Small Labels Play it Smart?

I'll always remember Christmases when I was younger for the wealth of new music I got my hands on. I got my first cd player for Christmas, along with my first cd's. Growing up in a house that was still operating on cassette tapes and vinyl, I remember my older, cooler cousin explaining to me that, "no, you can't flip over your Space Jam Soundtrack cd and have it play on the other side." Sorry R. Kelly. Christmas was a great time to be a music fan - when else were you going to wake up and have that hot new Chumbawamba or Wallflowers album waiting on you (guess which one of those bands I still like)? Christmas as a kid who loved music was monumental until I stepped outside the music box and started listening to artists who weren't so popular or weren't recording for major labels with big distribution deals. Once we age a little and our musical tastes mature in leaps and bounds, we can't really expect Grandma to find that album from the Mountain Goats back catalog. Do they have it at the Wal Mart or the Best Buy? Sorry.

What got me thinking of all this is that since I've started writing here again, I thought I would give a little review of a new album I was listening to. And then I realised that besides Radiohead's In Rainbows, nothing new and exciting had made its way through my speakers in a couple months. And the last thing the internet needs is another review of Radiohead's LP7. It seems to me that during this time of year, the musical giants like Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones all put out best of albums, and the contemporary independent artists delay new releases. What I believe is happening is that smaller record labels (think Matador, 4AD, Merge sized labels and smaller) recognize that a majority of pre-Christmas record sales come from people buying records as gifts for other people - and the chance of Aunt Bettye or even Mom or Dad going into the local record store in the alley to buy Magnolia Electric Co.'s new box set is unlikely. If you look at the slated releases for the past week, along with the coming weeks, only major label artists are dropping their albums before Christmas. It isn't until the 8th of January when smaller labels begin to release albums. I don't think this is a "our small staff is off during those weeks" things either. These small labels know kids are more likely to go purchase records themselves than have them purchased for them, especially the week or two after the holiday when they might have some Christmas money. All of this sounds like smart business practices to me as well. The better the Secretly Canadians of the world know their niche in the market, the better chances the artists they put out will be successful. John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats summed the entire situation up perfectly last month with this quote about his intentions for his new album, Heretic Pride:

It will be released by 4AD, and features artwork by Vaughan Oliver. It was
recorded at Prairie Sun, and produced by Scott Solter & John Vanderslice. We
are really excited about this album, and we wish it were out right now, but
there is a law against releasing albums in December unless you are Queen. Any
album you see released in December is actually by Queen, no matter what it says
on the cover. Then in January everybody is recovering from having listened to
too much Queen. Hence, February. See you then!

So until I can get my hands on Heretic Pride or Cat Power's Jukebox, no reviews. Unless someone gives me some Queen for Christmas.