Pitchfork

No more tree-hugging. Tree Records is dead after five years, 40 records, and a big tiff with their former distributor, Southern Records. Though they've kept it hush-hush all year, they recently announced their official demise. The slow economy and the gigantic challenges of working with indie music made business understandably rough. Tree's fate sadly confirms that money doesn't grow on trees, especially indie-rock trees. The dough ran out after a year-long dispute with Southern over the rights to their albums and a massive amount of cash that Tree claims Southern still owes them. Their website states, "If Tree is life in full bloom, then Southern is cancer destroying everything in its path." Cancer! Holy shit, you guys, can you tone it down a little?

Tree's inspiring list of releases include the sweetly aching vocals of Julie Doiron, pop acoustic strumming of Jen Wood, and the conceptual rock of A-Set. They, along with K, Pinback, and Urban Legends, left the Tree house and secured new homes at other labels. Other Tree artists-- September, Owltian Mia, Ethel Meserve, Franklin, and Haeleh, in particular-- no longer exist. The Tree catalog lingers on and records will stay in print until they choose to fully cut the cord.