Press Release
Third Way Cultural Alliance to Preserve and Champion the Album Format Through Socially Conscious Releases
Nonprofit founded by Ropeadope CEO and President will apply fine-arts patronage model to intelligent contemporary music
Has there ever been a more challenging time to be a working independent artist? Streaming payouts are abysmal — if you can even get your track streamed enough to qualify for a payout. Recording costs have become impossible for many, if not most, artists to recoup, and the deluge of tracks delivered to platforms daily makes breaking through in any meaningful way nearly impossible. What’s more, when an artist does manage to get a foot in the door, the impression is too often track- or soundbite-oriented — and utterly devoid of the expressive range and storytelling impact that the album format celebrates.
The end result means nothing less than the complete devaluation of music — of art — as well as the decline of a creative ecosystem that encouraged artists’ long-term growth, fostered enduring communities and supported social change. Without infrastructure, every aspiring singer, musician and composer needs to act as a social-media guru, a label manager, a publicist, a booking agent and a merch manager — whether or not they have the business mind and stomach for it. To pursue one’s love of music means entering into a manic online hustle, too often bereft of the joy of real-time collaboration and the time to think and write at album length. For creatives and audiences alike, the passion burns as brightly as it ever has, if not more so. But the indignities of digital commerce are hindering that devotion at every turn.
In 2024, how can inspired, adventurous artists with something to say deliver their message? How can they create with focus and intention?
Enter Third Way Cultural Alliance, a new 501(c)(3) dedicated to the furtherance of the album format, in jazz, rock, alternative hip-hop and soul, roots music, experimental and other contemporary music. By offering comprehensive funding for new album-length projects, Third Way will thrive on the axis between a cultural institution and an ethically-run, creatively-nurturing independent record label. Further, Third Way’s thoughtfully selected projects promise to explore issues of social justice and empowerment for disenfranchised communities.
Rooted in the endowment-funded model that has long fostered the preservation of fine arts and folk culture, Third Way will take that framework to contemporary music serving socially engaged audiences. At last, artists will be able to respond to our current sociopolitical moment with ambitious long-form works — away from the exploitation that overwhelms the current music industry. Through Third Way, musicians will also have access to a vast network of veteran artists, cultural and social organizations, and educational initiatives that share their convictions. “It’s about patronage for art, as opposed to getting caught up in the balance sheet and the profit-and-loss system,” says Ropeadope CEO Louis Marks, a Third Way co-founder and board member alongside musician and educator Joe Pignato and Ropeadope President Fabian Brown.
Without a doubt, Third Way’s mission presents a multitude of hurdles. But the roots of this emergent nonprofit lie in Ropeadope, among the most important and fearless defenders of independent music over the last quarter-century. With its legacy of innovation, artist advocacy and social consciousness, and its ability to foster genuine creativity within the profit-driven record industry, Ropeadope will provide as-needed label services to Third Way’s grant recipients. To say it again, Ropeadope is rarely suited to supporting the Third Way mission, because the company has in essence already been engaged in this work for decades.
Founded by entertainment lawyer and entrepreneur Andy Hurwitz in New York in 1999, and led today by Marks in Philadelphia, Ropeadope has more than 650 albums in its catalog, including a surplus of landmark LPs: the breakout recordings of fusion masters Snarky Puppy, the lauded final records by Ramsey Lewis and Col. Bruce Hampton, the futuristic roots of King Britt, game-changing jazz by Lakecia Benjamin and Yazz Ahmed, the visionary “Stretch Music” of Chief Adjuah, politically fiery projects from the Last Poets, Masta Ace and Antibalas, essential “sacred steel” recordings by the Campbell Brothers, and so many others.
Beyond the music itself, Ropeadope’s influence has quite possibly been even more profound. The company was among the earliest adopters of wholly artist-first deals that allowed musicians 50/50 profit-sharing, in addition to the ability to retain their publishing and masters. Ropeadope also pioneered a network of artist-run sublabels, among them Snarky Puppy’s GroundUP, the Black-woman-owned imprint Artists First and Chief Adjuah’s Stretch Music. The newly launched AfricArise, a partnership between Ropeadope and the advocacy organization City of Gold Arts, provides international distribution for artist-run labels producing the best jazz on the African continent. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a Ropeadope apparel initiative called “Renew Orleans” generated $90,000 for impacted musicians in the Crescent City.
Ultimately, the altruism that will define Third Way — elevating artists with a powerful message, while protecting the integrity of the album format — has been in practice at Ropeadope for 25 years. “We understand the landscape; we understand the ecosystem,” says Marks. “We can see what is wrong, and we have a clear path forward.”
To fulfill its mission, Third Way is building a strong collaborative team of ambassadors who are active within the organization. Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Todd Clouser, Wulf Müller, Shayna Steele, Chief Adjuah and Robert Sadin have all embraced the concept and are initiating their own powerful contributions in a variety of formats.