While the record industry is in shambles with sales down over 40%,
a revolution is happening on Long Island. Tim Olphie, owner/operator
of Vibe Records, is building the label of the future, one that is both
artist and consumer friendly. From Olphie’s perspective, the artists
and the consumers are the two most important elements in achieving
success in the music business however corporate greed is the virus that
is dragging down the current system.

“It’s a fact that 66% of record buyers have said that they would buy
more albums if they were less expensive. They don’t mind paying for
the records, they don’t believe in stealing them but they don’t like the
cost,” said Olphie. “I’m offering artists a joint venture where they
participate in 50% of the selling price ($9.65 per unit). After they get
their artist royalties, the producers get their royalties we split 50-50 on
the net profits with the artists. For example, if an artist walks away
with $5.50 a record and we sell 50,000 units they just made $250,000.”

Olphie understands both the artist side and the retail side of the
business because of his diverse background. His career began when
he played guitar in his group Gablin, who won a battle of the bands
contest judged by the late Harry Chapin in the late seventies. He
worked in retail managing a chain of ten Record World stores and
then graduated to become the General Manager of SOUL/MCA. Back
in the day, Olphie discovered the legendary, Spectrum City, which
evolved into one of the greatest rap groups of all time, Public Enemy.
Olphie claims producer Rick Rubin stole the group from underneath
him but that didn’t stop his success. Olphie went on to oversee the
soundtrack to the gangster film, "Juice," featuring the late Tupac
Shukur.

The success continued as Olphie signed over 20 artists to various
major and independent record companies. One of the 20 artists he
signed, blues guitarist, Danny Gatton, on Elektra Records, won a
Grammy nomination in 1993. Being a guitarist himself, Olphie
connected with Gatton, who later tragically committed suicide.

During his days working as a record executive at Sony Music,
Olphie worked on album campaigns for superstars like Michael
Jackson and Mariah Carey. But all the while he dreamed of putting
together his own label where he could develop artists’ talent from
scratch taking on the role of executive producer overseeing every
step of the recording process.

While Vibe Records is a small independent label, it has national
distribution and takes care of the marketing, promotion, sales and
distribution of every album they produce. “This is something that’s
never been done before in the record industry with an independent
label. We are doing nothing different than what the big record labels
have done in the past,” said Olphie. “While they are just glomming
on the consumer, we are an artist development company. We also
license the artist’s masters, but they own them. If you’re an artist,
it’s a win-win every step of the way. We are pro-artist. It all goes
back to me being a musician.”

Vibe Records outsources everything from hiring independent
promotion and publicity people to distributing its albums through
Wea who puts their albums in every record store in the country
and Canada.

“The biggest expression in this industry is, ‘I don’t know. What do
you think?’ Decisions are being made by committees and the artists
of today no longer have any control,” said Olphie. “I’m not tying up
artists for long-winded agreements. At Vibe Records, we know how
to market acts within specific genres. The artists get to maintain
their royalties and masters while giving them more control. This is a
new concept called a hybrid deal. We work project by project. We are
not over extending ourselves with a huge catalog.”

Vibe Records has a diversified roster featuring: Pop and R&B acts like,
Katelyn Tarver, J & Travis, Mike Murphy and will working in the future
with J’Adore, as well as an up and coming country act called, The Baker
Girls. “We are all about diversification", said Olphie. “There’s nothing
we can’t do.”

Olphie has faced constant adversity throughout his career. Currently
he is in a battle with the publisher of Vibe Magazine. Olphie owns the
rights to release albums under the Vibe Records name and he says
Vibe is violating the trademark law by putting out a new CD called,
Vibe Hits Vol. One. “Which Vibe is this?”, stated Bonnie Raitt at the
2000 R&B Foundation Awards Dinner, of which Vibe Records was one
of its staunchest supporters.“It’s causing confusion in the marketplace.”
says Olphie.

The time is now for the recording industry to be revamped. Artists
have to look out for themselves and executives have to focus on
pleasing the consumer instead of dipping their hands in the cookie jar.
Vibe Records feels their small independent record company with
national distribution run by a seasoned record company executive is the
answer. “There are only four record labels left. The independents are
the fifth major. The earnings are there,” said Olphie. “I’m blowing the
whistle on the entire record industry.”