Last we heard of the future of Collect Records, it was all but over. Collect Records was tied to the big pharma CEO Martin Shkreli, who jacked up prices of an antimalarial medication used to treat HIV patient over 5,000-percent, and all the bands on the label were pissed. Then Rickly cut ties with Shkreli and that was that. Now Rickly is speaking out on the matter via AltPress, saying that if the bands on the label weren't so pissed then he's not really sure how this would've all gone down.
“If the bands didn’t start getting so upset… I don’t know what I would have done. I may have kept it there. To me, funding for the arts is something that we ignore in America. We have one of the lowest rates of funding for the arts in the world, per capita, 47 cents a person. It’s so shameful, because art is the foundation of thought. For me, why we have society is because artists and thinkers come up with a better way to live. But part of a better way to live is to say, “I won’t stand for this kind of behavior from the people that I associate with.” That’s why people are so upset.”
He also touches on how much Shkreli put into the label versus how much of his own money he invested to make Collect Records happen.
“You know, people are talking about the amount of money that Martin spent on the label and I just think, they can’t imagine how much of myself I spent. People don’t realize how much money Martin has, but it was a very small amount of money for him. For me, [Collect] took over my life in ways that Norman told me maybe this is a good thing. Because he’s gonna stop worrying about me not sleeping three nights a week and not taking care of myself because I’m thinking too much about every band. I know the amount of capital I put into this: it was everything I had. And I’ll keep doing that until everybody has a home.”
“People don’t realize that by the end of next year, we would have had 17 acts on the label: $600,000 with 17 acts and three employees, an office and health care… People don’t realize how much it costs to press records. Then there’s tour support and everything. You can’t make a record for less than $50,000.”
And finally, he talks about Shkreli genuinely giving a damn about the music. I think this is one of the few times throughout this whole mess that I've actually felt like Shkreli isn't the worst dude in the world… I mean, I might be wrong too. I don't know the guy.
“He was like, “Sign bigger, better bands, sign cooler bands, sign bands that are doing crazier stuff, get them health care.” He wanted me to give everybody on the label health care and I was trying to figure that out. He had goals that were very philanthropic, so you just don’t see this kind of thing coming when you have these conversations with somebody talking to you about schools, revamping basketball courts so poor people in New York City have a place to go. That doesn’t sound like somebody who’s gonna wake up being the most hated man in the world.”
Rickly also says that he told his bands he'd fine a way to protect them and he says he still will, so is this really the end of Collect Records? Or is this the end of Collect Records as we know it in its current form? The saga continues…
