Crystal Records Founded

Source: Crystal Records Approaching Its Thirtieth Anniversary Next Year
From: Yahoo! Kimo Music
Date: June 4, 2015. Author: BLOW

Crystal Records began as a bootleg foreign music operation before being taken over in 1986 by Jen Chiang-ta and Lin Tzu-ling, who transformed it into one of the most pioneering and locally significant record labels of 1990s Taiwan. Not only did it begin promoting new music through its “*Wax Club*,” it also published the monthly music journal Rocker, introducing the intellectual currents of underground and independent music to Taiwan’s audiences. From 1987 onward it organised four editions of the “Taipei New Music Festival,” and from 1991 released landmark compilations of Taiwan field-recordings including Sounds from the Bottom of Taiwan and the Taiwan Sound Archive, alongside music publications such as Chronicles of the Collapse Generation. Through the Shih-Kan Cultural Studio, it also collaborated with a livehouse to bring numerous international acts to Taiwan. In 1996, Crystal Records temporarily closed its domestic operations due to debt; it soon reopened, but ultimately ceased operations in 2006, passing into history and the memories of Taiwan’s musicians.

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External Links

• The Seed of Taiwan’s Independent Music: A Small Retrospective Preface for Crystal Records’ 30th Anniversary (Freshmusic Magazine)
• Crystal Records (Wikipedia)
• On the Development of Independent Music through Crystal Records (Ho Tung-hung and Chang T’ieh-chih in conversation)
• The Driving Force behind Taiwan’s Underground Music — Crystal Records’ New Music Path (Lo Yueh-ch’üan)