What does this mean and what does it mean to be an independent label in Spain? The question has been floating around for decades, and the answer has varied as the music industry has evolved. In 2024, the context facing independent record labels involves, sooner or later, entering into agreements with transnational platforms like Spotify and major festivals while only producing hundreds of records; insignificant print runs in a globalized market. It seems difficult to stay afloat and it can be even more difficult if you operate from the periphery.
In Oviedo there is a label that has maintained the type since 2016. It is called Humo Internacional (previously it was Humo) and was born from the embers of Discos Humeantes, a label founded in 2008 that released references from Pablo Und Destruktion , Future. Terror, Montañas, Mujeres and especially Fasenouva, the Asturian duo who best illustrate this label’s weakness for cutting, dark and epileptic sounds. This fall, Humo Internacional is in the news for an exciting commercial experience: the rapid launch of ten albums by Dame Area, Tatxers, Somos La Herencia, Cachito Turulo (new project by Ernesto Avelino after Fasenuova) and Olivier Arson (author of the prize – winning soundtrack like animals)among others.
Pablo Fernández, director of Humo Internacional, defends that this massive edition of information is not a commercial harakiri but rather a success. “Even though it may seem different, it’s a lot easier for us to sell albums when they come out at the same time. And not just to the store, but also to people, because you send the message that what you do matters,” he says. This is just the latest in a series of seemingly suicidal decisions by the Oviedo label whose common denominator is the search for its own path. The one who stubbornly distrusts the most hackneyed phrase in the profession. The one who says: things are done this way and that’s it.
The union that creates strength
The logic of record companies advises delaying the release of albums so that some do not distract attention from others; a policy that assumes that artists on a label compete with each other. Plus, scheduling releases means putting certain artists before others and a band easily detects whether it’s the label’s big gamble or the latest monkey. A mass launch, on the other hand, dynamites internal hierarchies and reinforces the notion of collective. “It also helps us position ourselves as a label and send the message that we do things together,” adds Fernández. And above all, this prevents “each group from having to fight alone with the seventeen million albums that will be released on the same day”. It’s “unity is strength” in discographic version.
In reality, Humo Internacional only applies to recorded music a strategy that it has already explored in concert. “For some time now we have taken four bands that were releasing albums during these months and presented them together at a Humo Fest,” explains Pablo. “All of a sudden, a group that had 50 people, another that had 50, of which they shared 30 with the previous group, and another that had another 50, together they put 400 people in a room. This shows that instead of being competitors, they are allies. It’s actually the same tactic used by Barcelona label B-Core in the 90s.
Asturian Pablo Fernández and Galician Sara Roca are the brains behind Humo Internacional and the way they became friends explains a lot about the direction the label is taking. Sara had been organizing concerts in La Coruña since she was 15 years old. Many of them, at the Nave 1839 social center where Pablo performed on a Saturday in 2016 with his group Balcanes. Pablo had already closed the Discos Humeantes and was an active member of La Lata De Zinc, an associative hall which had just opened in Oviedo when the closure of the squat had left his city orphaned by concerts; and local with which he no longer has any connection). It is a context of self-management underground from the periphery that would shape Smoke’s character.
Contracts, liquidity and human resources
In the last era of Discos Humeantes, Pablo Fernández was faced with an uncomfortable situation: no artist on his label could make a living from music, but he made a living from it. “I thought there had to be another way of doing things so that it would be possible to make a living from what not only the label but also the bands do. » One of the first changes to the transit to Humo was the contractual relationship with the groups. “The first contract we signed was inherited from Warner. We didn’t know how they were made and someone gave us one,” admits Pablo. Sara reformulated the contracts, making them shorter and more understandable for the artists and the label and, above all, they were no longer linked in time. “We go album by album because a group can believe that today I only have 10% left and tomorrow think that it’s too much. “Any band can leave the label whenever they want.”
Another unusual practice at Humo Internacional is to advance money to groups to record their albums. “We try not to take back what belongs to the group in exchange for money upfront. We try not to be a bank,” says Pablo. This prudence in managing the economy allows us to face key challenges such as vinyl pressing, since the factories are paid in 30 days while these records take years to sell. “For better or worse, Humo never spent all his money. The credits were never requested. We do not live immersed in the illusion of growth,” they sigh.
Smoke’s dream is total self-sufficiency. They would like to press the records themselves “because the big problem for a small label is making more than you need.” They work with runs of between 300 and 500 vinyls and rarely order more so as not to overload the warehouse. Storage space and economic liquidity are the great dramas of an independent label. Sara highlights another: “the shortage of human resources”. They both do everything: “print the t-shirts, prepare the packages, reservation“, put moves online on the networks, settle accounts with stores…”. Not having digital or physical distribution agreements with multinationals, as other independent Spanish labels do, means assuming all stages of the chain.
Being from Oviedo and not complaining
Operating from Oviedo may seem like a problem, but they don’t see it that way. “If I had continued living in Barcelona, I probably would have been overwhelmed by the situation. For what we want to build, living in Oviedo is an absolute advantage. Here, I have a lot less expenses,” says Pablo. “I will probably earn more money and be more successful here than going to fight in Madrid,” he believes. “In Madrid or Barcelona, you live by constantly projecting an image that helps you survive in that city. Here, we don’t live this fight to take our heads. Neighbors pass by Humo’s office and think it’s a vaping store,” they rejoice.
Sara, who worked for several years in Madrid, recognizes that there “we meet everyone and we see how agreements are made, things are offered and there is more movement, but there is such saturation that the benefits that can be derived from it are a bit misleading. . These are not really long-lasting fruits. Maybe you’ll start playing festivals because you’re in the music press, but let’s see what happens when you go to Cáceres or Cuenca.” Pablo is also wary of this “world of opportunities” that he describes as “poisoned candy.” “It’s such an obscene power structure that it makes no sense to want to participate in it unless you feed their movement.
If you play in a room and 50 people go to see you, those 50 people are yours. And when you come back, if you did well, there will be 55. It will always work like that. Even if some insist that everything works differently now
Pablo Fernández
— Director of international humor
Humo Internacional is not an anti-festival label. “We have bands that want to play festivals and we try. What we don’t accept is anything at any price. And if they don’t want it, I don’t waste five minutes cursing or complaining”, explains Pablo. Negotiating without submission with the festivals means being self-sufficient in advance so as not to depend on these calls . “We organize our concerts and our parties and we have our own festival which, instead of selling 80,000 tickets, sells 300 or 400. If we didn’t get out of the fire, we wouldn’t even exist.” outskirts of Oviedo, it is easier to understand that a career cannot be based on success in Madrid. “A race is supported if you have people who want to see you in Cuenca or Santander. room and 50 people come to see you, those 50 people are yours And when you come back, if you did well, there will be 55. It will always work like that Even if some insist that everything works differently now. .”
Something like a conclusion
Despite this ethereal name, Humo Internacional has its feet on the ground. “We try not to be too dramatic and not give the impression that the world owes us something. Sometimes it seems that the one below is crying because he is not above. The problem would be to believe that an album that sells 50 copies will sell 500. I would like our albums to sell 10,000 copies and for our groups to appear on the cover of El País. Is this reality? No. Are we going to waste our time believing that we deserve it more than someone else? No,” Pablo gives up. “We don’t need anyone to validate us,” they insist time and time again. Of course, being grounded also means calibrating which battles are not worth fighting. “Could we not be on Spotify? Yes, but it would be like living in the dark when there is light. There is no alternative at the moment.
We’ve been trying to understand the meaning of record independence in 2024 for a long hour. At one point in the conversation, Pablo doubted that the “100% independent” flag waved by his label “is more of a slogan than a reality in the world. world in which we live. » But in the minutes of overtime, he underlines a sort of conclusion: “Being an independent label in 2024 means understanding the space we occupy and growing from it. Not by trying to take up spaces that don’t belong to you or pretending to be someone you’re not. This makes it easier to face the future: “We are so close to the field that we can start all over again every time. We go as far as possible and if we make mistakes, nothing happens because tomorrow will be another day and we will start from almost the same place. There are no big ideas to conquer the world.
