We asked Captured Tracks about setting up a label…
1. What prompted you to start the label?
Mike Sniper (Founder): I looked into a pool of my own blood and The Dark Lord commanded I start a label.
2. What has been your proudest moment of the label so far?
Mike Sniper: Hard to pinpoint any one instance. I always get goosebumps when an artist we signs sells out a small hall, on their way up. That’s when I can feel a direct effect.
3. Which three to five albums would you recommend to someone who maybe doesn’t know the label and wants to start checking it out?
Mike Sniper: It would be easy to pick our 5 best sellers, but that might skew it. I’d say if you wanted a good scope of the label get these: Nocturne by Wild Nothing, Oshin by DIIV and 2 by Mac DeMarco. Then it’s hard, Soft Moon, Mourn, Molly Burch, Perfect Pussy…
4. If money was no object, which artist(s) – past or present – would you love to sign to the label, and why?
Mike Sniper: I’d really love to work with two kinds of artists, one would be a great interpreter and performer who is a power of one, like Grace Jones or Eartha Kitt, you know, a complete extrovert, but who knows exactly what they are doing… On the opposite spectrum completely, Robert Wyatt. I guess it would be Eartha Kitt and Robert Wyatt as a duo.
-
If you had one piece of advice for someone wanting to start a label, what would it be?
Mike Sniper: Don’t listen to anyone. No one knows what they are doing.
A big thank you to Mike Sniper, the founder of CAPTURED TRACKS, for taking the time to answer these questions!