McCaughan: Indie labels can't scale permanent operations for rare blockbuster albums
Mac McCaughan · Merge Records: Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan · Dec 6, 2021 · at 1:07:14
Merge Records co-founder Mac McCaughan discusses how the indie label managed the massive commercial success of Arcade Fire's debut album Funeral without over-expanding.
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“We go into things trying to keep a rein on, you know, how much money we're spending, because it's the band's money, too, you know? And so, for better or worse, that does put us in a position of not having made the 50,000 records that we could have sold from the get-go. But, you know, we also can't assume, because that would be insane, to think that the next record we put out by any band is going to be like that. So in other words, we can't just scale Merge Up to handle a funeral every time, because it's almost never going to be a funeral.”
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