| FMR Records | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1987 (1987) |
| Founder | Trevor Taylor |
| Genre | Jazz, free improvisation |
| Country of origin | UK |
| Official website | www |
FMR Records is a British record label. Founded by Trevor Taylor in 1987, it specialises in jazz and improvised music.
Taylor is a drummer and percussionist who became increasingly interested in avant garde music.[1] In the early 1970s he started Future Music, which was a record shop that expanded to seven branches.[1] He founded the FMR (short for Future Music Records) label in 1987.[1][2]
FMR's first release was by saxophonist Tim Garland.[1] This set the pattern for the label's early years, concentrating on British jazz musicians.[1] Taylor also purchased the right to issue CD versions of successful albums released by other British musicians, including Mike Osborne, Howard Riley, John Surman and John Taylor; sales of these provided FMR with a financial boost.[1] "By 2007 there were 250 CDs, DVDs and books in the catalogue".[1]
Over time, the founder felt that mainstream jazz lacked originality and that the label needed a narrower focus to succeed, so he concentrated more on releasing improvised music.[1] He observed in 2017 that recordings by British musicians were in the minority of FMR's releases.[1] The label has also had to adapt to the industry reality of falling CD sales: in 2017, "FMR and the artist split the costs and the output 50/50, with the artist being responsible for promotion while the record company has to recoup its investment through the website or via a diminishing band of distributors."[1] Some items from the catalogue can be bought as downloads from subradar.no, following an agreement between FMR and the Norway-based website.[3]
Some musicians have had a large number of albums released by FMR.[1] These include Paul Dunmall (more than 70) and Frode Gjerstad (over 40).[1]
Taylor selects music for release based on how well it matches the label's ethos.[1] After that, he does not interfere with the recording: he commented that, "Occasionally I have suggested changing the order of tracks but that's it".[1] Catalogue numbers have "'Visions' – prefixed 'V' – for original new music and 'Legacy' – prefixed 'L' – to re-issue on CD long out-of-print recordings of British jazz".[4]
