Today we’d like to introduce you to Dustin J. S. Watson.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Dustin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started the record label in 2012 and we’re working our way up to our 50th release this year!
We’ve been based in Allston, MA since inception, though we’ve had a hand in sharing albums for artists all over the world. While our go-to format has been and forever will be cassette tapes from the start, DA has also put out a fair number of vinyl records and we just knocked out our first and second compact discs earlier this summer.
With 99% of the behind-the-scenes stuff still being handled by myself, it’s a lot of constant juggling and hustling, but I don’t think I’d want it to happen any other way.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Every release is a lesson and I learn a little bit more every day that we chug along, from the ins-and-outs of how the industry works to the importance of the artists, listeners, and other personalities involved in the community we’re part of. At the end of the day, DA is an extension of myself and I want it to be a pure reflection of both my set of ethics and my personal interests.
Sometimes my favorite releases turn out to be slow burners, sometimes hot shows I’ve booked aren’t the blockbusters I feel that they should have been, sometimes people we meet aren’t really about what they claim to be about, but the majority of the time running a record label seems to be just an endless stream of unanswered emails being sent and received. All of that is the norm and not at all unique to us, though.
Please tell us about Disposable America.
I’d like to think that Disposable America is known for maintaining unwavering high quality in the cassette tape game, as well as a level of personality that is often lacking from the larger, faceless labels.
A lot of music we’ve put out falls under the general “indie rock” umbrella, but hopefully, the something special I see and hear in all of it is apparent to everyone else, too. We’ve been tossing around “true believers” as a name for followers of the label for years now, but it floors me whenever one of them self-identifies as such.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I’ve always naturally been pretty accident prone, which I for sure played up a lot as a kid.
One of my favorite life hacks growing up was that if my parents took me to a place that had lake access or a pool but told me that I couldn’t go swimming, I’d find a way to “accidentally” “trip” and “fall” in. You can’t tell me not to get wet once I’m already in the water.
Contact Info:
- Address: 215 Harvard Ave. #2 Allston, MA 02134
- Website: disposable-america.com
- Email: hello@disposable-america.com
- Instagram: @disposableamerica
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/disposableamerica/
- Twitter: @disposable_usa
- Other: http://disposableamerica.bandcamp.com/
Image Credit:
Tucker Leary
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