“Our ambition for Mom+Pop has been and always will be to build a collaborative label with transparency and sincere respect for our artist’s creative controls.
When we started in 2008, it was essentially Rachel Etheridge, a recent NYU grad, and myself. We opened up shop in Times Square at 49th and 7th across the street from the famous Brill building where so many classic hits were written.
When it came to deciding a name for the label I came up with 56 ideas, 55 of which were NY centric, inspired by 4th & Broadway Records, which was launched by Chris Blackwell. Blackwell started Island Records in 1959 when he was 22. I’d looked up to him as an entrepreneur but more so as one of the truly great A&E’s having signed Bob Marley and U2. Need I say more.
Peter Mensch and Cliff Bernstein who funded and helped launch the label had called their previous label Grunion, but we wanted a fresh start. A few of the names we tossed around were 21st and Lex, Manhattan, Bowery, but we finally settled on Mom + Pop because it was the only one that we could all agree on. Craig Winkler who joined in A&R had a friend who created the logo we’ve used ever since.
Our label’s first two signings were An Horse who came to us via Sara (& Tegan) Quin and the other being Joshua Radin. He’d been on Columbia for his first record and we happily grabbed the follow up “Simple Times,” which was released in August ’08 and sold 12,800 the first week. At that point, Mom+Pop had a “proof of concept”
After those first few releases, our roster and team grew. Thaddeus Rudd came on board in marketing (and several years later became co-owner) we got into our A&R rhythm and signed important artists such as Tokyo Police Club, Freelance Whales and Sleigh Bells all within a couple of months. Sleigh Bells really changed the trajectory of the label but more importantly they grew the landscape of indie and rock music both musically and culturally.
As we grew, our opportunities did as well and Mom+Pop signed 3 fiercely independent artists, all remarkably different but all militant about creative and business controls. Those artists were Metric, Ingrid Michelson and Andrew Bird. They were musically important, respected and self driven. Their independence fuelled ours and we’ll always will be appreciative of the time we worked with them.
In ’13 we moved to our current location off Madison Square Park. From then on, we marched forward with wildly talented artists such as Lucius, RIDLAR, Polica, Neon Indian, Jagwar Ma. In 2013, we signed Flume and in 2014, we signed Courtney Barnett, both from down under. Harley has been an inspiration to so many artists, music fans, and to us. We treasure the experience we’ve all had being his/Future Classic’s US home. We think it’s a true artist development story. Flume come to America 5x during that first self titled release which gave us the time and opportunity to build his career in the U.S. In 2017, he won the Grammy for Best Electronic Album for “Skin.”
There was a lot of competition to become Courtney Barnett’s US label as you can imagine. Not really a surprise given how prolific and poignant she is. Getting to work with her, Nick O’Byrne and our friends in the UK at Marathon has been very special to us. We’ll cherish the music and the experience forever. The SNL season finale in 2016 was a magical performance, an opportunity that came after Courtney’s prestigious Grammy nomination for Best New Artist earlier in the year.
Our current roster has grown with incredible artists such as Alina Baraz, Alice Merton, Tash Sultana, Sunflower Bean, Lucius, Ashe, Hinds, Jai Wolf, Bayonne, FKJ, Tom Morello, MNDR, Raffaella, Lady Lamb and some that we can’t even say yet…we’ll be busy enough to get us to the 15 year anniversary with a fever!
To be able to continue working with these remarkable artists is our fortune. That said without you, who are we? Mom+Pop are unbelievably grateful for all of the music fans who have supported our artists and therefore our label. It is music fans who keep us going and the lights on. We sincerely thank you for your support then and now.
Michael Goldstone
President and Founder”
