Side-Line publishes exclusive comeback interview with Dependent labelboss Stefan Herwig

Online now is an exclusive interview Side-Line magazine had with Dependent Records label boss Stefan Herwig. Herwig talks about how he overcame a burn out, how he relaunched the label and what drives him nowadays. Read the full interview with Stefan Herwig.

Dependent Records was founded in January of 1999 after the demise of the Off Beat label by former Off Beat A&R manager Stefan Herwig along with Eskil Simonsson (Covenant), Johan Van Roy (Suicide Commando), Bryan Erickson (Velvet Acid Christ) and Ronan Harris (VNV Nation). Back in time Stefan Herwig was quoted as saying that "The strategy of mass release campaigns of most of the companies around, hurt the market significantly, and created a confusing flood of mediocre products" adding that Dependent would have a philosophy of "quality before quantity". Artists that have released music through Dependent Records include Velvet Acid Christ, Suicide Commando, VNV Nation, Covenant, Klinik, Seabound, Apoptygma Berzerk, Dismantled, Ivory Frequency, Pride & Fall, mind.in.a.box, Rotersand, Flesh Field, Fractured and Girls Under Glass.

Dependent announced at the start of 2007 that the label would close its doors to new artists and shut down once contractual obligations had been fulfilled, citing ongoing concerns with piracy. This announcement took the form of an essay in both German and English in the booklet to "Dependence: Next Level Electronics Volume 2", a compilation featuring work by fourteen artists signed to the label, in which Stefan Herwig stated, "...we estimate that illegal downloads of Dependent albums outnumber legal purchases by a factor of three or even five to one." After the label closed down, a person claiming to be Stefan Herwig uploaded the whole back catalogue to The Pirate Bay.