In just a few years, Willis Earl Beal has built up quite a buzz, put out two critically-celebrated albums, played the starring role in the film Memphis, and performed at major music festivals and on TV shows such as Jools Holland. Now he’s decided to leave his label in order to release his next album, Experiments in Time, on his own terms. No label help. No publicity team.
As music journalist Matt Fink says, “this isn’t typical behavior from an artist on Beal’s current trajectory, of course, and he has a lot to lose by daring to shake off the restraints of the industry that has given him the sort of platform that similarly-minded home-recorders such as Jandek and R. Stevie Moore have never had. But there is nothing typical about Beal, and he seems more than willing to sacrifice comfort for control over his work. After all, if he hadn’t been willing to take things in his own hands, we never would have heard about him in the first place.”
In an interesting interview with Fink for Under the Radar, Willis Earl Beal talks about why he want to strike out on his own at this point in his artistic life, and about the ambitious album Experiments in Time that he will self-release on August 8th via CD Baby.
Check out the interview with Willis Earl Beal HERE.
Have you left a label to release music on your own? What lead you to that decision? Let us know in the comments below.