How Custom Vinyl Pressings and Unique Merch Build Iconic Indie Labels
For independent artists and indie record labels, releasing your music on physical media is a defining moment. Whether you are looking into custom vinyl pressing, short-run CD duplication, or unique band merch, the goal remains the same: creating a physical connection with your audience. In an era of streaming, owning music has become the ultimate fan experience, transforming a simple album release into a collectible piece of art.
At A to Z Media, we’ve spent over 30 years helping creators navigate the complexities of physical media manufacturing. From choosing the right vinyl record weight and color variants to designing bespoke packaging like gold-embossed covers and newsprint zines, the craft is in the details. But how does a label stay independent and successful for over two decades?
In this installment of our Making Stuff Up series, we sit down with Lio Kanine, co-founder of the legendary Kanine Records. Lio shares his journey from hand-delivering the label’s first CDs to London’s Rough Trade in 2003 to producing high-end, tactile vinyl for artists like Grizzly Bear, Chairlift, and Surfer Blood.
What’s the coolest or weirdest piece of merch you’ve ever made or seen?
Kanine Records put out a Fear of Men – Fall Forever album with a gold-embossed front cover. This was a super limited edition series just for mega fans. It turned out super cool as you can feel the image and lettering with your fingers, and it ended up looking super cool. Fans really talked about this album cover for years after its release.
How would you describe your role?
I am mainly involved with A&R and Physical sales. I also handle all of the mail order and shipments.
But being that we are an indie label, we all do a bit of everything.
At the beginning of the label, I often would book full U.S. and UK tours for the bands as well.
But for me, the most exciting thing of running an indie label is discovering new bands/artists and getting to work directly with them to help them build a career and release cool records. Holding the vinyl for the first time is always exciting to me. Each time, I still can’t believe that I’m involved with making this happen
What was the first release you ever worked on?
NY: THE NEXT WAVE (2003) CD only.
This was Kanine Records first ever release, where we made a 20-song compilation of up-and-coming bands/artists from the NYC/Brooklyn area that we liked and felt needed to get some attention. It was a massive success and got love from people from all around the world. It was super cool that Rough Trade Record Shop in East London was the first shop to ever carry the release. Kay and I booked a flight to London, and hand-delivered the CDs to them, and met the owners of the shop right there. They called us a week later and said they sold all 100 copies that we brought and wanted another 200. All just from a tiny brand new indie label. It was 2003, and we were just getting started with the label and very green but super excited.
What’s one thing people might not know about the label?
It started and still is run fully independently. We don’t have any investors or are a part of a larger major label system. Most labels are funded by larger means, but Kanine Records is funded only by our hard work and love of music. So each artist/release is hand-picked to make a curated collection of music for our label. In other words, each release is super important to us. We only sign and work with bands/artists that we are fans of.
What was the first record/tape/CD you ever bought? What was the last one?
My very first record ever was Pet Shop Boys – Please – on black vinyl (1986). I still own that exact record, and it’s in amazing shape as I take really good care of my vinyl. It is still one of my favorite records to this day.
I constantly buy tons of new records and tapes (cassettes). I love discovering new bands through vinyl and supporting them.
I got to say one of my favorite new releases is the debut album by The Cords. This duo from Scotland makes really cool and catchy indie pop that I instantly fell in love with at first listen.
What band or artist would you love to see reunite?
ELASTICA. By far one of the coolest 90’s bands from the UK. We reissued their debut album back in 2014, and I couldn’t be more proud to do so, as that was one of my favorite records from the 90’s.
What’s your favorite project you’ve made with A to Z?
My personal favorite project that we did was the Kanine Records Zine that came with a limited edition Cassette compilation of all Kanine Records artists that were active at the time. This black and white newspaper 16-page zine was truly a special project. It contained interviews with Eternal Summers, Bleeding Rainbow, Fear of Men, Beach Day, Xray Eyeballs, Valleys, and Zambri.
Along with the band’s interviews, I got them to draw maps of their hometown and spotlight special places that they hung out in, played at, shopped at, etc. We also included Ads from our favorite indie record shops across the U.S. The Zines were mailed out to over 100 different indie stores across the U.S. as presents and tons of them loved them. They truly were collectible and fun to make.
Special thanks to Scott for the help in putting this together.
Where’s your favorite place to shop for records?
Record shopping in England (Manchester, London, Brighton), Scotland (Glasgow, Edinburgh), Ireland (Belfast, Dublin) has been and still is my favorite places to find super cool 90’s and now indie vinyl. The selection in those stores is the best. And the staff is super excited about working at the shops and are over the top friendly. They love their jobs and love music more than anything, so it’s exciting to visit the shops and just hang out and talk with all of them. Piccadilly Records in Manchester, Resident Records in Brighton, Sister Rays in London, Assai Records in Edinburgh, and MonoRail Music in Glasgow are some examples of amazing indie shops to visit and support.
One time in Manchester at the Vinyl Exchange shop, a staff member ringing me up saw that I was buying an Echo & The Bunnymen live record and started telling me stories of how they toured with them as a Roadie for 2 months back in the 80’s. There was a long line behind me, but everyone stopped and listened to their story for 20 minutes without any complaints, and was excited about what they were saying. Later on, I went to Piccadilly Records, and the staff member behind the counter chatted to me about where I should go next for records, drinks, and food.
That would never happen here in the U.S., as employees don’t engage with customers like that. They mostly want you to buy what you want and leave right away. It was super super cool and exactly why it’s so much fun to visit these shops. There is so much cool history from the staff behind the counter.