ok i'll tell you about my "label" but not the name of it.
i have been making tapes as a record of my own weird stupid music and to share with friends locally and like minded people globally since i was a teenager and long before there was a "scene." this is not a way to make money or make connections or get famous or to make any particular thing happen. it is an end in itself. i do it because i like to do it, and because i like to meet other people who do it. there aren't that many of us. i make 25 - 35 copies of each "release," home dubbed in real time. and some cd-rs and for a while some lathe records. i give a lot of copies out gratis to people who i know will want them, and the rest i sell through a blogspot in case somebody wants one. i do nothing but lose money on this. who cares.
the people who have these tapes are not "customers" or "fans," they are friends and peers; almost all of them run their own "label". i take an even bigger loss every single time an order comes in from someone i don't know, because i'm so excited to meet somebody new, so i throw in a bunch of stuff they didn't even ask for--with a note asking for an email back, and maybe some releases from the individual who placed the order, so i can get to know him/her a little better (because i still assume that everybody who wants these things also produces them).
suddenly there's a "cassette resurgence." i didn't ask for that. suddenly my "label" pops up on discogs. suddenly somebody decides my releases are "worth money," i guess because they are obscure and somebody saw them on somebody's wall at some point?
i see MY tape i don't even have a copy of anymore because i sent it to someone i thought was a new friend, and it's selling for more than i would ever charge. i send a message to the seller and say, hey, where'd you get that? i'll paypal you shipping if you send it to my friend in ohio who says he wants one--and i am told to fuck off.
what? and i'm the asshole? if you want a speculative investment why don't you get into the stock market?