Bloomington-based independent label Plan-It-X Records is closing shop after more than two decades of operation, co-founder Chris Clavin said in a post on the label’s website.
“It is not financially possible for me to do this anymore,” Clavin said in the post. “In my opinion concept of the record label is no (sic) needed. Bands can do it themselves which is what this scene has always been about for me.”
In addition to his financial inability and bands’ abilities to self-release music online, Clavin also cited his unwillingness to advertise aggressively through social media as a reason for shuttering the label.
Clavin co-founded the label in 1994 with Samantha Jane Dorsett to release music from Indiana bands including Operation: Cliff Clavin and the Ted Dancin’ Machine. Since then, it has released music from artists including Waxahatchee, Ghost Mice, the Andrew Jackson Jihad and Defiance, Ohio.
According to the label’s website, Plan-It-X prioritized exposure and affordability rather than business. It typically sold CDs for $5 and LPs for $12. Its catalog also includes books, comic books and cassette tapes.
In the post, Clavin said the label’s catalog will stay active for a few months, and releases will be available through No Idea Records afterwards.
Clavin also said Plan-It-X Fest, the label’s music festival, will not take place in 2016.
“I’m not saying there will never be another one, but there will not be one in 2016,” he said in the post.
The label is set to celebrate the 2015 release of its compilation “It Came from Plan-It-X 2014” with a show featuring artists who contributed to the compilation. The show will be 8 p.m. Jan. 16 at the Void, located at 1607 S. Rogers St., with bands including Free Cake for Every Creature, Nice Try and Ghost Mice.
In the post, Clavin said he looks forward to working on new projects and thanked those who have been involved with Plan-It-X in the past.
“I’m very sorry if this news makes you sad, it makes me very sad too,” he said in the post. “It has taken me a very long time to come to this conclusion, to admit that the thing I have devoted twenty one, or twenty two years of my life to is no longer possible.”
Jack Evans
