![]() “While the music business has undergone tremendous changes in the past 50 years, great music, an independent spirit and independent distribution still remain Malaco’s top priorities. ASHLEY KAHN, BYLINE: In 1967, three white men who fell in love with Black music, Tommy Couch, Mitchell Malouf and. “Throughout the years there have been a few constants at Malaco: the music, independent spirit and independent distribution,” says Malaco’s Tommy Couch Jr. founded by partners tommy couch sr. Its called 'The Last Soul Company: The Malaco Records Story.' Heres Ashley Kahn. We were building content years before we ever heard ‘Content is King.’ Hill and we were on our way to become a real record company. ![]() “We kept making records and releasing them on our own labels and soon we had a Gold album on Z. Photo by Ron Blaylock A Mississippi Blues Trail Marker notes Malaco’s role in the state’s musical heritage. “Just in case we weren’t going to be a successful record company, as a pharmacy graduate, I kept my license current for a few more years, as a fallback insurance policy.” says Malaco co-founder Tommy Couch Sr. Intitulé The Last Soul Company: The Malaco Records Story et édité par le label lui-même, l’ouvrage de près de 200 pages prolonge le livret d’un coffret de six CD paru en 1999 et déjà écrit par Rob Bowman. Known as The Last Soul Company (a title taken from music critic Peter Guralnick’s writing), Malaco has survived in a tumultuous, fickle field by catering to a passionate niche audience rather than chasing hits and trends. Referred to as The Last Soul Company,' Malaco Records, based in Jackson, Mississippi, has managed to outlast major record label competitors over the past 50 years. Having marked its 50th anniversary, Malaco proudly stands as the oldest continuously run independent record label in America, and the biggest and most important gospel label in the world.Īnd the label remains vital: Not only does it continue to be a major player in the Black gospel world, but when Kanye West, Drake, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Solange, Snoop Dogg or 2Chainz are digging for soulful, powerful samples to undergird some of the 21st century’s biggest hip-hop albums, time and time again they turn to Malaco’s incredible catalog. After releasing a string of era-defining soul hits in the 1960s and 70s, the Jackson, Mississippi-based label expanded into the worlds of gospel and blues, and outlasted Motown, Atlantic, Chess, Stax, Sun, Ace and every other indie label releasing African-American music in the process. That story is one of the greatest, and certainly most improbable, of any independent record company in the history of American music. In addition to its blues releases, Malaco Records has maintained a large presence in the R&B and Gospel. “Malaco’s story, by all rights, should never have happened,” says the collection’s author Rob Bowman. Considered one of the last soul music companies.
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