Earlier this year, the virtuosic Virginia folk musician Daniel Bachman got into a public feud with his former label Tompkins Square because of a dispute over his master recordings. Now, Bachman says that he’s been dropped from another label, Three Lobed Recordings, for talking publicly about his royalty payments. Bachman also says that the label has put physical copies of his records on sale, that it will “recycle” everything that’s not sold by the end of the month, and that his music won’t be available on RedEye Distribution after this month.
On a Twitter thread that he posted Wednesday, Daniel Bachman wrote that he “got let go from Three Lobed Records for speaking about how $ has gotten weird in the last 3 years.” Here’s what Bachman wrote:
I really don’t want to post about this but I got let go from Three Lobed Records for speaking about how $ has gotten weird in the last 3 years. Cory told me that on 11/1 my records will no longer be available through Redeye distro & all remaining inventory will be “recycled”.
From 2015-21 I was regularly paid quarterly royalties. Sometime after my Axacan record came out (2021) I stopped receiving regular payments & when I asked about it was “next month/next quarter” with random small amounts sent to me when I pressed it. This has gone on for years.
It became a cycle of putting out a new record before I knew when Id be paid for the last, a process that led me to extreme burnout & significant mental anguish. These royalties represent a large part of my yearly income & their delay/absence has made it even harder to do my work.
When I was feeling bad about this I tweeted about it, which Cory responded to by completely terminating our working agreement. Three Lobed & I have no contract, which has made me very vulnerable, a situation I’m sure a business attorney like Cory is well aware of.
So if you’d like to buy my records from Three Lobed this may be your last chance for the foreseeable future. Cory has listed them on “sale” & whatever doesn’t get bought by 11/1 will be “recycled”. I neither have the $ or the space at our place to buy & store all of them.
All this has been very sad & confusing & Im talking about it because I feel these are workers rights issues. Overall I learned a lot & think we made some pretty good records. For now all my stuff can be found on Bandcamp/streaming services. Thanks for the interest in my work.
From 2015-21 I was regularly paid quarterly royalties. Sometime after my Axacan record came out (2021) I stopped receiving regular payments & when I asked about it was “next month/next quarter” with random small amounts sent to me when I pressed it. This has gone on for years.
— Daniel Bachman (@AlmanacBehind) October 2, 2024
When I was feeling bad about this I tweeted about it, which Cory responded to by completely terminating our working agreement. Three Lobed & I have no contract, which has made me very vulnerable, a situation I’m sure a business attorney like Cory is well aware of.
— Daniel Bachman (@AlmanacBehind) October 2, 2024
All this has been very sad & confusing & Im talking about it because I feel these are workers rights issues. Overall I learned a lot & think we made some pretty good records. For now all my stuff can be found on Bandcamp/streaming services. Thanks for the interest in my work
— Daniel Bachman (@AlmanacBehind) October 2, 2024
We reached out to Three Lobed Recordings, and the label’s founder and manager Cory Rayborn shared a written response through the label’s publicist, writing, “This relationship ended as there are expectations that [Bachman] has created that the label simply cannot meet for numerous reasons, practical and otherwise.” Here’s the full statement:
The record label has been run for close to a quarter of a century as a labor of love where I can work with folks I care about and help get art into the world. Current subject excluded, I’m not aware of anyone who I have worked with who wouldn’t work with me again on releases. I was a big fan of Daniel Bachman prior to getting the chance to work with him. It was an honor to help him shepherd art into the world for close to a decade. During that same time I also performed lots of additional work on his behalf at no cost and spearheaded many projects where all of the proceeds were paid to him. He has always been paid everything he has been due from the label on timetables that match the ability of a one-person operation to perform. He has also benefited from advances on those payments when it was clear that timing was going to be odd on this end. This relationship ended as there are expectations that he has created that the label simply cannot meet for numerous reasons, practical and otherwise. I wish him nothing but the best as he continues his art.
Bachman’s most recent album on Three Lobed is When The Roses Come Again, which came out last year.
