Label Guide: Schneeball

Schneeball Records is a German independent label, founded in 1976 by a collective of German bands who wanted full control over their music and distribution. It was the first record label that was run entirely by musicians in all aspects of the business: financing, production, manufacturing, even distribution was solely handled by musicians in the collective.

The origin of Schneeball was an entity named "Musikkooperative APRIL", named for the month the first records were released in 1976. But international major CBS Records had a small music publishing department named "April Music", and forced the cooperative to change its name. They picked Schneeball (snowball) for its anticommerciality.

Founding members of Schneeball were German bands Embryo, Sparifankal, Missus Beastley, Ton Steine Scherben and musician Julius Schittenhelm. Other artists joined the label later on, including Amon Düül II, Checkpoint Charlie, Chris Karrer und Ernst Jandl. The label is still active today.