Record Label Case Study: This and That Tapes

Welcome to, Other Record Labels Case Studies. Where we look at inspired record labels in our community, how they’re doing things differently, and what we can learn from them. 

A couple months ago I was helping this label revamp their website and the first thing I noticed was a motto that they had on their site.  It popped out at me and immediately I knew it was something special.  And to be honest, it’s stuck with me, I love finding things that set labels apart. I actually think it’s imperative that all labels have something unique to them. Maybe that’s a visual aesthetic, a commitment to one format, a set of values, or even just a tagline that sits on their website, under their logo. 

The label is called This and that Tapes and they're from Philadelphia. On their website, integrated as part of their logo it says, “LO-FI, HI FUN”. 4 words. 9 letters. 

It’s so good, so simple, but so powerful.  I actually think about it often.  I know that’s weird, but it says so much by saying so little. 

Now I’m not advocating for slogans. I don’t think it matters if your label has a motto or a catch phrase. 

I mean, I’ve always thought internal mission statements are nice to have. They help you verbalize your north star, why you exist and what you hope to accomplish as a record label. But mission statements aren’t often something that most people see. Slogans or mottos on the other hand are forward facing; Just Do it. Think Different. Because You’re Worth it.

A great slogan can encapsulate a brand’s entire ethos in one sentence. And in this case, just four words.  And actually there’s a lot hidden in these four words.

Let me do a brain dump for a second… The instant I read that tagline I immediately got an idea of what this label was about. LOFI tells me it’s probably tapes, Bedroom pop, home recordings, bootlegs, garage rock, maybe acoustic straight to tape, maybe some grainy ambient music. I don’t know. Ultimately it showed me that they weren’t obsessed with sonic perfection. They weren’t looking to get these songs placed in a TV commercial necessarily. 

But here’s the thing... A term like LOFI would normally imply that something is inferior, or not as good as it could be. What I love about LOFI HIFUN, is that they celebrate these flaws, they embrace their limitations. Mistakes, false starts, clipping, peaking, pitchy vocals, a few years ago I had a cat named Charlie, she’s since moved out to a farm in the country. And that’s the truth, she’s still alive, it’s an actual farm where she can chase mice.  Anyway, this cat used to make her way onto almost every record we recorded in my basement. Very opportune meows. But We kept them in there because it was real life, authentic, transparent, whatever.  

So This and That Tapes is a cassette label and tapes are sonically inferior, and impractical. Labels like this one aren’t ignoring that reality, they actually care a lot about that aspect of tapes. People who like lo-fi care about their shortcomings, the blemishes are beautiful.

So my takeaway was this this label doesn’t take themselves too seriously. Lo fi music is artists just being themselves, and having fun, and being creative free of parameters or guidelines. It’s not perfect and it’s not pretentious. 

How crazy is it that in four words, just a few seconds, this label was able to communicate so much to me. They downloaded their whole ethos into a small logo in the top left corner of their website. 

Like I said, I don’t care if you have a slogan or not. Even the word slogan seems kind of outdated. That’s not the point here. What I love about this is that somehow, This and That Tapes found a way to introduce themselves, declare their ethos, and basically dog whistle their values. 

I had to ask myself, how does my label communicate who we are and what we stand for? Is it clear when someone visits my website? Do my values come through in my messaging on social media or in any copy that I write?  I have an identity, but is it clear?

Have you heard the name of Phoebe Bridgers’ new record label? It’s called Saddest Factory. I feel like it accomplishes something similar to Lo Fi. Hi Fun. The name reflects like the sad lyrics Phoebe’s known for and at the same time it’s a little bit self-deprecating. Their spirit hidden in the sarcasm. 

There’s another label we had on the show last year called OOF records. OOF, which stands for Our Orbit of Friends. Again, same thing. A super subtle wink to the audience that says, this is what we’re about.

Again I’m not advocating for silly slogans or tag-lines, although as we see here, they can be great. And they can tell people something about our record label. Listen, don’t overthink it. It’s not about a name or a slogan or a t-shirt design or a mission statement. The takeaway here is asking yourself; who are you? What do you stand for? Who is your audience? And what do you have in common with them?

And then take a look around the spaces you occupy. Your website, your records, your social media bios, your merch. Is it clear who you are and what you value?