Date Signed: March 25, 2024
Label: Run for Cover
Type of Music: Rock
Management: Paul Clegg - Cursive
Booking: Eric Dimenstein - Ground Control
Legal: Matthew Kaplan
Publicity: Amanda Pitts, Christina Cambria - Chromatic PR
Web: cursivearmy.com
Try this (Signing) Story on for size: Two college kids from Omaha enroll in a business class requiring them to complete a commercially minded project before the semester ends. The longtime friends, engineer Mike Mogis and friend Justin Oberst, are so pleased with the results of the project that they decide to continue with it outside academia. In its first year in operation, 1993, Saddle Creek Records (originally called Lumberjack) unveiled its first release: the self-titled solo debut by the then-unknown, 13-year-old younger brother of Justin: Conor Oberst.
As Cursive bassist Matt Maginn said in an interview in mid-June, Saddle Creek “started as a collective, and then after a while, it became sole ownership for one person (co-founder and now President Robb Nansel), and we lost some of our love for (the label). We still love Saddle Creek—past, employees, all that stuff—but once everyone realized there really wasn't a collective anymore, they just all gave up and walked away.”
Turns out Cursive’s Plan B, 15 Passenger, was the band's saving grace.
“The label gave us enthusiasm again," he said. “(But) we just didn’t have enough time to dedicate to our own label.”
Thus, for their 10th album overall and first in five years, Cursive didn’t opt to release Devourer through 15 Passenger or Saddle Creek, but rather Run for Cover Records. Incidentally, a 17-year-old founded that Boston-based label in 2004 at college. Sound familiar?
Of course, the similarities between Saddle Creek and Run for Cover weren’t the only reasons Cursive opted to release Devourer, due September 13. Cursive had many suitors, according to Maginn, not to mention that one of the band’s trusted friends put the two parties in touch in February.
“Between their roster, friendliness toward artists, and creativity—and the easy hangs we had over Zoom—it seemed like the right move,” he said of Cursive signing to Run for Cover. “They have great digital marketing strategies and are fan-friendly too.”
Under the terms of the deal, Cursive maintain ownership of their music and also have a 50/50 profit split with their new home. Run for Cover also repaid Cursive what they spent from their own personal savings to make Devourer.
“We’ve been a DIY band our whole lives, and (Run for Cover) understands that and is cool with whatever we deliver to them,” Maginn concluded. “That label is doing it right.”
