Touch and Go Records Will Hall Issuing New Albums, Merge, Kill Rock Stars, Drag City Directly Effected

While the major labels have spent the past few years spiraling inexorably toward the drain (some with good reason), indies have generally fared better – until now.

According to Chicago Tribune music critic Greg Kot, Touch and Go records, a fixture on the Chicago music scene and one of the big names in independent labels for more than a quarter-century, has announced that it will no longer issue new albums.

As if that blow wasn’t great enough, the company is also closing its distribution division, meaning nearly two dozen other indies like Kill Rock Stars, Drag City, Merge Records and Suicide Squeeze now have no way to distribute their product.