Merge Records: 20 years of glorious noise

NEW YORK (Reuters) - In the summer of 1987, 19-year-old Mac McCaughan and his bandmates stumbled on an idea as old as rock ''n'' roll itself.

That label evolved into Merge Records, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Along the way, the label has garnered mainstream hits by Arcade Fire and Spoon, attracted critical praise for bands like Magnetic Fields, and enjoyed smaller successes with Lambchop and McCaughan''s own band Superchunk.

Its history was been documented in "Our Noise: The Story Of Merge Records" (Algonquin Books), which McCaughan wrote with Merge co-owner and Superchunk bassist Laura Ballance and Gawker.com scribe John Cook.

In an industry where success is measured in the millions of records sold -- or used to be, until sales starting slumping a decade ago -- Merge has thrived with sales figures in the thousands. The label''s biggest seller, Arcade Fire''s 2007 album "Neon Bible," sold 420,000 copies in the United States. Spoon''s Merge label debut, "Girls Can Tell," sold more copies in six weeks than the band''s previous album sold for a major label in a year.

Guided by McCaughan and Ballance''s eclectic tastes and fiscal discipline, the label has succeeded where many others -- independent and major -- have failed.

"We operate in a conservative way," Ballance told Reuters from her office in Chapel Hill. "We were never in a position where we''ve had to say, ''We need a hit'' or ''Oh crap, we have to sell some records really quick.''"

Consequently, they have managed to sign and retain their favorite acts even as major labels offered deals that seemed more generous.

DEFYING CONVENTION

Merge eschews large upfront advances in favor of generous royalty rates, and allows bands own their master tapes. Acts on big labels often stay indebted to their record companies for years, because the money lavished on advances, marketing and distribution is all recoupable from the band''s royalties.

For its first 10 years, Merge operated only on a handshake basis. There were no contracts. It was a model that several indie labels used, such as Factory Records and Touch & Go Records. But after a couple of such deals turned sour, the label had to go the more-conventional route.

The handshake model backfired for Merge when a band wanted to jump to a major label. ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead ... had a verbal agreement with Merge to record two albums.