Phoebe Bridgers has been forced to drop her label’s name following a “trademark dispute”.
The Garden Song singer launched the indie label Saddest Factory Records in 2020, as an imprint to Dead Oceans, the label that released her own records.
However, six years later, she’s been forced to resign the title and release her clients’ music under Dead Oceans, with the only part of Saddest Factory Records remaining being the logo, a fine line drawing of a skeleton hand holding a normal hand.
A statement on the label’s Instagram page read: “Due to a trademark dispute around the label’s name, moving forward all SFR releases will come out via Dead Oceans, with our logo sitting alongside the Dead Oceans logo to signify our involvement. Please follow @DeadOceans for updates and news about our community of artists.”
As the title suggests, the roster includes artists with emotional pull, including Charlie Hickey, Claud, Katie Gavin, Muna, and Sloppy Jane.
The name is a play on “satisfactory”, which often crops up in record contracts.
Speaking about launching the label amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Phoebe told Billboard: “One of my favourite things about this time is that everybody is listening to records faster, making tons of playlists and doing dance parties in their houses.”
She explained that the only real criterion for signing artists is simply do they make her “jealous” of their talent.
Phoebe said: “If I like it and I listen to it for pleasure, then other people will like it and listen to it for pleasure.
“I don’t think I have any ethos other than, ‘Am I jealous?’”