Headliners

Both sides now

by Wes Flexner

Back in 1997, when he was signed to now-defunct label Rawkus and part of Company Flow, El-P declared in the song "Fire in Which You Burn," "Now we can all become Lord of the Flies when this industry sees its demise."

Here in 2007, when rumor has it that downloading is the main cause of declining record sales, El-P is a revered artist, producer and owner of independent Definitive Jux Recordings, and he's touring in support of his first solo release since 1995.

And he's enjoying the current state of the music industry.

As someone who lives on two sides of selling music, why is he so cool with the state of things? Speaking for both sides at once, El-P responded in a recent phone interview, "Well, because I am not trying to trick fans into buying a f---ing piece of s--- record. I think that what we do exists outside of the paradigm."

El-P believes that the corporate side of the industry doesn't respect music, so they wouldn't have the audacity to ask anyone else to respect it either.

"You can't ask a kid to buy a record they can get for free, if the record's badly executed, if there is not a lot of thought put into it, or if it's not beautifully packaged," he said. "It's basic economics."

As he stays in tune with industry changes, finding an answer for the increasing enforcement of sampling regulations by enlisting his friends Mars Volta, Trent Reznor and Cat Power to perform on his album, El-P also keeps current with the world, discussing in lyrics and interviews everything from the planet's dystopian state to the nature of many art and music communities.

The song "The League of Extraordinary Nobodies," on his new disc I'll Sleep When You're Dead, is a good example.

El-P described the setting, familiar for some night owls: "The people that you find yourself talking to at 6 a.m. when the bars close. And you are still there doing blow. And you like being around them. And they are so incredibly interesting to themselves. They are talking simultaneously. You look around and you are like, I can't believe I'm sitting here wasting my time with these people."

El-P's company isn't strictly self-important cokeheads, however. Over the years he discovered Aesop Rock and the defunct Cannibal Ox (they're staying that way, according to El-P) and gave Bustown's own RJD2 and S.A. Smash their first album deals.

With so much turmoil in the world, El-P thinks people want more from music than something made specifically to become the No. 1-selling ringtone, an idea the major labels have missed so far.

"[These are] harsh and strange times, impoverished times, and people don't have the money to pay for frivolity," he suggested. "The recording industry's set way of luring people into substandard product with a hot single are over. They can't figure out why it's over."

The artist may be onto something. I Will Sleep When You Are Dead debuted at No. 78 on the Billboard charts, a pretty good showing for someone on an indie label. El-P's logic also extends to indie-rock darlings like Arcade Fire and the Shins, whose latest releases both hit the charts at No. 2 earlier this year.

The secret to these success stories, according to El-P, is that the albums were made as works of art and not as marketing schemes, and listeners know the difference.

"I think they will buy a record if they feel like it's a record they want to own," he said of fans. "That all boils down to a weird and insidious mixture of expression and money. [Some label execs] have been treating the industry like it's a factory where you dole these things out. Music is an artistic creation. You don't sell records because you are a good company. You sell because it's a good record."

May 3rd, 2007

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