Friends Records

Hello everyone! Long time no post.

I just wanted to let everyone know that the entirety of our stock now resides at Wax Atlas at 4708 Harford Rd in Baltimore. Andy, Kim and the rest of the crew there will be happy to assist you if you’re seeking out any of the old Friends Records releases.

www.waxatlas.com

I am not sure how to start this. After talking with a good friend today, I was convinced to make a public post about what Friends Records is currently going through to see if anyone else is interested in helping to save it from oblivion.

The label turned 10 years old last week but there wasn't much to celebrate so it came and went without much of a thought. In July of 2017 I learned that the resource that made it possible for the label to operate and grow the way that it did was no longer available. In November of 2017 I packed the office of Friends Records up and I moved it to a storage unit near my home. This was meant to be temporary. Due to personal reasons in 2017 and the years that have followed, I have not been able to allow any real time for the label. My life has been through many drastic changes since then and I have never had the option to spend time rebuilding the label.

The Friends Records storage locker was being paid for by whatever revenue the label was bringing in through digital royalties, a handful of bandcamp orders and out of my own pocket when needed. The storage locker has increased in price every 6 months since Nov 2017 and the Friends digital revenue has sharply declined. More and more I found myself falling behind on the storage locker payment and saving it financially at the last moment through hard work and help from friends. In November of 2019 I fell behind again thinking that the December quarterly digital royalties check would cover November and December 2019. The check was by far the lowest that it has ever been and it wouldn't cover a single month. On December 15th, I received a phone call from the EZ Storage in Owings Mills, MD and they informed me that if the unit goes unpaid, on January 1st it will be forfeited and on January 15th, 2020, the unit will be auctioned off.

I've been working 3 jobs, I have been trying my hardest to put this money together but it is just not happening. I had some hope (and half of the money put together) until this morning when some automatic payments came out of my bank account and put me back down to nearly nothing for the storage unit.

What is in the unit is everything Friends Records. The bulk of our stock is in there, probably 10,000 records, all Friends records releases. Thousands of CDs and cassettes. Boxes and boxes of artists T-shirts and random merch. Every test pressing and physical master copies. All of our physical art. about 20 IKEA Expedits, CD racks, tape racks, desks, chairs, a large format HP printer. Hundreds of posters/prints from all of our shows. Some blank cassettes. Random shelves and cabinets. As well as 5-6 boxes of my own personal items that I have no idea what is in them, I dropped them there temporarily while moving out of my Owings Mills house and was never able to reclaim them.

What is owed on the unit is as follows

November rent $365
November late fee $50
December rent $365
December late fee $50
January rent $365

Totaling $1,195

This number is impossible to me at this point in my life, especially with 5 days left to pay it. I owe more than I can fathom already and I won't take on any more debt. I know that the records in this unit are precious to the people that made them. I know that they are precious to the people who loved them. They are precious to me. If I can pay this amount and access this storage unit in January, I will move everything out and get it into a more secure storage setting.

My friend urged me to come on here and write this story. I did it because I think it is important to at least make people aware of what is about to happen rather than keep it to myself. If someone out there has the ability to help and the good fortune to be able to help avert this, this is a plea to you.

This is a last effort to save these things. If anyone is interested in helping in anyway or buying any of the things inside of the unit or if you just have a good idea or suggestion about how to raise these funds quickly, please email or paypal me at [email protected]

UPDATE : Created a Facebook Fundraiser, if it gets approved, I will post the link here. Thanks to everyone who has written me and offered advice and support. Y'all are the best.