could it be the DFA? (they have to deal with EMI, and I could see Prinzhorn Dance School opening for String Cheese Incident in a bad idea sort of way)

probably not, but it was fun to imagine that instead of something boring like Secretly Canadian or Jaguwawawawawawar.

But they fall for hype which doesn’t seem like that much different in terms of its artificiality and effect.

It’s funny, because even though I’m a total industry geek and have a voracious interest in this stuff on a pop music level, it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I see how much the music business hustle has seeped into indie rock, and it’s not even per se about selling out or cred or whatever, because I’m glad that people at any level are learning how to get their music heard and make a profit from it. But to me, a big part of the whole appeal of indie rock, whether listening to it, making it, or writing about it, is just liking what you like and not worrying about publicists or reviews or sales figures. I mean, even as a critic, it makes me squeamish to see what effect Pitchfork ratings have.

I agree. That said have there been any sort of successes in purely digital distribution for a label?

I to am a non-industry type…a mere consumer. I purchase all of my music from iTunes or Amazon’s MP3 service. I purchase new music nearly weekly. In the last 5 years I have only purchased 1 physical CD and that was only because the band specifically released it to indie record shops only. Digital only works for me but does it really work in the industry as presently constituted?

Great interview. It just doesn’t seem that there’s any way launching a record label at this point in time is fiscally possible — particularly CD based. Have there been any success stories in the last few years?