In 1998, musician and computer programmer Kenny Sabir dreamt up an idea in his childhood bedroom that went on to become a powerhouse of Australian hip-hop. The label he founded, Elefant Traks, released music from influential artists like the Herd, Hermitude, Horrorshow, the Last Kinection, Joelistics and L-Fresh the Lion. Twenty-six years, 1300 songs, 60 albums and 40 EPs later, the label is calling it a day.
Artists from the Elefant Traks label perform in its finale at the Sydney Opera House last month as part of Vivid Live. Credit: Cole Bennetts “We were fearless when we began – and got the jump on bedroom studios, and began distributing music created at home,” said Sabir, who also performs in the Herd. “We don’t want to shut down, but when you make $4000 for 1 million streams of a song, how do you employ five people? It’s not sustainable.
” Tim Levinson, better known by his stage name Urthboy, a member of the Herd and co-founder of Elefant Traks, said the Australian music industry was in dire straits. “It is not just the streaming services not paying artists enough, you can’t just blame Spotify, but when music festivals are collapsing across the country it seems we need infrastructure and resources to forge a new path for the whole industry,” Levinson said. “We were always a record label that succeeded against the odds, but our ceiling is lower; we don’t even have a boardroom.
We are just a bunch of artists who have run a business. The Herd performin.
