With their web url now leading to a domain holder, and their remaining catalogue titles rapidly disappearing from catalogues worldwide it would appear that this most forward thinking of labels is another casualty in a changing, and challenging music industry.
Formed in the mid nineties, at a time when psychedelia was at a low commercial ebb, Jim McGarry's label did an impressive job specializing in a genre which was seemingly a hard sell at the time.
By the late nineties / early 2000s the label was performing strongly with great titles by the Pillbugs, the High Dials, Dog Age, the Grip Weeds, the Gurus and a whole host of other excellent artists dotted throughout a consistently strong catalogue, which still seemed to be going strong in 2011.
Running a small music label must be a hell of a lot of work, and with recent developments like Bandcamp making it easier for artists to deal directly with their audience, the role of the small label must be getting even tougher.
What happened to Rainbow Quartz in 2012 is a bit of a mystery, but I imagine it's probably been on the cards for a few years now. It's a great pity that a label that did so much to set the groundwork for what is now a commercially viable genre isn't around to reap the benefits of all it's hard work.
Rainbow Quartz and Jim McGarry - we salute you, you did a fantastic job and you will be much missed.
Who's got more information? Personal reminiscences? Share them in the comments section below.
You can still pick up a number of Rainbow Quartz titles through the likes of Amazon and eBay.
Rainbow Quartz essentials (click on titles for buying links, get them while you can) :
Dog Age "Reefy Seadragon"
The Pillbugs "Monclovia"
The High Dials "A New Devotion"
No comments:
Post a Comment