It’s happy birthday to Reckless Yes as today we turn three! As in previous years we’re surprised and delighted to be here and doing what we do, but what’s been great about the last 12 months is the pace we’ve picked up, how close our community has become even though we’re still growing and of course the music we’ve released.
We’ve already shared a round up of our 2018 releases and said some extensive thank yous too but we reiterate that all here in our becoming traditional birthday post. In 2018 we totalled six releases which equalled our 2017 but this time round it was so much larger in scale – albums from Grawl!x, LIINES, Fightmilk and Chorusgirl as well as an EP from Mighty Kids joined our catalogue, and we supported the publishing of Sarah’s debut novel The Winter Passing too. The records we released this year were among our fastest selling and streaming and we’ve needed to move fast to keep up with them and be the label our artists needed and deserved.
Now we’re looking forward – we said 2019 would be a year of tight focus but its also going to continue to be one of growth. In the next few weeks we’ll be introducing you to some new additions to the roster and letting you know about the first few releases we have planned. We’re doing some new stuff next year too – different formats and approaches, and working in new partnerships too.
And we’re thrilled by the conversations we’re having with our existing roster. Artist development is hard to come by at most labels, and is MIA across much of the industry at all levels, but as a label we’re in for the long-haul with our artists as their creative development is as important as each release they make. In last year’s birthday post we mused on what it meant to be a modern label and we’re ever-more committed to helping our artists find the fun in being a working creative, invite them to join and support a community of others, and work alongside them to make success happen. We’re as much part of their team as they are part of ours – and being able to guide them through all areas of the industry and disrupt the bits that don’t work is our absolute pleasure.
Being able to work in the label and take it in new directions is – if we’re absolutely honest – a dream come true for us both. We’re so excited (and like proud slightly over-bearing parents sometimes) about what is in store for LIINES, part of our label and management roster – new music, massive tours, and some special announcements too. New music too from Grawl!x – one of the most prolifically creative and criminally underrated artists we know – and studio time for Pet Crow among others. The releases we can’t talk about yet are going to thrill you as much as they have us and we’ve not signed off on everything we’ll do in 2019 – we love the possibilities of what is still to come.
As always we mark our birthday with a massive thank you – to our bands who trust us to be part of their team and with their art, to all of you who buy that music and support our artists in other ways, to DMS for pressing and packaging beautiful releases, to Rough Trade Nottingham for hosting our shows, to Cargo for distributing offline and Record Union online, to the PRs we’ve worked with (especially Hannah Gould and Lucy Hurst) and the blogs, magazines, radio and podcasts who’ve supported our releases, our artists and shared our music to help it find fans. We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you all so THANK YOU!
We always have a plan for Reckless Yes but we never know quite what is going to come our way – apart from new stuff from our existing roster and new additions to the RY Fam we’ve some other new things planned too across live and in our roles as journalists and broadcasters. We can’t wait to share an amazing 2019 with you all.
To that end, if you want to hear our news first – upcoming releases and pre-orders, exclusive limited edition formats and merch, latest shows and more – sign up to our new mailing list.
A note on working with us
We get a lot of submissions to join our roster or work with us in other ways. If you’ve checked our demo submission guidelines and given us all the info we ask for, we will listen and we will get back to you.
BUT…
Reckless Yes may not be the right label for all artists, and all artists are not the right fit for Reckless Yes – but we want to work with and support as many independent and DIY musicians and bands as we can. Some of that has led to the relaunch of Sarah’s agency Noble and Wild – products and services to help independent musicians and other independent labels create success on their terms.
You can get a free 15 minute discovery call in with Sarah now – no obligation to take anything up, just get her expert view on where you should focus for where you want to be – and everything has 50% off in January. Take a look at upcoming workshops, downloadable templates to help you hit the ground running, or packages for PR and making your effort pay off online. Check out Noble and Wild here.
Where to find Reckless Yes
- Sign up to our new mailing list to hear about our releases and plans first
- follow us on Twitter
- follow us on Facebook
- follow us on Instagram
- follow our roster playlist on Spotify
- or listen to this playlist of some of our favourite 2018 releases (which we’re still adding to so do follow)
- check out our demo submission policy if you’re thinking you’d like to join us
- find out records via each artist’s Bandcamp or online store
- having a weekly meeting in Bar One, Derby.
