From Arc the Finger to A3C, part 1
December 17th, 2007 by Mosi Reeves in Music news 
Many people within Atlanta’s indie hip-hop world already know that Arc the Finger Records no longer exists. After putting out three albums in 2006 (Cadillac Jones, Collective Efforts and Intellekt & Dirty Digits), the label has been inactive all year. It seemed like it would return once its owners, Brian Knott and Kevin Elphick, reorganized the business. Instead, Arc the Finger Records is officially finished.
Casual readers of Crib Notes may not understand how important Arc the Finger Records was to Atlanta. When I moved here two years ago, Arc the Finger was the only game in town, and the only label consistently mounting quality shows. (Peace to Dropbombz and 4 Kings Entertainment.) Its roster — Psyche Origami, Collective Efforts, Minamina Goodsong and, momentarily, Intellekt & Dirty Digits — was the best of the city’s backpack crop.
But at the dawn of 2008, the backpack era is ending. Proton, Supreeme, Gripplyaz and Yelawolf, all former outcasts in the sometimes conservative indie-rap scene, have put in major work this year, performing dozens of local gigs and cranking out mixtapes. Along with them, and a new wave of artists, including the Dreamer, Clan Destined, Stacy Epps (who just moved back from L.A.), Mojo Swagger and many others, have created a fresh and provocative underground hip-hop scene unencumbered by expectations of keeping it real or rejecting the ever-present mainstream.
Knott acknowledged as much when I conducted an interview with him last week. “As a record label, when I think about our legacy, what we accomplished was to define a specific era in Atlanta underground hip-hop,” he told me. “As this year ends, and our record label’s done putting out those records, now we’re curious as to who will define this next era of what comes out of here.”
Yes, it appears that underground hip-hop is finally coming back and reinventing itself. But don’t forget that Arc the Finger kept the scene alive when it was at its weakest point and, to be frank, a lot of those aforementioned acts were sitting on their ass and not doing shows. Love it or hate it, the label made its mark in local rap history.
Initially, my conversation with Knott was not only going to include details of ATF’s demise, but a preview of the upcoming A3C Festival, which takes place March 20-22 at the CW Atlanta complex. However, Knott says he has some exciting news about the festival, and he can’t reveal the official details until sometime during the next several days.
So this interview is split into two installments. The first covers Arc the Finger. I’ll post part 2, which encompasses A3C, when Knott is ready to make the announcement.
So, what’s going on with Arc the Finger Records?
Brian Knott: Well, I think we have decided that we are no longer in the business of putting out records. As of January 1, the name Arc the Finger, ATF Records and all of its iterations, will be done and finished and cease doing business in the music world.
That’s huge!
(Laughs) I hope … well, I guess I don’t hope so … I don’t know. We are what we were, you know? I’m exceptionally proud of the music we put out, and I’m exceptionally proud of the artists we got to work with, and the impact we had on their careers and those records. If it influenced people and made fans enjoy of the music, then I feel really good about that.
Right now, trying to be a small record label is really hard. I don’t know what the model is to be successful. We couldn’t figure out to turn it into anything that was working better than a break-even, and most of the time we were operating at a loss. So I don’t know if that’s our failing as business people or a failing as an industry in general.
In talking with friends of ours in the business, that are at other labels like Definitive Jux and Rhymesayers, they’ve run into a lot of the same problems that we’ve run into. I think the fact that they started five, seven years before us gave them some momentum to weather this storm and have artists that are the cash cows, and that make some of the other things they’re trying to do possible. We never achieved that level. We wanted Arc the Finger and ATF to be Atlanta’s version of those people that we looked up to, and I don’t think the marketplace, from when we started until now, was ever going to get there.
Specifically, what were some of the problems that you ran into?
I think, more than anything, just the economies of how record labels work really caught us at a tough spot. We were never going to be the kind of record label that was satisfied if we sold 1,000 copies of [a title]. There are people out there that can do that, and I respect that. But at the end of the day, as a record label, to build a financially sustainable model, the numbers have to go up dramatically. Part of that is on the growth of the individual artists, but part of that is on the ability to distribute effectively and market effectively. I think, with the chaotic way music works right now, it’s really difficult to do that.
Did you have problems compensating artists for their records?
We never sold enough records for it to become a huge battle, you know what I mean?
When we signed our artists, they were playing to really small crowds in Atlanta. They were all growth deals. We were taking garage groups and trying to make them into something bigger. So our relationships, in a lot of ways, were never about the financial return. For those guys, or for us, we always hoped that we would be a lot more successful than we were.
I don’t think it was a matter of us having enough money to pay artists to make more records or anything like that. I think it was more the dynamic of the fact that once we had a record, it was done, and it was out there in the marketplace, that there weren’t enough people out there buying the records to support the goals that we set out to achieve.
So what’s going to happen to the different groups on your label: Psyche Origami, Collective Efforts, Intellekt & Dirty Digits, Minamina Goodsong and Cadillac Jones?
Minamina hasn’t been working on music together for over a year. So I think, from what I understand – and it might help you to talk to individual guys, too – is that their musical aspirations are not as Minamina Goodsong anymore. I think they’re at a point where they’re trying to figure out what to do as individuals, and if music is in their future at all.
As of last spring, Dillon and Dan [DJ Dirty Digits] are no longer performing as Intellekt & Dirty Digits. Dillon is making new music that I think is amazing. It would not shock me in the least if, sometime in the next year, Dillon was picked up by someplace else, and was able to move on to another record label.
Philosophically, one of the nice things about the way we started ATF is that we never had the intention of owning catalog, masters or anything else like that. … So the artists aren’t tied up in any crazy-ass legal shit. Those guys have the ability to take their catalog where they want to take it, to do what they want to do with the music that they created, and to create opportunities for them to build with another company and move forward in their own direction musically.
I know that Collective is performing and recording with a full band. The scope of what they’re doing has expanded an enormous amount, even in the past six to eight months. Quite honestly, from when we signed them three years ago as a group, they look totally different. To me, they’re beginning to look and sound more like a band that could potentially have a more attractive top 40 sound than an underground sound. I don’t think of them as being an underground rap group. I think of them as being a lot more musical and figuring out where that goes.
I think that Dillon is an amazing talent. Every time I see him perform, the music that he’s doing is innovative, cutting-edge, and very experimental. He’s really focused on what he’s doing. I think he just needs to figure out what’s good musically, get a record together, and go out and try and find somebody that wants to put it out, put him on the road, and support him.
As far as Psyche O goes, I know there’s new music. They just released a 7-inch overseas with Jakarta Records [an indie label in Barcelona, Spain]. [ATF] helped them a little bit on that, just on a handshake and a friend deal.
I mean, we’ve built a family, too, that goes beyond whether or not ATF exists anymore. Kevin and I, as the founding members, are still exceptionally involved in the hip-hop community through A3C, Constantly On Promotions and the other things we’re doing. We look at the ATF family of artists as something that transcends having a record label together. We’re still happy to help any of the artists we’ve worked with in any way that we can.
A couple of days ago, you made a comment to me that the ATF era is coming to a close. Can you explain that?
As a record label, when I think about our legacy, what we accomplished was to define a specific era in Atlanta underground hip-hop. There was a place in time where Massinfluence, Hemisphere and those groups defined a specific era. Then that era bled into the ATF era of independent hip-hop, which was Psyche O, Minamina, what Dres tha Beatnik was doing at that time – I mean, he was on every one of those records – Collective, and then Dillon. I feel like that era was encapsulated by what our label put out in that time.
As this year ends, and our record label’s done putting out those records, now we’re curious as to who will define this next era of what comes out of here. As Kevin and I focus more on the promotions and events aspect of things, and bringing more of what’s interesting nationally to the Southeast, I’m very curious to see what the next era of what comes out of this city is going to be.
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