their she condition?
Man’s very sympathy with their estate
Has much of selfishness and more suspicion.
Their love, their virtue, beauty, education,
But form good housekeepers, to breed a nation.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“A wellborn mind that is practiced in dealing with people makes itself thoroughly agreeable by itself. Art is nothing else but the list and record of the productions of such minds.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“The Founding Fathers in their wisdom decided that children were an unnatural strain on parents. So they provided jails called schools, equipped with tortures called an education. School is where you go between when your parents can’t take you and industry can’t take you.”
—John Updike (b. 1932)