TMN RETROSPECTIVE REPORT: Modular Recordings Launches – 1998

TMN celebrates two decades in this ever-shifting music industry by taking a look back at the key moments – both triumphant and tumultuous – in the Australian music business.

1998
MODULAR RECORDINGS LAUNCHES

Throughout the first half of the ‘90s, Stephen Pavlovic was one of the country’s leading concert promoters, touring The Smashing Pumpkins, The Offspring, Pearl Jam and Mudhoney; his foresight resulted in Nirvana being in Australia when their album hit #1 in the US. A curious musical collage he received in the mail from a production team known now as The Avalanches drove him to launch his own label Modular Recordings in 1998 – eventually releasing the record that would become Since I Left You (Pavlovic had briefly flirted with the indie label world a few years earlier, with Fellaheen Records, who issued records by Pavement, Noise Addict, Superchunk, Magic Dirt and more). Before this meticulously-crafted album was ready, Pav tested the waters with two wildly-successful releases: the debut album from The Living End, and wunderkind Ben Lee’s third record, Breathing Tornadoes. The former sold over a quarter of a million records, and set up Modular Recordings to sign and release records from artists such as Eskimo Joe, Wolfmother, and Tame Impala.

Our year on year reports are published courtesy of the Australian Music Industry Quarterly magazine. For your free copy click here