Respected vinyl-only label I Love Acid have just announced that they are making a number of their vinyl releases available digitally to financially support their artists during Covid-19.
I Love Acid Label boss and recording artist Josh ‘Posthuman’ Doherty announced on Twitter today that a number of I Love Acid releases were to become available to download on Bandcamp. Previously, all the labels releases were only available on vinyl and famously just ‘303‘ copies of each.
The decision was taken to financially support many of the label’s artists for whom income has fallen drastically since the Covid-19 pandemic. Doherty approached his roster about the idea, some of whom currently didn’t have the need for additional income and were happy to leave their releases as vinyl only. For the rest of the back catalogue, artists will be paid directly for every purchase, with zero commission going to the label. Doherty:
“I’ve always been very strict on the label being vinyl-only, to the point of massive online spats about it! And it’s obviously a kinda hypocritical move to now make some of the back catalogue digital; it might devalue some peoples records or upset those who have made a huge effort to collect everything. And it may affect future sales too. But basically, a lot of the artists have families, mortgages and rent, and their incomes have been slashed hugely, as has mine – 90% of my income is gigs.”
In order to assign releases directly to artists on their Bandcamp page to facilitate payment straight to their accounts, I Love Acid will incur around an extra £600 per year. Doherty said that the I Love Acid Bandcamp page may have to revert once the crisis has passed.
You can listen to the I Love Acid back catalogue here.