Burger Records Shuts Down Completely

After multiple anonymous allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced over the weekend regarding both artists and label staff, Burger Records announced plans for “major structural changes” on Monday in an effort to address a “culture of toxic masculinity.” Co-founder and president Lee Rickard resigned, co-founder Sean Bohrman announced plans to eventually step down, the label changed its name to BRGR, and new interim president Jessa Zapor-Gray was named. Tonight, however, Bohrman announced that the label will instead shut down completely.

Jessa Zapor-Gray released a statement tonight announcing she was no longer planning to step into the role of interim label president. “My plan was to quickly begin assessing and evaluating if anything about the label could perhaps be salvaged and made into something better, then eventually hand off a functioning label to a future administration unrelated to the label’s founders; or if I found that rebuilding was not possible, instead to organize and prepare the label for closure,” she wrote. Zapor-Gray continued:

When I was asked to take over in this capacity, I expected some
blowback for my decision to accept but I believed that the opportunity
to have a role in effecting real and lasting positive change within
the Burger and indie music scenes was worth the risk. Upon further
review, I have informed Burger Records that I no longer believe I will
be able to achieve my intended goals in assuming the leadership role
at Burger in the current climate. Therefore, I have decided to step
away from the label entirely to focus on my other projects.

When asked about the future of the label and its leadership, Bohrman responded to Pitchfork, “We decided to fold the label.” When asked if Burger would still continue as the rebranded BRGR RCRDS, Bohrman replied, “Nope.” He then linked to a clip of Porky Pig saying “that’s all folks.” Burger’s Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts have all been deactivated.

When reached by Pitchfork on Tuesday night, Bohrman said that all of Burger Records’ releases would eventually be removed from streaming platforms. At publication time, some Burger releases still appear on Spotify and Apple Music. “Yeah, I just asked our distro to take everything down, it’s probably not an instant process,” Bohrman said in an email. Pitchfork has reached out to Burger’s distribution and Spotify representatives for more information.

When asked if artists who released music on Burger will be able to re-upload their records to streaming services, Bohrman confirmed that all Burger artists own their own music and are free to reissue their records if they want. “I hate dealing with lawyers so we never signed contracts with bands,” he wrote.

The Fullerton, California label—largely known for releasing cassettes—was founded in 2007 by Rickard and Bohrman. While a large number of tapes released by Burger Records were cassette pressings of albums released digitally and on vinyl by other labels (like Castle Face, Vice Music, and In the Red Records), Burger itself was solely responsible for multiple artists’ digital, streaming, cassette, and vinyl releases. King Tuff’s Was Dead, Peach Kelli Pop’s self-titled album, Gap Dream’s Shine Your Light, and Timmy’s Organism’s Survival of the Fiendish were among the albums to appear on streaming services like Spotify with the Burger Records copyright. While Burger released CHAI’s 2019 album PUNK, Sony Music Entertainment Japan holds the copyright that appears on the album’s streaming pages.

On Tuesday, Oakland’s Total Trash Productions—promoters of the annual Burger Boogaloo festival—announced it had cut ties with Burger and planned to rename the festival.