Marshall Dickson

Marshall Dickson
Origin Tampa, Florida
Genres Rock, pop, punk
Occupation(s) Record label owner, producer, graphic designer
Years active 1992–present
Labels 24 Hour Service Station, 24 Hour Distribution
Website 4 Hour Service Station

Marshall Dickson (born Tampa, Florida) is an American record label owner, producer, and graphic designer. After starting his career as a DJ and record store manager in Tampa, in 1993 Dickson founded the record label 24 Hour Service Station to release the music of Tampa Bay artists Rosewater Elizabeth, known for their ethereal sound.

The label has since released recordings by notable artists including Robyn Hitchcock, Tanya Donelly, Steve Kilbey (The Church), Craig Wedren (Shudder to Think), Mark Burgess (The Chameleons) and Dave Smalley via the Pocket EP series, John Ralston, Kites With Lights, PLS PLS, and the side projects of Joy Division and New Order bassist Peter Hook including Man Ray, Freebass & Peter Hook and The Light. After working in marketing and management for Sony Music in the 2000s, he later founded 24 Hour Distribution. He has produced albums such as Ceremony – A New Order Tribute (2010) and designed the covers for albums such as Time Alone (1990) by Slap of Reality.

Music career

1990s: Founding 24 Hour Service Station

Marshall Dickson was born in Tampa, Florida, and was raised by his parents at the nearby Indian Rocks Beach.[1] In the late 1980s and early 1990s he managed a number of record stores and Deejayed at nightclubs in Tampa.[2] Among the stores he was involved with was the now defunct local record store Alternative Records.[3]

Dickson launched 24 Hour Service Station in 1992 as an independent record label and distribution company in Tampa.[2] Dickson has explained that he was partly inspired to found the company by producer Tony Wilson. “His unique vision and aesthetic of a record label gave complete creative control and freedom to the artists — more a friendly partnership than a stiff business structure — and inspired me to establish my own label ... to release music by bands I personally felt the world needed to hear."[4]

"[Dickson] was the dark prince of the [Tampa] bay area's alternative music scene when it flowered in the early and mid-1990s. Soft-spoken yet articulate, pale complexioned, enigmatic, he even painted the windows on his house black."[1]
— St. Petersburg Times[1]

Active by 1993,[5][6] 24 Hour Service Station's first signing in 1994 was Rosewater Elizabeth,[7] an up and coming ethereal group in the Tampa Bay area music scene. According to Creative Loafing, when Dickson "started the imprint with one act, Rosewater Elizabeth, he pressed CDs and cassettes, delivered them to local indie outlets and pimped the product in any way he could imagine."[8] A CD for Rosewater Elizabeth's album Faint was released in 1994, followed by the EP It Swallows Me Whole and in 1995, Le Petit Morte, another album on CD.[7] The label then went on to release records by Shoemaker Levy 9, Questionface, and a tribute album to The Smiths entitled Godfathers of Change.

Dickson also organized group shows for the different bands on his labels, including at venues such as his house at Temple Terrace.[3] Wrote the St Petersburg Times in 2002, in the Tampa-bay area Dickson was "once the area's leading impresario of ethereal music acts." The article further stated he "was the dark prince of the bay area's alternative music scene when it flowered in the early and mid-1990s."[1] In 1997, Dickson put the label “underground” to start a sales and marketing career with Sony Music.

1998-07: Work with Sony Music

Dickson was hired by Sony Music in 1997, and he spent close to a decade working as a creative director in Atlanta, Georgia, then as a sales and marketing regional worker for Alliance Entertainment Corporation in Miami.[2] While at Sony Music he also worked in graphic design by 2002,[1] keeping his own record label operating on a low level.[8] He then left SonyBMG in 2005 to work at Sheridan Square Entertainment as their Director of National Sales until 2007.[2] By 2007 Dickson was serving as general manager[9] and sales manager of Reax Music Magazine,[2] a Tampa-based music and art magazine first published by Joel Cook in 2006.[10]

2007-14: 24 Hour Distribution

In 2007 Dickson re-launched 24 Hour Service Station,[11] basing the label in Wesley Chapel, Florida[8] while maintaining his job[12] at Reax Music Magazine.[11] 24 Hour Service Station soon released the Car Bomb Driver[13] album Evacuate, and by 2008 the label had put out a total of 17 releases and signed 13 bands.[14] Dickson left his job at Reax in 2009,[2] and by that time was operating 24 Hour Service Station.[8]

Dickson also began operating 24 Hour Distribution, an independent company which "acts as a conduit to major online retailers... and a slew of smaller ones." 24 Hour Distribution is associated with Independent Online Distribution Alliance, or IODA, a firm based in San Francisco.[8] As of 2009, approximately 20 small imprints totaling about a hundred artists were using the 24 Hour Distribution portal.[8] According to the company's website, 24 Hour Distribution is a "solution for independent artists to be their own record label. Through our partnerships with The Orchard, Amazon, and MVD, we deliver internationally to hundreds of digital retail outlets, physical retailers and cell phone carriers including iTunes, Amazon.com, Spotify, YouTube, Google Music, emusic, Rhapsody, Cricket / Muve Music, 7Digital, AT&T, Verizon, and Rdio."[15]

2009: Ceremony - A New Order Tribute

Ceremony – A New Order Tribute is a compilation album of New Order covers by independent acts from the United States and Europe,[16] compiled into a double CD Digi-pack and two additional digital albums. Produced by Dickson and Sonshine Ward, it was released in February 2010 by 24 Hour Service Station, with contributions from artists such as Peter Hook of Joy Division, Kites With Lights, and Rabbit in the Moon.[17] Allmusic reviewer William Ruhlmann gave the digital album 3.5/5 stars, and praised in particular the tracks that strayed in style from the original New Order compositions.[17] The album is dedicated to the founder of Factory Records and New Order producer Tony Wilson, who died in 2007 from cancer.[18] The album benefits the Salford Foundation Trust's Tony Wilson Award.[18]

2010-14: Recent projects

Recent projects by 24 Hour Service Station include the debut album Human Being by Chris Barrows,[19] and the label has also worked with artists such as Kites With Lights.[20]

Personal life

Dickson continues to live in Florida.[8] Among his hobbies are collecting retro video game equipment.[21]

Discography

Soundtracks

Short film

Production credits

Selected production credits for Marshall Dickson[23][24]
Yr Release title Artist(s) Label Role
1990 Time Alone Slap of Reality Pazzafist Records Art direction, photography
1995 Witch Name Rosewater Elizabeth 24 Hour Service Station Layout
2010 Summer 88 Man Ray 24 Hour/Hacienda Package design
Tokyo Joe Man Ray 24 Hour/Hacienda Layout, package design
Ceremony – A New Order Tribute Various 24 Hour Service Station Producer,[25] art direction and design
Two Worlds Collide EP Freebass 24 Hour/Hacienda Design, repackaging design
It's A Beautiful Life Freebass 24 Hour/Hacienda Package design
A Momentary Lapse in the Key of W Noah Kussack 24 Hour Service Station Design, layout, post-production editor
Then The Archers Bowed
And Broke Their Bows 		Tommy Simms 24 Hour Service Station Executive Producer
2011 Redesigns (The Limited Edition) Fritz Von Runte 24 Hour Service Station Executive producer
2012 EP EP PLS PLS 24 Hour Service Station Executive producer
Yinz: The Live Album Pink Lincolns 24 Hour Service Station Cover photo, package assembly
2013 A Lullaby Tribute to Adele] Baby Rockstar Helisek Music Executive producer
2014 A Lullaby Renditions of Daft Punk: Random Access Memories Baby Rockstar Helisek Music Executive producer, layout
Lullaby Renditions of the Nightmare Before Christmas Baby Rockstar Helisek Music Executive producer, layout

Further reading

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Canning, Michael (January 12, 2002). "Restaurateur revives recipes; impresario out of bands". St Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Marshall Dickson on LinkedIn
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "History & Evolution of Electronic SubSouth". Electronic SubSouth. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
  4. ↑ Garisto, Julie (July 28, 2010). "'Ceremony': 32 new takes on New Order, courtesy of Tampa label 24 Hour Service Station". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
  5. ↑ Snider, Eric (25 March 2009). "Tampa music label 24 Hour Service Station embraces the digital frontier". Creative Loafing.com. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  6. ↑ Carole Giambalvo (2009-01-15). "Concert picks". Tampabay.com. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Artists RO". Kzsu.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Snider, Eric (March 25, 2009). "Tampa music label 24 Hour Service Station Embraces the Digital Frontier - Creative Loafing". Creative Loafing. Retrieved 2014-08-15.
  9. ↑ "News - Joran on TBO's "Couch Potatoes" Podcast". Southeast Music Alliance. 3 August 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  10. ↑ Tampa Bay's Media Talk Joel Cook Interview, 14 March 2008
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Reax staff". Reax Music Magazine. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  12. ↑ "News - Joran on TBO's "Couch Potatoes" Podcast". Southeast Music Alliance. 3 August 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2009.
  13. ↑ "Archive » 2008 Florida Bandango Performer Profiles". BAAMO. 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  14. ↑ "Things to do in Tampa Bay | Tampa Bay Times". Events.tampabay.com. 2013-07-18. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  15. ↑ "About". 24 Hour Distribution. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
  16. ↑ "A New Order / Joy Division Web Site". New Order Online. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Ruhlmann, William (2010). "Ceremony: A New Order Tribute: The Digital Album". Allmusic. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Tony Wilson Awards". Salfordfoundationtrust.org.uk. Retrieved 2013-07-23.
  19. ↑ "Albums Index". 24 Hour Service Station. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
  20. ↑ "Artists Index". 24 Hour Service Station. Retrieved 2013-10-08.
  21. ↑ Dickson, Marshall (July 7, 1997). "Archaic Arcade". PatPend.net. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
  22. ↑ "Marshall Dickson". IMDB. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
  23. ↑ Marshall Dickson at Discogs
  24. ↑ "Marshall Dickson". AllMusic Guide. Retrieved 2014-09-09.
  25. ↑ "'Ceremony': 32 new takes on New Order, courtesy of Tampa label 24 Hour Service Station". Tampa Bay Times. March 26, 2010. Retrieved 2014-09-09.

External links

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