Pitchfork: Sympathy for the Record Industry Label for Sale

Sympathy for the Record Industry Label for Sale

Wanna own your own record label? Sure, we all do! Well, all of us but Long Gone John, who's selling off all his rights and responsibilities towards Sympathy for the Record Industry, the Long Beach-based imprint that at one point or another housed the White Stripes, Hole, the Von Bondies, the Muffs, and Rocket From the Crypt (among many others) and has issued archival material from Roky Erickson, Suicide, and the New York Dolls.

The reason given? A truly colossal U-Haul bill. It seems Long Gone John would like to be long gone from Long Beach ASAP, and will relocating to Olympia, Washington as soon as the $625,000 check clears. In doing so, he'll leave behind all this to whoever ponys up the half-million-plus (according to a MySpace blog):

questionable/nebulous rights to nearly 750 releases by over 550 bands
current distribution deal with foremost U.S. independent distributor with strong international distribution as well
existing stock modestly estimated at a wholesale value of 1.8 millondollars
all master tapes, acetates, stampers and mothers to continue production of titles
massive personal archive of sympathy rarities (lots of amazing surprises)
preliminary cover layouts/some original artwork/interesting and valuable artifacts galore
established web site and vastly lucrative mail order business

Interested parties can contact John at sympathy13@aol.com. Thanks to the Daily Swarm for the heads-up.