- What: Underground hip hop label Smacks Records
- Where: New Jersey, USA
- Founded by: Mr. LeN
- Founded: 2003
As a member of much lauded hip hop group Company Flow and then as an equally loved solo artist, Mr. Len (real name Leonard Smythe), was well versed in playing the role of the artist in the label/musician relationship. In 2003, however, he decided to try life on the other side and launched Smacks. His work as an artist gave him an insight into the kinds of things that can make things rocky between musicians and labels - exclusivity, feeling like you can't get an answer from anyone at the label - and so he set out to do things differently at Smacks, creating a label that worked for everyone involved.
One of the biggest differences between Smacks and many other labels is that the artists are not tied into exclusive contracts. Rather, if bigger deals comes along, the artists are encouraged to take advantage of them (a testament to the popularity of this with the artists might be that when Smacks' distributor closed and the label tried to close up shop, the artists simply refused to leave, causing the label to live another day).
Facing that typical indie label crisis - finding the money to keep things going - Smacks also found a different way to do business and became one of the first labels to go all digital.
Creative promotion is another thing indie labels typically have to rely on for their releases, and Smacks have certainly come up with their share of unique campaigns. One such campaign was the 30 Records in 30 Weeks promotion. Starting in November, 2007, the label released a record each week via Amalgam Digital (not unlike The Wedding Present's Hit Parade campaign in the early 1990s). This digital only campaign allowed Smacks to promote both their artists and the label as a whole in one swoop and proved to be a big promotional success.
Artist who have released record on Smacks include:
Sorry, folks, Smacks does not accept demos - they prefer to work with artists they know, not uncommon for an indie label.
