North East creatives Abby Hillyer and Natalie Greener have launched their own record label, advertised as a ‘safe-space label and service, where artists can work in a harassment-free zone.’
The independent record label offers in-house services like marketing and production, to embrace the ever-changing face of the creative industries. Coat Rack Records is solely run by women in the music industry, who strive to support artists with their independent creative vision. The label are offering artists the ability to record, mix and market their work, whilst having ‘complete transparency’ throughout the process:
“Our ethos is inclusive, as we strive to tackle misogyny in music.”
The label is run by Hillyer and Greener, industry professionals based in the North East of England. Hillyer is a freelance live sound technician and music activist, who also runs Sound Lass. Sound Lass is a project designed to support women and non-binary people who are working in the music industry. It was launched in 2019, to try and make a difference to those who feel disadvantaged or unequal in the music industry.
“Everything seems just that little bit harder for women in music. Navigating the industry can be confusing, and we understand that more than anyone. Any band that can work ethically in music would be making such a difference. Coat Rack is somewhere that holds the music community’s best interests at heart.”
Greener works in freelance PR, band management and journalism. She launched Tits Upon Tyne, a project which runs campaigns, events and a live journalism website. The project was originally launched to raise money for breast cancer research, but now is a platform to support women in the music industry. In February, they announced their launch of an inclusive print magazine, featuring womxn creatives.
Both directors have worked in the music industry since 2015, and understand what it is like to require a safe space for creativity.
“Lockdown has made everything so much weirder, as it feels like you’ve only worked a week on something, but actually you’ve spent ages. We were like ‘right, we are just going to get this done in lockdown, or we’ll never have the the opportunity again, when everything opens.’ I think lockdown has drastically helped, as we have had the time to just sit and proofread everything, and get colour schemes and logos sorted. We want people to take us seriously, we want to be your record label, we want to be proper competition. It’s only for the betterment of the music industry.”
