PFT Records has been going for years now and has released a slew of quality underground music in the form of cassette tapes, CDs, CD-Rs and good old vinyl. The label/distro is run by one man, who goes under the obvious pseudonym, 'Shane Ryan'...
What made you want to set up PTF?
The idea first happened at one of the many local gigs (same bands, same people, different night) I attended when I was at University in Manchester. One of the bands playing that night was Archer. There is bubble over Manchester that many bands inside it never try to break out of, happy to play in bars with barely functional toilets and carpets that were beyond sticky. It felt like the right time to try and give these bands a little more exposure and Archer were the guinea pigs, as it were.
Friends at the time would often talk about self-financed splits or doing low runs of 7”s with DIY covers by these were always pipe dreams that’d never come to fruition. Others being indecisive and lazy grates on me, so I made things happen on my own.
Were any other labels a direct influence on the process?
Originally, no. Setting up the label was something that had to be learnt on the go. It’s still surprising that the first release ever saw the light of day. There were plenty of delays, from bands, financially and getting the artwork correct for printing.
Digging PTF back out of its grave was inspired by another label – At War with False Noise. While playing in They Are Cowards we stayed at the owner's apartment following a gig in Glasgow with Black Sun. Talking about the releases he’d done and the amount of effort, love and money he spills into it definitely inspired me. It wasn’t long after that work began on the most sophisticated release to date, the Fabio Orsi triple CD set.
Were any other labels a direct influence on the process?
Originally, no. Setting up the label was something that had to be learnt on the go. It’s still surprising that the first release ever saw the light of day. There were plenty of delays, from bands, financially and getting the artwork correct for printing.
Digging PTF back out of its grave was inspired by another label – At War with False Noise. While playing in They Are Cowards we stayed at the owner's apartment following a gig in Glasgow with Black Sun. Talking about the releases he’d done and the amount of effort, love and money he spills into it definitely inspired me. It wasn’t long after that work began on the most sophisticated release to date, the Fabio Orsi triple CD set.
How close to your initial vision has the label turned out?
Very close. The aim, or mission statement if you will, has always been the same: release independent music and try to break even. The first part has been a success. The second… not so good.
Is the reality of running a label close to what you predicted?
The reality is much more miserable and downbeat than anyone involved in the industry would like. I’ve lost a lot of money running PTF and it’s disheartening to have boxes of CDs taking up space and no orders coming in. Genres don’t interest me and with the earlier releases I tried to steer clear of the typical (and boring) artwork and logos you see sprawled all over Myspace Deathmetal band pages. The reality is that releasing something that sounds and looks like everything else sells better. There is nothing ‘individualist’ about these underground genres or groups and that’s worrying. This probably explains my lack of interest in heavier music at the moment; not a lot of worth going on.
What is the label's ethos?
Release good music that might otherwise never get a wider audience. Being in bands and getting release offers (where you don’t end up paying loads yourself anyway) is an amazing feeling and giving that to other artists is a gift I can afford to give (for now).
I also don’t want to overcharge. People lapping up £30 cassette releases are idiots, the music you buy doesn’t define you, and it causes issues with pricing releases. A UK label once put its records on eBay and monitored them. There was another seller with one of the same records. Both were new but the other seller was charging much more for it. Unsurprisingly, the copy that was more expensive sold and the correctly priced copy (being sold by the label directly) remained unsold. There is something very wrong at the moment, it goes deeper than this but I can’t identify exactly what it is.
I also don’t want to overcharge. People lapping up £30 cassette releases are idiots, the music you buy doesn’t define you, and it causes issues with pricing releases. A UK label once put its records on eBay and monitored them. There was another seller with one of the same records. Both were new but the other seller was charging much more for it. Unsurprisingly, the copy that was more expensive sold and the correctly priced copy (being sold by the label directly) remained unsold. There is something very wrong at the moment, it goes deeper than this but I can’t identify exactly what it is.
What's been your proudest moment at the label thus far?
Without any doubts that’d be the Fabio Orsi release. The most ambitious release of PTF’s history and the most expensive, it’s one of the very few to eventually break even. I was able to do this with no paid for advertising, minimum review copies and a very reasonable product price. This is how I wanted every release to work.
What inspired you to release them, and what is the appeal of cassette releases?
They're cheap to produce in very small units and they’re currently in demand (i.e. ‘cool’). There’s no other reason for them. They sound worse than CD and vinyl, and the artwork is smaller. Again, they’ve sold better than some of my bigger CD releases. It started up about two years ago with some American bands and labels doing low run tapes for around $10 each. It quickly escalated and people were buying cheap cassette decks again.
A laserdisc collector friend of mine recently told me that a seller he’d been speaking to was doing better selling VHS than anything else. Some sort of analogue, retro revival going on at the moment. The trouble is, this post-modern society can shift culturally overnight (well, it appears too). Trends and ‘cool’ products constantly change and it’s becoming harder and harder to keep it with what’s going on. Look at the cassette and black metal scene – it suddenly exploded overnight and yet no one can remember when or why. The next trend could already be underway and you wouldn’t even realise it until you found yourself buying it and thinking ‘wait, when did this become widespread?’.
They're cheap to produce in very small units and they’re currently in demand (i.e. ‘cool’). There’s no other reason for them. They sound worse than CD and vinyl, and the artwork is smaller. Again, they’ve sold better than some of my bigger CD releases. It started up about two years ago with some American bands and labels doing low run tapes for around $10 each. It quickly escalated and people were buying cheap cassette decks again.
A laserdisc collector friend of mine recently told me that a seller he’d been speaking to was doing better selling VHS than anything else. Some sort of analogue, retro revival going on at the moment. The trouble is, this post-modern society can shift culturally overnight (well, it appears too). Trends and ‘cool’ products constantly change and it’s becoming harder and harder to keep it with what’s going on. Look at the cassette and black metal scene – it suddenly exploded overnight and yet no one can remember when or why. The next trend could already be underway and you wouldn’t even realise it until you found yourself buying it and thinking ‘wait, when did this become widespread?’.
Why have you opted for each release to be limited?
The usual answer would be that they can be sold for more than they’re worth. With PTF releases this isn’t the case. All releases are limited to what can realistically be sold. I don’t want boxes of unsold items cluttering up my apartment. In keeping with my original aim, the releases are limited but most often ‘pro’ releases. Finding a pressing plant that can do runs of a 100 has helped a lot.
Where did the PFT name come from?
Miss-hearing lyrics from a Circle Takes the Square song was the inspiration. I toyed with the line and then came up with the label name: Privileged to Fail. It makes senses as the label title too, as I am privileged enough to be able to invest in running a label. By that I don’t mean well off, but that I had the opportunity to use my final terms student loan to release the first record. In other words, I made the opportunities possible, and even if it all fails at least I had the chance to do it.
Has being in bands affected the way you run PFT?
Yes, without a doubt. I’m very straight about what cut the artist will get and what to expect packaging wise. I make no false promises and do my best to get things released on time. There are delays, as I run this as a hobby, and I’ll always keep everyone involved in the loop. A 20% cut of the press is often what’s agreed.
How did the excellent Fabio Orsi release come about and can you give a brief description of the process from conception to release?
How did the excellent Fabio Orsi release come about and can you give a brief description of the process from conception to release?
It was a long time in the making. I randomly picked up a CDr release in an order from Mimaroglu Music Sales once and fell in love with it. I collected a few of his releases and then emailed him asking if he’d be interested in doing a collection release. Over the course of a year, and plenty of emails, the project grew into a three CD digipak; two CDs of old material and a brand new record.
What would be your fantasy release of bands both active and gone?
Having involvement in the European release of the last Dystopia LP, releasing a Tim Hecker record or re-releasing all the Catasexual Urge Motivation material on a double LP set. Any of those three would be the pinnacle of the label.
Having involvement in the European release of the last Dystopia LP, releasing a Tim Hecker record or re-releasing all the Catasexual Urge Motivation material on a double LP set. Any of those three would be the pinnacle of the label.
What are you reading/listening to/watching/playing at the moment?
I’m currently reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. It’s a very good book dealing with an overall feeling of loss and the absurd moments of human life with a very surreal way. He’s one of my favourite authors. The short stories he occasionally writes are free of any clear meaning, following a few characters in a very dream-like way that never even remotely becomes pretentious.
I've just finished Duke Nukem Forever and am glad to have finally played it, no matter how broken or disjointed it is at times. The negative media hype has been interesting to watch too.
I've also recently watched a bunch of films including A Town Called Panic, Chaser, Sparrow, and Departures, all great films in their own unique way.
What are some of your plans for the rest of 2011?
Well, things have recently taken a turn for the worse. The distributor that I had a good relationship with recently went into liquiditation. This meant I lost money and now have no way of getting releases out to a wider audience, or at least it’ll be much more difficult to do it. The next release is by a UK dark-ambience project called Generic that has been in hiatus for a while. It’s a dark, claustrophobic record that really benefits from lights off and headphones on. Whether I’ll continue to run the label will solely depend on how well this record does upon its release. We’ll see.
Big thanks to Shane, and I hope the label is able to continue in the future. Check out PFT and follow Shane on Twitter:
I've just finished Duke Nukem Forever and am glad to have finally played it, no matter how broken or disjointed it is at times. The negative media hype has been interesting to watch too.
I've also recently watched a bunch of films including A Town Called Panic, Chaser, Sparrow, and Departures, all great films in their own unique way.
What are some of your plans for the rest of 2011?
Well, things have recently taken a turn for the worse. The distributor that I had a good relationship with recently went into liquiditation. This meant I lost money and now have no way of getting releases out to a wider audience, or at least it’ll be much more difficult to do it. The next release is by a UK dark-ambience project called Generic that has been in hiatus for a while. It’s a dark, claustrophobic record that really benefits from lights off and headphones on. Whether I’ll continue to run the label will solely depend on how well this record does upon its release. We’ll see.
Big thanks to Shane, and I hope the label is able to continue in the future. Check out PFT and follow Shane on Twitter:
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