Back in 2019, indie rock-focused record label Tiny Engines essentially shuttered after a number of its artists accused them of payment issues and breach of contract — which co-founder Chuck Daley admitted to. Now, co-founder Will Miller has announced that he’s reviving the label as its sole owner under a “new management structure.”
In a statement shared to Tiny Engines’ Twitter Friday, Miller wrote that he’s “committed to making sure artists and their records are being cared for properly and treated with the required respect,” as well as “ensur[ing] that artists are being paid what they are owed.”
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The statement clarifies that all accounting between the label and its artists has been completed, with all artists having now been paid in full. Additionally, 80% of the label’s masters ownership contracts have now been amended to licensing contracts — with the remaining 20% scheduled for completion by the end of 2023 — meaning the label’s artists will now own their masters.
The controversy surrounding Tiny Engines came to a head in November 2019 after Stevie Knipe, who performs under the moniker Adult Mom, publicly accused the label of not paying them in a timely fashion, adding that they felt their “work was not in safe or responsible hands.” Other artists followed with unfortunately similar stories, including Sarah Tudzin of Illuminati Hotties, who released her 2020 mixtape Free I.H.: This Is Not The One You’ve Been Waiting For as a placeholder of sorts to fulfill her contract before releasing her following “real” album Let Me Do One More under more ideal circumstances.
“It was just uncool,” Tudzin told Consequence in 2021. “It wasn’t living up to the ethos that they had laid out for the artists that they represented, and [Adult Mom] finally decided to call them out on it, and then everything fell apart.”
As for the future of the label, Miller adds: “You the fan owe us nothing. We will seek to regain your trust in our actions as a label and in how we treat our artists. If you do not want to support Tiny Engines please continue to support the artists in any way you can.”
See the full statement from Tiny Engines below.
Tiny Engines’ catalog boasts releases from artists including The Hotelier, Spirit of the Beehive, Mannequin Pussy, Empty Country, Tigers Jaw, Beach Slang, It Looks Sad., and more.
— Tiny Engines (@tinyengines) June 30, 2023