Bay Area record label Broken Clover Records announces their biannual Giving Back campaign for February 2023 today. Every February and August the label donates its share of profits to worthy causes selected by the label's artists. This month's charities include: The ACLU, San Francisco Public Schools, Fresh Meat Productions, Friends of Noise, Jean Dutoit Collective, and SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition. For more details and links to the charities, go HERE.
The label begun in 2018 by Bay Area native Mickey Darius includes albums by June of 44, Democratic Republic of Congo's Fulu Kolektiv (sister initiative to Fulu Miziki), experimentalists Enablers, queer country Secret Emchy Society, Lori Goldston (Nirvana cellist), Basque (Spain) punks +oc and many more.
Broken Clover is a label approaching the music business in many new ways. Darius pays the label's artists their entire royalties up front as soon as the records arrive, for everything they would earn if the entire pressing sells out.
"They did their part, so should not be held hostage, waiting for the label to do the selling part," Darius says. "We are quite literally putting food on our artists tables and paying rents…even if we don’t sell a single copy, and this means a lot to me."
About the label's biannual Giving Back initiative, Darius explains, "This is how the label can not only give back to the artists themselves (via actually paying them for their work), but also to the communities that foster these artists and others like them."
Broken Clover withholds releasing albums on all streaming platforms except for Bandcamp for a period up to 6 months in order to give the bands and fans a leg up to access music first in a forum and formats that truly reward the music listening experience.
- Voted Best Record Label 2021 by 48 Hills / SF Bay Guardian Readers' poll
- Voted Best Record Label 2022 by 48 Hills / SF Bay Guardian Readers' poll
The label has over 20 releases with many more to come in 2023 and beyond. Check out and hear the current roster via Bandcamp at brokencloverrecords.bandcamp.com
