Indie Canada Record Label Capitalizes on Home Grown Talent with New Comedy Division
Vancouver-based record label 604 Records struck it big with Carly Rae Jepsen’s gigantic pop hit Call Me Maybe, and other homegrown talent, like Marianas Trench, Theory of a Deadman and The Zolas. Now they’re looking to do the same thing with comedy, taking advantage of the tremendous talent performing in Canadian clubs, and specifically the 604– Vancouver. Founded in 2001, 604 Records is owned by Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger and attorney Jonathan Simkin.
The company’s first big release, Dreamboat from Canadian comedian Kevin Banner dropped in late October with a Livestream event commemorating the release on November 7th. We talked with Jonathan about 604’s plans to conquer comedy.
Simkin has always been a huge fan of comedy albums, but until recently had never given thought to producing them. It was an in-house producer named Kevie who brought up the idea. “He started finding himself a little niche, of recording live comedy albums here in Vancouver. He and I were just sort of sitting around, shooting the shit. He posed it to me and said, ‘why don’t you guys ever do comedy records?’ The more I sort of thought about it, the more I sort of analyzed it, I felt like, well, you can make a comedy record for not a lot of money.”
604 already had the facilities to make a comedy division work, including a huge sound stage where they can record albums in front of a live audience. Thanks to their huge hit with Call Me Maybe in 2012, they were able to invest in impressive facilities and 604 plans to use it in many ways. “There’s a lot of people in the record business right now who are in the fetal position, waving the white flag, and crying about the fact that nobody buys records. I get that. I own a record company.”
But adding in other ways to monetize their content helps to alleviate some of the industry problems. The sound stage is perfect for live streaming which can provide another revenue stream. “When we do these events, the sound is impeccable. We’ve done one with Marianas Trench. We’ve done one with Coleman Hell, Dallas Smith. A lot of people watch these things. We had like, 13,000 people watch the Marianas Trench CD release party.” Another thing they did with Marianas Trench was to film promo clips for their European Tour. “All it cost us was the rental of the costumes. We film it and we put it up online. It serves both as a promo for the tour– which the tour sold out so I gotta think that helped– and yet it’s now content that continues to live on YouTube. Anytime somebody clicks on it, we get paid.” Although the music business may have its problems, Simkin calls the current economic model more democratic. “You gotta put out high-quality stuff,” he said. “If you’re just cheaping out on it all, and putting it out in a way that looks crappy, you’re not gonna get the clicks. You gotta invest money to do it right.”
Once you’ve set up a system for putting out top notch quality audio, the other key component for 604 is being smart in the acts they sign. It’s been crucial to the music side of their business, and now the same principal applies to comedy. “It’s still about A&R and it’s still about finding the right talent,” Jonathan said. The long term plan is to launch the division with Kevin Banner and grow the format from there. “If Kevin Banner becomes the next Robin Williams, that’s a record that will live and continue to be bought and listened to over time. If we can then show other comedians that we’re doing this in a real quality way, hopefully, that’ll attract the other people to us,” Simkin said.
Right now the company is betting on Kevin to become the next big thing, but there are already two other signings in the works. “We’re looking for people who have a lot of promise. Who are at the beginning of their careers.”
Canada offers tremendous potential in this arena not only because the talent is there, but because the market isn’t overcrowded with producers. “The one thing I’ve figured out now pretty quickly here is that there aren’t a lot of people doing this in Canada,” Jonathan told us. “There isn’t a lot of infrastructure and there isn’t a lot of support.” Where they have been seeing tons of support is from the community. “I think that’s because people want us to succeed,” he explained. “We have artists that people like. We have artists that people pay money to see. I just figured, the ability to record this great content and to blast it out into the world, was just somehow going to be beneficial. It really has been. The fact that we did it right, and that these things look great online. So far, so good.”
Keep your eye out for more to come from 604 in music, and comedy. “It’s been 15 years and we’ve never been as strong as we are right now. I’m oddly optimistic about the music business. I think it’s just like on a lot of levels, nothing’s really changed. If you can find things that people really like and find compelling, then you’re gonna be okay.”
Dreamboat is available iTunes Spotify, Google Play and online through 604records.com.
