[Cover photo: Switch Hit Records founders preview unreleased music on the sound system at Nightmoves. Photo credit to Merissa Blitz]
Brooklyn-based Switch Hit Records has announced itself as a new, musicians-run cooperative record label committed to giving artists 100% of the profits from their work.
They state:
Switch Hit is the new home for visionary, community-oriented musicians making genre-defying music in an industry increasingly run by the algorithm.
Named for the player who can change up a baseball game with prowess and adaptability, Switch Hit is a “collective of multi-hyphenate artists” including producers, instrumentalists, composers, musical directors, and business owners.
Founding member Arthur Moon (NPR Tiny Desk), Cale Hawkins (Raveena, Quincy Jones) and Raia Was (Autre Ne Veut) draw on a decade of collaborating with each other on and off stage, including WNYC Soundcheck, Lincoln Center, and Barclays Center. Switch Hit began releasing singles in March, starting with Arthur Moon’s “Ghost Ranch” and Cale Hawkins’ “Blame It on Each Other,” out now. “What It Feels Like” from Raia Was will be arriving on March 22nd, 2023.
Full-length albums from all three founding members will be released throughout the year, with work by additional artists to follow. The label will take no percentage of the artist’s profits, relying instead on labor share.
Hawkins comments:
We want to celebrate and amplify a corner of the New York independent music scene that is already sharing knowledge and expertise and putting out music that’s fresh and unconventional. Switch Hit is for and by artists working with what we’ve been calling ‘restless pop syndrome,’ whose music doesn’t fit neatly into algorithms and who take unexpected, exciting creative risks even within their own practices. This is the kind of space within the music industry we’ve been waiting to see emerge, and we realized it was time to make it ourselves.
Switch Hit launched with a listening party at Nightmoves, James Murphy’s Williamsburg club. NYC drummer and friend of the label Sarah Galdes (Sunhouse, Anna Wise, TEEN) DJ’d and hot dogs were provided by Tables of Contents.
Upcoming events include Arthur Moon’s album release show at Public Records on May 31.
