You’d never guess at a glance that the wood-paneled office in Barry Phipps’s Goose Island recording studio houses a record label. It’s only the size of a modest bedroom, with two desks taking up the bulk of the floor space, and it’s tidy–there aren’t unopened boxes of CDs stacked everywhere. This room isn’t just the headquarters but also the printing press, manufacturing plant, and distribution center for Phipps’s Tight Ship label: album art is designed and printed here, CDs burned and shrink-wrapped, orders filled and shipped.
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Since the fall Phipps, best known as a member of the Coctails, has released five discs, mostly EPs, from locals like poet Thax Douglas, the Lesser Birds of Paradise, and Clyde Federal; in the works are titles from the Like Young and Bosco & Jorge. Phipps records, mixes, and masters each one in his studio, North Branch, taking advantage of lulls in his usual business. He doesn’t charge the bands a cent: “The concept for me was to utilize the time and resources here that wouldn’t get used otherwise,” he says. Phipps is already turning a small profit, which he splits evenly with the bands. He sells the discs exclusively through tightshiprecords.com, and because he burns copies only as they’re needed–when a Web order comes in, for instance, or a band wants a batch to sell at shows–he never sinks a pile of cash into a pressing of several thousand CDs that might end up sitting unsold.
Most bands so far have had to squeeze all their recording into a 12-hour day or even just an afternoon–the Lesser Birds’ EP was recorded “from 5:27 PM to 10:32 PM” and bears the catalog number 053104, for the date the band came in. This time limitation keeps overdubs to a minimum and helps Phipps get the results he wants: “Knowing you don’t have the luxury to redo things over and over, you kind of automatically get something different than what most bands normally do,” he says. Phipps initially invited musicians he’d collaborated with previously, like Bill Lowman of Bosco & Jorge, or bands he’d produced, like the Lesser Birds and the Like Young. “The rest of the artists are ones that I heard and sought out,” he says.
A Record Label Called Record Label
The initial pressings of the first three discs have sold out, but Burg doesn’t yet know how many of those sales will evaporate when retailers start sending back returns. For now he’s staying optimistic. “I’m hoping they do well enough that we can keep putting them out,” he says.
