Warner have officially unveiled its new fan-driven, vinyl-only record label, Run Out Groove, Billboard reports. Unlike anything else out there (that we know of anyway), the arm relies on input from fans to determine which releases will be put out each month.
Warner Music Group launch innovative vinyl-only label arm, Run Out Groove, where three monthly releases are selected by entirely fans.
The label’s forward-thinking format calls upon fans each month to determine which of three records – either previously unreleased, out of print, or an entirely new collection compiled from the Warner Music vault – will become available for purchase in a limited run.
“The crate-digging community is steering the ship,” said Billy Fields, VP of sales and account management for WEA, the artist and label services branch of Warner Music Group, in a statement. “We are crowd-sourcing niche but in-demand selections from our vast vault to be pressed on high-quality vinyl, and it’s going to be a lot of fun to see where the community decides to take us.”
Each month, fans will be asked to vote on the record they want pressed from a trio of selections; the release with the most vote wins and will then be available to pre-order for 30 days. Once the window closes the quantity being pressed will be revealed.
Although only officially launched yesterday, Run Out Groove has already been put in motion. Its first release was MC5’s The Motor City Five, though its first fan-chosen release was a new collection from Echo & The Bunnymen, It’s All Live Now, recorded in Sweden, which features live covers of the Stones’ Paint It Black, the Doors’ Soul Kitchen and Dylan’s It’s All Over Now Baby Blue.
“I am chuffed that our fans came out in droves and voted for us,” Will Sergeant of Echo & The Bunnymen said. “It’s a historical document of another time, another place, another me and a very interesting stop off traveling the road map of the band’s life.”
Find out more at the Run Out Groove website.
