Wilco (The Label)

 photo by Zoran Orlic

After a number of well-publicized record company squabbles, Wilco has left Nonesuch and formed a label of their own run by the group's longtime manager Tony Margherita from his office in Easthampton, Ma.
According to a press release issued today, the new label has been given the catchy handle dBpm Records – unfortunately both Margaritaville Records and Pizza Records were already taken – and will release "all future Wilco recordings and more." What else besides Wilco's waxings is anybody's guess. The label's distribution is being handled by ANTI- who not coincidentally issued the Mavis Staples album You Are Not Alone that Wilco mainman Jeff Tweedy produced last year.

"This is an idea we've discussed for years,” said Tweedy in the statement. “We really like doing things ourselves, so having our own label feels pretty natural to me. And, to be working with ANTI- a label that has its roots in a label that was started by a punk rock guy to sell his own records seems like a perfect fit for us.”

The punk rock guy to whom Tweedy is referring is Bad Religion's Brett Gurewitz who founded ANTI-'s parent label Epitaph. 

"Wilco's independent streak is well documented and nothing new," added Margherita. "and this is the culmination of what we've been working towards for the last 15 years. As we reached the end of our last deal, it felt like it was time for a change and the one thing we were certain we did NOT want to do was to sign another traditional recording agreement. Our discussions with ANTI-, coming on the back of a great experience working with them on the Mavis Staples record, led us to thinking we might be able to come up with something quite different from the norm that could potentially be better for us and, frankly, a lot more interesting. And that's exactly what happened....”

Wilco is currently holed up in Chicago recording the follow-up to 2009's Wilco (The Album) while Tweedy has announced plans for a short solo jaunt starting in Toronto at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on March 22 (see the Early Warning listings) followed by a brief Wilco tour in May.