Seattle’s Fin Records is the home for groups like The Young Evils, Red Jacket Mine and Stag. It’s policy is to work closely with artists but not to create any lengthy, binding contracts. If the artist can get a better deal from another label down the line, then so be it. Everyone wins. The Monarch had a chance to chat with Christian Fulghum, founder of Fin Records, about the genesis of the label, growing into being a home for hip-hop artists like J Pinder and more. 

Jake Uitti: Lots of people talk about wanting to start a record label, but you actually did. Can you speak to the process leading up to making Fin Records?

Christian Fulghum: Fin Records came about in a very small way initially.  Andy Davenhall and I were talking about re-releasing the first two or three Sister Psychic records, and it kind of spiraled out from there. I founded a small record label in 1983, Art & Economix, which only ended up putting out vinyl by Attachments, my band at the time, but I felt like I had not taken that label far enough, so it was an opportunity to pick up that idea and run with it again.

Two other factors were driving the creation of Fin: First, I have been a friend and business partner with Martin Feveyear in Jupiter Studios since 1994. Martin does all the production and engineering, but I am always in there listening to new music and talking with artists about their creative process. There is a lot of frustration with record labels, whether they are tiny indies or majors. I though I could do a better job of taking care of the interests of artists, by showing them more respect , allowing more creative control, and being transparent and supportive.

Second, I was inspired by small publishers like Black Sparrow Press, best known for their enduring working relationship with Charles Bukowski. They really did a great job of supporting him when he was unknown and broke, and treating his writing with respect. They didn’t censor it, and they packaged it in a beautiful way, like volumes of beat poetry.

All those things led to the creation of Fin Records. At first it was a struggle to get artists to consider working with a new label.  But once people understood what we were trying to do, and how we were going about it, it really generated a lot of interest from artists, the press, radio, and music lovers.

JU: I love the Bukowski reference! One of your most successful artists right now is J Pinder. He’s down in L.A. working with Dr. Dre! What’s it been like to watch him grow and what do you envision as your relationship down the road?

CF: I was not initially considering Hip Hop music for Fin Records. I planned the label as eclectic from day one, but Hip Hop was not on my personal short list. J. Pinder changed all that. My friend Tilson emailed me a version of a song called “Go Far,” which I liked a lot. We set up a dinner meeting, and I was impressed with Justin. He was writing aspirational music, he didn’t put down women or talk about material success. He had a serious side, a spiritual side, but he also had a sense of humor.  We took “Go Far” into Jupiter Studios, and put real drums, real strings, and some other key elements to raise the production values. We put him on tour with Black Milk, Slum Village, and Talib Kweli. We followed “Go Far” with the Careless album, and several music videos. Now that he is working with Dr. Dre, I feel vindicated. He is going places. It’s great to be part of that.

Meanwhile, we’ve worked with Grynch and Budo, James “Afrok” Bowman, and Nissim (formerly D. Black), and put on a number of Hip Hop events.  You never know what direction music will take you.

JU: Your label model is interesting. There is no long-term contract involved, if the artist gets a “better” deal, he/she can walk. What gives you the confidence to work this way – a way many major labels with longer histories and presumably deeper pockets might not feel comfortable with?

CF: Our model is consent-based. Most other relationships are. Why not the relationship between a recording artist and their label? We should be doing such a great job that there is no temptation to walk. Being stuck in a bad or dysfunctional relationship because of a legal contract is a good recipe for bad music.

JU: I first found out about you from the Seattle Weekly piece about a year ago where you won “best label” in the city. How do you hope more people to find out about Fin Records? What would you say to hopeful bands looking to partner with you?

CF: That award from The Seattle Weekly meant a lot. It was validating. The best way for people to learn about a record label is because the label puts out compelling music. In order to accomplish this, that label has to attract and partner with artists to help them do their best work.  That is easier than it sounds. We’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way, but I would like to think that we are getting better and better at what we are doing. The difficulty now is that we can only put out so many records each year sustainably. That means we have to say “no” a lot, and that means we can’t even listen to every musical submission we get in a timely way. It helps to have someone represent you to the label if you are interested in being on Fin. It could be someone already on the label, a manager, a record producer. Those submissions get heard more quickly.

JU: You recently launched a new web design. Can you talk about the inspiration for that?

CF: We got a lot of feedback that people would like a website that is easier to navigate so that people could find the music they were interested in, and yet also have an opportunity to discover new music. We also wanted a website we could center around a blog that could be easily updated from any location without any coding. Christine Geronimo did a superb job of managing the project, and brought it in on an extremely tight schedule.

JU: What you think of as the strength of this city’s music?

CF: Seattle is the center of a Northwest regional vortex of singular depth and diversity with respect to music creation and appreciation. The two communities (artists/creators and listeners/appreciators) are essential ingredients, along with an inspirational environment, including weather that favors indoor activities like music, the visual arts, prose and poetry. The interactivity between the two communities creates feedback loops of support and inspiration that helps to generate successive waves of world-class music. This is a great place to be if you love music, and that’s what we are really about.