Chuck Coffey has spent 30 years playing in Front Range bands, from the Boulder ska-punk of Mail Order Children to his current turn in Denver's nationally known Spells, led by feral singer and stand-up comic Ben Roy.

But over the last 15 years, he's also helped usher more than 200 albums into the world via his independent Denver record label, Snappy Little Numbers, in genres ranging from folk-rock to metal, funk and soul.

Despite the resources constantly required to sign, promote and press records and cassettes for his dozens of acts, he's excited to share each new musical discovery with his global audience -- even as he knows that record labels aren't what they used to be.

"I like being a facilitator," said Coffey, who also ran independent label Not Bad Records from 1997 through 2010. "But we're co-op style, not competitive. We want what's best for the band, and often that means showing them how to do everything themselves, from pressing records to promotion. With us they at least get a catalog number and become part of a family."

That family is not wealthy, he noted, but one driven by the punk-rock idealism of labels such as Discord (Fugazi) and Kill Rock Stars (Bikini Kill). They provide organic support to acts starting with rehearsal and recording resources, and extending through to record-pressing, publicity, festival and tour booking, as well as general music industry connections. They measure sales by the hundreds, not thousands, and tend to break even or reinvest all their profits.

That's far different from labels acting as the end-all, be-all for musicians -- as they did before streaming services -- making promises, and pushing them to reach top-tier sales status, which most never do. Most younger bands have no reason to sign to a label in 2025, largely because they can self-release and distribute their music digitally, and without intermediaries who want a cut.

But the lure of slapping a label's logo on an album remains irresistible for dozens of Denver acts, and it's only getting more attractive as music fans' vinyl collections swell and merchandise becomes the only viable way to make money as a band.

Labels can shoulder costs and bestow a feeling of legitimacy for an unknown act, just as a publishing house can elevate an author's profile over self-published titles. They can also help hardworking acts grow their audiences and shows.

One of Snappy Little Numbers' current label darlings is the fierce Colorado Springs foursome Cheap Perfume, which recently played Denver's Punk in the Park festival. The "femcore" band is celebrating its new album "Don't Care. Didn't Ask" with release shows in Denver (Oct. 3), Colorado Springs (Oct. 4), Fort Collins (Oct. 10) and Trinidad (Oct. 11). Coffey has watched local and national press hail it as the band's best, but Cheap Perfume's success is also good for other Snappy Little Numbers acts, such as Spells and Townies, which frequently share bills with Cheap Perfume and help elevate each other's profiles.

"More people are wanting to put stuff out and find some collective way of doing it, because money is really tight right now," said Denver music critic Tom Murphy, of the Queen City Sounds music blog. Online music distribution platform Bandcamp "blew that wide open by offering vinyl pressing and merch services. But it's still tougher to go it alone than collectively."

Labels also offer an archive of the Denver scene that wouldn't exist otherwise, Murphy said. But unlike digital files, this archive can be touched and cared for physically.

"I want to make sure we're producing something that people want to display in their homes," said Gregg Ziemba, co-founder of Denver's 12-year-old Unit E Records.

Named after Ziemba's former DIY concert venue, Unit E just released the latest record from Ziemba's band Rubedo on neon-yellow vinyl, with premium packaging and a full-color insert. It's the best way to present and listen to the band's acrobatic rock, said Ziemba, who also plays drums for Wheelchair Sports Camp and tours internationally with acts such as DeVotchKa and Black Viiolet .

Back when Ziemba ran the Unit E venue in the Art District on Santa Fe, Grammy-winning musician Jack White would stop and join small and unpublicized jams, he said. That relationship led to Unit E buying the rights to an album by late Mars Volta player Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, a two-time Grammy winner himself, which was first intended for White's Nashville-based label Third Man Records. It featured a turn from Anderson.Paak, yet another Grammy-winning and world-touring headliner (who incidentally didn't want it released, despite an appeal from White himself.)

Regardless of all the names involved, it was still an under-the-radar record. Ziemba didn't see it that way. After buying the rights to it, Unit E ended up printing 100 limited-edition boxed sets, priced at $250 each, featuring the LP on colored vinyl along with a working, custom-made delay pedal; enamel pin; candle with Ikey's photo on it; a sage stick; and more. (A $25 version is available, too.)

Giving it the deluxe treatment is something labels can do that individual artists usually can't, Ziemba said, and it adds value to the music in the eyes of fans, even if it's a limited run. So does restarting dormant labels with name recognition, said Jim McTurnan, who co-founded Needlepoint Records 20 years ago to release his band Cat-A-Tac's first EP. Later, the label added acts such as Everything Absent or Distorted and Thank God for Astronauts, but went dormant as those groups disbanded.

McTurnan's current band, Animals in Exile, prompted him to resurrect Needlepoint earlier this year. He's already seen success with national radio airplay and reviews for the moody psych-rock of his band's new, self-titled album, led by singer and songwriter Redding Bacon. That includes a spot on NPR's coveted "Best New Music" list and its music debuting on national college radio ahead of much larger indie acts like Big Thief.

"The radio thing is something you can't really do on your own, so it helps to have contacts and PR that can help you develop those relationships," McTurnan said. "Running a label consolidates what you need for that."

Like most thriving music scenes, Denver boasts indie labels that punch above their weight in terms of national press, radio play and sold-out shows. Those labels come and go, and even the ones with staying power don't tend to feature household names -- unless your favorite Denver acts over the years have included Apples in Stereo (Elephant Six Recording Co.), Drag the River (Suburban Home Records), Karl Denson (Color Red), G.O.O.N. (Convulse) or Cities of Earth (Multidim).

Recent years have also seen the rise of boutique clubs within indie labels that offer subscriptions for regularly released singles, such as Unit E's 7'' Record Club, which runs $39 per year. It's a good way to stay connected even when you can't listen to every new release, said Jessi Whitten, director of audience at Levitt Pavilion Denver, DJ for Indie 102.3 FM, and host of TV's "Mile High Mixtape."

The indie labels in Denver help fill a gap in the town's music infrastructure, she said, offering "creative opportunities for local artists" that might not otherwise exist.

The labels are taking on new weight, their owners said, because they're operating during a transitional time for the Denver music scene, with the loss of major local festivals such as The UMS, increased competition for bookings, and venues and bars reshuffling due to staffing issues and revenue loss.

That gives labels, and their collective promotion, an edge since they can pool resources and speak as one voice for their artists.

"We haven't had a record break even yet, but we've come close," Ziemba said of Unit E. "So what we do, as some other labels do, is rent our PA and mobile stage for smaller events, and use the money we make from that to keep the label afloat. We think of ourselves as librarians, and it's a big deal to put out a record, so we want to help musicians do it right."

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