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Collect Records severs ties with drug ‘price-gouger’ Martin Shkreli

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 24 September 2015

Punk and hardcore record company Collect Records has ended its relationship with key backer Martin Shkreli, after several bands threatened to leave the label’s roster due to the association.

It emerged that Shkreli was funding the company after the hedge fund manager made headlines over a report that he had bought the rights to Daraprim, a medication used in AIDS and cancer treatment, and increased the price by 5000%.

The label was founded by Thursday frontman Geoff Rickley in 2009, and seemingly accepted an offer of investment from Shkreli last year. The two men first met when Shkreli bought a guitar from Rickley and explained that he was a big fan of his band.

“He sort of asked me if I was able to scale up and ‘do it right’, and would I be interested in growing the label”, Rickley told Noisey of their initial meeting. “My thoughts were that if I could do it my way, at my pace, and with bands that I believed in, I would definitely be interested. This was the start of our relationship, and he chose to be a silent partner in Collect going forward. He has never asked to see the bottom line and there has never been any check and balance with him. His only goal was to further my vision”.

“There were no red flags at that time”, he added. “I genuinely enjoyed his company, and I was just excited for the opportunity to work with him and to have someone who believed in my vision for the future”.

After the news of Shkreli’s ‘price gouging’ broke, Dominic Palermo, the frontman of one of the label’s bands, Nothing, wrote on Facebook: “I was approached by Geoff Rickley about a year ago now, about how he was starting a label. He said he really believed in Nothing and the music we were creating”.

He went on: “We were told of a backer who was an old Thursday fan that wanted to give back to the music and arts, but literally didn’t even know his name until last night. After Geoff told me his plans I really believed in him. He’s a great guy and he, like me, had no idea what kind of monster was funding the label and soon to be album. And like he has helped me with my problems in the past few months, I plan on helping him in anyway I can as well, through this all”.

He added: “I’m not sure what the next step is here for us, as we’re contractually attached to this person, but I had to share my revulsion with you all as the future is not quite foreseeable”. A further update yesterday expressed continued uncertainty about Nothing’s future with the label.

Hether Fortune of Wax Idols, another Collect band, said that they were “horrified” to learn that Shrekli “essentially donates money to the label”, adding: “I personally 100% am NOT FUCKING OK with this guy and his business tactics … [but] I love Collect Records. Geoff Rickly is an incredible person who I’ve known and admired since I was thirteen years old. I stand behind him and know that he would never willingly put himself OR me into a situation like this had he been aware of what was really going on. We are going to handle this”.

Another label mate, Creepoid, were more certain about how to proceed, saying: “As long as Shkreli is involved with Collect Records, directly or indirectly, we cannot be”. A sentiment that Sick Feeling agreed with, telling Fader: “One thing is clear; as long as he has a part in the label, we, Sick Feeling, cannot. Our experience with Geoff, Norm, and Shaun has been nothing but positive, however, we cannot continue to work with Collect as long as Martin Shkreli has any part in it”.

Seemingly faced with a choice between its financial backer and its bands, Collect ultimately decided to part company with the former, with Rickly saying in a statement to Pitchfork yesterday: “Today, Collect Records – with the support and encouragement of all of our artists – have agreed to fully sever our relationship with Martin Shkreli, effective immediately”.

He added: “For my part, I’ve always strived to make Collect a place that was so liberal, encouraging, and artist-friendly that no one would ever walk away from us willingly, though to do so at any time would be very easy. To that end, I hope that our bands continue to believe in our guidance and passion. Any of them that have had an incurable crisis of confidence will be allowed to leave with nothing but the kind of encouragement that we’ve built our label on”.

Exactly what all this means for bands on the label and their future releases – now there is no backing from a wealthy patron – is unclear. But for the moment the label will focus on its next release, the debut album from No Devotion, Rickly’s own band with the former members of Lostprophets, which comes out tomorrow.