Flying Fish Records

Flying Fish Records

Flying Fish Records is a Chicago-based eclectic blues and country record label. It was founded in 1974 by Bruce Kaplan, former president of the University of Chicago's Folklore Society.

Flying Fish played a major role in bringing traditionally oriented American music to a wider audience in the 1970s. At the time Kaplan started the label, most similarly oriented companies produced albums with decidedly "homemade" packaging (e.g. cover art, etc.) and marketed the albums to a relatively narrow audience of aficionados. Kaplan realized that music of this sort had the potential to reach a wider audience, but needed to be packaged in a professional manner; people not already devotees were unlikely to take a chance on something that did not look like it came from a "real" record company. Kaplan also invested in broader promotion of the music (wide provision of albums to radio; targeted advertising to back up tours). Essentially, he located a niche between the hit-based promotion model of the major labels and the faith of the small independents that the music would find its own audience.

Starting with the groundbreaking "Hillbilly Jazz" double album featuring fiddler Vassar Clements, and following up with a Grammy Award winning album by John Hartford, Flying Fish Records' success with this niche approach led to similar changes by many other roots labels of the period.

The label bought Hogeye Music in the mid-1980s.

In December 1992, Kaplan developed an ear infection that did not respond to antibiotic treatment and died very unexpectedly. After a brief period under the direction of long time employee Jim Netter, supported by Kaplan's widow Sondra, the label was sold to Rounder Records, where Kaplan had worked as a producer for a brief period before founding Flying Fish.

Flying Fish Records also distributes Blind Pig Records and Rooster Blues. They have recorded Sweet Honey in the Rock, Sam Bush, John Hartford, Jean Ritchie, Tom Paxton, Anne Hills, Chubby Carrier, James Sapp, Steve Lyon, Linda Waterfall, Northern Lights, John Cephas, and Phil Wiggins.

Flying Fish seem to be currently a member of or distributed by [http://www.rounder.com/index.php?id=catalogSearch.php&new_target=catalog&search=new&label_id=15&label_name=Flying%20Fish The Rounder Record Group] . Rounder Records is another roots-based alternative label, from Cambridge MA.

ee also

* List of record labels

External links

* [http://www.last.fm/label/Flying%20Fish%20Records/albums?&lpage=1 Partial album list] from [http://www.last.fm/ last.fm]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Flying Fish Records — ist ein Blues und Countrymusik Label aus Chicago. Es wurde 1974 von Bruce Kaplan, dem ehemaligen Vorsitzenden der Folklore Society der Universität Chicago gegründet. Geschichte Das Label hatte große Bedeutung, da es den Blues einem größeren… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Flying fish (disambiguation) — Flying fish are a marine fish family comprised of about 70 species. Their unusually large pectoral fins allow them to take short gliding flights through the air above the surface of the water to escape predators.Flying fish can also refer to:*… …   Wikipedia

  • USS Flying Fish (SS-229) — USS Flying Fish (SS/AGSS 229), a Gato class submarine, was the first submarine and second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the flying fish, a family of fishes of tropic and warm temperate seas whose long winglike fins make it… …   Wikipedia

  • Flying — is the act or process of flight. The term may also refer to: *Aviation * Flying (magazine), an aviation monthly * Flying , the second album by British rock band UFO * Flying (song), an instrumental song by the Beatles *Flying (Bryan Adams song),… …   Wikipedia

  • Flying and gliding animals — A number of animals have evolved aerial locomotion, either by powered flight or by gliding. Flying and gliding animals have evolved separately many times, without any single ancestor. Flight has evolved at least four times, in the insects,… …   Wikipedia

  • Fish Tales/Swarthy Songs for Swabs — Infobox Album Name = Fish Tales/Swarthy Songs for Swabs Type = Album Artist = 3Ds Released = 1991 Recorded = ??? Genre = Length = Label = Flying Nun Records Producer = Reviews = Last album = Swarthy Songs for Swabs (1991) This album = Fish… …   Wikipedia

  • Diversity of fish — Fish come in many shapes and sizes. This is a sea dragon, a close relative of the seahorse. They are camouflaged to look like floating seaweed.[1][2][3] …   Wikipedia

  • Rounder Records — Fondé en 1970 Fondateur Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin et Marian Leighton Levy. Statut Indépendant Maison de disques Concord Music Group …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Coastal fish — Schooling threadfin, a coastal species Coastal fish, also called offshore fish or neritic fish, are fish that inhabit the sea between the shoreline and the edge of the continental shelf. Since the continental shelf is usually less than 200 metres …   Wikipedia

  • Coral reef fish — The fish that inhabit coral reefs are numerous and diverse. Coral reef fish are fish which live amongst or in close relation to coral reefs. Coral reefs form complex ecosystems with tremendous biodiversity. Among the myriad inhabitants, the fish… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”