Torres Talks Label Drama & “Phallocentric” Live Music Business

Jenna Gribbon

Torres Talks Label Drama & “Phallocentric” Live Music Business

Jenna Gribbon

Last year, Torres said that she was dropped by the label 4AD for “not being commercially successful enough” in the wake of her 2017 album Three Futures. Last month, Merge Records announced that they had picked up Mackenzie Scott’s project and would be releasing her next album in 2020.

In a new interview with Billboard, Scott discussed the label drama and her experiences in the “phallocentric” live music business.

“I was in a pretty dark place—lost—for a long time following my departure from 4AD,” she told Billboard. “Mostly I just felt befuddled that a label would invest so much into an artist that they didn’t believe was worth sticking with for more than six months. If I’d known that could happen I never would have signed the rights away to them in the first place.”

“I’m glad to have found a label in Merge that’s actually run by artists and touring musicians,” Scott continued. “The truth is that 4AD needs to get some people of color, some women, some queer people, anyone else in the boardroom that isn’t a white cis man in a suit.”

She also goes on to talk about the male-dominated festival industry. “It’s gross. If you look at any music festival poster, it’s going to be more than 80% dudes, unless it’s a festival whose angle is specifically woman/LGBTQIA -inclusive, which I also don’t love,” she said. “I don’t like that this business’ well-known misogyny, transphobia, homophobia, and racism necessitates having our own music festivals where it has to be spelled out that it’s an inclusive line-up.”

Read the full interview here.

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