Date: Thu, 16 Nov 1995 23:29:55 CST 
      From: Steven W Hill (shill@HARPER.CC.IL.US) 
      Subject: Re: TMC IN N.O./HOLY SINGLE The Ryko Story

I'm surprised nobody posted this yet.
Reproduced from the new Alternative Press Dec 1995 without permission:

 Throwing Muses recently severed ties with their label Reprise and have
formed their own label, Throwing Music. After various contractual
disputes with Reprise, as well as an increasingly insurmountable debt
brought on by Throwing Muses' records not selling as well as expected,
the band presented the label with an ultimatum stating that if the last
Muses record, University, did not sell a specific amount of copies, then
the band would be released from their contract. It didn't, and they were.

 "I never really thought we were a major-label band," says Muses leader
Kristin Hersh. "But somehow, a long time ago, we convinced the major
label that we were. I mean, we would have to be idiots to think that the
Muses could have a Top-40 record."
 "We bear absolutely no animosity towards Warner Bros. at all," says
Billy O'Connell, Muses manager and Hersh's husband. "The main reason that
we won;t sign to another major label is because we were on the best and
we know what it gets you. Their schedule is too damn full."

 Throwing Music is a joint venture between the band and Rykodisc. The
first release will be a Christmas single from Hersh, due in November.
Featuring acoustic renditions of Big Star's "Jesus Christ," "Amazing
Grace," a version of the Muses' "Sinkhole" and a cover of the Carter
Family's "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" and adorned with cover art
supplied by Hersh's two sons, the single will be released just as the
Muses retreat into Kingsway Studios in New Orleans to record their next
full-length release.
 "I'm thrilled about it, even though it doesn't change my life too much,"
says Hersh. "I do have the security as a bandleader that my band can
continue to exist. Plus, I get to do goofy shit like Christmas singles."

by Jason Ferguson