"The ugly truth revealed"

Have you ever believed hard in something and then it turns out it wasn't true? It can be quite painful. Until recently, I believed that founders and managers of small dark roots record labels were driven by three things: the love of music, DIY attitude and altruistic motives. In short: they are good people. The profiteers were employed by big multinational record companies like Universal, Sony, EMI and Warner. In short: they are bad people. However, the facts tells another story. Some of the bad people seems to have been self-employed. It's hard to take in. Take Devil's Ruin Records and Farmageddon Records as two examples. As always, there are two sides. It's fascinating to read the initial positive (but limited) media impression with the final verdict from artists. The very reputable but, sadly, now discontinued site Sepiachord published this article (opens in a new window) about DRR. Music journalist James G. Carlson made this interview (opens in a new window) for the site No Depression on May 31, 2011. The love of music is a common denominater. Joshua Warfel (Devil's Ruin Records) had grandiose plans for the artists: tours and albums. It all came to a sudden stop when he vanished from the face of the earth and left customers, creditors and - last but not least - artists very angry. Darren Dorlarqueue (Farmageddon Records) got extremely angry when Slackeye Slim contacted him to ask why he claimed that his album "El Santo Grial: La Pistola Piadosa" was out-of print (it was for sale on Ebay for a high price). The question was not uncalled for since you can buy a copy of the cd according to the "name your price"-principle directly from Slackeye Slim's Bandcamp page. Slackeye Slim posted the aggravated conversation on Facebook with a preface, which triggered a "metoo-response" from artists on the defunct Farmageddon label who hadn't got paid or reimbursed. It seems like Darren Dorlarqueue left many very angry people behind. And the psychological explanation? Dorlarqueue and Warfel seems, first and foremost, to be entrepreneurs. Not exactly like Jeff Bezos of Amazon, but in their own sector and with their own moral principles. Some entrepreneurs are like sharks with an instrumental and brutal disposition. But if sharks stop swimming they will sink and die. Being a narcissistic entrepreneur with a low risk aversion means that you are not too concerned if you crash and burn or if you make people upset, angry or sad. You will just swim on to the next project.