Meet the DIY record label, HeadWormz Records!
Hello HeadWormz Records. Thanks for your time! Could you please introduce yourself and present your label? Hey punks! We are HeadWormz Records! We are the the label comprised of artists, so we are out here working hard for the artists! I'm Brandy B, the HBIC (head bitch in charge). I have owned and operated a marketing company for over 10 years. I'm a punk with a Masters degree in digital media. I love graphic and web design as well as everything audio and visual production. Mr J is a wonderful one-man IT department, does all the technical set up, building computers, running wiring for everything, audio engineering for the studio and live shows… everything tech! Lloyd is the crass ass music expert that can play (and build) all the instruments and tell you how to as well! "HR Lady" keeps us all in line, hopefully! She also handles anything in the complaint department, but don't expect sympathy. How did you start this label? We wanted to start a punk band. A wise man told us, "You don't start one punk band, you start 3! You don't just start 3 punk bands, you start a label!". So, we did. We never did get around to our own band! With a worldwide pandemic going on, how have you handled the management of your record label lately? We started putting this thing together, loosely, pre-pandemic. Once everything else came grinding to a halt, we had plenty of time to put our plan together and really get started! That's when I got the logo designed, website up, and started the social media accounts. Llyod really took off being the legal guru getting the business formatted, our basic template for our contacts, code of ethics, and set up everything thru the distribution channels. Thinking the pandemic would surely soon be over, we launched everything in March 2021. Has the pandemic affected the production of your merchandising and pressing? We are currently not doing physical copies of our music. While vinyl is intriguing, we don't really see anyone actually using CDs anymore. We have definitely noticed people using cassettes, and it is cool, but, we just can't really justify the costs to jump on that nostalgic bandwagon. If you had to choose between a vinyl or a CD, which one would you pick and why? Mixed reviews on the vinyl vs digital here. Half of us enjoy the crackle and feel of listening to vinyl, the other half love the clean and pure sound in digital. CDs? That would require a CD player. Just not convinced to go back to that, personally. Who didn't have their 200 CD case stolen out of their car? Plus, they are somewhat delicate and not convenient. No disrespect to the CD lovers tho, they could convince us. How does a label develop its roster? As soon as we put ourselves out there, we had bands wanting to be a part of our movement! It is amazing the way our message has really resonated with artists and fans alike! We have had bands approach us, and we have found some to reach out to that we really wanted to work with, so it never hurts to reach out if you are an artist! We only work with bands that we really believe in and quite frankly, that we are fans of! There have been artists that are very talented come to us that we have to turn down because we are a small company trying to do the most we possibly can FOR THE ARTIST! Out of all the experiences you had with HeadWormz Records, has there been one that has stood out to you? Well, we are young for sure, but the highlights would be signing these amazing bands. I think this is in chronological order: Dignity Of Assholes, Back Home Band, Modern Withdrawals, Not From Concentrate, and a few more exciting announcements to come soon!! Plus, the podcasts/blogs and hosts that have become great friends. Just all the super talented artists that send their music to us for review, growing our punk rock loving family, and the opportunity to be far more global than this group of Midwest American kids thought was possible! To finish, what is one lesson you’ve learned that you think is important to pass onto other labels? This is a long burning fuse! Don't think it's a quick firecracker and give up too soon! Most likely, you are not going to make money immediately, and that probably isn't what you really want anyway! Have patience and keep going! Also, guess what, with social media, we want to fall in love with YOU the artist, so you gotta put yourself out there! Be yourself! Finn McKenty wraps it up nicely too when he reminds artists that people like to have FUN!
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