The new permutation of DIY that’s surging among those who believe in the punk rock philosophy is creating a primordial soup from which young music fans are fishing out some wicked cool new business models. No better example can be found than Share It Music, a nonprofit record label that partners with Sub Pop Records to give artists a whole new way to explore their creative and financial pursuits.
“I’d always had a goal of doing my own record label, and having it be a nonprofit,” said President/Founder Cayle Sharratt, who concurrently heads up Business and Legal Affairs for Sub Pop. “Sub Pop was super-supportive with both distribution and making the first donation to get it up and running. They support so many community organizations— it wasn’t a big leap for them, but it was very generous, they took a chance, and we wouldn’t have been able to do it without their help.”
The Washington State native cut the ribbon on his project in February 2018 after interning at Sub Pop to cultivate his skills in the music biz. Now, Share It Music is barging into 2025 with two prized full-lengths: Disconnected by red-hot melodic punks the Unfit and April’s We’ve Got It All by Cumulus, a delightful pop-punk band featuring Alexandra Lockhart and William Cremin.
As humble a music industry executive if there ever was one, the eminently genteel and likable Sharratt doesn’t just credit Sub Pop with helping him realize his dream, he also name-checks Hopeless Records as inspiring his business model. Specifically, he was taken by their side label, Sub City Records, which started in 1999 to raise money and awareness about various nonprofits.
“They had voter registration [booths at concerts] and brought music together with social causes and community organizations that are important,” Sharratt reflected. “That was meaningful and inspiring to me, and I wanted to replicate it.”
When asked to elaborate on the value of record labels collaborating with community organizations, he added: “Support[ing] the causes in your community that are important to you and that are providing services to people in need are super-important [causes] to me. The mission of the label is to show people the deeper purpose of music, which is to bring people together.”
To that end, Share It Music’s financial arrangement with its artists is as follows: The band gets 50 percent of the proceeds from sales, the label gets 25 percent, and the other quarter goes to a nonprofit organization of the band’s choice.
Share It Music’s main man further expanded that Sub Pop funnels proceeds to Share It after taking a distribution fee. The arrangement also includes licensing services, which has helped the label get some placements in movies and TV shows.
“Sub Pop allows us to piggyback on their non-commercial and college-radio services in the U.S.,” Sharratt noted.
The label also fulfills Share It’s Bandcamp orders by packaging, receiving, and sending them to customers through their warehouse.
Still, at the end of the day, Share It Music is effectively a one-man operation.
“I do the contracts with bands,” Sharratt said. “I ingest the assets, photos, and metadata. And the bookkeeping … you know, the nitty-gritty.”
The expression “don’t sweat the small stuff” notwithstanding, Sharratt apparently doesn’t mind taking on micro duties. Still, he knows his limits, and those of Share It Music.
“When I first started [the label], I put out one or two releases a year,” he reflected. “I tried to build a roster while still learning as I was going along. Last year was a really busy year for us, and this year looks like it’s going to be busy too. So, over the past two years, I’ve been really mindful about not overworking myself or overcommitting myself.”
Last year saw the release of Mega Cat’s self-titled LP and Ultramegacat EP, the Unfits Disconnected EP, Kukita’s The First EP, Instant Crush’s I’m Sorry I Didn’t Bite My Tongue LP, as well as singles by five artists.
“It’s not like we’re dealing with a lot of money,” Sharratt stipulated. “We certainly are putting money into the releases when we’re making a vinyl product or if we’re hiring for publicity.”
He also identifies a metaphorical partition of sorts that stands between Sub Pop and Share It Music, at least as far as his job duties are concerned.
“When I do the nonprofit label stuff, it’s a night after the kids go to bed, on the weekends or when I can reasonably fit it in,” Sharratt shared.
He points out that Share It Music’s nonprofit status has its advantages, even if he’s not allowed to make money off the label.
“It’s just a lot more simple, to be honest, to have the operation be at the scale and size it’s at,” he said. “I’d love to grow it into a full-time job, but that comes with a lot more risk, and requirements and obligations as far as [financial] reporting [to the government] goes. I don’t want it to grow bigger than I’d have time to put into it.”
With that said, nonprofit organizations of every stripe are facing a new, unexpected threat in President Donald Trump’s broad-scale attack on nonprofits at large that threatens to rescind their nonprofit status. Sharratt discloses that Share It Music receives private donations from other entities beyond Sub Pop.
“I keep an eye on that sort of stuff but don’t necessarily feel threatened [by the Trump Administration] because my project is so small that it’s not going to be on the radar of getting cuts,” Sharratt opined. “I don’t get any sort of government funding, so my income isn’t affected by permanent cut-offs from nonprofit funding. But it’s a scary time, and there is worry.”
Still, Sharratt isn’t one to look at the glass as half empty. He sees opportunity even during these dire times.
“Especially now, you want to support people that are starting out and trying new things creatively,” he suggested.
For more, visit shareitmusic.org.
