Megaphone Records is an American independent record label, launched by Jason Willett in the early 1990s and based in Baltimore, Maryland. Between '92 and 2012, Megaphone released only CD albums — except for two 7" singles by Jac Berrocal in 1996. Since 2012, most editions have come out jointly released with Knock'em Dead Records in CD and LP formats (often accompanied by a limited edition on transparent/colored vinyl). Megaphone Records also had a short-lived Megaphone Cassette Special series. The latest album to date, Xmas In March CD/LP by Jason Willetts's trio with Jac Berrocal and David Fenech, came out in June 2020.
The label's story began with an eponymous record store, Megaphone Music, which Jason Willett opened in the fall of 1990 in his hometown Frederick (a Maryland city around 80 km from Baltimore and DC). In addition to an expansive inventory of experimental, radical and obscure music of all genres, Jason's store regularly hosted live gigs and events, featuring acts like Dog Faced Hermans, God Is My Co-Pilot, Boredoms, No Safety, and Hasil Adkins. Some regular customers, including Benb Gallaher and Andrew Barranca, later played in various bands with Willett and participated in the label's activities. Jason closed "Megaphone Music" after three years and moved to Baltimore, where he now runs The True Vine store.
For the inaugural release on Megaphone Records, Jason Willett produced Slow Crimes, the first CD reissue of Tim Hodgkinson's seminal UK post-punk band The Work. The new pressing also included bonus tracks from I Hate America 7" single. More Hodgkinson's recordings followed, both archival and contemporary, mostly co-released between Megaphone and Tim's label Woof Records. The first ten Megaphone albums continuously focused on archival and rare material, including experimental rock-centric British and American bands, such as The Honkies or The Molecules, or the iconic French composer and trumpeter Jac Berrocal's CD compilation of unreleased tracks.
In 1994, Jason started a new imprint, Megaphone Limited, which released CDs with handmade artwork in editions of 500 copies. It focused on Willett's numerous bands and side projects, starting with The Dramatics "self-titled" by a newly-formed duo with Martha Colburn. Concurrently, Jason moved into Martha's warehouse in downtown Baltimore, which became a home base for Megaphone Studio. In 2008, the label started Megaphone Unlimited, another subsidiary focused on "library music." It only presented one release so far, a collection from Music De Wolfe archives. (The same year, Jason Willett had The Sounds Of Megaphone Unlimited CD compilation out on MT6 Records, which confusingly presented material and unreleased tracks only from Megaphone Limited roster, and none from "Unlimited.")
Since 2012, Megaphone began extensively partnering with Knock'em Dead Records, and all subsequent albums were co-produced and co-released by two labels on compact discs and vinyl. The first joint Megaphone/Knock'em Dead release was R. Stevie Moore's 2xLP compilation Hearing Aid, initially compiled by Jason for a '96 Megaphone CD release but shelved for decades. After Stevie approached Willett about the project again in 2011, they brought 'Hearing Aid' to fruition as a double album. In 2014, Megaphone presented more archival reissues, including an LP repress of The Work's Slow Crimes (the label's inaugural release), and two LP reissues of Morgan Fisher's cult '80 avant/experimental collection Miniatures. Megaphone also continued to present new music from local Baltimore artists and Willett's collaborators, such as Batu Malablab LP/CD, a debut solo album by M.C. Schmidt, one-half of renowned Matmos.
