Student-run record label strives for quality

Bloomington’s newest record label is now in business, and its founders are making a promise to everyone: “We won’t put out crappy music.”

Sophomores Michael Squeri and Taylor Peters started In The Fridge Records last summer as a vehicle for their own band, The Elegant Bachelors, and operate under the maxim “Do the best we can to put out the best stuff we can.”

The label currently represents four artists and has copies of the artists’ releases for sale in Bloomington record stores TD’s CDs & LPs and Landlocked Music, as well as in Indianapolis’ Luna Music.

Equipped with no business plan and little knowledge of the record business, Peters convinced Squeri to start the label last August after reading Michael Azerrad’s underground punk saga “Our Band Could Be Your Life.”

“I read this book ... and it was really cool to me that not only were they making music, but that they were also making this means through which they were propagating their music,” Peters said.

Since the label’s conception, Cincinnati act The Weakness and local band Cosmetics have been added to the roster, but Squeri and Peters are constantly searching for new artists to add to the label.

“We tend to be attracted to music that feels passionate,” said Peters, who just signed local artist Eric Radoux.

The label operates out of Squeri and Peters’ house, where they also record their own music and update the label’s blog, www.itfrecords.blogspot.com.

Although they said they are continually challenged by the limits of their advertising capabilities, the Internet has given them new opportunities to promote their artists. For instance, the second Monday of every month, they post two or three songs from the label’s artists for free download.

“The Internet can make or break a band,” Squeri said. “We’re going to pummel the blogosphere.”

Kevin Duneman, general manager of local labels Dead Oceans, Jagjaguwar and Secretly Canadian, said he understands the appeal of self-run labels.

“Yes, it’s cool, but more importantly, it’s a business,” Duneman said, acknowledging Peters and Squeri have total control over their aesthetic and business model. “The sooner you get used to that, the smoother things will probably go for you.”

But Squeri and Peters said they have managed to maintain the business side of things while still having fun. They attribute this success to inspiration from indie rock labels The Elephant 6 Recording Company and Dischord Records.

“One aspect of Elephant 6 and Dischord is the community aspect and how everybody is friends with everybody,” Peters said. “And a large portion of it is to have fun.”
Still, In The Fridge Records is a company, and Peters said he and Squeri are trying to make the best product they can.

One of their goals is to save up enough money to master The Weakness’ self-titled debut at Bloomington’s Russian Recording studio, Peters said. To finance this and as other expenses, they have procured funding from “selling things, sympathetic adults and out of our own pockets,” Squeri said.

In the Fridge Records has sold between 40 and 50 CDs, Peters said.
And though it’s really difficult to have it both ways when running a label as an artist, Duneman said, the unique position does have its advantages.

“We have 100 percent control over everything,” said Squeri, who, along with Peters, manages all aspects of production, distribution and design.

In The Fridge Records has been up and running for close to six months, and whether or not the label lasts, Peters will never tire of producing music.

“The idea to make and put out music will never go away – it is central to my life,” Peters said.