The Glasgow record label born out of a desire for a sense of community to return to music

Last Night From Glasgow was founded in 2016 by Ian Smith as the country faced a pervading sense of division following the Scottish Independence referendum, and with the Brexit referendum looming on the horizon. For Ian there was a sense of wanting to do something differently - bringing community back into the arts world. The mission has proven to be a significant success story.

Ian explained: “It was born of the post indy ref frustration that I was feeling. I was passionately part of the independence movement. And I think in the years that followed, I felt that we had lost something. And I think what we had, particularly in the arts world, was a real spirit of community and a real sense of trying to do things for the better.

“That sounds a bit grandiose, but I distinctly remember feeling hacked off and wanting to do something. And I had a fleeting idea that I could set up a record label that would basically fund individual records one at a time, and do it in such a way that if you could generate the revenue from record one to pay for record two, you could then seed record three from record two.”

Having previously crowdfunded board games in his spare time and having seen how Brewdog’s Equity for Punks operated, Ian turned to a community led source of funding for the label.

He said: “In 2016, I asked 50 people for 50 quid, and 50 people gave me 50 quid, and with the £2500 that was raised, we released three seven inch singles, we sold them, we made more money. We made an album, we sold it, made more money. We had another album. And now we're not kicking the shirt off 1000 patrons. I think in year one, we turned over £11,000, and this year, we will likely get damn close to £1 million.”

Ian said his socialist beliefs meant that he wasn’t surprised that people would “put their hand in their pocket for a cause they believe in”, believing that he would expect more people to become patrons. He explained why he believes it's such an attractive prospect: “Somebody can give us £4 a month and walk out the door saving £5 off every record they buy. It's borderline insane that everybody that buys records in the city isn't a patron of ours.”

Ian is keen to hammer home that he believes that the label should continue to grow, given people’s apparent appetite to affect change - something that ties in with Last Night From Glasgow.

He said: “I'm not surprised that it is successful, but I'm flabbergasted that we're not twice as successful as we are. I don't understand. You know that you turn on the news just now, you turn on any social media and the f***ing kids are complaining about everything that they can affect no change over, but things they can actually affect change upon, not streaming music, supporting arts they don't care about.

“It's lost on me. I've always believed that you try and make life around you immediately as good for everyone as possible, and then it spreads. And we seem to have forgotten that as a society.”

There is a clear passion for things to be done in a way that benefits everyone in the chain. That passion has allowed Last Night From Glasgow to bring in big names.

Ian said: “We will work for people until the point we stop working for them. There's going to become a point where the Last Night From Glasgow way is not the right way of doing it. For you, an artist who can exploit millions of record sales, you would do better going to a record label who is set up to deliver that, of course they would.”

One person that is benefiting from the Last Night From Glasgow way is Peter Capaldi, who has released his second album with the label. All of that has come from a consistency in how Last Night From Glasgow deals with artists.

Ian explained: “The interesting point about Capaldi is how he came to be with us, and the chain that led to it. That chain, if anything, is the type of thing that you think, well, you're doing something right. Peter Capaldi was introduced to us by Dr Robert from the Blow Monkeys. Dr Robert was introduced to us by Pete Paphides.

“Now Pete's been writing about the music industry for 40 years, and when Dr Robert contacted Pete to say, ‘who should I speak to?’ Pete said, ‘Speak to Ian at Last Night From Glasgow’, and within a month of me speaking to Robert, he’s saying, ‘let me introduce you to my friend’, and that's Peter Capaldi.

“That tells me something's going right, that those people feel sufficiently confident to say, ‘I'm willing to state that this is the person to speak to’.”

The future is filled with new releases and new acts for Ian and the Last Night From Glasgow, he tells me that in recent days the reputation of the label means that exciting new acts have signed on to release through the label.

But day to day, it is doing a roaring trade. They are shipping around 1000 albums, by hand, every week. The label’s patrons benefit from discounted vinyl - a medium that has had a resurgence in popularity in the last decade or longer.

Ian explained why he believed that was the case: “I think it's a conscious decision to switch back, as opposed to a sudden realisation that digital is soulless. You know, why do people still buy books and not read everything on Kindles? There's something exciting about having a record. There's something mildly exciting about having a CD, but to me, they're a little bit clinical. They're not as nice to engage with. They feel about the 21st century, whereas records feel a little bit from the century before.

They feel like there's some heft and gravitas to them. Digital Music has totally lost the concept of subtlety. Everything that's recorded for digital comes out the speakers with a chorus first at 100 miles an hour with full volume, so it jumps out the speakers. Nuance is gone.

“The only thing that provides true nuance is an album, and the only way you really get to nuance is a double sided or four sided double album, that processes a body of work.”

There is also the fact that people are becoming more and more aware of the real monetary effects of digital platforms like Spotify.

Ian said: “I think people recognise there's no money in digital. People recognise, if you truly care, you will buy the product.”

LNFG has almost 1000 patrons worldwide and have released over 200 records.